A Master of Djinn

by P. Djèlí Clark

Overview

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world fifty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

A Master of Djinn is poised to launch P. Djèlí Clark’s SFF career to new heights as the highly-anticipated debut readers are clamoring for.


Novellas by P. Djèlí Clark
The Black God's Drums
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
Ring Shout

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250267689
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/11/2021
Series:	Dead Djinn Universe , #1
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	82,699
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

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 award winning and Hugo and Sturgeon nominated author of the novellas The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His writings 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. His short story “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Negro Teeth of Washington” (Fireside Fiction) has earned him both a Nebula and Locus award. He is also a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/22/2021

Returning to the bustling streets of the alternate 1912 Cairo first visited in the novella A Dead Djinn in Cairo, Clark’s stunning full-length debut follows the adventures of Fatma el-Sha’arawi, a special investigator with the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. Decades earlier, the prophet al-Jahiz eliminated the separation of magical and non-magical realms, forever altering the world before disappearing from the public eye. Now members of a brotherhood dedicated to al-Jahiz’s legacy turn up murdered. When Fatma is called in to investigate the crime, she discovers the perpetrator to be a man of rare magical abilities who claims to be the returned al-Jahiz himself. Together with her clever partner, Agent Hadia Abdel Hafez, and her girlfriend, Siti, Fatma sets out to uncover the truth behind this self-professed prophet. With this fantastic feat of postcolonial imagination, Clark reconfigures history with a keen, critical eye toward gender, class, and imperialism. Meanwhile, the colorful prose and thorough worldbuilding allow readers to truly enter this imagined world. An epic tale of magic and mystery, this is sure to wow. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A clever, wickedly fun steampunk mystery with an excellent balance of humor and heart. I loved it.” —S. A. Charkaborty, 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 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

“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

“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-nominated author Marie Brennan

“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

From the Publisher

12/01/2020

Forty years ago, mystic/inventor Al-Jahiz sundered the veil dividing worlds, letting magic seep into this world while vanishing into the beyond. Djinns now flit about 1912 Cairo while the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities strives to keep the peace. Then someone claiming to be Al-Jahiz wipes out the secret brotherhood protecting his legacy, and ministry agent Fatma el-Sha'arawi gets busy. From Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award winner Clark.

Library Journal