The city of brass, the review: a trip to the desert
The plot
Nahri is a charlatan who lives in the slums of Cairo, in the early 1800s, during French domination. It survives thanks to small thefts and the reckless use of its strange ability to heal people, pretending to be real a magic that does not really believe. During one of her scams her life changes forever, because suddenly she discovers that the creatures of the Arab mythology, Jinn, Ifrit, Daeva, Marid and the whole hut not only exist but begin to hunt her: escape is the only solution, but with the only company of a grumpy Jinn it is not an easy choice.Ali, or rather Prince Alizeid al Qahtani, cannot bear court life, and yes he feels a scholar more than a ruler for the magical city of Daevabad, ancestral home of all the magic of the desert and home of six different tribes of magical beings, as well as the shafits, the half-breeds that everyone seems to fear and hate at the same time. When the king calls him back to his Qaid duties, he finds himself forced to choose between his innate and deep sense of justice and loyalty to his tribe and his father's difficult kingdom.
The characters
The novel tells the intertwined events of Nahri and Dara, on the one hand, and Ali on the other, alternating the points of view between Nahri and Ali.Nahri is pragmatic and outspoken, accustomed to lie for a living, but more prone to chatter and socialize. Her way of dealing with the new world that lies before you is to do questions, questions that lead her step by step closer to its unknown sources. By the independence of her former life goes on to be treated with reverence in a world she knows nothing about, and will not get freedom until will not be able to juggle between all of the versions of his history.
Dara is the beautiful dark of the story, the warrior Jinn in some way recalled from death, and from bondage by the power of Nahri . His instinct is to protect the girl, bound by the magic, and to do so is willing to return as the protagonist of legends that are told about him: the one who slaughtered an entire city of shafit . Nahri learn very early to trust his protector, who opens his heart with great difficulty.
Ali is a scholar. She never wanted the power or the masks of the policy of the court. It is not capable of lying and his righteousness of the heart does not have filters to the outside world, a world that is based barely about the delicate balance of the political and religious. But the rigour of his soul and the righteousness that search may dissatisfy more than a faction of the city, whose mysteries are impenetrable even to those who were born there. He will need all his knowledge, in addition to his skill with the zulfiqar to defend themselves, once released from the security of his library.
The setting
Jinn, and Daeva , Ifrit, and Marid , Peri and other creatures of the desert are part of the strictly Fantasy of this novel. Its historical basis is perceptible in the terminology precise, in the formulas, courtesy of the protagonists. Sincere devotion to God is a point of view really new in a genre that is always inventing new deities, and enhances the extravagance. Giving a precise historical moment, however, the author manages to show a part of the mythology unknown to most, the one in the middle east , between Egypt and Iran .the myths and the traditions present The city of brass comes from the studies of the author, and based on his knowledge of Islam in depth his conversion. The simple gestures and the prayers, phrases of greeting and good wishes that open and close every conversation drag in a world of Fantasy, but realistic and vivid, so near in the reality of every day as far as the desert in the experience of the west.
themes
As in any Young Adult that is respected, we have to first thing in the path of growth of the young protagonists, that they should learn their skills and understand what is happening around them. But the real leitmotif of the volume is the inclusion . Discrimination, and peace among the peoples that it seems impossible to get when factions extremist take the weapons seem to echo the dilemma, which in reality holds in check the people of the arab world.The point of view of the naive protagonists is soon supplanted by a thousand factors that are revealed page after page, in a crescendo of deception, and that are gradually revealed and that lead to a cliffhanger that throws you right to the last new light on what happened in the first five hundred pages of this trilogy. The magic , however, is not a real issue. As in many settings defined High-Fantasy is a normal thing, everyone will have at least a crumb, and the world is based on the difference of usage rather than on having or not having it.
Perhaps the only negative among the topics treated is that of the ‘ damsel in distress ‘, the damsel in distress stories. The Fantasy of the last years is leading us to strong women, who do not forget their femininity while brandishing lethal weapons, and choosing your own path head held high . This novel takes a small step back, perfectly in line with the setting and with the historical period, of course, but obviously not with the modern times.
author
Shannon A. Chakraborty , class of 1985 , was born in New Jersey in a catholic family. You convert the young to Islam and wanted to specialize in the study of the Middle east . These projects of his are destroyed by the financial crisis of 2008, so he begins to write his novels in the middle between the historical and the fantasy. The city of brass City of brass in the original) was his debut novel in 2017 , immediately received warmly by the critics. In Italy arrived only at the beginning of June , to coincide with the release of the third volume, the conclusion of the series and the announcement of the production of a TV series on Netflix based on the trilogy.Conclusion
After vampires, fairies and werewolves, the imagination, Young Adult is enriched with the mythology of the middle east , bringing the aromas of hot tea and spicy, ginger, honey, cinnamon and sand of the desert of our nostrils accustomed to the garlic and the flavor of the wine. New colors, new scents and new spells in addition to the gaudy dresses and charming veils of the harem to accompany a novel that, while telling of the traditional subjects them set in a frame refined and exotic .try.
