A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe #1) by P. Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn is a pure, decadent, elaborate, myth-making tale that blends oriental mysticism and magic with fabulous and meticulously detailed worldbuilding.

In A Master of Djinn, Fatma el-Sha’arawi, a Special Agent with the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, follows a mysterious lead on a gruesome carnage of murders that suspiciously implicates a long-lost mystic.

Or is it the work of a very powerful and brutal imposter?

Synopsis

It is about 40 years after the Soudanese mystic and seer, al-Jahiz, the greatest sorcerer the world had yet seen, pierced the Kaf, the veil that lies between and beneath the mundane and mortal realms and those of the magical and arcane, releasing fantastical creatures of myth and lore to walk unimpeded within our realm forever changing the sociopolitical, economic and anthropological dynamics of the fledgling powers at the end of the 19th Century.

Thoughts

A Master of Djinn is a pure, decadent, elaborate, myth-making tale that blends oriental mysticism and magic with fabulous and meticulously detailed worldbuilding.

In A Master of Djinn, excellent writing and genuinely lifelike characters are coupled with an intriguing plotline with hints of noir mystery set in a fantastic steampunk alternate Cairo of 1912.

Everything checks (except for some slight pacing issues).

I have thoroughly enjoyed every single offering within the Dead Djinn Universe, and I highly recommend it to enthusiasts of urban fantasy and Steampunk who enjoy a unique experience of original and own worldbuilding meshed with Islamic and Oriental mythology and lore, executed by a talented author.