Lucas Blogs About The Empire of Gold

Shiny!

So, that's this book's deal?

Well, Hypothetical Reader, The Empire of Gold is the conclusion to S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy that began in The City of Brass and continued with The Kingdom of Copper.

Oh, yeah, it's that series about genies!

Djinn. They prefer to be called djinn. Most of them, some of them prefer to be called daevas. Hence Daevabad. And that's where the SPOILER free portion of this post ends. If you haven't read the first two books, go back and read those. Anyway, here's a quick recap of the story so far: Nahri is a conwoman in Egypt during the Napoleonic Wars who longs to become a doctor. One day she accidentally summons an ifrit but is saved by a dashing daeva named Dara who reveals that she's a shafit (that is to say, someone of mixed human and djinn heritage). He takes her to the city of Daevabad which was once ruled by her ancestors, the Nahid clan. That is, until they got a little too genocide-y and were overthrown by the Qahtanis, who rule the djinn to this day. The current king Ghassan's younger son, Ali, befriends Nahri because he's sort of a geek for the human world. He's also a very observant Muslim. The first book has a lot of political intrigue, given that the last survivor of the old dynasty shows up in the city unannounced, and it also shows Nahri coming to terms with her identity as an exile, a magical entity, and, as it turns out, a natural healer. At the end Ali slays Dara but is banished to Am Gezira (it's what the djinn call Arabia) when Ghassan discovers that he's been financing political radicals who want the shafit to have the same rights as other djinn. Meanwhile Nahri is forced to marry Ghassan's older son, Muntadhir, and Dara wakes up after being resurrected by Nahri's mother, Manizheh: Dun-dun-DUHUHUHUHUHUHN! Skip forward five years. An inopportune visit from a relative forces Ali to return to Daevabad, where Nahri is starting to make a life for herself and grieving Dara's death. Meanwhile, Dara is preparing to retake the city with Manizheh and dealing with the body horror of being resurrected. He also isn't crazy about the allies Manizheh has taken on (the ifrit, who enslave other djinn and force them to serve human masters). In the city, political tensions are coming to a head even as Nahri and Ali work to rebuild the old Nahid hospital with the help of shafit who received medical training in the human world. Unfortuantely, violence explodes at a once-in-a-generation festival which leaves the city vulnerable when Manizheh attacks. Ghassan is killed, but Nahri is able to keep Manizheh from claiming Suleiman's seal (the mark of kingship) by slipping it onto Ali's finger and leaping with him from the palace walls, only to find themselves on the banks of the Nile.

Who'd've thought that two books about political upheaval amongst fire-elementals hailing from North Africa to South Asia could be so complicated?

I know, right? That's more or less what happens in the first two books, and I had to leave a lot of stuff out, like the fact that Nahri has a secret brother whose healing powers have been suppressed and that he just happens to be Jamshid, Muntadhir's secret lover). Anyway, this book is left to close out the trilogy and resolve all those hanging plot threads. Here's more or less how things stand at the beginning of this book: Removing Suleiman's seal from Daevabad means that djinn magic no longer works. This is bad news for Daevabad because magic is basically the only thing that keeps the whole city working, but slightly better news for Muntadhir who was dying of a magical wound when magic stopped working. It's also a big problem for Ali and Nahri because the seal (which was absorbed by Ali's body and is now lodged in his heart), takes a heavy toll on Ali and Nahri can't use her healing powers to help him through it. Meanwhile, Manizheh is having a hell of a time keeping her new subjects in line because it turns out that being a despot who overthrew the old despot doesn't exactly win you a lot of support. The only tool she has is Dara who, as a result of whatever she did to bring him back to life, is able to use magic the way that the daevas did before they submitted to Suleiman. But you know, when the only tool you have is a hammer (or a thousand-year-old warrior affectionally known as "the Scourge") every problem looks like a nail, and Manizheh only grows more despotic. As they travel down the Nile to meet with Ali's mother's family in Ta Ntry, they have encounters with the water spirits known as marid who are dangerous but who could also prove to be allies if Ali and Nahri want to remove Manizheh and Dara. But to what end? Ali has no interest in the throne, and is beginning to think that maybe thrones themselves are the problem. And what about Nahri, she's never wanted power of any kind, she just wants to be a healer. Anyway, I think I've made it about as far as I can without doing more than hinting about the actual endgame of the trilogy.

Speaking of, let's just start with the big question, was this a satisfying conclusion?

Yeah.

