The City of Brass

What a fun, unique fantasy read! It was refreshing to read something with an Arabian flavour and mythology to it and top that off with good characters, a bit of romance and a bit of intrigue and mystery and The City of Brass is a well-rounded adventure well worth reading. I enjoyed the world-building with its magical flare, but also based in a reality you can almost believe exists. The three main characters are driven by surprisingly complicated and realistic reasons that make them interesting and much more real and not cookie cutter caricatures - something that would be all too easy in a setting and story like this. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and I very much look forward to the next book!

DNF - PG 50

Why?

I don't know what it is that I need to make me like a character. If I did, I think I'd probably have a much easier time finding it - and finding books I didn't have knee-jerk reactions to.

So, I met Nahri and feel nothing for her. I mean, she could have the potential to grow into a character I could like. And, in truth, I would continue reading if not for one major problem: the character I can only assume is Dara. I liked him for a split second. I mean for like five sentences, I thought he was going to be fun.

He's not.

He's a high handed, controlling male that isn't even human. I read some reviews on the ‘romance' and thought that it surely couldn't be as bad as they say. I flipped through the book only to discover that Dara is trying to set up a marriage for Nahri of the proper blood. During this, Nahri alludes to their time in a cave, what I can only assume was them having sex. Here her romantic interest is, completely disregarding what she wants in favor of telling her what is best for her. Because, of course, he knows.

One of the biggest problems for me in books, one of the quickest ways I will quit, is when people aren't being treated with respect in a romance.

There is no respect here.

(I also would have liked to have been warned that this did have a romance, because I might not have went for it had I known.)

This book started out well, but quickly devolved into a thin romance, excessively detailed world building, and a book that would been better with 200 pages cut out. With that said, the author is a tale talented writer, so perhaps the next book in the series will be better.