Review: A Master of Djinn

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A strong adventure story with a postcolonial sensibility; the stupid/nasty English people approach the status of caricatures, but unfortunately are probably pretty accurate.

I've read a previous story with the same main character, and enjoyed it, so I requested this one from Netgalley - thanks to the publisher for granting my request. The pre-publication ARC I had included some mangled idioms and vocab glitches, something that will hopefully be polished up before publication. The author also has a bad habit of "said bookisms"; people don't just say things, they "speak" them or "relate" them or "voice" them.

There were one or two setting details I didn't quite believe, like most Western countries rejecting the use of magic despite the power it offered. I also didn't believe that the protagonist could afford so many high-end suits on her salary as a government employee. Also, the agents seemed slow on the uptake, only figuring key plot points out long after they'd become obvious to me. But the action was good, the main character's determination, competence, and dedication to doing the right thing made her appealing to me, and the setting was well evoked.

I do hope that the published version includes (perhaps in X-Ray or in back matter) some assistance with Egyptian vocabulary, since there were quite a few words that neither my Kindle dictionary nor Wikipedia could explain to me. I was often left assuming from context "this is some sort of garment" or "this is some sort of food" without any really concrete or specific image.

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