The Daevabad series has a special place in my heart, and I was beyond thrilled to read The River of Silver.

The stories within The River of Silver are a wonderful complement to the series. In chronological order, we are taken back to Daevabad, complete with spoiler warnings for each story and a timeline of when each scene took place.

It was glorious to return to this world. This collection added so much depth and gave a behind-the-scenes look that we weren’t privy to before.

If you’ve read and loved this series as much as I have, or even if you’re making your way through the series now, The River of Silver is a wonderful companion read.

Special thanks to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts in this review are honest and my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and SA Chakraborty for providing me with an eARC of this book. This is my honest review.
-
To be very transparent, this is less of a coherent review and more of a blubbering, fangirling session 😂 The Daevabad trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time, so reading the River of Silver felt like coming home. I had already read some of the stories included here, but I honestly didn’t even mind. I missed this world and these characters so much! If I could read about them for the rest of time, I think I would. You get to see things that we’ve never seen before and little moments in between what we already know. Some of these stories even gave me a new perspective on a few characters. It’s a beautiful collection of stories told with so much warmth and care. There’s a reason SA Chakraborty is one of my favorite authors and this is just another stunning example.
-
If you haven’t read the Daevabad trilogy, why not?! Please drop everything and go do that right now! And if you’ve already read the Daevabad trilogy, please do yourself a favor and pick up River of Silver. I promise you won’t regret it.
-
The River of Silver is a compilation of stories set in the same world as SA Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy. It is available for purchase NOW in ebook, hardcover, and audiobook format.

”Daevabad had seemed the very definition of magic.”

These collected tales offer new insight into characters and hidden moments that readers didn’t necessarily get to experience during the original trilogy. We see the mourning that followed the death of Ghassan‘s first wife; the congenial start to Ghassan and Hatset’s marriage; the pure and wholesome chance encounter that eventually begets Nahri; and so much more. We experience Jamshid’s loyalty, Zaynab’s courage, Ghassan’s thoughtfulness, Manizeh’s humanity, and Daevabad’s magic anew.

For sure, you’d have to be familiar with the series already in order to appreciate this book. I’d even say that, not only do you need to have read the first three books in order, but probably fairly recently. There are so many characters and plot lines referenced here, so if it’s been a while since you left the world of Daevabad, you might appreciate a refresher before diving back in.

Admittedly, The River of Silver isn’t a necessary component of the Daevabad series. It is entirely possible to fall in love with the story and the characters, and to experience the fullness of Chakraborty’s unparalleled fantasy world, by only reading the original trilogy. This book is like the bonus content that they used to include on purchased DVDs - something extra special to enhance the experience, for you to enjoy if you’d like to, but choosing not to partake will in no way diminish the basics.

I loved this, simply because the Daevabad series is my favorite fantasy series to have ever been written, and any extra dose of Daeva/Nahid magic is a home run for me. All of the original characters were well-represented, and even the villains are humanized in new, moving ways. Five whole-hearted stars!

---

A huge thank you to S.A. Chakraborty, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Daevabad Trilogy is an all time fave of mine so I was 100% stoked to receive an ARC of this one. This book is a compilation of short stories and content about characters backgrounds, scenes the author wrote that didn’t end up in the trilogy, and some content about our fave characters after the events in EMPIRE OF GOLD. I loved being in the world of Daevabad again and seeing my fave characters some more. Bless the author for including notes about context and where these stories fit into the original books as well as a brief summary of what happened before. That made it a lot easier for me to get into this one. I’m weird with short story collections but this is one that absolutely worked for me!

In a way, the question of who will enjoy The River of Silver is a binary one. Did you like the Daevabad trilogy? Then you'll love getting these short stories, new perspectives on favorite characters and more depth to background ones. Haven't read Daevabad yet? Start at the beginning with City of Brass, then pick this one up when you've read the others. The stories all assume you've read the rest of the books and are filled with spoilers, though Chakraborty helpfully marks out which books are spoiled in each story. A wonderful return to an enchanting world.

It’s four stars if you’ve read the trilogy that this fills in the corners for. If you haven’t read the trilogy it’d be a bad place to start. She’s an excellent author on the more literary end of the father’s genre and would be a solid choice if you don’t usually read fantasy but want to try some. I look forward to seeing more from this author and I hope she has ideas for new stories in different worlds.

I love the world that Chakraborty created in City of Brass and The River of Silver lets me revel in the world for just a little longer. I suggest reading the original trilogy before reading this collection of short stories as some of the stories are better when you understand the characters and world. Very beautiful.

River of Silver is precisely what it says on the tin. It is a simple collection of outtakes from the universe of Daevabad trilogy. It is less a collection of short stories and more just scenes that were cut out of the published works for one reason or another. Which is by no means to say these were bad. It was just difficult to find a thread that gave a reason to this work getting published. there was not any new world building or a common theme that I would have expected from a short story collection. It also makes it difficult to present a firm review as there is no real plot or driving force behind the stories at large. But taken as a group of scenes cut from the books these were perfectly presentable. I had a good enough time going through each of them.

Omg I loved this book so much. It was such a fun quick read and it was great to get back into the daevabad books.

I loved all of the stories and getting to learn more about the characters and events in each book as well as getting stories for before and after the books events.

I also loved how the author included a bit of information about at the beginning of each story. She included when the story took place, context for it, and spoiler warning. She would also sometimes include some extra fun information which I really liked seeing.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoyed her other books.

Loved getting to jump back in with characters I thought I’d only get to visit on a reread. The span of stories, from before the trilogy began to after empire, was a pleasant surprise!

