The Kingdom of Copper

I....may have an unpopular opinion on this book. First, I LOVED the first book of this trilogy, The City of Brass. Absolutely loved it. It was one of my favorite books of that year. I like this one significantly less. I think that probably wouldn't be the case if I had read this in quick succession, but I read City of Brass when it came out, and had to wait a year for this one, in which time I read around 200 more books.

I expected a certain amount of backstory explanation in Kingdom of Copper - and it wasn't there. I think the book assumes you remember everything that happened in City of Brass - and I most certainly did not. I don't remember why we have the division between the djinn and the daeva, or really which is which. I know the shafit are part human, part...djinn? Daeva? See that's the problem. These are very politicky books and forgetting key parts of the political drama makes this book VERY hard to follow. I don't know WHY there's conflict between certain people, and I don't recognize missteps when characters make them because I've forgotten who has which opinions.

All the worldbuilding explanations are in the first book, and they aren't revisited in this one. Had I KNOWN that, I might have re-read City of Brass before this came out, as much as I dislike re-reading anything.

All of that aside, and despite my confusion, I mostly enjoyed this continuation of Nahri's story. We delved a little more into murky bloodlines, the more recent past of Daevabad, and the more ancient past of Nahri's healer ancestors, the Nahids.

I still love Nahri, I like Ali a little more, and I like Dara a little less. I am curious to see where the third book leads, especially after the cliffhanger ending of this one. I just might have to re-read both City of Brass and this one before reading the trilogy's conclusion.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

I'm still in love with this world and these characters. I can't recommend this series enough. I feel like there was an incredible amount of development both in the overall world and for the characters and their relationships. That ending made me immediately pick up the next book because I need to know what happens next RIGHT NOW.

4.0 out of 5 stars

It took me a little while to sink back into this story, but once I did it was a treat to return to Chakraborty's richly drawn world. Her prose remains lush, fresh, and infinitely readable. Apart from an explosive finale, the excitement levels were dialed back a bit from the first book and the character building was more centerstage. Since Chakraborty has already established her main trio of characters, she could really focus on fleshing out their motivations and exploring the depths of their complex psyches. Even as each page crackles with magic, at its core, this is a captivating family drama that continues to ratchet up the tension as the book progresses.

Overall, I thought this was a really solid middle book. It charted new territory and told a contained story that was engaging, satisfying, and left me looking forward to what comes next.

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Well I thought I really liked the first book in the series, but it turns out I was here for the human girl / damaged immortal boy thirst. Chakraborty put less of that and more story in this one.

I mean, it's a good story and if you liked the first one, do continue. Characters evolve and grow and they're far more interesting. But it still won't be for you if you liked the first one for the YA romance trope.

This was a fantastic extension and expansion of the world that Chakraborty created in City of Brass. We learn a lot more about the Daeva world, as Nahri attempts to adjust to the position she was placed in at the end of the first book. It feels like this volume has a much tighter grip on her as a focal character, and it makes it a stronger narrative because of it; through her eyes, we can see not only the wonder of the fantastical world she exists in, but also the frustration over the rules that it tries to impose on her.

The Kingdom of Copper was okay, but not nearly as captivating as The City of Brass, which was a bit of a letdown. The plot was really, really slow in the middle and doesn't seem to have contributed much to the overall plot. Overall, I enjoyed reading it though, and I intend to finish the trilogy, whenever the third book comes out.

1st read (2020): AHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!!!!!

the characters are so well flushed out and the world building is amazing!!! i got sucked in instantly every time i picked it up, but it took my nearly 2 weeks to read..... because i didn't want it to end!!!! i'm so so SO excited to pick up the empire of gold


2nd read (2021): i still love this book so much. it was definitely a lot of set up for the third book but that's fineeee. it took me really long to read it because i knew what was going to happen and i just.... wanted to get it over with, so my solution was to just not read it for weeks lol. the ending of this book still hurts a lot and i'm really looking forward to starting empire of gold

3rd read (2023): re-reading these with my partner because he wants to read my favorite books??? so sweet. anyways, i love this book. i don't know what i was going on about last time because this book is incredible. i do still think it's a lot of build up for the second book but the last 200 pages always get me. i didn't cry this time, but THE ENDING!!!!

I liked loads of the side characters, although I would have loved to see more of the newly added ones. They felt like they barely had any backstory or depth to them.
This book ended up being a little bit of a struggle for me, although I enjoy political turmoil this just went on for about 200 pages too many.
Unfortunately, maybe only 20% of the ending really moved the story forward. Most of the book could be summed up in 15 pages at best.

It took me a lot longer to get into this book compared to the first one, but overall this book goes hard. While portions of it are a little predictable/tropey, those same plot points are just as often turned on their heads. Genuinely no idea how the trilogy is going to end, but the whole thing is so far very much worth the read.