
The City of Brass
Shannon A. Chakraborty's The City of Brass (2017) is a historical fantasy and epic fantasy novel. It is set in the 18th Century. Key subjects include imaginary places, Jinn and genies.
Open Library readers give it an average of 4.1 out of 5 from 22 ratings, and 132 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 14 editions.
At about 544 pages, most readers finish it in 9–10 hours.
About The City of Brass
"Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty--an imaginative alchemy of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings, and Uprooted, in which the future of a magical Middle Eastern kingdom rests in the hands of a clever and defiant young con artist with miraculous healing gifts. Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, she's a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by--palm readings, zars, healings--are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive. But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she's forced to question all she believes. For the warrior tells her an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling birds of prey are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass--a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound. In Daevabad, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. A young prince dreams of rebellion. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal.
Awards & lists
- ✦World Fantasy Awards 2018 — Best Novel (nominee)
- ✦Locus Awards 2018 — Best First Novel (nominee)
Quick answers
Who wrote The City of Brass?
The City of Brass was written by Shannon A. Chakraborty and first published in 2017.
What genre is The City of Brass?
It is usually shelved as Historical Fantasy, Epic Fantasy and Adventure.
How long is The City of Brass?
The median edition has 544 pages, about 9–10 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.
What books are similar to The City of Brass?
Readers who like it often enjoy Last Argument of Kings, The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time Book 2) and The World of Ice & Fire.
More by Shannon A. Chakraborty
All books →
The Kingdom of Copper: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy)
Shannon A. Chakraborty

The Empire of Gold
Shannon A. Chakraborty

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
Shannon A. Chakraborty
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