Review by Booklist Review
Melek Ahmar, the Lord of Mars, the Red King, the Lord of Tuesday, Most August Rajah of Djinn, has been slumbering for millennia, and now that he has awakened, he is eager to wreak havoc and bend the Humes' wills to his wishes. When he meets up with an exile, Bhan Gurung, however, Melek Ahmar soon learns that these Humes aren't quite as easy to manipulate as they used to be. The local city is controlled by a technology, Karma, that rewards good behavior and gives even the worst members of society necessities, and no one seems willing to rebel. Hossain (Djinn City, 2017) paints a rich, interesting, even plausible future and fills it with a cast of quirky characters. Readers will laugh at Melek Ahmar's narcissism, especially when his plans are thwarted, as well as Hossain's irreverent writing style, including the characters' cheeky dialogue. With a mischievous protagonist and fascinating world building, this one should be recommended to readers who like their djinn tales with a large helping of humor.--Biz Hyzy Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hossain (Djinn City) spins satire out of myth and science fiction in the near-future postapocalyptic paradise of Kathmandu. Djinn ruler Melek Ahmar arises from eons of slumber to find that the humans who once feared and worshipped him have long since forgotten magic in favor of technology. The world he knew has been ravaged by climate disaster; now each human is implanted with tech that produces a personal microclimate. The city is ruled by an algorithm, Karma, which monitors thoughts and awards points for good behavior. Desperate for a good party and some worshippers, Melek Ahmar attempts to start a revolution, only to find the humans weirdly reticent. Egged on by Bhan Gurung, a recidivist Gurkha soldier with his own motives for taking the city, and chased by Hamilcar Pande, a government official with total faith in the system, the djinn's quest for chaos leads all three to discover the dark secret of how this paradise came to be. Compact and quippy, this is a whirlwind story that cleverly blends genres and finds humor and pathos in human failure. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A newly awakened djinn seeks to disrupt the calm of a seemingly utopian Kathmandu and falls in with company who may be even more dangerous to the orderly city than anyone realizes.When Melek Ahmar, the Lord of Mars, the Red King, the Lord of Tuesday, Most August Rajah of Djinn, stumbles down from a mountain in the heart of the Himalayas, he's peckish, crabby, and confused. Luckily, the first human he runs into, a Gurkhaor soldiernamed Bhan Gurung, gives him food and explains the new world order to him: Society is now run by Karma, an artificial intelligence system which disseminates points to its citizens: "Points for service, points for good works[with] mathematical prescience that would have beggared the Oracle of Delphi." People communicate telepathically thanks to implants in their brains; nanotech cleans the environment and people's bodies of toxins. Gurung confides in the djinn that he has skirted this system by removing his implants, and he's a "zero," completely outside the system of Karma. The Falstaffian djinn thinks this means Gurung can find him a merry band of fellow zeroes to eat, drink, and carouse with. But Gurung's motivations are as sinister as his past, and as agents working on behalf of Karma try to track down the soldier and the djinn, they head for a showdown that threatens everything the city is built on. Hossain (Djinn City, 2017, etc.) is a maximalist: In the space of this slim novel are elements of buddy comedy, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, and philosophy. But somehow it all comes together in an entertainingly madcap story that asks what it means to be a citizen and what equality really looks like.A rollicking genre mashup that should appeal to SF/F fans and well beyond. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
