Lately, many books I’ve already read in English are getting a Dutch translation. One of these books is The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty. IN fact, the whole Daevabad series is getting translated. I’ve struggled a lot with the translation of The City of Brass to be fair, but I still wanted to reread the rest of the books in my native language as well. So, I found it was time for a reread of the second book in this series.

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Title: The Kingdom of Copper
Author: S.A. Chakraborty
Series: The Daevabad Trilogy #2
Publication date: February 21, 2019
Publisher: Voyager
ISBN: 9780008239442
Number of Pages: 625
Genre: Fantasy

Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS.
Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.
Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her familyand one misstep will doom her tribe.
Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid, the unpredictable water spirits, have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.
And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad’s towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.

The story picks up five years after the final events of The City of Brass. The prologue gives the reader a glimpse of what happened to Nahri, Dara and Ali straight after everything went down, so we actually know what happened to them. In the first chapter, there is the 5-years time jump. The events occurring in the prologue come back somehow further on in the book.

When looking to the characters, all have grown in their own way. Nahri seems to be more secure in her position as the Banu Nahida (I hope I spell it correctly since I used the audiobook), the most important healer of her people. She fights more with both her mentor and her husband, but still she loves them. At least, her mentor. About her husband, I have my doubts. Her homesickness is still lingering, but less. Ali still is the religious fanatic he already was. Also, he’s not that street smart and makes one misstep after another. Dara however deals with his 1500 year old trauma and really doesn’t know what to believe anymore. Besides all our familiar characters, new ones get introduced. Their introduction gives us more clarity on the struggles Daevabad faces, which is both interesting and intriguing.

The plot already intrigued me when I’ve read it for the first time. Back then, I flew through this chonker of a book within just a matter of days. I have to be honest here, that was during pandemic times. Now, life is back to normal, so I needed more time to read it. Still, I was eager to reread it and flew through it anyway. As well as the characters, the plot and the writing has developed for the better. The political stakes are getting higher and there is more at stake than we actually thought there would be. The new characters play a large part in this as well. The final chapters make very curious for The Empire of Gold, the conclusion tho this series. That one got a Dutch translation as well just a few weeks ago.

Overall, I really enjoyed my reread of The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty. I still remembered a lot of the events, but I found it really nice to get back to Daevabad as the books in this series keep intriguing me. I felt the translators did a much better job in translating this book than they did with The City of Brass. I am hoping to get to my reread of The Empire of Gold soon, because I definitely can’t remember stuff from the final chapters of that book.