The Kingdom of Copper is the sequel to The City of Brass and therefore this review may contain spoilers for the previous book.

Nahri’s new life in Daevabad is far from easy. Now married to the emir, she must tread carefully around King Ghassan who hasn’t shown any more interest in uniting their people. But Nahri has a dream to help people, and the discovery of a ruined Nahid hospital gives her an idea.

Because a lost little girl from Cairo thought she was living in some sort of fairy tale. And because for all her supposed cleverness, she couldn’t see that the dashing hero who saved her was its monster.

The Kingdom of Copper takes up the story around five years after the final events of The City of Brass. Things have got worse for the shafit, the mixed blood offspring of Daeva and humans. It seems more than one group of djinn would like to rid the city of them, and they are often the scapegoats for any unrest. Nahri has a dream of treating both djinn and shafit patients, no matter the taboo surrounding it.

Ali has been banished to the desert but survives thanks to a worrying new ability. Did the Marid leave something behind after their possession?

In Daevabad, everyone believes Dara is dead. He has been brought back to the mortal world by Nahri’s mother (also thought to be dead) and he is to be used to rally an army against the King.

Whilst the three main characters are separated at the beginning, their paths will cross again. I loved how this world isn’t morally black and white. It reflects many of the problems suffered in West Asia around religious conflicts and lands divided where people want to reclaim their homelands. Daevabad was a city created for the Daeva, but the land was taken by force from the Marid.

Daevabad had crushed everyone in it, from its tyrant king to the shafit laborer scurrying through her garden. Fear and hate ruled the city-built up by centuries of spilled blood and the resulting grievances. It was a place where everyone was so busy trying to survive and ensure their loved ones survived that there was no room to build new trust.

There is so much prejudice reflected in the pages, so much injustice that Nahri must fight against. But even she isn’t immune to thinking the worst of people. She is basically imprisoned by the Qahtanis, and blames Ali for the actions on the lake without finding out what happened to him. Some people think Ali is a hero, others worship at the shrine of Dara, their martyr.

I don’t know why this took me so long to read. Like the first book, it gets off to a slow start, but I just love the setting and being back in this world. Once I got to the final third, I was hooked once again. And that ending! I cannot wait for the final book to see what happens next.

ATY: 18. A book related to one of the elements on the periodic table

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Book Source: Purchased