"A thrilling, transportative adventure that is everything promised–Chakraborty's storytelling is fantasy at its best."
— R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel
​
"Sheer joy, with quirky characters, spooky monsters, sprightly banter, and swashbuckling that puts Sindbad to shame."
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

​“The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi sets sail on a breathtaking high-stakes revenge tour filled with rollicking thrills and whiplash twists on a magical reimagining of the Indian Ocean. Amina is the big-hearted, scandalous captain I would follow to the end of the world. Chakraborty gives no quarter as she walks the reader right up to the edge of the plank and then shoves them over.” — Wesley Chu, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The War Arts Saga


​Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
“I read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi with a wide grin, my heart thrilling at each twist in our protagonist’s story. The sense of place Chakraborty has conjured is one of the novel’s signal achievements. Her research on the politics of the Indian Ocean in the 12th century is evident throughout, and there is plenty of adroit commentary on class conflict, piety, warfare and gender politics, particularly how these things are perpetuated through myth and storytelling. But there is also the fulfilled promise of a good time.”
— New York Times Book Review
“A swashbuckling high seas quest that’s rousing, profound and irresistible. . . Impressively researched history underpins it all, offering fascinating context and realism that elevate this adventurous tale of a fantastical heist as it explores parenthood, faith, ambition, friendship and the enduring allure of forging a legacy.”
— BookPage (starred review)

"Chakraborty's seafaring adventure is pure incandescence and adrenaline. Readers will leave these pages with their lungs full of ocean air, their fingertips glittered with magic and their hearts a little heavier for being both smitten and heartbroken by its finely drawn, poignant cast of characters. This is a book I will daydream of for years to come."
— Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
​
“Chakraborty delivers again with a captivating story of motherhood, faith, friendship, dangerous magic, and hijinks on the high seas. Amina al-Sirafi is now my favorite pirate captain and I’m on board to follow all her adventures."
​— Fonda Lee, author of The Green Bone Saga

“Chakraborty’s latest unfurls like a scroll of ancient parchment, conjuring realer-than-life monsters, menacing magic, and a heroine with a gnarled, beating heart. An exhilarating, propulsive adventure.”
— Ava Reid, internationally bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman ​

“With heart and exceptional—(though entirely unsurprising)—acuity, yet again Chakraborty raises the bar for the fantasy genre, this time by spiriting her readers into an epic, nautical world as rich as it is enchanting from start to finish.”
​— Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
Named one of the best science-fiction & fantasy books of the year by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal, SyFy Wire and Vulture, and short-listed for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Astounding, and British Fantasy awards
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars and a mysterious gift for healing—are all tricks; both the means to the delightful end of swindling unwitting Ottoman nobles and a reliable way to survive.

But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to reconsider her beliefs. For Dara tells Nahri an extraordinary tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass—a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In Daevabad, within gilded brass walls laced with enchantments and behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments run deep. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, her arrival threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.

Spurning Dara's warning of the treachery surrounding her, she embarks on a hesitant friendship with Alizayd, an idealistic prince who dreams of revolutionizing his father's corrupt regime. All too soon, Nahri learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say to be careful what you wish for...
​"The City of Brass reads like an invitation for readers from Baghdad to Fairbanks to meet across impossibly divergent worlds through the shared language and images of the fantastical." - New York Times book review

"The best adult fantasy I've read since The Name of the Wind. It's stunning and complex and consuming and fantastic." - Sabaa Tahir

​"Even a few pages will enmesh you in its magic." - Robin Hobb

​"Highly impressive and exceptionally promising." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 
Return to Daevabad in The Kingdom of Copper
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 a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. 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 family—and 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.
- Named one of the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews and Amazon -

"Promise impressively delivered."  - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 

"Chakraborty raises the tension and the stakes with emotional dilemmas that bring out the best and worst in these conflicted characters." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Lush and magical." - Library Journal (starred review)

"With gorgeous world building, compelling characters, and clashing schemes, the second in Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy will thrill her many fans." - Booklist (starred review)
The final chapter in the bestselling, critically acclaimed Daevabad Trilogy, in which a con-woman and an idealistic djinn prince join forces to save a magical kingdom from a devastating civil war.
Daevabad has fallen.
​
After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.

But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.
​
Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.

As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.
​“No series since George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire has quite captured both palace intrigue and the way that tribal infighting and war hurt the vulnerable the most.” - Paste Magazine

"With musical prose, majestic settings, and an epic story, Chakraborty’s finale to a trilogy will ignite passion in her many fans. Fervidly recommended to all readers of the fantasy genre." - Booklist starred review of The Empire of Gold
Return to Daevabad, the hidden city of djinn, in The River of Silver

A prospective new queen joins a court whose lethal history may overwhelm her own political savvy...

An imprisoned royal from a fallen dynasty and a woman wrenched from her home cross paths in an enchanted garden...

A pair of scouts stumble upon a secret in a cursed winter wood that will turn over their world...

Listen to their stories and more in a collection of tales that returns to Daevabad and gives voice to new characters and old. From Manizheh’s first steps toward rebellion to new adventures being embarked upon after The Empire of Gold ends, The River of Silver is the perfect complement to Chakraborty’s incredible trilogy.
Praise for THE CITY OF BRASS and THE DAEVABAD TRILOGY:
​
"Compelling and complex...Chakraborty writes a winning heroine in Nahri." - Washington Post

​​​“It's hard to describe how gorgeous and intricate this fantasy novel is." - SYFY Wire

​"The City of Brass reads like an invitation for readers from Baghdad to Fairbanks to meet across impossibly divergent worlds through the shared language and images of the fantastical." - New York Times book review

"Lyrical...Chakraborty's grasp of Middle Eastern history, folklore, and culture inspires a swiftly moving plot, richly drawn characters, and a beautifully constructed world that will entrance." - Library Journal (starred review)
​
“Chakraborty manages what many epic fantasy writers have never achieved: a world where everyone can see themselves not only mirrored, but powerful.” - New York Journal of Books

​​"A gorgeous epic as rich in its language as it is in its characterization...Simply one of the best debuts I've read." - Kevin Hearne

​“An opulent masterpiece." – Roshani Chokshi

"I particularly love a story of twisty, complex, dangerous, and character-driven family and palace politics, steeped in hidden history, cruel betrayals, and desires that can’t be admitted. The City of Brass delivers on all counts." - Kate Elliott

“An extravagant feast of a book—spicy and bloody, dizzyingly magical, and still, somehow, utterly believable.” - Laini Taylor

​“Each page reveals a new wonder.” – Fran Wilde
Click here to sign up for updates from Shannon Chakraborty
Proudly powered by Weebly