The Kingdom of Copper

Can you ever make a new world that properly addresses the wounds of the past? - from Lightspeed interview

Can you ever make a new world that properly addresses the wounds of the past? - from Lightspeed interview

[In medieval history] so many of these cities and civilizations were the products of waves of conquest. How does that shape the societies that survive them generations later? How do conqueror and conquered influence each other and how do their stories and legends of what happened get transmitted? Can you ever make a new world that properly addresses the wounds of the past? - from the Lightspeed interview

I wrote a lot of this while managing a large obstetrics & gynecology practice (while my husband went to medical school), and I really wanted to capture the messy reality of medicine. It’s not always glamourous and noble; it can be exhausting, the work is bloody and tiresome and challenging, and sometimes your patients are terrible. It requires a confidence bordering on arrogance to cut into a person for their own good, and I wanted to show how a character might grow into that. - from the QuilltoLive interview

Shannon Chakraborty didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. “I wanted to be a historian, but I’ve been a bookworm since I was a kid,” she said. She originally wanted to be a historian, with a specialization in the Middle East. “That plan got a bit derailed for a variety of reasons, one of which was graduating in 2008 when the economy collapsed, so I figured I’d work while my husband went to medical school and keep my mind occupied with a little world-building/historical fan fiction,” she explains.

It’s that experience that led Chakraborty, who was born raised in New Jersey by blue-collar Catholic parents, to the seed that became The City of Brass. “It sprouted the day I set foot in the rare books library of the American University of Cairo,” she explains. There she lost herself in the stories and lore around her. “As a homesick, homework-laden, and rather wide-eyed new Muslim myself, I found in these stories a refuge; they spoke of a history that dazzled, a faith of breathtaking diversity in which my weird background was nothing new nor particularly noteworthy.”

I come from a pretty big family and always enjoy seeing well-done portrayals of complicated, messy, exasperating and yet also still loving relatives; I think it’s a thing many of us can relate to. And I’ve always had a particular fascination with rival princes. They’re fairly common in history, and yet I can’t imagine the emotions that go behind making a decision to war against your own brother.
There was certainly some inspiration from my own family. My twin brother and I are very close, and I was very protective of him, especially when we were younger, even when we were fighting. This was definitely an emotion and dynamic that I was trying to capture with Muntadhir and Ali. Though my brother isn’t a wealthy, libertine playboy destined to rule a shaky kingdom so the similarities end there!

“You don’t stop fighting a war just because you’re losing battles, Alizayd. You change tactis.”

S.A. Chakraborty has done it again. She has created another masterpiece. I knew she was able to create an unique and impressive story because she had already done that in The City of Brass, but she has left me speechless once again with The Kingdom of Copper. I truly believe Chakraborty has taken the fantasy genre to a whole new le

“You don’t stop fighting a war just because you’re losing battles, Alizayd. You change tactis.”

S.A. Chakraborty has done it again. She has created another masterpiece. I knew she was able to create an unique and impressive story because she had already done that in The City of Brass, but she has left me speechless once again with The Kingdom of Copper. I truly believe Chakraborty has taken the fantasy genre to a whole new level with this own voices Muslim trilogy set in Cairo in the 18th century.

The Kingdom of Copper picks up five years after the mind-blowing ending of The City of Brass. The time and the different situations lived since then have changed the characters we first met in the first book. We are back in the magical city of Daevabad, where the tensions between djinn, shafits and Daevas continues to increase. But we also get to know Bir Nabat, the home of one of the main characters for the last 5 years.

While the story was told only through Nahri’s and Ali’s POV in the first book, Dara gets his own POV too in this sequel. I thought the addition of the Daeva warrior’s POV to the story would bother me, as I’m not a fan of him. But the thing is that I really appreciated what he brought to the story. I may not like him as a person, but I definitely love the complexity of his character. Besides, his POV allows us to know more about the ifrits and also about Manizheh’s past.

Nahri and Ali are, once again, my favourite characters. I’m still shocked because of their incredible character development since The City of Brass. I love both their individual journeys and their friendship. And I swear, if they don’t end up being endgame by the end of this trilogy, I’m suing. Nahri deserves someone who respects her as much as Ali does. I know a lot of people ships her with Dara (which is totally valid, we can all ship to whomever we want), but I can’t forget or forgive how he didn’t let her make her own choices and how he acted behind her back in the first book. Ali may not agree with her sometimes, but he always respects her beliefs and, overall, he believes in her.

“You should be proud, Ali. Not many people can outwit me, but you? You had me believing you were my friend until the very end.”

And speaking of characters I love, Jamshid and Munthadir gave me all the feels again with their angsty relationship. Although I have to recognise that I was very frustrated because of how the crown prince treated Ali in this book. I understand where his feelings came from, but it just hurt to read such tension between the Qahtani brothers. But overall, I think Chakraborty is a mage creating complex families with their respective dramas. I cried with a family scene in The City of Brass and I cried again with a sibling scene in The Kingdom of Copper. It’s very difficult for me to cry reading a book and the fact that the author has managed to make me cry with her two books is kind of a miracle.

There are new characters introduced in this book and I want to briefly mention Lubayd, Aqisa and Queen Hatset because I truly loved them. Lubayd made me laugh uncountable times, Aqisa made my day putting men in their place and Queen Hatset was just amazing. Also, my sapphic heart is shipping Zaynab and Aqisa and I will go down with this ship.

As I said in my review of The City of Brass, this is a story of morally gray characters where there isn’t a good side against a bad side, which I love. Chakraborty delves into human complexity making this trilogy so powerful because of that.

The Kingdom of Copper is undoubtedly my favourite book of the year so far and one of the best sequels I’ve read. Can’t wait to know how S.A. Chakraborty wraps the story in The Empire of Gold. I’m sure she’ll blow my mind again with the political intrigues, the complex dynamics between characters, the family drama, the impressive mythology and the incredible world-building.

“And I’m sick and tired of acting like the only way to save our people is to cut down all who might oppose us, as if our enemies won’t return the favor the instant power shifts.”

P.S.: I'm not English, so if you see any mistakes let me know so I can correct them, please.