COMMENTARY: A Master of Djinn (2021)
The following are thoughts and reactions I had while reading A Master of Djinn (2021) by P. Djèlí Clark. They do not reflect my overall post-reading opinion of the work. For self-study purposes, there are also extensive summaries of the plot in these notes. In short…
⚠️ MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ⚠️
- Ch 1 - cold open. Ok. Racist secret brotherhood in Egypt. Early 20th century. Cool. Big bad can immolate people. Cool.
- Ch 2 - uh oh. Too much exposition and explainatory spoon feeding for my taste… explicit world building. A contest. A deal broken. Introduce a djinn. More rules for the world. Dramatization got better once the deal went wrong.
- Another thing that’s immediately working against me are the steampunk elements. I hate steampunk. The airships, boilerplate eunuchs (automatons), automated wheeled carriages. Or maybe it’s too many different elements. I want the early 20th century Indiana Jones stuff, I want the Arabic culture with the Cairene slang, I want the Djinn magic stuff… but throwing in steampunk was just one ingredient too much in the cocktail. And let’s not forget, there’s also the added element of a Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Beings. It’s a lot of ingredients in one cocktail. This reminds me of the default setting for Blades in the Dark. Victorian London-ish aesthetic? Yes. Ghosts? Yes. Heists and gangs? Yes. All together? Too much. Pick two. I don’t know. We’ll see.
- The prose is a little bland (a lot of passive sentences for description), unsure of itself (as usual, wasn’t x but close, of course), and then to make up for it, a lot of Arabic to add color?
- Ch 3 - Fatma to crime scene. Intro police liaison to ministry Aasim Sharif. Talk over crime scene. Intro Abigail Worthington, and four friends. Intro new partner Hadia as a bit of a cliffhanger. Dialogue was… really meh. Fatma said a lot of leading things just so Aasim can info-dump.
- I think what’s bothering me about this book and to a lesser degree, Even Though I Knew the End, is that the magic and supernatural don’t really feel fantastic or evokes awe or inspires fear. It’s just there in a jokey, comic book way. There’s no serious power dynamic that makes you worry, or fear, or feel anxious. I want the best genuine afraid and awestruck by fantastical elements. I should be afraid of its power. I’m not getting that with a lot of modern fantasy. It’s just there.
- ch. 4 - ugh. The “i only work alone” trope. This better have a good spin. Oh hmm. Lesbian lover as well. Feels forced
- Ch. 5 - this was the first enjoyable chapter. Just grounded Egyptian culture. Visiting the great aunt. Talking about life. Gathering evidence and following a lead. The fight and flirting felt real. Not forced like last chapter. We’re at the p70/18% mark. Prolly need one more major thing to happen to kick off the middle?
- ch. 6 - go into office, talk to director Amir, accept partner Hadia. Pretty solid SUACM. Act one over?
- ch. 7 - jazz ar the Spot. Cool. Siti and Fatma followed, it’s Ahmad with a lead, in the slums is a speaker in a gold mask and black robes, claims to be al-Jahiz. The multiplying minion attacks Fatma and Siti then they disappear. Leaving a message.
- ch. 8 - the mandatory library research scene with a grumpy librarian where we get backstory for the big bad.
- ch. 9 - go to rich neighborhood built by djinn, interview a rich racist lead who owned a newspaper and covered up the mass murder at the behest of the cult leader’s son. Siti ambushed Fatma and Hadia. Did Alexander do it? Aasim brings lead for next appearance of al-Jahiz.
- ch. 10 - go to El-Arafa, the cemetery slums where al-Jahiz will appear with police. Hadia shows up. Fatma confronts the man on stage, taunts him, gets him to remove his mask. He admits to murder but wins the hearts of the people. The mob is activated.
- Pg. 144 - I think what’s bothering me is that magic is introduced, but there are no clear rules, so I have no way of judging anybody’s power level. Al-Jahiz just pulled a sword out of thin air. Is that powerful? Impossible? I don’t know. Djinns can do XYZ. Is that amazing? I dunno. And when you hear something inexplicable happening, you just go, oh it’s magic and shrug.
- Ch. 11 - mob and police fight. Fatma chases al-Jahiz with Hadia into trap with Siti but Siti is hurt while al-Jahiz gets away riding an ifrit?
- ch. 12 - Fatma dealing with fallout. Siti magically heals. Hadia challenges Fatma to a sword fight in the gym, unloads on her about dealing with sexism, they laugh and make up, get invite from Alexander Worthington. I dunno man…. This just feels “cartoony and cheesy” like Buffy. There’s this lightness to it that makes it unreal. They went from sullen to made up and friendly in one scene. There was no progression.
- ch. 13 - Abigail and sycophants. Alexander the sneering supremist. Wants to demolish the place and forget it. Abbie hands them a ledger with The Old Man’s purchases. Lead to Red Road and Siwa. I feel like all the “correct elements” are here… but they’re not being leveraged in a way that spins wonder. Like even the critique on colonialism… which is a theme I enjoy reading… seems… “thrown in”. It’s not deep, or insightful, nor a heavy well-thought-out indictment… it’s “just there”. India has a better jinn and magic from the Ganges and the English are reduced to a few garrisoned towns. Ok. And? Is there more to this? Is there more to how colonialism plays out in this alternate world?
