A review by ko_rax
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

In A Master of Djinn, the reader accompanies Agent Fatma and her colleagues as she unveils the surrounding mystery around the murdering of a brotherhood dedicated to al-Jahiz. The story is set in 1912's Cairo, Egypt, and stuns with the appearance of mighty djinn, mechanically winged angels, powerful spells and dangerous artefacts.


First: I love, love, love Fatma's impeccable style. I got so jealous that I was debating on buying myself
suits
, as well. I also appreciated her professionality and always enjoy rational minds...and this is where my liking for her ends. As someone on Storygraph here has mentioned before, it did not feel to me as if Fatma had some kind of rooting, in a sense? Any goals, aspirations or ideals, at least not implicitly written out, except for obvious conformity with law, given that she is a working government official. The novel is quite plot-heavy, and I would have loved to see more insight on Fatma as a character, especially since she seemed to be the protagonist, despite her colleague
Agent Hadia, who seemed more of a sidekick
.

My favourite aspect of this novel is its world building and how it was embedded well in its historical setting.  P. Djèlí Clark spent a great time researching to turn scenes this vivid, and the unwritten rules in this magical setting bore no loopholes. It felt as if I was transported to Egypt - and I have never been to Egypt, ever - and familiarised enough with the setting to see the plot pick up as well without being overwhelmed. Also appreciated the imperialist undertones and implications in many interactions among characters. 

Towards the end, however, I felt the developments a little rushed, aside from uneven/imbalanced pacing throughout the whole novel. It was intriguing to me to see
power dynamics questioned and negotiated among the djinn and the Nine Ifrit Lords
, and at the same time, the
Nine Lords
, who were portrayed as
very mighty
ended up not meeting my expectations there. I like to believe it to be social commentary, or a thought experiment of what would happen when
clichéed glory is not the desired endgame
.

Lastly, I love
the sapphic romance with Siti
here. It was a nice touch on top of it and did not distract from the objective of the plot.


As someone who rarely dabbles in steampunk and is more into historical fiction and/or fantasy, this was a nice read for me. I have interest, though faint, in more stories set in this universe and will seek out other works of P. Djèlí Clark set in this universe, eventually.


To close it off with a quote I liked in particular: 

"Usually the screts we keep deep down, ain't meant to hurt other people, [..] Not saying they won't, but not through intentions. Those deep secrets, we hide away because we're afraid what other people might think. How they might judge us, if they knew. And nobody's judgement we scared of more than the one we give our hearts to. Besides, everybody got secrets. Even you, I'm betting."
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