A Master of Djinn
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4.4 • 230 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Nebula Award, Ignyte Award, Compton Crook Award for Best New Novel, Locus First Novel Award, and the RUSA Reading List: Fantasy!
Finalist for the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, NEIBA Book Award, Mythopoeic Award, and the Dragon Award!
A BookRiot Best SFF Book of the Century
P. Djèlí Clark's dazzling debut novel, A Master of Djinn.
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 forty 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…
Novellas by P. Djèlí Clark
The Black God's Drums
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
Ring Shout
The Dead Djinn Universe contains stories set primarily in Clark's fantasy alternate Cairo, and can be enjoyed in any order.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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.
Customer Reviews
Inventive and a refreshing revival for the lost steam punk of pre-war Cairo
Great fun, clever and exotic
Hurry up with book #2 :-)
Very enjoyable and unique. These characters deserve many more stories!
Fabulous read
I loved this book - a richly developed world with strong women leads and an interesting plot that has a final twist you may or may not see coming but will greatly enjoy regardless. I greatly hope for future books with these same women leads - if another had already been published, I would’ve bought it as soon as I finished this one.