Review of A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, one of my favorite fantasy / alternate history books of 2021, what’s not to love about steampunk Cairo and ass-kicking, sword-wielding sapphics?

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: May 11th 2021 by Tordotcom/August 19th 2021 by Orbit
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 396
• Goodreads link, storygraph link

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 50 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 her clever girlfriend Siti, 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….

Why I picked it up: Djinn in steampunk Cairo, need I say more? Thanks to Orbit for the review copy. This also counted for my read some series project, since it’s technically the 3rd, precedeed by a short story and a novella.

Though A Master of Djinn can probably be read first, I’d recommend starting with A Dead Djinn in Cairo, which can be read free online. There are some references here and there to the events in previous stories, that are fun to catch. Characters showing up again, outfits being referenced, and so on.

I loved A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 15 when I read them last year (links go to my reviews if you want to check them out). I favor Dead Djinn slightly more because it also follows Fatma el-Sha’arawi. She and the setting are my favorite bits about this series so excuse a little ramble.

The setting is steampunk Cairo in the early 20th Century, with Djinn, clockwork angels and a lot of other supernatural creatures. With technology and support from the Djinn, Egypt has pushed off the British colonial forces and is now a global power. I like how in the novel we got to learn a little bit more about how different countries are adapting to having magical creatures in our world, more of an International context and bigger picture, it made the world all the more real.

It was very easy for me to picture everything very, all the clockwork, the Djinn, the lovingly descripted outfits and foods. I loved that there are different kinds of Djinn, like Marid who have water powers and Ifrit who have fire powers, and a few others. There’s also a bit of ancient Egyptian mythology coming up, I’m a huge fan of that and hoping it’ll be even more present in further books.

Fatma is a modern unconventional woman, she’s had a lot to prove to get to where she is in the organisation, and that shows when she’s partnered up with another younger woman. The contrast and similarities between the two are great. Starting with dress, Fatma’s always in men’s suits, so stylish, and Hadia is also  stylish, but wearing more traditional clothing and a hijab. And I loved how Hadia’s not put down for the way she dresses and the fact that she’s far more religious than Fatma (who’s also religious in some ways, sometimes). I thought it was such a good way to have different women in a job, without competing and putting one down to elevate the other. Their professional relationship evolved so well through the story, it was a joy to read.

I know I started by saying how much I love Fatma, but really I cannot choose between her and Hadia. They’re both amazing. I think this is one of Clark’s strengths, cause I the same feeling from Ring Shout. And their dynamic, so good. And some extremely satisfying moments. Dammit this is making me want to reread already. But yeah, Hadia is clever, quick, aware and confident in her skills, honest.

If you came here expecting a cohesive train of thought, sorry to let you down.

I loved the action in the book, the way magic and sword fighting/hand to hand fighting merged. It was a lot of fun. Which kinda saved it because the actual main mystery was probably the weakest part for me. I felt like the hints were dropped a little too heavily. Though it didn’t decrease my enjoyement, because part of hints were stuff that would only come together for the reader, what tipped me off wasn’t something I could realistically expected Fatma to catch. And honestly I would happily read just about anything with these characters in this world, so I wasn’t fussed.

Yeah, so overall loved, lots of fun, lived up to the promise of the previous books and I can’t wait for more.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: mystery, debut