(You can also find this review on GOODREADS.)
Finally, after God only knows how long I have finished a book and not just a book but the City of Brass itself.
At first, I thought of writing a proper review for it but as I kept reading I just realized I didn't know how to put everything into words so it could all make sense. Instead, I'll present you with my rambles and hope they make at least a little bit of sense.
Most of the things I disliked had to do with the writing itself like her one-sentence structure which I, no matter how hard I try, can't remember what it was called. It's the 'no sooner ... than...' structure. The author seems very fond of it but it disrupts her otherwise good writing which flows very well and is easy to read.
Also, there was this one inconsistency where the author put some foreign words to show them speaking a foreign language when before and after that single moment she would usually explain that it was a different language. While I get that it was supposed to show that the character didn't speak that language, there are many ways that could've been shown without using 2 lines of foreign or made-up words that would never be used again in the entire book.
She does have very long chapters and the first half of the books is quite slow but it gets a lot faster-paced after Nahri gets to Deavabad and therefore it becomes a faster read.
Now, I find Ali's Character way more interesting and especially in the first half I found his parts a lot more intriguing. I was quite interested in Deavabad's politics and history and it is very relevant for the later plot. I also love Ali as a character, his morals and beliefs are quite clear and understandable and while he does sound naive I think that that's the charm of the youth, said the modest 21-year-old.
I loved his plot and the way he doesn't care about the discrimination happening in the city and wants to help everybody.
Also, there's a lot to Ali's character that we don't know and I can't wait to find out more about him.
I don't know how I feel about Nahri. I think that even tho I spent a lot of time in her head, I don't know her as well as Ali. Yes, there is a lot of information but to me, her character is a bit more unclear and a bit more flexible than his. I also found her to be very impatient with magic and I hope we all find out soon why that is. Is it because her intentions aren't clear enough or is it because of something else?
Her dynamics with Dara were weird and I'm divided between living for them and wondering if I missed something along the way. It was kind of predictable though, he is the first guy she met so yeah, take that as you will.
I liked Dara bc he's the type of character I have a soft spot for. However, I didn't like the way how conveniently he would never tell her anything even tho it was important. This trope, so to speak, is as old as time and no, thank you. Communication is key I get why he wouldn't want to share but if you have to choose between revealing your dark past and saving somebody's life...
Anyway, I also enjoyed Muntadir's Character and Jamshid's as well. I wish we'd seen more of them.
The king is interesting and I get why he does whatever he does, it's very logical and I like that.
I found myself rolling my eyes at the last few chapters even though I enjoyed them. I really loved the epilogue and I have questions.
I definitely enjoyed this book even if it looks like I have more criticisms than anything good to say. I did enjoy it.
However, it was very hard to choose a rating so I settled on the middle ground of what I was trying to choose from which was 3.75 and 4 stars. However, a few weeks after my rating I was talking about it with a friend and realised that although I enjoyed the book a lot, I had a lot of criticisms and decided to lower it to 3 stars.
I will definitely finish the trilogy.
Additionally, I didn't say anything about the culture because I'm not the target audience and I don't know anything. I've been told it's quite accurate and I've also been told that some of the things are real and others are fiction, IDK which is which.
I'd say the world-building is well-done, even tho sometimes the information would get a bit too cramped up for me. Depends on if you like your info dumps in small sections or longer monologues. The way she used to give information is by a character talking about it and while I do like it and it was consistent, I would sometimes find myself skimming through it.
I did skim some of the chapters, hence the lower rating.
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