Hot Girls Read Podcast

Julia

I have successfully gotten out of my beginning of year reading slump in typical fashion, by beginning a new Fantasy series: Book 1 of the Daevabad Trilogy, City of Brass, by Shannon Chakraborty. The book has been on my radar for a while now, but after a direct recommendation (from a South Asian friend, I may add), I decided it was time. 

The book starts out in 18th century Cairo and then comes to life in a fantasy world that combines Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Mesopotamian folktales and storytelling elements, creating a world that to me felt both familiar and perfectly different compared to anything I have read before. 

This is a big book. The story takes its time to unveil its intrigue – I spent a lot of the first half being a little confused about the other-wordly politics that were going on, but I kind of like that I don’t know which side to take yet. Among the cast of characters I have begun rooting for, I don’t quite know who will end up fighting against who by the end. This complexity makes the story feel more mature than other black and white fantasy worlds, where good and bad are clearly delineated. However, while I think the world building is incredibly rich and well paced, the writing is not particularly riveting to me as the language feels geared towards a Young Adult audience.

All that said, I could not be happier to have a book that I can’t wait to read when I wake up and before I go to sleep. Life feels more colourful again. Also, I might just add that listening to an instrumental sitar playlist whilst reading has really heightened the experience for me (I have started sitar lessons hehe and I am feeling like I could be a palace musician in Daevabad).