A Master of Djinn
By P. Djèlí Clark
- Genre
- Fantasy & Magical Realism
- Publisher
- Tordotcom (Macmillan)
- Publication year
- 2021
- ISBN
- 9781250267689
In an alternate 1912 Cairo where magic returned to the world decades earlier, Agent Fatma of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigates the murder of a secret brotherhood by someone claiming to be a legendary mystic. P. Djeli Clark's novel, first in the Dead...
Imagine a Cairo where, forty years ago, a mystic tore open the boundary between worlds and let the djinn back in - and where a stylishly dressed young woman, Agent Fatma el-Sha'arawi, investigates the supernatural for a very busy government ministry. P. Djeli Clark's Nebula-winning novel sets a brisk murder mystery in this gorgeously realized alternate 1912: a masked figure claiming to be a long-dead mystic has slaughtered a secret brotherhood, and Fatma, her new partner and her sharp-witted lover must stop him before he sets the city aflame. The book is pure pleasure - a fast, funny, richly textured fantasy that fuses Egyptian history and folklore with steampunk automatons and clever detection, all while quietly foregrounding gender, colonialism and class. Clark writes action and banter with equal flair, and his Cairo feels genuinely inhabited. For readers who want inventive, joyful, diverse fantasy with a mystery's momentum, it is a standout and an ideal entry point to his world.