- Ch. 14 - yeah ok, that was a cool chapter. Magic that’s new and interesting. A psychedelic djinn with books, tea, and camel racing gambling addiction… and the room wavers when he’s forced to tell the truth about Alexander. We’re at the 47%/p.182 mark here.
- I’m trying to really dig deep here and trying to figure out why this isn’t working for me. I’m thinking about This is How You Lose the Time War and how it has all the elements I like but didn’t connect or deliver. And then I’m thinking about Never Let Me Go… and I’m suspecting it might be character arcs. Both this and TIHYLTW have shallow characters that do high stakes things but are just not believable. I don’t care about them.
- Ch. 15 - sandstorm around the ministry. 13 ghuls attacked. Librarian taken over. Imposter steals patterns and pieces for the world clock, which lets you time travel. 50%/p.200 mark. No false victory. Just the worst that could happen.
- ch. 16 - Fatma reflects on father’s watch. Aftermath of bombing. Siti asks her to go back to bed. I don’t know why… but it feels like the beats of The Dark Knight for some reason. We have a crazy maniacal villain and the good guys just can’t catch a break. Too tired to see if this works. Maybe later.
- ch. 17 - rich and powerful people party where Fatma meets Amina… some talk about magic menace. Imposter shows up… I swear. Dark Knight.
- pg. 227 - I snorted. I’m sorry. This is just horrible dialogue. They’re in a fight and Fatma says I know what stole and flat outright asks why he did it and what he’s going to do with it to al-Janiz’s face? It’s just so silly. It’s so… unsubltle and unrealistic and cartoony. It’s wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve melodrama and say-exactly-what’s-on-your-mind forthrightness that I would expect in a graphic novel, like a superhero comic book. Not a novel. It’s just. I dunno. It’s like this is for kids. Like a YA novel. This just isn’t good. And the next page, her inner dialogue is “this is going to end tonight”. I mean, seriously? Fatma has no ability to assess the power dynamics?
- ch. 18 - Siti/Abla is a djinn and while I didn’t expected it, I also… just don’t care. It was supposed to make me gasp, but I just found it… meh. I dunno man, I really don’t. This just isn’t working for me. Also, to keep the patterning the Dark Knight on top of these plot beats… Siti = Two Face? Goes evil?
- pg. 243 - the revelation that al-Janiz can control djinn chilled Fatma? Really? C’mon…. She would’ve put that together the moment she saw Siti’s eyes go dark like Zargos. It’s like the book is trying to create these revelatory moments when it’s a forgone conclusion.
- Ch. 19 - that was a grounded and vulnerable scene. Wish the rest of the book would be more grounded like this.
- ch. 20 - hadia and Fatma talk about djinn control. dr. hoda csi scene. Zargos myth reveal scene with magic stopping him from sharing the imposter’s stuff. Gives Fatma a veiled clue.
- pg. 266 - “The stories had been popular in Egypt for centuries. With the return of the djinn, they were now treatises for academics to pore over, trying to separate possible truths from fancy. What those tales had to do with all this, however, was hard to imagine. But they couldn’t afford to turn up their noses as possible leads.” This paragraph bothered me enough to type it up. I don’t know if it’s so straightforward and spoon feeding… or if it feels like lazy inner monologue… or it was just ultimately unnecessary. Of course they had to chase this lead. Of course they don’t know what this clue has to do with the case. I dunno.
- pg. 272 - one ring to rule them all…
- pg. 274 - now this. This is fascinating. This is a theme that the author could’ve ran with and I would’ve loved. Talk about how the Seal of Suleyman is like racism and oppression and how we shove all the bad stuff under the carpet so that people willingly - consciously or unconsciously - ignores it. And even when you try to surface it, it becomes forgotten again because it’s too uncomfortable to talk about. This is a gem of a metaphor here.
- ch. 21 - see Rami. Reveals hidden magic. Shows them how to keep remembering. Tsega reveals someone messing with Rami.
- ch. 22 - angels reveal their contract at what they did and what they have no control over. That was a really cool chapter. Genuinely interesting world building
- ch. 23 - Bargaining with the Marid. Condescending about angels. Removed the confounding spell. Talk to 40 Leopards. Does soup kitchen work. Confirms they stole for Siwa.
- Pg. 309. I am so very, very sorry, but Siwa’s basket of tongues made me think of this Reddit classic. I’m sorry. Do not click on that link.
