Spice guide
How Spicy Is The City of Brass?
Short answer: The City of Brass is 1/5 — Sweet — on the milder side.
Kissing and tension; any sex fades to black.
In The City of Brass: Romance is a secondary thread — there is one scene of intense kissing and physical tension, and a brothel is briefly referenced, but all sexual content remains firmly behind closed doors. The emotional slow-burn between Nahri and Dara is the closest the book gets to heat.
What readers think
Readers and critics are near-unanimous in praising Chakraborty's immersive, research-grounded worldbuilding — the djinn city of Daevabad is consistently called the book's greatest achievement, vivid with Islamic folklore, political scheming, and inter-tribal tension that feels genuinely earned. Nahri is widely celebrated as a smart, self-serving heroine, and Ali's morally conflicted arc is a frequent highlight. The romance is the most divisive element: some readers love the electric slow-burn between Nahri and Dara, while others feel it moves too fast on shaky emotional foundations given Dara's coercive dynamic. Pacing is the main structural criticism — the first half builds slowly and the political exposition can overwhelm. Goodreads sits at roughly 4.1 stars across 170,000+ ratings, and the novel earned Locus, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Award nominations, pointing to strong crossover appeal between fantasy and literary readers.
How it compares
- The City of Brass is milder than Fourth Wing3/5
- The City of Brass is milder than A Court of Thorns and Roses2/5
- The City of Brass is about as spicy as Twilight1/5
What you’re getting
- Spice
- 1/5
- POV
- multi
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
- Score
- 79.6
Content warnings: Violence, Death, Slavery, Graphic violence, Gore, Torture, Major character death, War, Human trafficking, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief & loss.
Is The City of Brass spicy? Your questions
Is The City of Brass spicy?
The City of Brass is spice level 1 out of 5 — Sweet. Kissing and tension; any sex fades to black.
How explicit do the spicy scenes in The City of Brass get?
Romance is a secondary thread — there is one scene of intense kissing and physical tension, and a brothel is briefly referenced, but all sexual content remains firmly behind closed doors. The emotional slow-burn between Nahri and Dara is the closest the book gets to heat.
Is The City of Brass spicier than Fourth Wing?
The City of Brass (spice 1/5) is milder than Fourth Wing (spice 3/5).
Does The City of Brass have a happy ending?
Yes — The City of Brass delivers an HEA or HFN (happily ever after / happy for now), as romantasy readers expect.
How we rate spice
Every romantasy on The Otherworld is rated 0–5 on one consistent scale: 0 closed door, 1 sweet, 2 mild, 3 steamy, 4 spicy, 5 scorching. The City of Brass sits at 1.