So back in December, I reviewed The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, the tale of a female pirate in a medieval Near East Indian Ocean, and spoiler alert, I was totally smitten. So I took myself off to Powell’s Books, to see if there was a sequel, and I spotted this. A trilogy, clocking in at a massive 1887 pages, and bought it immediately. This is the first volume, and friends, it does not disappoint.
There are many echoes of Aladdin and other Arabian Nights stories, but it is as if we are seeing the bigger, more true picture. This tale revolves around three major characters, and the two we are first introduced to are Nahri, street rat and young female con artist, and the djinn warrior she accidentally summons up, Dara. Dara happens to be the classic genie in a bottle, but that is a whole different thing from the Robin Williams version. First of all, there are no three wishes and you are done. Instead, you belong to your owner as long as he/she possesses your amulet, and you must obey any order they give you. And if it’s slaying thousands of their enemies? Your personal feelings are of no matter, you must obey. And Dara has done some pretty gruesome stuff in the millennia he has been around.
But now these two are on their way to mystically hidden Daevabad, the City of Brass, on a flying carpet (not the sweet ride of the Disney film) because this city, established as a common refuge for all the magical tribes (and the semi-magical sorts), is in danger.
And off we go. I must say, I generally read two or three books at a time, but once I got started on this, the rest fell to the wayside. Compulsively readable.