- ch. 24 - another great one. The pacing is terrific now. And I’m fairly certain it was Abbie. I suspected the moment she was the first person that wasn’t dead when Fatma got on the scene. It was purely a guess. But I can’t think who else AW could be. But also… the pacing and tightness and wonderful magic of the last few chapters tells me that this was probably written first and a beginning and middle made for it later. I can’t see why else I found so many faults in the book earlier. Maybe the power levels and x number of “cool stuff” was too much by the time turning the third act into a novel. I don’t know how you would fix this if my theory is right. Maybe the magic didn’t need to be ramped up? I dunno.
- Ch. 25 - I don’t know why I picked up on it’s Abbie and not Alexander. But this deke was so loud.
- pg. 330. Oh. All the mean girls were in on it too. We’re at the 85% mark. We still have a chase and fight or fight and chase and fight again. Seems like way too much denouement if it’s going to be 40pages of it.
- Ch. 25 - action I actually care about. But why? I still don’t care about the characters. Is it because of the proper buildup? The stakes are actually rising in a steady manner? What else? Wait is it character motivation? Or specifically Abigail’s and contrast with her brother? Is that why I finally care? Whereas Fatma and Hadia are both generic cop types? What would’ve saved this novel if that were the case? That we do more motivation of all the suspects earlier? Maybe that’s it. I mean mysteries where I’m most invested gave me motivations fairly early. I’ll need to think on that.
- Pg. 338 - this jokey playfulness before the end of the world is very much BtVS and this just isn’t for me.
- Pg. 340. “That sounded bad. Very bad.” What. Seriously? Why is this is here? Why are we broadcasting the obvious? I feel like this was written for a YA audience or something. It’s just so cartoony and goofy.
- ch. 26 - in skimming this action scene.
- Ch. 27 - for a moment there I thought it was going to be a setup to a sequel with a unsatisfying ending… although, Ahmad is a bit of a Deus ex Machina. I mean sure, he was hinted at the entire book… but I dunno. Felt planted and not organic. Not the “gasp surprise” I think it was trying to go for.
- Ch. 28 - philosophy and pacifist and introvert artists? And said in a confused idiotic way? This is just too cartoony for me.
- Ch. 29 - ending landed well. Good MECH all around. We got Gollum wanting her precious. We got a djinn wish with unexpected costs. We have the ring tossed into destruction. Sort of. We have the big bad banished.
- Epilogue - it was sweet. The PS was what I don’t like about this book. The tone of it was just off got me. Not my jam.
- I just looked at a bunch of reviews on StoryGraph and 80% of them had the word “fun” in it. So I guess I don’t like fun.
Further Thoughts
I can’t stop thinking about my reaction to this book. Or modern fantasy in general. Do I just not like them? I didn’t react well to Lies of Locke Lamora. I didn’t react well to This is How You Lose the Time War. I’m thinking about the TONE in all these novels. They’re all trying to put on this “cool factor” for the characters that comes off as graphic-novel-like. Which I mean, I read a ton of in the early 2000s and loved… but for some reason it’s not working for me in fiction. Another comparison I can’t stop thinking about is BtVS. They’re all spouting off dialogue that ranges from cheesy/tacky to… attempting to replicate a Whedonesque-slang. I mean, at the end of the day, a lot of reviews are saying these novels are “fun”, that they enjoyed the characters, it was a “fun ride”. It was an adventure. And maybe that’s it. I don’t like fun adventures where the characters don’t talk like real people. At least not in my novels. I’m wondering if this tone is due to the last decade of HP, MCU, Star Wars, etc. etc. Just a blend of YA and not-super-deep dialogue or characters. Things I’m OK with on TV or in graphic novels… but for some reason, not in novels. I want to express this is a me problem.
I dunno. Something else that I noticed, after my conversation with Olivia on the last episode of Garage Fiction is that there might be another “me problem” here, which is… I’m realizing I need more emotional interior and muted conflicts in my fiction. I absolutely loved my re-read of Never Let Me Go, and I’m enjoying every single moment in Atonement(2001) right now. There doesn’t appear to be much internal struggle for the characters in modern fantasy. My favorite moment in LLL is when he reflects on Camorra in a boat, thinks about his past, and an insight on the socio-economics. I got to see inside Locke! Like actual depth. I’m not getting any of that with most of the other characters. Maybe that’s a major reason why I can’t get into these novels when my belief is that the one USP of fiction is you can go inside people’s minds. It’s the one thing graphic novels and film/tv can’t replicate without it being cheesy (thought bubbles and/or voice overs).
Final thought. Ring Shout worked for me. Why? It’s not like the characters were super deep there either, but I loved it. And I’m wondering if it’s the compact nature of it. It’s a novella. And Clark jammed SO MANY interesting concepts/MECHS into there in one go. And they SUNG together. Everything wove together well and as a reader, I was so pleasantly distracted by all the fantastical MECHs and how they played with each other, that I didn’t mind a cardboard POV. I even said the POV was cardboard and boring in my original commentary. So maybe when you expand a story from 100-150 pages to a full 350-400… I need a lot more emotional interior and motivation exploration and internal struggle? Not so much naval gazing, as more situations and micro-tension conflict where the character has to confront the internal struggle more often?