Short, intense and hectic. This novella was a really great listen. The steampunk style story setting and the almost noir feeling around it were new to me but I enjoyed every second of it. P D’jeli has an amazing way with words even in such a small story. I loved the mystery and the chaotic drive to figure it out.

In a steampunk Cairo, a mysterious man who claims to be a legendary master of djinn has murdered a roomful of influential foreigners. Agent Fatma el-Sha'arawi is assigned to the case, and soon discovers that even if the "master of djinn" is a fraud, he's still stirring up a whole lot of trouble.

For fans of steampunk, this book is a must-read. As someone who doesn't really care for steampunk, I focused on the djinn and mystical parts, and thought it was a good time. As always, Clark created a hopping good story with some amazing worldbuilding.

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t get into it. Love the concept and it sounds really interesting! However, I had trouble following the characters and found I just did not care after several chapters.

An absolutely amazing entry in P. Djeli Clark's work. A fantastic expansion of the Cairo world already set up in The Haunting of Tram Car 15, A plucky heroine. An engaging mystery. Great LGBTQIA+ representation and a skilful commentary on Orientalism.

DNF. Maybe I'm just not in the mood for fantasy, but the beginning of this felt like trudging through molasses.

P. Djèlí Clark weaves an absolutely stunning fantasy world. "A Master of Djinn" sets itself apart with its setting - an alternate Egypt containing robots and fantastical creatures. The author's characters are well-rounded, and the atmosphere of his stories are phenomenal. Clark's prose is especially beautiful and engaging.

Trying to figure out the mystery, including the identity, motives, and methods of the murderer was challenging and exciting. The plot was unique and compelling throughout.

This book was one of the top ten books I read in 2022 (and I said as much, including it in my top ten books of the year video on YouTube). I think it benefits from having read the first novella in the series in particular although the others are just a bonus, as it sets you up for the romantic interests origins, but overall it definitely works as a standalone. A truly unique novel and I hope there will be more following the characters in this alternative history universe.

The first full-length novel of P. Djeli Clark in this steampunk Cairo setting. I will say this book can be slow at times, very slow. There was too much padding in my opinion and felt it could have been cut 100 pages or so. I did really enjoy Clark's novellas set in the same world, so this novel, even slow, was a joy for me to read. Fatma is a fun, smart MC dressed in western suits (complete with hats and canes) while also crushing hard on her friend who may not be entirely human. I enjoyed pretty much all the characters from the ministry workers to the villain. The Djinn were probably my favorite of the characters, they were unique and fun to watch.

My only main complaint is the pacing and how long the book was. Some reveals could have been paired up so we don't have multiple pages or chapters between plot reveals. A good start in the novel world for this series and I look forward to reading more from this world.

DNF'd because of the fatphobia. Which is a shame because I was excited to read this. While romance has figured out that embracing body diversity is actually good for business (not to mention just being more ethical), other genres have yet to learn this. I find it all the more upsetting in science-fiction & fantasy, my favourite genres, where I just hope to be erased and ignored in the text, else my body shape is utilized as a shorthand for villainy.

A Master of Djinn has nearly everything I look for in a fantasy novel, but I struggled to get through it because of the pacing. I jumped at the opportunity to read it because strong women were at the center of solving a crime. I quickly grew frustrated because the pace was extremely slow. I enjoyed the last half of the book when the pace quickened, and I got a kick out of the ending, but the overall experience was overshadowed by how long it took me to finish the book.

The highlight of the novel is the world-building, which is impeccable. The story is set in an alternate world where magical creatures, particularly djinn, coexist with humans and Egypt is a superpower. I marveled at the extensive history and present-day politics included in the story. This is a world I could have easily immersed myself in. If only all fantasies I read had worlds this well-written.

If the pacing were more aligned with the last third or so of the book and had the mystery solving moved more swiftly, I would have loved the book.

A Master of Djinn is a full-length novel set in an alternate world Cario, 1912, a place filled with magical and magical entities. Agent Fatma is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchanments, and Supernatural Entities, and this book follows her looking in to a murder as a more senior investigator after events that occurred the previous year - which I understand to be from one of Clark’s novellas. Thankfully, you don’t need to read the novella to follow along with Fatma in A Master of Djinn, although after reading this one, I’ll certainly be seeking out the novella just to experience more of this world.

