Setting and world building is so fascinating, but the plot drags, and the final reveal takes way too long to actually reveal compared to how obvious it is, and ultimately ends up falling flat.

I would, however, be interested to know more about the Forty Leopards. I thought multiple times throughout the book, that we were building to them being involved more; sadly I was disappointed there too.

As for the prequels! (In order of release): A Dead Djinn In Cairo

• my ranking: 2nd
• importance: 1st I really would recommend reading this first. Without it, idk if I would’ve cared at all about Fatma and Siti’s relationship. It also has relevance to the plot. Quite a bit would struggle to work without this one. Really think it should’ve maybe been a prologue instead.

The Angel of Khan el-Khalil

• my ranking: 1st
• importance: 3rd You could easily skip this one. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it, throwaway line of a reference in the main story. Which sucks, cause I thought this was the best one, by far.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015

• my ranking: 3rd
• importance: 2nd As this is the longest prequel, I’d say this one is entirely up the individual. For the main story, it’s main result is building (side)character relationships. But I really think you could understand the story just fine without it.

I enjoyed this book though to be honest I can’t really tell you why. I can see its flaws. There is absolutely no subtlety here, it does not trust the reader at all and the characters are thin.

Other people have pointed out that the book will make a point quite cleverly in one paragraph only to over explain it in the next. Making you feel like like the author has no faith in you. It’s not even that complicated of a point, capitalism is bad.

The characters too seem to exist only either to make a political point or to do something shocking. Other than their love of excesses I feel like I didn’t learn about what drives them.

So why then did I enjoy this book? Well I do agree with the politics of the book which certainly helps. The narration, while heavy handed, did come up with some incredible, quotable passages. I’m also really interested in the time period, the history of the Industrial Revolution and Women’s Suffrage Movements so I found some interest there.

Mostly though it’s a wild ride. One of my early notes in the book is ‘this isn’t subtle, but it is fun’ which sums it up nicely.