Trapped in a loveless political marriage in a city of simmering revolt, she plays a long game that could free or doom Daevabad.
- Score
- 82.7
- Spice
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Sweet
- POV
- multi
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
Tropes
Content warnings
Curated signals, not an exhaustive guarantee.
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What readers think
Readers broadly consider this a worthy — and for many, superior — sequel that deepens the political complexity and character arcs established in The City of Brass. Ali's water-spirit storyline and his fractured brotherhood with Muntadhir are the most consistently praised elements, while Nahri's defiant hospital project earns warm admiration. Dara is the most divisive thread: critics find him the weakest POV here, his arc compelling in concept but emotionally frustrating when separated from Nahri until the book's final act. The perennial complaint is 'second-book syndrome': a slow mid-section as the trilogy pieces position themselves before a breathless, devastating finale. Chakraborty's cultural specificity — rooting the world in Islamic history and South Asian folklore — draws consistent praise from critics and fans of epic fantasy alike. Goodreads sits at approximately 4.38 stars across 92,000+ ratings, marking a strong hold from the first book.
Read it if
- · Fans of the first book who want deeper political intrigue and payoff on long-simmering character arcs
- · Readers who love morally grey ensemble casts where every faction has a legitimate grievance
- · Epic fantasy readers drawn to systemic oppression, class conflict, and slow-burn emotional stakes over explicit romance
Skip it if
- · You need a satisfying romantic payoff within a single book — the central love triangle barely moves
- · Slow-building middle acts and separated POVs across 600+ pages test your patience
- · You bounced off the first book's dense political worldbuilding — this goes deeper, not lighter
If you liked this
- · For fans of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin — sprawling palace intrigue where tribal infighting destroys the vulnerable caught in between
- · For fans of The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson — a story that digs into economics, underclasses, and power with an unflinching eye
- · For fans of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo — a morally grey magical world and a heroine navigating impossible political allegiances
- · For fans of Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi — fantasy rooted in non-Western mythology with systemic oppression and rebellion at its core
In this series
Part of The Daevabad Trilogy — read in order:
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