Master of Djinn Clark P. Djeli 9781250267689

I'm a fan! Clark has imagined an amazing and beautiful world here, full of colour, vibrance and vision. This world is so well realised you literally lose yourself in the writing, which itself is gorgeously flowing. Every character in this story is an absolute gem. Even the city itself feels like a character in a lot of ways. Fatma, the enigmatic lead role, with her immaculate sharp suits and bowler hat, leisurely wonders her way through these pages and I for one would happily follow her on any adventure. Her girlfriend, Siti, is a wise-cracking, unflappable, badass, who emerges as not what she seems toward the end. But I'll not spoil that for you. Speaking of the end. My big letdown to this wonderful book was the finale. To my mind, it was just too much. It felt more like a low-budget B-movie climax instead of the intelligent and subtle ending I was expecting. This entire book is incredibly well paced with a fantastically even flow through the slower scenes and into the action, without any sense of being rushed or forced. Unfortunately, the final big battle scene was the opposite, almost like the author just wanted to get it over with. But this is just my opinion and you may well consider me completely wrong when you read this. And I do, very much, recommend you read this book. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure.