(possible spoilers for the previous 2 books)
I loved this one. It was a great conclusion to the Daevabad trilogy. We’re sticking with the same three POVs but exploring other parts of the world, namely Cairo and Ta Ntry as Nahri and Ali try to figure out a way to get back to and help Daevabad. Meanwhile Dara and Manizheh are trying to consolidate power in Daevabad.
One of the things I really loved about this was the expansion of marid lore. We learn a lot more about them and their history with humans and djinn, especially the Ayaanle. We also get to spend a little time with the peris, who turn out to kind of be jerks, and we find out a little more about Nahri’s family. This expansion of history was one of the most interesting parts of the novel for me.
As much as I liked the characters we were following, I actually think it would have been nice to get at least one different character POV. Dara is mostly stuck to Manizheh’s side, and Manizheh’s character arc didn’t really work for me. I would have loved it if we could have spent some time with Zaynab instead. We don’t get to see much of what is happening throughout Daevabad in the other quarters, but Zaynab seemed to be a strong, uniting force, and I’d have loved to get a glimpse behind the scenes.
This was almost a 5-star read for me. It was close enough to round up from 4.75, and the ending of this novel itself was strong and inspired hope. But Manizheh’s characterization really didn’t work for me. While readers may not have agreed with some of her actions in Kingdom of Copper, there was at least some possibility of sympathizing with where she was coming from as a traumatized victim of Ghassan’s. Maybe getting some of her POV might have helped, but in the end, she just went too far for me in a way that didn’t seem understandable. It was still a great book, though. When I eventually start missing the characters, I’ll pick up the book of short stories set in this world.