The City of Brass cover art

The City of Brass

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The City of Brass

By: S. A. Chakraborty
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $31.99

Buy Now for $31.99

About this listen

Discover this spellbinding debut from Sunday Times bestseller S.A. Chakraborty.

‘An extravagant feast of a book – spicy and bloody, dizzyingly magical, and still, somehow, utterly believable’ Laini Taylor, Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author

Among the bustling markets of eighteenth century Cairo, the city’s outcasts eke out a living swindling rich Ottoman nobles and foreign invaders alike.

But alongside this new world the old stories linger. Tales of djinn and spirits. Of cities hidden among the swirling sands of the desert, full of enchantment, desire and riches. Where magic pours down every street, hanging in the air like dust.

Many wish their lives could be filled with such wonder, but not Nahri. She knows the trades she uses to get by are just tricks and sleights of hand: there’s nothing magical about them. She only wishes to one day leave Cairo, but as the saying goes…

Be careful what you wish for.

©2018 S. A. Chakraborty (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Horror South Asian Creators Scary Magic Ottoman Empire Imperialism Middle East

Critic Reviews

" The City of Brass is the best adult fantasy I've read since The Name of the Wind. It's stunning and complex and consuming and fantastic. You must read it." (Sabaa Tahir, New York Times best-selling author of An Ember in the Ashes)
"An extravagant feast of a book - spicy and bloody, dizzyingly magical, and still, somehow, utterly believable." (Laini Taylor, Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author)
"A richly imagined, stunningly immersive book that takes you into a world. You will race to the end of this bold and brilliant debut." (Ausma Zehanat Khan, award-winning author of the The Bloodprint)
All stars
Most relevant  
Had to stop as couldn’t stand the orator. Tried too much to sound as though all characters were speaking through gritted teeth.

Great Premise, couldn’t listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love the story but found the heavy American accent and wrong pronunciation of words distracting. A great story like this needs to sound more global rather than American-centric.

Great story horrid narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked it but found it hard to follow as an audio book because there were so many new words to me. Felt like the plot was similar to other books I've read, but the middle eastern/egyptian location was a welcome difference. Anyway, good just probably better read than listened to if you are a bit uncultured like me.

Goodo

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed the book and I thought the narration was good I shall listen to the rest of the series.

before I bought the book I looked at some of the reviews. I agree with those who say that the number of strange terms used are confusing but I got the gist of it with time. I think this is a problem with audio books as it's much easier to remember a name seeing it in written form.

other reviewers complained of the narrator and especially that she has an American accent. I am English in origin and have no problem at all I thought the narration was very good.

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What made the experience of listening to The City of Brass the most enjoyable?

I liked the characters. They are good, bad and a mix of both, but I could get behind them and feel for them. I liked not knowing what was going to happen next and the romance of the setting, bit different from what I would usually read and loved it!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to listen to more.

Loved It!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I went into this book with pretty high expectations and I can say for sure it exceeded them! The story was so riveting and Chakraborty successfully manages to bring an amazing world, inspired by Muslim mythology and history, to life. Nankani's narration was perfection as well and I am desperate to listen to book 2!

Wow!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I normally do not read fantasy but I try it occasionally.
I got a little confused with the character names at times, which didn't help my progress and I was only able to get into it two-thirds of the way in.
I am not sure at this stage whether I will try to get through the subsequent books in the trilogy.

Not my usual read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's refreshing to read fantasy set somewhere other than an ersatz Europe or Britain. The setting is rich, and the theme of individuals forming friendships burdened by cultural history adds a lot of depth.

I just wish I cared more for the main character, who is a chosen one/teenage girl choosing between two troubled boys. In many ways it takes the whole book for her to get back to who she was at the start, a savvy, self-possessed young woman who doesn't rely on men to speak for her.

I got this book because it was sold to me as a non-Western fantasy setting where the focus was on healing, medicine and cultural intrigue, rather than medieval dudes competing over whose sword is bigger. I wish there'd been more focus on Nahri's journey as a healer. the most emotionally charged moments were when she dealt with the cost of a people's hopes upon her and what getting it wrong means for a healer. I hope the later books deal with this more.

fantastic setting and themes but with an unexciting chosen one love triangle

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a story with more twists than a lighthouse staircase. beautiful scenery and characters. i would’ve so enjoyed an arabic speaker as a reader, but oh well. Nankani did her best.

Amazing story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Captivating world, exciting plot, complex characters and plenty of magic. Starting second book straight away.

Enthralling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.