June was very much the month of me finally bingeing all of SA Chakraborty’s books. I have a separate full review up of the Daevabad trilogy, but here I will also review the other two Chakraborty books I read this month – the Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and the Tapestry of Fate (and I’ll let you know a spoiler, to whet your appetite; as much as I loved the Daevabad trilogy, I think I might have loved Amina even more). All this to say, I discovered some new favourite books and a new auto-buy author this month.

As the title of this post implies though, I did read a few other things that weren’t written by Shannon Chakraborty. There’s another epic historical fantasy (can you tell I love a historical fantasy?), an epistolary litfic that BookTok is loving and a new thriller release from one of my most anticipated authors.

I’m sat in front of a window, with a rainy summer’s evening outside. Even so, the lake in front of our holiday cottage’s splendour cannot be dimmed no matter the weather. So let’s dive in to what I read in June.

• City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

Epic fantasy / Historical

‘Greatness takes time, Banu Nahida. Often the mightiest things have the humblest beginnings.‘

My review: Nahri is a petty thief and pickpocket on the streets of 18th century Cairo, a city undergoing great change and tussles with different powers. When one of Nahri’s cons goes disastrously wrong and she summons an ancient and mightily powerful djinn to her side, she unknowingly sets in motion a series of events that will lead to her fleeing Cairo alongside the djinn pursued by magical creatures that Nahri thought were merely the stuff of legends. But the djinn Dara who seems to be her only ally is also keeping secrets – secrets that will emerge when they finally reach the unseen city of Daevabad and throw everything Nahri thought she knew about this new world into greater chaos. For Daevabad, the fabled City of Brass, is the centre of the magical realm and it too is being torn apart by warring factions.

Nahri soon finds herself embroiled in a court of ancient grudges, simmering tensions and tyrannical rulers as she discovers more about her own past and connection to the magical city. The quote above really encapsulates this entire series. The City of Brass is a very solid first book, an introduction into a world that we already know has the capacity to become so much bigger. The worldbuilding is a slow build, much of which we learn alongside Nahri so it never feels unmanageable or info-dumpy.

The story is also told in dual POV, with Nahri’s narrative counterpart being Prince Alizayd, the second son of the King. I think this balanced wonderfully. We see a different side to Daevabad through Ali’s eyes, particularly since he and Nahri have contrasting ideologies and politics. This also made their POVs so distinctive and I never forgot whose I was reading.

I rated this 4.5 stars and the only reason that it didn’t get a five star was just a pacing issue that might be personal preference. I found the section with Nahri and Dara travelling to Daevabad slightly boring and I know exactly why this is – I’m not a big Dara fan. He seems to be a rather divisive character in the Daevabad-universe; you either love him or you hate him. If I had to choose, I fear I’m in the hate camp. Instead I much preferred Ali – he’s sanctimonious and strait-laced – but his own struggle with his moral code and difficulty reconciling his father’s actions with his own belief system was far more interesting to me than Dara’s inner conflict.

I thought the ending wrapped up really nicely (obviously it leaves a LOT of unanswered questions that made me so eager to start book two) but it had a pretty satisfying conclusion regardless of them. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance between Nahri and Dara, but truly it is such a small component of the story that it didn’t overly bother me.

• The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)

Epic fantasy / Historical

‘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.’

My review: After the devastating effects of the City of Brass, Nahri has been left reeling by the betrayal of the one person in Daevabad she thought she could trust. In the five years since, she has set about rebuilding and making a place for herself in Daevabad. Embracing her role as the Banu Nahida, the palace’s healer, and marrying a powerful man, Nahri determines she will never again be as helpless as she once was.

Prince Alizayd has been exiled by his father, but when a series of contrived circumstances draw him back to Daevabad, he must defy his king’s orders. All the while, a threat is brewing that may demolish the fragile peace Nahri has painstakingly built, one both supernatural and very human.

The Kingdom of Copper takes all the worldbuilding and setup we got in the City of Brass and expands it tenfold. We get a third POV in this book, and similarly to the first book, each of the three narrative characters are so different. They have different politics, so a lot of the time, they are actively plotting against one another. There are pieces of information that one character might have but another doesn’t. As the reader, it was like having a completed jigsaw puzzle and watching the three of them struggle to solve it. I also felt like the political intrigue kicked up a gear – it’s what the majority of this book is comprised of, which might be boring to some readers who prefer more action, but I personally loved the slow burn of the plot.

Additionally, I really feel like the five year time-jump was the right decision to make. Each of the characters, even the side characters, felt naturally a lot more mature. They were in different circumstances and stations – for instance, Nahri is a valued healer and wife to the future King so she is in much more of a position of power in this book.

The research that Chakraborty puts into this story is insane – something that was true of the City of Brass but is doubly true of the rest of the series. I adore a historical setting, especially when it combines fantastical elements built off local folklore and legends as this is, and when so much work is put into making every single detail slot into the story perfectly, it elevates the story exponentially. No second-book syndrome around here! Authors, take notes. This is how you write a sequel.

• The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #3)

Epic fantasy / Historical

‘I am who I am because of that human world. It wasn’t the Banu Nahida who’d driven the peris to their knees, it was the con artist of Cairo, and Nahri wouldn’t cast her away.‘

My review: Daevabad has fallen, and after a bloody battle that saw thousands dead, the city has been stripped of all magic. The streets are in turmoil with the unprecedented loss of magic and the despotic behaviour of their new ruler. The worst demons of the magical world have been let loose and corrupted blood magic threatens its future.