Agent Fatma is such an intriguing character. She’s smart, she’s a bit sassy, and she prides herself on style. Despite this being a bit of a murder mystery, it does balance out how dark the story can be with how brilliant Fatma is. The dialogue and attitude from her add a lightness to the story that is necessary, and it balances really well with the dark themes. Her interactions with her own rookie trainee, and her girlfriend add a lot to the story, building all of the characters up while still moving the story along and allowing the reader to get a good feel for all of the characters. Because of the novella, there is already some established relationships in the book, but it doesn’t feel like you’re just dropped in and never given a chance to know the characters. Instead, it happens throughout the book and feels a bit more authentic than being an info dump of describing the relationships and who everyone is at the start.

The murder mystery being combined with magic and supernatural entities makes for such a fun story! I’ve always been a fan of both genres, and having them combined made for an almost perfect book to me. The only thing that made is a less than perfect book was the back and forth with how competent everyone was as an investigator. I don’t want perfect characters, but it felt like it occasionally was lacking actual cleverness and resorted to luck more than anything. It didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story, but if there are future books set in this world, I hope everyone works together a bit more cohesively and for there to be a bit more procedure than happenstance.

All in all though, I don’t have real complaints about the book. The world building was phenomenal, the characters were fun, and the ending felt like a blast of action that really spiced up the book. I do hope for further stories following Fatma, but until then, I’m glad I still have the novella to read. If you’re a fan of fantastical, steampunk style murder mysteries (or you think you’d like those things combined) this is definitely a book I would recommend.

A Master of Djinn takes the threads from the novellas in this world — primarily A Dead Djinn in Cairo, but also the world-building and some characters from The Haunting of Tram Car 015 — and pulls them together into a full-length novel, with Agent Fatma as the lead. If you haven’t read those novellas, I’d strongly suggest doing so first: I suspect there are enough details here to let you jump in, but the novellas provide a lot of context (e.g. the Clock of Worlds, what exactly Fatma does, why the world is the way it is).

Clark seems to love writing female characters who have strong opinions and their own way of approaching the world: the central three female characters are each quite different, though driven and capable. Hadia is not a carbon copy of Fatma, despite their shared profession, and nor is she the wilting flower that Fatma originally expects — and Siti’s something else entirely. I found the female characters a joy here, to be honest, though I’d like to see more of Hadia and her weak points as well as all her surprising strengths.

As far as the antagonist goes, I called it well before the characters did, though in part that’s being outside the narrative and knowing how mysteries are structured. I was glad that Fatma realised a particular aspect of it before the story actually revealed it, because it would’ve felt weird if she wasn’t sharp enough to see that when I had realised it.

I found it really satisfying that this book pulled together the threads from the novellas, while creating a whole new story that revealed more of the world. It’s a book I may well come back to, as I did the novellas.

I liked the writing style of the author, and the character development throughout the story. The story kept me on my toes at every turn, and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next.

"A Master of Djinn" by P. Djeli Clark is a unique and intriguing urban fantasy that explores the intersection of magic and technology in an alternate history Cairo. While I didn't love the book, I appreciated its creative world-building and diverse cast of characters.

Clark's writing is vivid and atmospheric, transporting readers to a world that is both familiar and fantastical. The characters are well-drawn and complex, with Fatma, the main protagonist, serving as a strong and capable heroine. The story also touches on themes of power, identity, and cultural heritage, making it more than just a simple fantasy adventure.

Overall, while I didn't love "A Master of Djinn", I thought it had potential and would be willing to read more from the author. Clark's creativity and imagination are evident in his writing, and I'm interested to see where he takes his storytelling next.

Once upon a time I was an eight-year-old obsessed with Egyptology. It was the time of the Tutankhamun exhibition in London in 1972, and whilst I was too young and too poor to travel to see it – the queues were round the block, anyway – I would rabidly read anything I could get my hands on about the boy prince. I would look at the newspapers in the library, making notes, read books and even do what I guess would now be called a show and tell session at school, with a model of the tomb made out of plasticine and papier mache. I read historical accounts of the King and the uncovering of the tomb by Howard Carter and his team, which led me to details of the co-called “Curse” on Caernarvon and… well, you get the idea.

Since then, whenever I think of Cairo, in my head I create images of sun, sand, relentless heat and ancient history.

Those pictures were brought back to life in my head by this terrific novel, a story which mixes those descriptions with steam-punky innovations and occult magic.*

In this alternate globe we are looking at a world where fifty years or so ago Al-Jahiz opened a connection between the mundane and the magical, and when he departed he left the portal open. Consequently, in this Cairo of 1912 we have humans living alongside djinn, goblins, angels and other magical beings. The setting is a lovely mix of Ancient Egypt, with occult practices and steampunk thrown in. One of the main methods of inter-continental travel is by airship, for example, and there are clockwork automata referred to as “boilerplate eunuchs”. It reminded me a little of Mike Moorcock’s The Warlord of the Air series.

