A Master of Djinn
THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD-WINNER
-
-
4.1 • 15 Ratings
-
-
- £4.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE NEBULA AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S TOP TEN 21ST CENTURY FANTASY NOVELS
'Clever, wickedly fun . . . with an excellent balance of humour and heart. I loved it' S. A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass
Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha'arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she's certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.
So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, Al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world fifty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be Al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.
Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city - or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems . . .
P. Djèlí Clark is the winner of the Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards and has been shortlisted for the Hugo Award.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Returning to the bustling streets of the alternate 1912 Cairo first visited in the novella A Dead Djinn in Cairo, Clark's stunning full-length debut follows the adventures of Fatma el-Sha'arawi, a special investigator with the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. Decades earlier, the prophet al-Jahiz eliminated the separation of magical and non-magical realms, forever altering the world before disappearing from the public eye. Now members of a brotherhood dedicated to al-Jahiz's legacy turn up murdered. When Fatma is called in to investigate the crime, she discovers the perpetrator to be a man of rare magical abilities who claims to be the returned al-Jahiz himself. Together with her clever partner, Agent Hadia Abdel Hafez, and her girlfriend, Siti, Fatma sets out to uncover the truth behind this self-professed prophet. With this fantastic feat of postcolonial imagination, Clark reconfigures history with a keen, critical eye toward gender, class, and imperialism. Meanwhile, the colorful prose and thorough worldbuilding allow readers to truly enter this imagined world. An epic tale of magic and mystery, this is sure to wow.
