I Read Books: The Empire Of Gold

The Empire Of Gold

At the end of The Kingdom Of Copper the djinn city of Daevabad was seized by the Nahid leader Banu, with the support of the evil Ifrit and Dara, the Scourge, rescued from slavery (see The City Of Brass) and resurrected (The Kingdom Of Copper). But Banu used a horrific gas that activates on amulets that protect them from slavery, and worse still in the chaos Banu’s daughter, Nahri, and Prince Ali escape with Sulieman’s Seal. When the Seal leaves the city, the djinn’s magic fails.

Ali and Nahri find themselves in Egypt, on the Nile. As it turns out this is where Nahri was left as a child, where she appeared human. The two of them are tempted by a human life. But even with the djinn magic gone, there are other forms. The Ifrit have their own, blasphemous power. The Marids, water spirits, have their own plans; the Nile has it’s own Marid who is intimately connected to both Nahri and Ali. And even the mysterious and powerful Peri, the beings of air, may get involved. Neither Nahri nor Ali can abandon their people.

The conclusion to a trilogy, Dara spends his time trying to make Banu’s victory into something both lasting and just, to find himself forced into his role of bloody handed warlord, and betrayed by enemies and his own side. Ali and Nahri each have secrets revealed, and then forced to give up the life they might have chosen for a chance at a better world. Or at least one that is bearable for the djinn. A solid ending, if one that takes an enormous amount of set up.

Read This: Epic fantasy taking a deep dive into Arabic djinn legends
Don’t Read This: Some mismatch between using myth and legend logic in a thoroughly modern tale