A Masted of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

Cairo is flourishing thanks to the great al-Jahiz breaking the wall between worlds allowing Djinn and other magical entities to not just coexist but thrive here on Earth. Everyone owes a bit of a debt to al-Jahiz, but one group of British men under the leadership of one Alistair Worthington takes it a bit too far, forming a cult around the great alchemist. Determined to find a way to use his knowledge to secure further peace of the world Worthington and his order collect relics of the man, not knowing that someone claiming to be al-Jahiz himself has plans for the world as well and its not peace, they want nothing less that total subjugation and this al-Jahiz will start their reign of terror by wiping the Order of al-Jahiz off the map. With little to go on Fatma el-Sha'arawi an agent of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities is in a race against time to stop a mass murderer claiming to be one of the most important men in history. 

This was so good! Easily a favorite read this year! You've got Djinn, a sapphic romance, crashing into important historical events and social issues that still plague us today. It really gave you a lot to think about while keeping you thoroughly engaged and wanting more!

I'm just going to say this right now if you've read the In Death series this plays out a lot like that. Fatma is an absolutely wonderful main MC who is going against the grain in every way possible. She is a woman wearing suits in a man's profession in 1912 Cairo, regardless of how modern this book is for the time she's still a woman in a man's world. Much like Dallas she absolutely kicks ass, takes names, and is the very best at what she does. I loved her! What I think puts her character over the top is that she has to confront her own internalized misogyny pretty early on in the book and I feel like this conversation doesn't happen often enough in books. Siti, her girlfriend, is absolutely wonderful as well. Much like Roarke she's more than she seems and is the absolutely most fantastic smart ass. Finally, we round it out with Hadia, Fatma's partner. She is so much like Peabody it's amazing! I genuinely adore her, she's constantly talking about this cousin or that cousin and all of these little skills she picked up from them. She couldn't be more Peabody if she tried!

The world-building in this is phenomenal as well, while there is much that resembles real-life Cairo in 1912 a ton of it does not and Djeli Clark firmly establishes this almost immediately. It's this very steampunk feeling world that while it does have these modern amenities it's all thanks to the Djinn's magic. And the Djinn's magic is very specialized some are illusionists, some adhere to the elements, etc. This really does allow them to integrate almost seamlessly into the world. 

In terms of the mystery yes, the bad guy was pretty obvious from the get-go go but it was such a fun ride to get to the bottom of it. Especially since we've got a lot of history and social problems here. A lot of this truly hinges on Djeli Clark's reimagined world where Britain never becomes this huge power and what little of their empire they have left is crumbling. Thanks to this motive seems pretty obvious, but Cairo isn't itself, without problems. The Imposter as the fake al-Jahiz is called brings up some very good points in terms of the wealth gap and opens gaps between those who follow Islam and those who follow the Old or Original Gods of Egypt. The latter conversation is one that I genuinely do not believe I've ever come across in a book even though it is a debate that truly takes place. Much like Christianity many from areas where Islam took root see it as the religion of the Conqueror, not their true religion. While Djeli Clark doesn't answer as to which one is correct, it's still an important subject to bring up, especially when you are writing a story with entities that predate Islam by centuries. 

This was an absolutely fantastic read it ticked all of my boxes for a speculative fiction mystery!