A Master of Djinn Spiral-Bound | 2022-07-19

P. Djèlí Clark

★★★★☆+ from 10,001 to 50,000 ratings

$19.89 - Free Shipping
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark goes full length for the first time in his dazzling debut novel

A 2021 NEIBA Book Award Finalist!

Forty years ago in Egypt, the mystic and inventor Al-Jahiz pierced the veil between realms, sending magic into the world before he vanished into the unknown.

Now in 1912 Cairo, humans brush elbows with djinn in crowded tramcars and airships sail the skies. In this new world the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities maintains an uneasy peace. When someone claiming to be Al-Jahiz "returned" murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to his legacy, however, that peace dissolves into disarray.

The Ministry's youngest agent, Fatma el-Sha'arawi, has saved the world before. But this case is a special challenge. The imposter's dangerous magical abilities and revolutionary message threaten to tear apart the fabric of this new Egyptian society, and spill over onto the global stage. Can Agent Fatma unravel the mystery of Al-Jahiz in time to save the world--again?

Publisher: Macmillan
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 448 pages
ISBN-10: 1250267668
Item Weight: 0.9 lbs
Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 10,001 to 50,000 ratings
"Clark reconfigures history with a keen, critical eye toward gender, class, and imperialism. An epic tale of magic and mystery, this is sure to wow." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Clark deftly explores colonialism and the history of Cairo with an immersive setting that acts as another character in this delightful combination of mystery, fantasy, and romance. Give this to alternate history enthusiasts and mystery readers who enjoy a dose of the magical." - Booklist, starred review

"A clever, wickedly fun steampunk mystery with an excellent balance of humor and heart. I loved it." - S. A. Chakraborty, internationally-bestselling author of The City of Brass

"A delightful whodunnit full of sly commentary and a wonderfully lived-in steampunk Cairo. The perfect read when I needed a break from this world to enjoy one wholly made from Clark's enviable imagination." - Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning and Star Wars: Resistance Reborn

"A Master of Djinn is everything you might expect from Clark: cinematic action, a radical reimagining of real history, and magic on every page. I loved it." - Hugo Award winner Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"A Master of Djinn has all the tricky twists I want in a police procedural and all the djinns, magic and wonder I want from fantasy." - Mary Robinette Kowal, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of The Calculating Stars

"Fascinating! I love the intricate alt-history world of A Master of Djinn, with its hints at the changed destinies of nations and ordinary people alike after the cataclysmic return of magic to the world. Clark gives us an engaging mystery with a wonderful mix of the fantastic and the mundane, chain-smoking crocodile gods, stuffy marid librarians, and a brilliant heroine with a dashing bowler." - Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names

"Alternate historic Cairo comes to vivid life in Clark's first novel. His cosmopolitan city includes not only humans from all around the world, but supernatural creatures aplenty. When their interests and agendas collide, the result is the kind of book you don't want to put down." - World Fantasy and Hugo Award finalist Marie Brennan

Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, P. DJÈLÍ CLARK spent the formative years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the author of the novel A Master of Djinn and the novellas Ring Shout, The Black God's Drums, and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. He has won the Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards and been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon Awards. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies, including Griots, Hidden Youth, and Clockwork Cairo. He is also a founding member of FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.