You're the worst, Lucas.

Thank you, Hypothetical Reader. But for serious, Chakraborty stuck the landing. I think one of the biggest problems with series in general is that beginnings are inherently more interesting than endings.

I think you might have to justify that with a half-baked explanation.

Well, for example, I think that Infinity War is a more interesting movie because it's all about setting up possiblities, where as Endgame, as an ending, is forced to close out possibilities until all that's left is the end of the story. There's also the fact that the actual ending of an ongoing story has to compete with your own imagined ending. And let's face it, you probably prefer the ending that you thought up to the one that was served to you by the author.

I can go along with that. So, back to The Empire of Gold.

Right. So with all of that said, the ending of The Kingdom of Copper sort of left me stumped. I legit didn't have any idea where Chakraborty was planning on taking the story. Well, that's not true. There were a lot of things that needed to happen, Nahri and Ali needed to sort out how they feel about each other and find a way back to Daevabad. Ali needed to sort out what exactly was going on with his weird water magic and figure out why the marid had saved his life back in the first book. Dara needed to confront the morality (or immorality) of his actions. What is the future of Daevabad? And, obviously, Nahri needed to confront Manizheh and Dara. And Chakraborty managed to hit on all of these in a way that was consistent with the themes that the story has dealt with since the beginning. And I'll admit that at least one aspect of the ending surprised me. Namely the fact that even though it ends with Nahri claiming Suleiman's seal, she rejects the throne and works with Ali to set Daevabad on a path to democracy. There were some aspects of the ending that are maybe too pat, but on the whole, it works.

You mentioned themes, but you gotta do more to expand on them than just have one "highlight to reveal spoiler" line.

You're right, so one of the big themes of the series has been reconciliation. And I mean that in the broadest terms, it's not just about making peace in interpersonal relationships, but within society at large. Obviously there's the conflict between the Daevas (that is to say the djinn who are specifically from Daevastana) and the Geziris (and the other groups of djinn who have allied with them) over the treatment of the shafit. There's the way that Nahri has to resolve her conflicting feelings about Dara (dashing stranger saves her life, reintroduces her to her people, turns out to have committed genocide in the name of her ancestors and destroys her new life by invading her new home) and Ali (first person to befriend her in Daevabad, is the son of the man who is essentially holding her prisoner, is super uptight). Then there's the fact that whether they're oppressing them, or protecting them, the shafit are always treated as lesser beings in need of either control or guidance. And without spoiling anything, in the end it turns out that there's no instant solution to most of these problems, only a process of working to address them. There's actually a lot of stuff going on in these books, and I appreciate the fact that Chakraborty took the effort to build out her world to the extent that it can actually support these themes.

So the world-building holds up?

Definitely. There's some wild stuff that gets introduced in this book (well, maybe more like, wild stuff that is hinted at in previous entries and gets fleshed out in this book) but Chakraborty keeps the story grounded in the characters' motivations, so it never feels overwhelming. As you might have guessed from the description of the first two books, the scope of the series is massive, but ultimately it's about the characters' journeys and the world-building works in service of that. So, for example, when a gigantic crocodile-man shows up and says that his name is Sobek and that, yes, he is that Sobek whom the Egyptians worshipped, it's pretty easy to accept because I mean, if Suleiman really did have a ring that allowed him to command fire spirits, why not? But also because Sobek proceeds to explain why any of that matters and how he's been involved in the story since the beginning.

Okay, well, I think we've got a handle on what you thought was interesting, any criticisms?

Yeah, Manizheh isn't actually that interesting a villain. Sure, her motivation is deeper than "evil for its own sake," but by the end her actions are so over-the-top evil that it's easy to forget that.

Is that it?

I mean, there's more I could say, but ultimately, this was a thoughtful conclusion to a fun fantasy story. Would recommend, with the caveat that you should read the first two books first. Even if the first book didn't say that it was the beginning of a trilogy.

Oh, you're not still harping about that? Are you?

Naw, I got over it.

Oh, goo—

I mean, sure, it's a common curtesy, bu—

Blog over!

Wait, can you do that, too?

*CLICK* KrSHHSHshhshshkshhshshh.

Are, you— Are you making static sounds?

Hello?

Hypothetical Reader?

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty, Harper Voyager hardcover edition, 2020, 766 pages, pairs well with date wine and swashbuckling

Links:

Here's the author's website, if you're into that kinda thing.

And, if you're too lazy to follow that link, here's a link to fan art people have shared with the author.