The City of Brass

Nahri has never thought that magic exists. She is undoubtedly powerful; on the streets of Cairo in the eighteenth century, she is a con artist of unparalleled skill. But she is more aware than anybody that the professions she practises to make ends meet—palm readings, zars, and healings—are all really ruses, deceptions, and taught abilities that serve as a method of deceiving Ottoman aristocrats.

However, Nahri is forced to acknowledge that the magical world she had assumed only existed in children's books is real when, during one of her scams, she unintentionally calls an equally cunning, mysterious djinn fighter to her side. For the warrior tells her a new story: beyond the ruins of once-great human metropolises, past mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, and across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

Old grudges are boiling in that city, behind the six gates of the six djinn clans, behind golden brass walls laced with sorcery. And Nahri discovers that genuine power is cruel and violent when she makes the decision to join this world. She is powerless against the perilous labyrinth of court politics thanks to that magic. that even the most cunning plans may come to devastating ends.

There's a reason, after all, why it's advised to be cautious what you ask for.