Nahri and Ali have escaped unscathed and have secreted themselves away in Cairo. But a decision weighs on them; to turn their backs on the city they’ve both sacrificed so much in vain to save, or to try one last time.

I loved being back in Cairo – it felt cyclical and perfect as Nahri’s story drew to a close. I also loved seeing some different landscapes and cultures of the djinn outside of Daevabad, such as Ta Ntry. The scope of the story expanded and the stakes heightened, and overall it was a pretty spectacular finish to a masterfully woven series.

We have a wide cast of characters but none of them feel neglected or overlooked. They’re all so expertly developed and have arcs (some heroic and some villainous). I also loved how Chakraborty wrote her villains, with motivations that felt so realistic. Partly fuelled by vengeance and partly by true belief that what they’re doing is right, for the greater good of Daevabad.

There’s an endorsement from Laini Taylor on the cover that reads ‘Dizzyingly magical, and still utterly believable,’ and I agree with this. For all that fantasy books are just that – fantasy – they can still feel realistic to our world in their themes and conversations. The endlessly warring factions and how the djinn society is splintered – not just into two opposing sides, but into five or six who all believe differently – felt very true to how politics does divide people.

As I was saying at the start of my reviews, where the characters start the story versus where they end up is so vastly different that it really feels like you’ve been on the journey with them. The threads Chakraborty has woven together throughout the three books come together so seamlessly and it felt like the revelations and twists just kept coming.

All this to say, I think this is maybe one of the fantasy books I’ve read that comes to the closest to perfection. The pacing throughout the series – the balance of action and politicking, developing characters and building relationships – was struck perfectly to my liking. Even for a book of 800 pages, it felt like not a word was wasted, no scene extraneous.

• The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

Historical fantasy / Horror

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• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Epistolary / Contemporary fiction

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• River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #3.5)

Short stories / Fantasy

‘Half of your roots missing. Maybe that just means you’re free to write your own story.’

My review: I’ll attempt to keep this one short, since this review is already so long. The River of Silver is a collection of short stories – scenes that Chakraborty had to extract from the original drafts, extra epilogues and additional backstory that she wrote to inform the story.

I really enjoyed this short addition to the Daevabad trilogy – although as I was reading the original three books, I didn’t have the impression that needed any more character development, that anything was missing, these were pleasant extras. Sometimes I’m a bit wary that authors use these novellas or short stories to make up for things glossed over in the original book, but this definitely wasn’t the case here. It was supplemental material – fun and informative to read the backstories of some of the more niche side characters – but definitely not required reading.

I appreciated that it offered me the chance to get a bit of closure from the end of Empire of Gold. I had been so invested in this world for weeks and suddenly it was over? So it was nice to jump straight into this, and have my soul healed from some of the cuter stories (we do not get a lot of cute in these books, so this rare occasion was to be savoured).

• Tell Your Friends by Lauren Wilson

Young adult / Thriller

My review: ‘It should have been her…’

For Crystal, university is her chance to get out from under the thumb of her controlling parents and begin living a life off camera. When she meets Alyssa, another student with a suspiciously murky past and a habit of alienating everyone she grows close to, the two form a friendship and Crystal recruits Alyssa’s help in exposing the truth behind her family’s picture-perfect online persona.

Unbeknownst to Crystal, Alyssa is an avid watcher of At Home with the Shaws, and vows to thwart her expose at every turn. But as Crystal gets closer to unearthing the lies hidden in her past, it could bring revelations that will change her life forever – and Alyssa will go to any lengths to make sure the truth never gets out…

Tell Your Friends has a boatload of current social commentary around the dark side of family vlogging and kid influencing, while retaining the compulsive and addictive pace typical of thrillers. Seriously, I’d recommend picking this up when you have a good couple of hours free, because once you start, you’re not going to want to stop! The themes dissected hit far too close to home – the sad reality of a childhood lived in front of cameras and put on display for public consumption, and I think it’s one that a lot of us recognise from our FYPs or news articles.

I also loved how Wilson put female friendship at the forefront of the story. I thought it was really interesting how Wilson explored the parasocial relationship that Alyssa developed and detrimental it was to her own life – from her family to the furthering of her own insecurities. As for Crystal, her internal battle between exposing her family and potentially perpetuating the cycle of abuse felt like a realistic portrayal of a grown-up kidfluencer. The guilt, anger and resentment she oscillates between felt true to life.

Overall, a stunning follow-up to Wilson’s debut last year The Goldens. If you loved Yesteryear or Julie Chan is Dead and their somewhat satirical, razor-sharp commentary on influencing, I think you’d similarly love Tell Your Friends. Tell Your Friends is out today!

• Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

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• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (Amina al-Sirafi #1)

Epic fantasy / Swashbuckling adventure

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My review:

• The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (Amina al-Sirafi #2)

Epic fantasy / Swashbuckling adventure

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So that’s everything I read in the month of June – definitely one in which I fixat ed on one author and read all of her works to date and it’s actually been one of my most enjoyable reading months ever, so I highly recommend that strategy (especially when the author is S.A. Chakraborty and everything she has ever written is pure magic).