A Master of Djinn

This debut novel is a steampunk fantasy story set in Egypt in the early part of an alternate 20th century. It is a mystery story filled with magical beings and objects following the author's previous two short works which plays with some of the conventions of the genres with plenty of humor throughout. I started this audiobook last spring but had to take two passes at getting through the entire convoluted tale. It is written with verve and a real love of invention. The alternate mystical Cairo here is packed with detail and the characters have been imagined with sympathy for their memorable idiosyncrasies. The center of the tale is a murder investigation which spins out into wider conspiracies among many side characters both human and non-human. The entire world is threatened at the end, naturally.

I liked how an anti imperialist jab would show up now and then to make fun of the colonial pattern more conventional steampunk stories would tend towards, along with feminist and queer aspects woven in. The action scenes work fairly well even if you could see them coming in advance, cinematic style. I felt this book was deserving of the attention it gained when it came out a few years ago and am interested to see what other kinds of worlds this author will be building.

An excellent read that immerses the reader in a steampunk and magical alternative world set in the early 20th century, where djinns and other magical creatures exist in Egypt and the rest of the world. This was made possible when a mysterious mystic named al-Jahiz broke the barrier between our world and the magical one. This allowed Egypt to resist European colonization (with the help of djinn) and to become a world power.

Into this world steps Fatma el-Sha’arawi, who works at the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. She helped save Egypt (and the world) from being taken over by ancient beings from another world in a previous tale ("A Dead Djinn in Cairo"). In this story, she starts with an investigation into the mysterious deaths of a secret brotherhood group that would lead her to confront a person with immense magical powers who claim to be al-Jahiz, who has returned to lead a revolution against the elite.

With a supporting cast of fascinating characters like her new partner, her secret lover, a man channelling (or becoming?) an ancient Egyptian god, djinns, 'angels' and others personnel from the Ministry, she would confront the person, leading to a climactic battle that would determine the fate of the world. And only she may be able to wield the ultimate item of magical power that can stop that person, and others, from carrying out a plan to dominate the world.

The author hints of magical beings inhabiting other parts of the world, which opens up the possibility of a series of future stories involving Fatma and other characters in other adventures around the world. If true, this is one reader eager to join in their adventures.

As much as I wanted to, I didn't find this book very compelling. I certainly like the notion of a fantasy-ish story that takes place somewhere other than London or NYC, but that wasn't really enough for me. The plot gets bogged down in endless explanations -- basically with every introduction of a new tool, location, creature, character, etc, instead of showing us the thing, the author just tells about the thing. The dialogue drags and is repetitive. The concept of the plot has a lot of potential, but in execution it is extremely predictable, especially for a book that purports to be a mystery. The book is vaguely anti-colonial, and the gender politics are certainly interesting, but at the same time it's really falls into traditional genre tropes and in a lot of ways it buys into the accepted structure of western/colonial politics. I almost put it down several times.