Review: The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)

4 stars. My never-ending quest to finish trilogies continues! And honestly, this one is so awesome. I'm really in love with these books and the way everything - the characters, the worldbuilding, the magical plot - comes together. I re-read The City of Brass so I'd be fully prepared, but I didn't expect to be so fully immersed. I'm about to dive into Empire of Gold and my biggest hope is simply that my heart survives it.

Five years after landing in Daevabad with Dara, Nahri has grown as a healer and has reluctantly embraced her status as a member of the royal family - for now. Ali is happily building a city far from his home, living at peace with his new abilities - for now. But in a city like Daevabad, full of tension among tribes, the status quo is fragile and cracking. With looming threats from abroad and within, each of the players in this game learn, unpleasantly, the enormous cost of change, and of peace.

Like the first book, this is truly a spellbinding whirlwind of beautiful colors and rich elements. The not-so-subtle exploration of themes like racism, religious persecution and inherited conflict continues, but it's still never preachy - in fact, it doubles down in its insistence that these things are as futile as they are ingrained and unavoidable, a tragic reality that each character has to learn and navigate.

I rolled my eyes at the romance in the first book, but I didn't mind it here, because it totally expands what "romance in YA/adult fantasy" can look like. (Or, I should say, what I want it to look like, which is a little less trope-y, a little less soulmate-y, and a little more malleable/non-monogamous). I docked a star instead because it's a little slow in the beginning/middle, and because for the life of me the tribe history and conflicts never clicked into place.

Regardless, these books are favorites. I think I might purchase beautiful hard copies, because I really see myself wanting to re-read. I'm fully invested and fully enamored by this world and want so much more. It's been so damn long since I felt myself in the first blushing throes of full fan obsession, but S.A. Chakraborty fucking hits it out of the park with every character, every development, every action-packed fight scene, every carefully-written line about oppression and social injustice. I can't not feel a little squeal-y, to be honest.

The Kingdom of Copper on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads