City of Brass is a fascinating read that stirs up just every emotion imaginable.... A truly gripping story.
It's official. December is now my best month for reads. City of Brass is the best book I've read this year that isn't anything from Brandon Sanderson, Steven Eriksen, or Robert Jordan, and going by how I worship Wheel of Time, Malazan, and Stormlight, that's saying an awful lot. The author does a more than brilliant job of combining mythology, history, fantasy, and fiction to astounding effect. Hats off, Shannon!
For a book that is not completely fantasy, the world-building is extremely well done. City of Brass is the Arabian answer to Rick Riordan's world of half-bloods and Greek gods. The author presents the Arabian world and all of its alluring mythology in an attractive manner, all the while adding more than a dose of her own formidable epic-weaving skills. It's the perfect recipe for a bestseller, a read that will come to be loved and treasured by all in months and years to come.
I like to call this type of genre Mytho-Fantasy. It's got all the elements of well-known mythology and all the wonder, charm, and dark grimness of epics.
The characters are excellently done, well fleshed out. The plot is even better. There's a lot of mystery, a great deal of intrigue, and more than enough twists to give you multiple heartaches.
It's a cliffhanger ending, and with the sheer amount of unresolved conflict left, the next book promises to be even better than the first!
