A Master of Djinn: 1 (Dead Djinn Universe)

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Half-Human Hybrid: Siti is half-human and half-djinn. She has a human mother and djinn father. She can shift between both forms at will. It turns out to be the source of her magic as well. Government Agency of Fiction: The Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, the Egyptian agency in charge of dealing with all things magic. Boyish Short Hair: Fatma and Siti both have short hair, while they're skilled women warriors along with being lesbian lovers. He stopped to rest against a giant replica of a copper teapot with a curving spout like a beak, setting down the burden he’d been carrying. It was shameful that someone of his years, having reached sixty and one in this year 1912, should suffer such indignities. He should be settling down for the night with a stiff drink, not trotting up a set of ruddy stairs!

And the plot itself suffers a bit from bit too much messy scattering and a bit of a pacing inconsistencies. Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer. A Master of Djinn is a 2021 fantasy steampunk novel by American writer P. Djèlí Clark, published by Tordotcom. [1] [2] The book is part of Clark's the Dead Djinn Universe and follows the events of the novelette "A Dead Djinn in Cairo", [3] and the novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015. [4] A Master of Djinn is the winner of the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2022 Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the 2022 Compton Crook Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2022 Mythopoeic Award for Fantasy Literature, the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Plot [ edit ]Everyone Has Standards: Portendorf, though “racialist” too, thinks Dalton's theory of ancient Egyptian rulers having been Caucasian is still absurd. Alternate historic Cairo comes to vivid life in Clark's first novel. His cosmopolitan city includes not only humans from all around the world, but supernatural creatures aplenty. When their interests and agendas collide, the result is the kind of book you don't want to put down.” - World Fantasy and Hugo Award finalist Marie Brennan

So I’m not the only one late to the company’s soirée! Thought I might have to give my apologies to the old man. But walking in with the little kaiser should save me from a striping!”Eldritch Abomination: The angels. Though they may or may not be actual angels, they're certainly powerful beyond human comprehension. The Nine Ifrit Kings are also an example, being massive fire djinn that ruled in ancient times.

I only hope Egypt isn’t drawn into your conflicts,” the woman sighed. “The last thing we need is war.” Wolfe, Gary K.; Bourke, Liz (June 18, 2021). "Gary K. Wolfe and Liz Bourke Review A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark". Locus Online . Retrieved April 8, 2022. Even in the world left behind by al-Jahiz, it wasn’t every day you saw a Marid djinn simply… appear. The exact scenario Fatma had tried so hard to prevent was now playing out right before her. She allowed a momentary wave of panic, before finding her resolve again. It was my first printed solo book. And though only a novella, once again, exceeded my expectations in its popularity. Got nominated for stuff. Won awards. Just so wild. At any rate, in the middle of enhancing and editing BGD, any thoughts to my alt-Cairo world were pushed to the side. I also had an academic manuscript to wrangle, and some scholarly book chapters to contribute. There was just no room to think on djinn or the like. When I first wrote that story, I had no idea it would even be published. For one, it was way over budget. What was supposed to be a short had pushed into novelette territory. Most short story markets at the time didn’t take stories past 6 or 7k. The few that did, had a 10k cutoff. And your story had better be damned good to deserve that much print: online or otherwise. What I had was pushing into 12k. And there was just no way it could be cut down and remain coherent. So I was about to assign it to the abyss of my hard drive, where many of its kin even now lay in slumber. But decided on a whim to roll the dice and put out a call on the interwebs.When he reached Lord Worthington, the old man wasn’t alone. Edward Pennington was there, one of the most senior men in the company and a true believer, though half-senile. He sat between two others, nodding his wizened head as both spoke into his ears. Later, someone confesses a secret that she should have noticed, and she thinks, “what kind of investigator was this unaware of what was going on right in front of her eyes.” I absolutely agreed; she’s actually quite unobservant on multiple occasions, which ends up causing strife in different ways. I realized reading this story that I was coming to the conclusion that Fatma is not competent. The question is, does Clark realize it? Is she a character who we should laugh at for obsessing with clothes over job? My intuition is that is not his intention, and it’s substitution for plot development (spoiler: she literally has people she interviews telling her where to go next). A delightful whodunnit full of sly commentary and a wonderfully lived-in steampunk Cairo. The perfect read when I needed a break from this world to enjoy one wholly made from Clark's enviable imagination.” - Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning and Star Wars: Resistance Reborn What a wonderful world P. Djélì Clarke has created here — an Arab world never colonized, where magic-powered trams glide through a cosmopolitan Cairo and where djinns make mischief among humans.” - NPR