This book is so blisteringly good. P. Djèlí Clark reimagines history with vivacity, ingenuity, and pure damn style in his alternate early 20th c. Egypt that has forcibly sloughed off the British colonial yoke and risen to power with the help of Djinn. It has murder, magic, mayhem, and at the center of it all, one lesbian detective with a sharp taste in suits and even sharper monster-hunting chops. I had so much fun reading this!

Unfortunately I’m a bit torn between loving the worldbuilding and at best feeling lukewarm about the characters and plot. I suppose I can’t have everything.The worldbuilding is just so good. It’s an alternate 1912 cosmopolitan Cairo, where Egypt is a steampunk superpower after legendary al-Jahiz a few decades prior had opened a gateway to the world of the supernatural. This is the world full of djinn and clockwork angels, aerial trams and airships and automaton boilerplate eunuchs, and temples s...

A delightful whodunnit full of sly commentary and a wonderfully lived-in steampunk Cairo. The story has the familiar trappings -- a mysterious supernatural murder, a detective to solve it, a rookie partner, clues and hindrances and a slowly unspooling plot -- which allows all the lovely details in this story to shine. I loved the world and the characters that inhabited it, both human and otherwise. Strong female cast, a nice (and important to the plot) queer romance, a gang of thieves, worshippe...

This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷 Support me ☕ “That was the thing a lot of people didn’t understand. Magic abhorred imbalance. And always exacted a price.” The Angel of Khan El-Khalili ★★★ 1/2A Dead Djinn in Cairo ★★★★The Haunting of Tram Car 015 ★★★★A Master of Djinn ★★★★ 1/4I was always interested in this series as soon as I saw its cover a while ago, the fact that it is also set in Egypt and inspired by Middle Eastern mythology were all points that made me eager to read i...

I was really looking forward to this as the world is genius and I adored the short stories, but the full novel didn't quite click for me. Perhaps because it's a mix of mystery and fantasy thriller, and we had a lot of setting up of the mystery element, with clues and red herrings, which I thought slowed the first half down. It worked a lot better for me once the adventure/fantasy element hit its stride and Fatma was able to act rather than react.

If you steal, steal a camel, she heard her mother whisper. And if you love, love the moon.‘Go big or go broke’ seems to be P. Djèlí Clark’s motto in his first novel-length foray into the world of ‘A Dead Djinn in Cairo’ and the Nebula-winning ‘The Haunting of Tram Car 015’. All feature Fatma el-Sha’arawi, an investigator at the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities in a steampunk version of Cairo. And no, you don’t have to have read the preceding novellas. Although previous...

FINALIST FOR THE 57th ANNUAL NEBULA AWARD—BEST NOVEL! Winners announced 21 May 2022 at the Online Nebula Conference awards ceremony.Enjoyable author interview at BookPage!There are really terrific lines. There are Zack-Snyder-meets-Michael-Bay battle scenes. There is a majgicqk system that is more fun than three dozen djinn in a jar. The Ifrit Kings! What a gorgeous scene that will be in the film!As I suspect y'all who haven't yet read the book are beginning to gather, this was a hit with me.The...

Once again, P. Djèlí Clark weaves an absolutely stunning fantasy world. Plot: Seriously, this world is so enchanting. It’s one of those books where the setting kind of becomes the plot because every moment you are unsure what magic is going to pop up next. The blend of genres is seamless and was able to captivate even my short, impatient attention span. Characters: I will say that I had a slight problem with the repetitiveness of certain characters. I saw it mentioned in another review that Fatm...

I think Clark really excels at making worlds. I just love how they find interesting, less-witnessed points in time and then populates them with...people. And makes them fun! The story is just great, refreshing fun! CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)[ sexism, homophobia, colorism, racism, xenophobia, enslavement, coercion of will, mass murder, body horror/mutilation (hide spoiler)]Things to love:-The world. Every single story of his I've read makes it exceptionally clear that he knows that all perm...

Oh man, I wanted to like this way more than I ended up. The world, the characters, and the universe that Clark has created is unique. No doubt there; the excellent blending of steampunk and magic is perfect. I'm not fond of steampunk all that much, so this is, for me, high praise. The previous short stories had me hooked, but in this one, unfortunately, the actual plot/mystery to be solved was rather one-dimensional and stereotypical "cop drama". I don't read those books, and a third of the way

well, gang, i've found my favorite book of the year

P. Djèlí Clark is one of those authors that’s on my ‘to watch’ list. You might even say I’m a fan. I’ve read through most of his short stories and purchased most of his novellas, something I don’t do for just anyone these days. I was anticipating A Master of Djinn and when it appeared on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to request it. Imagine my delight when I was approved; it was like Christmas in January. So now I find myself in a quandary because of that most troublesome phenomenon, hope-exp...

Review copy provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.4.5/5 starsThere’s a lot of praises for A Master of Djinn online, and I can certainly understand why. “Rich people always have enemies. Usually, that’s how they became rich.” A Master of Djinn was never in my radar before this year. But after hearing about how well-loved it is frequently across social media—but still feel a bit apprehensive about jumping into the hype—I decided to finish reading the three pre...

Loved it! Wicked and sharp and wry, it's a fun mystery set in an alternative steampunk Cairo I could read an entire series about. Fatma and Hadia are my new favorite "grumpy mentor/wide-eyed rookie" pair

Returning to the world of pre-WWI Cairo, Egypt, where Djinn coexist with humans, where there are old Egyptian gods (or at least their followers with a touch of the divine within them), and a host of wonderful crossovers right out of the pages of 1001 Arabian Knights, Steampunk novels, and good, old-fashioned modern UF, I have to say I'm loving every moment.It took me a moment to get into the series, but it didn't take that long. The fact is, I like Fatma. She's got that Bowler hat and her invest...

Man do I love this world!! P Djeli Clark is such a master of evoking a world and a *vibe* that creates such a vivid picture in my head. While I do think that this does have some bumps in the road in terms of him transitioning from shorter fiction to his first full length novel re: pacing (this one does feel a bit over full and like a bunch of novellas pieced together), I still loved the time I spent with Fatma as she takes on the challenge of a new partner at work and tries to figure out what in...

I loved this book. It was super smart with historical worldbuilding and cultural politics and also somehow really accessible as a fun magic detective story. Great magic and magical creatures and a fantastic world.

Actual rating: 2.45645896 stars.I nearly DNFed a P. Djèlí Clark story. I NEARLY DNFed a P. Djèlí Clark story. Life will never be the same. This experience is traumatizing enough as it is so I'll cut the crap to the chase and stuff.① This book is 396 pages, which is about 200 pages too long. If Clark is going to ramble on and on and on and on and 💤💤💤 like this every time he writes a full-length story then I’d rather he stuck to shorts and novellas as he used to in the past. Yes, this world is fas...

4/10 starsMy full review is available on my blog.Let me start this review by saying I that enjoyed Clark’s short stories set in the Dead Djinn Universe quite a lot; A Dead Djinn in Cairo was snappy and entertaining, offering a refreshing mix of ideas, and The Angel of Khan el-Khalili is a solid psychological story rooted in real events, showcasing Clark’s strengths in the short form. A Master of Djinn, on the other hand…Yup, there’s no way around it: if not for NG I would have DNF’ed this book w...

4.75ish stars. One of my favorites from 2021, finished just in time before the new year. Loved it.