Thin. ( )

I just want to read 100 more stories in this universe. ( )

Very interesting world building work, but the story doesn't flow very well due to all the explanation that has to be given. ( )

This is why I can't have nice things.

This is my second Dead Djinn Universe prequel and so far I am having the same experience--I enjoy the way P. Djèlí Clark writes and worldbuilding but something that just doesn't leap off the page and spark my attention.

I look at the glowing reviews that talk about the prose, characters, worldbuilding, and politics, and I find myself nodding along. Clark's words in Julian Thomas' mouth are a true delight.

Everything here tells me that I should adore these books and I absolutely have no idea why I don't. I want to, but my brain just starts sliding off and I spend the majority of the books drifting off and barely paying attention. I objectively know these are better than my subjective experience and that it's seems to be a skill issue on my part, but I'm 2/2 with the same results, so I have genuinely tried. ( )

This was a charming adventure story with A worldbuilding. I'm not a big reader of adventure fiction, but gearpunk paranormal fantasy set in a glamorous, multi-ethnic, postcolonial Cairo? All of these are adjectives I want in my SFF. Hamed and Onsi are a fun buddy cop duo, and I adored the feminist elements - an intersectional Egyptian women's suffrage movement and an exploration of female magic and spirituality.

I did have trouble settling into Clark's prose style for the first couple chapters, but once I got invested in the story I was fine with it. I think Clark's long sentences makes my inner editor hypervigilant, perhaps because I am also prone to long sentences full of clauses. However, I'm not convinced this is actually a fault in his writing.