S.A. Chakraborty returns to her Middle Eastern fantasy world in a sprawling epic sequel rife with secrets and political tension. Five years have passed since the events of The City of Brass. Nahri is of the ruling family in the magical city of Daevabad and practices as a healer, but she has lost everything she loved. She still longs for the human world and her home city of Cairo. Her arranged marriage to Muntadhir, the emir of Daevabad, has united her family with the usurpers who stole their throne, and the union has brought them no joy. Muntadhir keeps to his hard-partying lifestyle, and Nahri secretly takes contraceptive potions. Her brother-in-law and former friend Prince Alizayd fled into exile and probable death after betraying her and slaying the man she loved, the djinn warrior Dara. Her father-in-law, the king, threatens to harm the Daeva tribe if Nahri won't follow his commands, most of which involve staying in the palace.
When Alizayd returns to Daevabad, not only alive but happy with his new life in a desert settlement, a swirl of political factions surface and come into conflict. Prince Ali, who must hide his possession by water spirits, again becomes concerned about the half-human (and thus second-class) citizens of the region. As a result, he is drawn into his powerful mother's circle. Civil war brews, while unbeknownst to the players, another threat rises in the desert. Manizheh, Nahri's supposedly dead mother, is alive and planning to take the city back for the Daeva. To accomplish her aim, she has resurrected her greatest weapon, Dara himself.
Chakraborty is master of her world, unafraid to play with cultural and class conflicts. Intricately plotted, The Kingdom of Copper follows a younger generation struggling against the machinations of their elders to improve the lives of their people. Nahri and Alizayd have matured into leaders willing to take risks, such as founding a hospital that will treat patients across racial divides, but they face insidious resistance.
Readers new to Chakraborty's work should begin with The City of Brass or, at a minimum, study the included glossary and maps. For returning readers, the expansion of this mythology-infused world and the emotional fireworks of character reunions should provide plenty of incentive to rejoin Nahri on her journey. Political maneuvers, attempted assassinations and violent skirmishes build to a cliffhanger ending that leaves little room for a happily ever after in the next installment, though with Chakraborty's magic touch, anything is possible. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
Shelf Talker: In this sequel set five years after Chakraborty's Middle Eastern-themed fantasy The City of Brass, Nahri, Alizayd and Dara are each caught in a collision course of political forces.