This book was AMAZING. If you are a fan of Chakraborty's work, you need to read this too. The River of Silver includes some stories that take place after the trilogy ends and it was wonderful to be able to see how some of the characters are continuing their lives. I don't want to spoil anything for other readers so I'll contain my excitment about a few of the chapters, but trust me when I say !!!!!!!. With some narrations taking place before and during the trilogy's canon you can also get more of a glimpse into character's motivations and history. It is very well written and I cannot recommend it enough.

This book is a short story collection that supplements the Daevabad Trilogy with stories before during and after their events. This contains spoilers for all three books but each story tells the reader what books with be spoiled.

This was cute. Worth it if you loved the Daevabad trilogy and miss the characters but isn't required reading.

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what the author releases in the future.

The River of Silver is a collections of short stories centered around characters in the Daevabad Trilogy and it's amazing, as expected. If you're like me and you loved the Daevabad Trilogy and missed being in that world with those characters, pick this up ASAP.

One thing I think future readers will love about this book is the spoiler warnings at the beginning of story. This collection of stories takes place before, during, and after certain events throughout the trilogy. So it's clear which books need to be read before you read each short story.

Rating: Loved It, 4.5 stars, rounded to 5

The River of Silver is a collection of short stories set in the Daevabad universe. In the note at the beginning, SA Chakraborty states that she had drafted a lot of these as research into the world and the characters as she was writing her story. During COVID, she used that time to return to a well-known and well-loved world when it was difficult to be creative. Honestly, I'm so glad that she did.

Trying to avoid spoilers, so basically, I thoroughly enjoyed these short stories. My favorites featured Jamshid and Dhiru, but I loved seeing all the characters again and getting some new background and behind the scenes type things. I think it made me appreciate the Qahtani siblings more as a cohesive unit, and I love Jamshid. Muntadhir was never my favorite, but I like him a lot, lot more now.

I think the last story was probably my favorite, but I didn't dislike any of them. They felt very true to the characters already established in the trilogy. I highly recommend! It's been several years since I read the trilogy and even though I've forgotten some of the details that were referenced in this, I thoroughly enjoyed returning and definitely want to reread now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. The River of Silver releases on October 11, 2022.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

I really enjoyed stepping back into the Daevabad world and The River of Silver makes me want to immediately go back and re-read the series. I will say that I wish it was more linearly compiled instead of hopping from one character to another. I think it would have made things a little easier to remember based on where we are at storyline wise.

In this compilation of scenes and stories which the author calls “a brief return to Daevabad”, the book starts out with a chapter that takes place 20 + years before the City Of Brass trilogy. With each new chapter, it hops around in time a bit giving you glimpses into events and encounters that pave the path to the series. I read all of these books so it’s pretty fun to read what led to some of the character development — but at the same time it’s hard to write this review without giving anything away! Maybe you should read the trilogy first if you haven’t already and then go back in time with this book. Very clever of the writer to publish it this way.

Chakraborty provides a timeline as the chapter opens while also giving a heads up for any spoilers. Brilliant move. It took me a minute to get into the format, but then I was hooked again! And I actually love how these stories jump around — like a magical window in time. I’ll admit it’s hard for me to recall all the people and places from the original books. 😉

The River of Silver fills in the backstories and sets the tone for some of the social tensions we see in the trilogy. There’s also something incredibly comforting about diving back into the lives of these characters that we already know and love.

And can I just say how much I love the cowrie shells, brass bowls of frankincense, ambergris, and musk among the pile of treasure found by Ali? Perfection.

But my favorite part of course … was the end.

Knowing that it’s the last glimpse into Daevabad that we’ll get, THE RIVER OF SILVER was definitely a book I savored. Chakraborty opened with an incredible author’s note; one that will stick with me as much as any of the stories. If you haven’t read The Daevabad Trilogy yet, this is not the book to start with, but I cannot recommend THE CITY OF BRASS enough. If you’ve already fallen in love with the characters and places of Daevabad, then it’s a no-brainer to pick this one up. I felt extremely emotional knowing that I was saying goodbye to Daevabad again, but I will absolutely be revisiting the series in the future.

Many thanks to Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. S.A. Chakraborty, thank you creating a world that will always live in my heart.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book. I loved the Daevabad trilogy when I read it last year, and was so excited to see a short compilation of stories to round out the characters and say goodbye to their world. If you have not read the trilogy, be sure to do that first before reading this book as it 1) contains spoilers for the books and 2) would not make much sense with the background.
Jumping into the first story, I was brought back to Nahari, Ali, Dara and all the other characters immediately. I did have to go back and reference the original stories a bit just to remember all the storylines, but that was only because I finished the final book a year and a half ago.
Favorite part of the book was the beginning and ending. SA Chakraborty starts off the book with a beautiful forward on why she went back to these stories, for something comforting during the early days of the pandemic. Towards the end of the book, there is an alternate ending to the Empire of Gold- I can see why it was ultimately cut from the series, but it's still great to read and think about how things might have ended. My favorite part of this book though is the final story- a epilogue of sorts. I won't give away what happens, but I will say that it gave me the satisfaction in the storyline of two characters that I was missing at the end of the trilogy. It was a perfect ending to this compilation.

I LOVE THE DAEVABAD TRILOGY

This was one of the series that got me back into reading as an adult. I was in the middle of finishing my reread of Empire of Gold when I got approved for this and my heart almost stopped. Chakraborty has such a talent for transporting you into the world she is writing.

I loved seeing my favorite characters again. This was such a good book and I devoured it in one sitting. I couldn't stop! I want to read 500 more books in this series (or at least by this author)