Despite all of this change, generally things seem to be readjusting into a new normal. Though there are threats of renewed global conflict, which leads to a summit meeting about to be held in Cairo, there are still the usual crimes occurring – shoplifting, robbery and murder. This story begins with a murder – actually, 12 in fact – of a secret brotherhood named The Hermetic Brotherhood of Al-Jahiz.

Fatma el-Sha’arawi, in her role as an Agent for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, is given the case to solve. The cause seems to have been magical in origin, namely that the cause of the original rift, Al-Jahiz, is claiming to have returned. More so he is unhappy with what he sees and is bringing retribution on those he sees as unworthy.

Given the extra space in a novel to expand in, Djèlí takes advantage and surrounds Fatma with a range of characters, the important ones of which are much nondescript. As a result, the world feels bigger and more real than before – strange though that is to say about a world with djinn, angels and even elemental gods given solidity.

To this bigger picture throughout the novel we are added new personal complications – Fatma has a love life and a new partner (not the same person), something she is not happy about, to say the least. Their fractious relationship is one of the ongoing threads through the novel, the new and enthusiastic student contrasting with the experienced mentor. For some readers the fact that Fatma is a lesbian may be an issue, although it wasn’t an issue for me.

Such a setting also allows the reader to experience life in a post-colonial country. I liked the point that generally this depiction of a world where imperialist powers are on the decline, where Ancient Egypt meets post-colonialism struggling to adjust to a rapidly changing world. The release of magic has led to a major shift in the global political landscape. Cairo and Egypt are now on the way to becoming a superpower, the USA has forced magic out from its states and the British Empire, once the ruler of Egypt, is now a superpower in decline, struggling to adjust to a new situation. Egypt itself is seen as being much more cosmopolitan, with women being allowed in a still dominant patriarchal society to take on bigger and greater responsibilities. There’s a lot about class and culture here, which emphasises the still existent social distances in Cairo’s society.

But what we’re really getting here is a police procedural with fantastic elements, set in a richly detailed world. Parts of the novel feel like they’ve escaped out of the 1930s Weird Tales magazines, with a combination of mysterious magic and strangely deadly alchemy. Such elements brought to me vivid images of those places created in my head when first encountering my Egyptologist enthusiasms. Whilst I wouldn’t be without them, it was such a pleasure to read a Fantasy set away from the Tolkienesque medieval environment.

Whilst the world is fabulously realised, there were minor niggles. The plot was a little more conventional than I was hoping for, though its journey was clear enough. I did work out the villain fairly early on, although this book is more about the journey than the destination.

There were times when the many, many descriptions of what Fatima was wearing got a little tiresome. Whilst I understood that her variety of bowler hats and her multitude of waistcoats and trousers reflected that she is a modern woman in a changing world there were times where such descriptions became superfluous to what was going on. I must admit that I did wonder from a practical viewpoint whether such outfits would help or hinder her work in such a relatively conservative environment.

However, overall A Master of Djinn is a great Arabian Nights type fantasy, clearly written with a lot of heart and enough contemporary and historical elements to make this an attractively fast-paced adventure for modern readers. I want to read more in this series, which is never the sign of a bad book. Perhaps most tellingly, it touched my inner eight-year-old Egyptologist greatly.



* I did review Djèlí’s debut novella, A Dead Djinn in Cairo a while back (review HERE) when it was published by Tor. I did like it but felt throughout that there was more to tell. There have been other novellas to continue to develop this setting, but this is Djèlí’s first novel in this world. You do not have to have read the novellas to get this book.

This book is so blisteringly good. P. Djèlí Clark reimagines history with vivacity, ingenuity, and pure damn style in his alternate early 20th c. Egypt that has forcibly sloughed off the British colonial yoke and risen to power with the help of Djinn. It has murder, magic, mayhem, and at the center of it all, one lesbian detective with a sharp taste in suits and even sharper monster-hunting chops. I had so much fun reading this!

This is an excellent book! I love the steampunk and the magic and the djinn and angels of this world of Cairo at the turn of the 20th century. If you're looking for steampunk in places other than Victorian London, then this is the book for you!

Clark has a singular talent of creating stories that are deeply visceral and visually compelling! I truly cannot wait to see where the rest of the series takes us!

Does this book have its flaws? Yes. Did I love it anyways? Yes. The characters and the world were just so wonderful that they made up for any other flaws that I felt this book had. I have now read all the short stories and novellas in this universe and am still craving more.

This book literally has EVERYTHING!!!!!!
Magic!
Steam Punk Cairo!!!!
More Magic!!!!!
Murder!!!
Lesbians!!!!!
Ancient Gods!!!!!!

I loved this book so much.
It was a delight.