A Master of Djinn

A Novel

By: P. Djèlí Clark

Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar

Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

2021 NYPL Best Books of the Year

2022 Nebula Awards - Winner

"[Narrator Suehyla] El-Attar expertly creates a vibrant version of Cairo that captures a heady blend of the cosmopolitan and the supernatural that will win many new fans." (AudioFile Magazine)

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 40 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city- or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems....

A Master of Djinn is poised to launch P. Djèlí Clark’s SFF career to new heights as the highly-anticipated debut listeners are clamoring for.

Novellas by P. Djèlí Clark
The Black God's Drums
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
Ring Shout

A Macmillan Audio production from Tordotcom

"Listeners will be charmed by dashing, bowler-hat-wearing, janbiya-carrying Fatma el-Sha’arawi in book one of Clark’s Dead Djinn Universe series.... At times wry, often witty, [Suehyla] El-Attar’s delivery is an anchoring force from which a multitude of mortal and mystical characters emerge." (Booklist)

©2021 P. Djèlí Clark (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A clever, wickedly fun steampunk mystery with an excellent balance of humor and heart. I loved it.” (S. A. Charkaborty, internationally best-selling author of The City of Brass)

“A delightful whodunnit full of sly commentary and a wonderfully lived-in steampunk Cairo. The perfect read when I needed a break from this world to enjoy one wholly made from Clark's enviable imagination.” (Rebecca Roanhorse, Hugo and Nebula Award winner, author of Trail of Lightning and Star Wars: Resistance Reborn)

“A Master of Djinn has all the tricky twists I want in a police procedural and all the djinns, magic and wonder I want from fantasy.” (Mary Robinette Kowal, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of The Calculating Stars)

Perfect

One of my favourite books. The world building was perfectly intertwined with the story. I find myself being sad I could not linger more in this world. My first written review in hundreds of books.

The narration with the middle eastern accent furthered the feeling of a 1001 nights story,esoteric even.

Awesome book!

Great chatacter and an fabulous variety and so much detail! looking forward to the next book!

Great Worldbuilding/Story/Narrator

A Master of Djinn is, essentially, an alternative history mystery story. A person claiming to be the legendary figure that caused the return of Djinn and magic to the world is stirring up trouble in Egypt. I really enjoyed the book, and while the themes are similar to other books, the setting and characters create an interesting and engaging story that I couldn't stop listening to. The narrator was great and really differentiated the characters. If your a fan of mystery, magic, period pieces, or Egyptian culture, then this book is worth listening to.

I have a new author to follow.

A story full of intrigued, mystery, and humor. I loved the characters and all the twists. this book makes me want to visit Cairo and experience it.

Great characters, atmosphere, but plot predictable.

It’s a fun listen, but a predictable plot. Still vanishing into a world where Egyptian modernity includes djinn and magical machinery is a pleasure.

It started out fantastic

The beginning is phenomenal, fantastic story telling, world building, sleuthing. 3/4s of the way through, it gets quite whiny, the story seems to struggle with writing attention grabbing scenes. I found myself just taking it in as back ground noise. It was anticlimactic, fight scenes would have been a good edition. The ending seemed appropriate, but it was missing something. There was a lot of build up for such a eh ending.

Great Fantasy

I'm not much of a fantasy reader, but I love the author and enjoy thrillers from time to time. I'm a horror reader, so I found the book slow and a little frivolous compared with Clark's book Ring Shout. I was hoping for comparable gore and terror--but this is a different book and that's OK.

If you miss the Harry Potter Universe, but want something more grown up with intentional, meaningful representations of different cultures, genders, sexualities, and racialized experiences... read this book! It has adventure, badass queer women of color, and evidence of meticulous research.

Solid book, different premise was refreshing

I liked this story overall. A different twist to the usual fantasy story. I thought it was a bit slow for the first half, but picked up significantly for a solid ending.

This is EVERYTHING!

Entrenching! Clark really knocked this out of the park, and the narrator is perfection! I love this story line. The descriptions, the little details, the fantastical alternate history...I eagerly await more from this world.
His other books are just as well written, just as embracing, if you want to add more to your read list.
The narrator has a lovely voice, capturing the little intonations of emotion in the words, just so.
I will be recommending this for some time to come!

Incredible world, phenomenal story and characters

The book is very well written, researched and just overall captivating. The story is fun and gripping, while the characters are some of the best I've read. Also the narrator does an absolutely fantastic job bringing this world to life. I will be listening to more books from her for sure. And I hope the author expands this world into many more books.