Dragons & Jetpacks discussion

I was thinking of making this thread "first impressions" for the first week, then I'll rename it later in the month to "overall discussion/spoilers" for when more people have finished and want to talk about spoilers.
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I loved the Daevabad trilogy from this author.

So my impression from the first few chapters is that this is very action-filled. I can easily see this as a show or something. It also reminded me of The Name of the Wind because of the storytelling style, someone's telling their story, which is the main plot of the book, to someone else.

My first impression was "thank goodness this is going to be entertaining" - the tone of the main character's storytelling is fabulous. I just finished it.

Kimberly wrote: "My first impression was "thank goodness this is going to be entertaining" - the tone of the main character's storytelling is fabulous. I just finished it."

It is really fun! I love Dalila so far, and Raksh was not what I was expecting... I didn't expect to find him funny. I'm only around halfway into the book, but I'll turn this into a *spoiler* thread since you've finished.

I'll definitely be reading this one, but I won't start until mid-month.

I plan to start mid-month as well. :)

I finished the book. I really enjoyed Raksh. I keep imagining him like Lucifer from the TV show. But when he's in his demon form, I imagine him like a blue avatar. Too bad Amina sent him away in the last part of the book, but I'm fairly sure he'll show up again in the next books.

So the Peris told Amina to get 5 Transgressions. Does that mean there will be 5 books, one for each Transgression? If that's the case, I'm not super excited about it if that's the only focus. I mean, sure I think it'll be fun, but I was hoping this would get deeper too.

Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Ana! I'm planning to start it later this weekend. :)

I started today, only on chapter 1 but already love the storytelling style, similar to Arabian Nights, maybe?

Just finished, and I loved it! The storytelling was so entertaining, and I felt inside the world with the characters.

There were a couple instances where Raksh reminded me of Q from Star Trek. lol

When I look up the series, it shows 3 books, but like you said, Ana, maybe 4 more books for the Transgressions she has to find for the peris? One down, 4 to go.

I forgot to mention that I'm reading the hardcover book I got in the monthly FairyLoot subscription. It had a fun "extra" story at the end telling a short story of how Dalila, Mistress of Poisons joined the crew.

I read that Shannon Chakraborty's other series, The Daevabad, is being made into a Netflix series. I have book 1, The City of Brass, and hopefully get to it before the series comes out. :)

I have a hardback too Shawnie, but it doesn't look like my copy has the extra story. The maps are beautifully rendered, and I like the illustrations of the ocean on some of the early pages. It's a lovely book.

I'm about 1/4 done and enjoying it so far. I don't know if it's going to be in my top tier of fantasy/SF at this point, but it's definitely entertaining enough to be a fun read.

I also like the way she weaves some details of the Islamic world into the story, like the Zamzam well, the tradition of bismillah, the payment of zakat and sadayah, and the calls to adhan by the muezzin. Obviously, the story is a fantasy and more intended to be fun than realistic; so I'm not worrying about accuracy, but I do like the generally positive feelings the main character has about some of these customs, despite how out of place she would be in that culture as the person she is. Of course she pays the zakat, she says! :) The more usual thing with an outsider-heroine would be to have her rebel against the culture as a whole, but here, she's self-assured and self-confident enough to pick her battles (and her grudges).

Shawnie wrote: "I started today, only on chapter 1 but already love the storytelling style, similar to Arabian Nights, maybe?"

There are definitely some parallels. The way she begins the story with a praise to Allah feels like a deliberate tip of her hat to the way those tales are structured, as well as a way to poke fun and to let the reader know the ways which her story will be different! She says that against custom she will declare openly that her story is meant to entertain - she will not stick to the pretense that it's all for holy improvement. :)

Greg wrote: "I have a hardback too Shawnie, but it doesn't look like my copy has the extra story. The maps are beautifully rendered, and I like the illustrations of the ocean on some of the early pages. It's a ..."
Yes, I liked how she picked her personal battles so to speak with her religion. You'll come across her inner diaglog on her sins and how she does her best, sometimes. :) I rounded up to 5 since a lot of it was novel for me, and I never got bored nor did my mind wander.

Better late than never, but I’m finally starting this one today

Just finished it this morning and I really liked it. The pace, the plot, the action and the humor all worked great for me.
I think what I liked most was the interactions of the characters and how they all came across as one found family. I think I would have liked to have seen more from The Frank, I feel like he was built up to such a big bad, and then got defeated without too much hassle. But I still very much enjoyed it.
The other bit that I found strange was that she is so protective of her daughter and has told her nothing really of her life at sea but seemed very easy to come around to helping Dunya in the way that she did at the end. They seem a little too opposite for me, but then she did start to relate stories to her daughter at the end.

Ana, I feel like the next books will be about finding the other transgressions but if this series goes like the Davabad series then the author has an amazing way of getting deep and complicated characters interwoven in her stories that I think you wont be disappointed.

Shawnie, the fairy loot editions are stunning. Im a little jealous.

Lel, I agree, the big bad Frank wasn't so bad after all. Maybe there was some point to that. In your mind you work up the villain to be horrific and then when confronted with him, Oh, he's just a diabolically bad man. Compared to some of the monsters and gods she deals with, he might not be as intimidating.

I hope to see Marjana with her on the ship in the next one!

Shawnie wrote: "Lel, I agree, the big bad Frank wasn't so bad after all. Maybe there was some point to that. In your mind you work up the villain to be horrific and then when confronted with him, Oh, he's just a d..."

Yeah, the Frank had such a great villain name, too. Falco Palemenestra.

Ana AZ wrote: "Shawnie wrote: "Lel, I agree, the big bad Frank wasn't so bad after all. Maybe there was some point to that. In your mind you work up the villain to be horrific and then when confronted with him, O..."

LOL yes, great villain name!

Sounds very Mafia to me.

A little late, but I just finished this! I really enjoyed it. I like pirates in general, and it had a fun "Pirates of the Caribbean but 1000 years earlier and in the Indian Ocean with Arabian Nights vibes". If that makes sense.

I will probably never not compare anything pirates to the Pirates of the Caribbean lol. That was my jam as a teen so that's the standard I will always hold pirates to.

To be fair to Falco, he had just been possessed by an actual deity, and that could have robbed him of his magical enhancements. I agree that he fails to live up to Amina's (and therefore ours as readers) expectations, but it seems to me there's a legit reason for it.