City of Brass is hands down my favorite reading of the semester. Deduced from my own world-building project, I’ve always been passionate about Egyptian fantasy and magic. The fact that Nahri comes from a line of ancient healers just adds to my enthusiasm for my book, for I’m personally exploring healing techniques like reflexology and acupressure. This novel is incredibly descriptive and imaginative, and I became fully invested after Nahri described the chaotic apothecary. There’s a lot of terminology based off of Egyptian culture and mythology that I hope is explained later on in the novel. One of my favorite aspects about Nahri is her ability to sense illness. In other fantasy novels or shows I’ve watched, the healer’s ability to heal is never fully explained, and is often described as their hands held over the wound and simply healing it. Nahri’s ability to see shadows over organs or track the path of a baby inside a womb is an exciting change in how I visualize her healing powers.
I believe City of Brass can appeal to any audience with an interest in fantasy and ancient magic. The tone is complex enough that I don’t feel like I’m reading a middle-school novel, but it’s simple enough where I’m not overwhelmed by its vocabulary. I’m already charmed by Dara’s relationship with Nahri and curious to see his hardened personality open up and how his perspective changes over the course of their journey. I’d also love some more explanation in terms of his responsibility to her lineage.
In the first chapter, we are introduced to Nahri swindling some wealthy Turkish men. Sensing the older man’s fragile state of being, Nahri directly attacked his pathos by pretending his situation was out of her hands. This amplified the man’s anxiety so he was more willing to take her advice with little consideration of cost. If Nahri’s ethos weren’t so respectable the men wouldn’t have been so cooperative. The second man, Arslan, is definitely more logical, and she knew immediately she abused kairos when she lost her temper with them, knowing she did not need any more enemies.
With Dara being a daeva who’s in possession of many magical weapons, Nahri understands that it’s better to answer his questions, for they may reveal truth to her unknown identity. Dara understands Nahri wants water, and holds this above her so she’ll answer his questions despite the readers learning that he needs her alive, which means he would’ve given her water regardless.
Lastly, in the third chapter, Khayzur is convincing Dara to take Nahri to Daevabad. Dara tries to put Nahri in the hands of the peri, but Khayzur speaks logically, saying there was no hope for the girl and that her life is his responsibility. You see the peri change his language when he talks about how the girl will be killed slowly and gleefully, and attacks Dara’s pathos by saying it would be entirely his fault. This was successful, for even though the daeva has some resentments, he wanted the girl safe.
Elle the Warlock 