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City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
Sep. 23rd, 2018 09:08 pmCity of Brass
3/5. An orphan is swept off the streets of historical Cairo and off into the political intrigues of a fantasy city which is her birthright.
Sorry, but I did not love this like a lot of you guys did. I liked it, don't get me wrong, and it's setting up a lot of magical and sociological things that could develop in interesting ways. But the "romance" actively repelled me. He's a centuries-old powerhouse with a history of committing unspeakable and unforgivable violence, and of suffering as a slave. The combination leans dangerously close to that thing where a fanfic woobifies Loki. You know what I mean. So I actively noped out of his pants feelings for a teenaged girl, and her -- whatever the hell she's thinking.
That was harsher than I felt while reading, but I finished weeks ago and no, that did not digest well. It could improve with the second course – I think the author could actually take this in a direction that interests me, particularly given how much I enjoyed the worldbuilding and politics, and how willing she was to upend everything in the last quarter. But she could also lean way more into the whole woe-is-him-he-killed-so-many-people-horribly-what-a-woobie. I have concerns.
3/5. An orphan is swept off the streets of historical Cairo and off into the political intrigues of a fantasy city which is her birthright.
Sorry, but I did not love this like a lot of you guys did. I liked it, don't get me wrong, and it's setting up a lot of magical and sociological things that could develop in interesting ways. But the "romance" actively repelled me. He's a centuries-old powerhouse with a history of committing unspeakable and unforgivable violence, and of suffering as a slave. The combination leans dangerously close to that thing where a fanfic woobifies Loki. You know what I mean. So I actively noped out of his pants feelings for a teenaged girl, and her -- whatever the hell she's thinking.
That was harsher than I felt while reading, but I finished weeks ago and no, that did not digest well. It could improve with the second course – I think the author could actually take this in a direction that interests me, particularly given how much I enjoyed the worldbuilding and politics, and how willing she was to upend everything in the last quarter. But she could also lean way more into the whole woe-is-him-he-killed-so-many-people-horribly-what-a-woobie. I have concerns.
