The Kingdom of Copper

By: Shannon Chakraborty

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to The City of Brass.

In Daevabad, where djinn can summon flames with a snap of their fingers, where rivers run deep with ancient magic, and blood can be as dangerous as any spell, a clever con artist from Cairo will alter the fate of a kingdom.

Nahri’s life changed forever when she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad, she needed all of her grifter instincts to survive. Now, as Nahri embraces her heritage and her power, she must forge a new path.

Exiled for daring to defy his father, Ali is adrift on the unforgiving sands of his ancestral land, hunted by assassins and forced to rely on frightening new abilities that threaten to reveal a terrible family secret.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's brass walls to celebrate, a power in the desolate north will bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates....

©2019 S. A. Chakraborty (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Three and a half stars rounded up

If the first book had pacing issues, this one quickly ramps up to a dizzying whorl of political machinations, ravishing magic, and action. The character development is likewise improved.

But like the first one, this book also has some things I didn't like - in spite of some additional depth and greater variety of characters, most of them are still rather flat. Each has a main issue or trait that defines them, and that is as complex as it gets. Minor characters are even flatter, simplisticly echoing a defining group characteristic or role.

Nahri, as the main character, is the most flawed in this respect. She seems to trudge through in an entirely powerless fashion, meek and lacking any resistance, but when it is needed for the plot to move forward, she pulls some incredible magic or political maneuver out of her hat. All while never having a single thought or belief that isn't purely good and largely also naive.

Her ingenue-like wide-eyed naivete wasn't believable in the first book, given her upbringing as a street urchin and con artist, and after five years at court as part of the royal family through a political marriage, and a kind of high priestess of the Daeva people, it is even more eye roll inducing.

Towards the end, the action gets extremely violent and gory, and yet it is somehow hard to take seriously or feel bad about, because the people don't seem real and there is a fable-like distance between them and me as the reader.

But the excitement and world building make me feel that the score deserves to be rounded up rather than down.

Lots of politics

I did enjoy this book but got a bit bored of one atrocity after another by the djinn, daevas and shafit. Nahri confused me with her loyalty to the Daeva and Dara’s memory. Dara has gone all remorseful and bemoans the past crimes he was ‘made’ to do. Ali is a hot head that seems to want to get himself killed. And the king just goes round killing everyone because his city comes first. Enjoyable but I’m not that invested in any of the characters as they’re all a bit annoying.

Pure entertainment!

I have to say I really enjoyed this book! So much drama, I just loved it. And tbh I was somewhat hesitant continuing the series after the first book (I'm sorry but I'm not a fan of that cave scene ...... cringe) but this book is just maze balls! The story flows on and there's no dull moment. I enjoyed the performance as well and I think it's very fitting for this sort of a book. I read a review where somebody said the plot was sometimes a bit difficult to follow but I honestly didnt feel that way. I cant wait to get my next credit as I know where I'll spend it!

Disappointing narration

Narrator gives the lead woman the voice of a child. She gets it really wrong. The woman is written as a strong character, capable and clever but she is portrayed as a whining weak person. The other characters are well narrated.

Great Characters

Absolutely loved this sequel! I somehow managed to fall in love with the beautifully complex and tragic characters even more. Can’t wait to listen to the third book!

The voice actor for the audiobook is great as well, highly recommend listening to this book.

Arabian Nights Style Beautifully Reimagined

Loving these books for the totally different style to standard Fantasy fair and the thought gone into the biological make up of the Djinn. NAHRI's love for DARAYAVAHOUSH I have found a little hard to accept but I have thoroughly enjoyed all the characters. I am Looking forward to the final book and hoping for more series set in the world as there are other tribes waiting to be explored.

Good but could have been great.

i found this one hard to get through to be honest. The author set the charector's up so well in the last book only to change them in this. it didn't feel like they stayed true to themselves. There was many plot holes that didn't add up.

a fun time.

so much fun, added so much I can't wait to find out how all this ends.

A devilishly different series.

Love this series. A lot of research must have gone into the history of of the middle East.
It works really well.
S
The stories twists and turns keep me guessing and make it hard to put it down

Interesting

A very interesting next step in the story. Great twists and character growth. Loved hearing the justifications from all sides. I will definitely be listening to the next book.

Incredibly detailed plotline

The narrator annoyingly mispronounces several words, plait and niche spring to mind and the storyline is rather labyrinthine at times and hard to follow but overall I’m loving this series, looking forward to the third instalment