Title: The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)
Author: S.A. Chakraborty
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Publication Date: 2019
Page count: 621

Rating:

The City of Brass was one of my favourite reads of 2022 and while I initially thought it would be hard for The Kingdom of Copper to live up to my expectations, it proved me wrong. This book was a wonderful build on the unique mythical middle eastern world that Chakraborty built in book one. There were heavier political dynamics, an interesting evolution of the characters, and a plot that had me staying up way too late turning pages until I finished. And the end?! I can’t even.

This is a bold statement considering how many series I’ve read lately, but I think The Daevabad Trilogy might be my favourite fantasy series right now. The Kingdom of Copper was such an absolutely excellent addition to the series that I’m still reeling from it.

Fair warning: spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read this or the other books in this series.

The Kingdom of Copper is the second book in the Daevabad Trilogy and is set in an eighteenth-century mythical middle east. In the book, Chakraborty weaves a beautiful narrative from multiple perspectives of a magical society steeped in conquest, prejudice, and inequality. A place where djinns are real and dangerous, and every move made is a part of more extensive political plans.

The Kingdom of Copper begins by reintroducing Ali, Nahri, and Dara, with a prologue that helps to quickly summarize where each character stands after the devastating events of The City of Brass. Ali has been exiled to Am Gezira, where many of his fellow tribe members are out to assassinate him because of his banishment by King Ghassan. Nahri has been wed to Ali’s brother, the emir Muntadhir, and is still struggling to navigate a completely political and strategic marriage. Dara, who was dead the last time we saw him, has been raised from the dead once again to fulfill a bloody and dangerous mandate in the name of his people.

Once Chakraborty has established the immediate impacts of the past book’s events, the book jumps forward five years for all characters. We come to find that Nahri has become an exceptionally skilled healer who spends much of her time working in the infirmary (partially owing to the fact that Ghassan forbids her from going anywhere else), Ali is now settled in a rural desert tribe in Am Gezira, where he’s using his new-found water abilities to assist with agriculture and irrigation, and Dara, as usual, is leading the charge in a new battalion for a new Nahid.  

It quickly becomes apparent that Daevabad as a city has seen better days. In addition to experiencing significant economic issues that have resulted in an even lower standard of living for many, there’s also been violence and unrest since the events of five years ago. The tribes are more at each other’s throats than ever before and Ghassan is increasingly leaning into violence to keep his people in line. In book one, prejudice and inequality are evident, but it seems to lean mostly towards the shafit (the human and Daeva mixed blood). In this instalment, the Daevas have paid dearly for the actions of Dara and now face similarly extreme levels of oppression on a routine basis.

Despite the tension and economic woes, the royals of Daevabad are almost exclusively focused on the upcoming new century and its celebration, Navasatem. Using Navasatem as an excuse, Ali is manipulated into returning to Daevabad by his mother’s tribe despite the obvious danger he knows it will bring to him and his loved ones. Muntadhir quickly makes clear that he will never forgive Ali for all that unfolded on the lake, and Nahri isn’t much more welcoming.

While Nahri is initially still furious with Ali for everything that happened on the lake, they both find themselves feeling incredibly alone and in desperate need of a way to feel like they may actually be able to change things for their people in Daevabad. They team up to build a hospital with the goal of serving all citizens of Daevabad, not just Daeva and Djinn. They plan to open the hospital on the first day of Navasatem, which unbeknownst to them, is also the day that Dara and his warriors intend to invade Daevabad and reclaim the city for the Daevas.

As the story unfolds, it’s clear that both Nahri and Ali have been dramatically changed by all that has developed in the five years since that fateful night on the lake outside of Daevabad. Nahri, who was all fire in the first book, has been quelled to a significant degree by her father-in-law, Ghassan. Every time that Nahri has attempted to push back or step out of line, he has swiftly and brutally retaliated by hurting those that Nahri cares about. She’s learned the hard way that defiance will have ramifications not just for her, but to anyone even remotely connected to her, and as a result, she’s more subdued and cautious than the Nahri of the first book. She still has strong convictions and wants to see justice done for her people, but from the very start, she’s significantly more methodical and thoughtful about how to approach her situation. It makes for more interesting relationships with those around her as she attempts to manoeuvre herself politically to be able to do the best possible.

Ali has faced a similar reckoning and the result is that he’s a lot less naïve. He’s been exiled, stripped of his rank and status, and had multiple assassination attempts on his life. These circumstances have made him more cautious in some ways, but also more reflective of the systemic issues of his society. While he’s a devout believer in equality and a studious religious follower, he also now understands that his actions have broad consequences for those around him, a significant development for his character. He now acts with a complete understanding of how severe the results will be for him and channels his knowledge of the world into plans to create meaningful change, sometimes in truly radical ways.

While we’re seeing all of the political struggle, oppression, and violence occur in Daevabad, Dara’s perspective is also peppered in, as he continuously works towards Navasatem and their Daeva coup, but Dara too has been altered by the events of the past five years. Beyond the fact that he’s not sure he actually wanted to be saved, the sheer magnitude of the atrocities that he’s been forced to commit over the centuries in the name of the Nahid’s has caught up with him. Seeing his actions through Nahri’s eyes rocked him to his core. Things he would have done in the name of war before without thinking twice now feel gruesome and excessive and his appetite for seeing his soldiers sacrificed has all but dissipated. He continues to serve the Nahid’s, training his special forces, but he struggles with significant internal conflict throughout the entire book about whether or not the ends of what they’re doing really will justify the means.

The evolution of each character over the course of the book is really satisfying to see as Chakraborty uses their respective and connected traumas to demonstrate the impact that war, violence, and oppression can have on a person and their ability to act. I also loved the politically-charged plot you see from all three perspectives. It was such a compelling approach, to lay out the finite details of the crescendo of the action through Dara’s perspective, and then see it come to fruition through Nahri and Ali. There are so many moments throughout the story where, as a reader, you understand the weight behind an action or a character’s words, but Nahri or Ali don’t, and it just creates a great sense of empathy for them as you see all that they’re working for about to fall apart. The book is a consistent reflection of what drives a person or group to do catastrophic things to each other. It examines motivations and revenge. It asks: how far is too far? And how can you tell if you’ve already crossed the line?

The Daevabad Trilogy, to me, is just such a great fantasy—and I haven’t even started the final book. Chakraborty builds this beautifully compelling world full of gorgeous imagery, a complex, conquest-based hierarchical structure, and characters you really care about. The plot moves at a good clip and steadily builds towards this epic crescendo that I literally could not put down. I loved how she weaved the relationship dynamics throughout this book and the end brought back a setting component that I sorely missed through much of this instalment.  I can’t wait to pick up the final book in the series. There’s so much potential for the finale and I can’t wait to see it fulfilled.