on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Read on recommendation from Emmett,
Rating: 2 /5
Summary:
Nahri is a con artist, and a good one at that. She knows how to pick a mark, and how to make them trust her. It's how she survives. But she has something more: she can sense people's sickness, feel their body's pain, and heal it. One day, while performing a fake ritual to cleanse a girl's body of a djinn, something goes wrong, and in a whirlwind of strange events, she finds herself saved by a man who isn't quite human. He tells her that, for her to survive, she must travel with him to a safe city, a magic city: The City of Brass.
Thoughts:
There were parts of this book I loved. Mainly Nahri's smarts, her (though few) successes. The rest of it, I honestly hated. The world-building was too complex from the start; it felt like Chakraborti was stuffing it down my throat rather than giving me pieces when I got curious. There were so many names and tribes and alliances, and none of them were clearly good. It wasn't that they were morally grey but for a good cause: I honestly still have no idea who was in the right at any point in time. Maybe it's because I still don't have all the information, but still. I don't need a perfect good side and bad side. That can get boring. But I need to understand what, morally, is right, instead of perpetually sitting in a muddled mess of confusion on who did what horrible thing.
This probably wasn't helped by the fact that the character who was supposed to be more morally compassed and correct was by far my least favorite character because he was endlessly indecisive and incompetent. It wasn't that he knew what was right and what he wanted but couldn't make it work. Instead, he got in trouble on both sides because he couldn't choose, and that made me want to freaking hit him.
The main romance in the book started out well: hot immortal grumpy man being forced to save clever girl, them falling for each other in the process. In actuality, it was good for a little bit, then they kissed, forgot about it, didn't mention the tension for 150 pages all while the man got more controlling and abusive-feeling and evil, and then the girl still wanted him kind of, but she couldn't make up her mind either. Ugh. It was kind of awful.
I am going to read at least the sequel, because Emmett told me to, and because I want to give the series a chance to redeem itself now that I at least partially understand the world building. Also, the end of the last chapter was amazing. I really do hope it gets better. Fingers crossed.
Words:
Palanquin (n) a covered litter for one passenger, consisting of a large box carried on two horizontal poles by four or six bearers (pah-lahn-keen)
Endemic (adj) (of a disease or condition) regularly found among a particular people or in a certain area
Profligacy (n) reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources
Incendiary (adj) (of a device or attack) designed to cause fires
Ziggurat (n) a rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple
Puritanical (adj) practicing or affecting strict religious or moral behavior
Crenellated (v) to provide with battlements
Sigils (n) an inscribed or painted symbol considered to have magical power
Charnel (n) short for charnel house (adj) associated with death
Carnelians (n) brownish-r3ed mineral used as a semi-precious gemwstone
Ablutions (n) the act of washing oneself, often used or humorously formal effect