[Reading] P. Djèlí Clark's - A Master of Djinn

I finished reading P. Djèlí Clark's A Master of Djinn the other day.

This novel was very fun. Once it got going, I found it hard to put down. It's set in a magic-filled, alternate-history version of our world, in 1912 Cairo. An agent of the ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and the Supernatural has been tasked with tracking down a murderer claiming to be the person who reintroduced magic to the world forty years ago.

The worldbuilding is very fun; if you like technology mixed with your magic, this is worth a look - aside from the djinn and various other magical elements, it's full of clockwork and airships and whatnot. The possibility of a world war looms in the background.

I enjoy Agent Fatma as a character; she's fun. And her developing friendship with Agent Hadia is great - after the rocky start. And also I enjoyed Fatma's relationship with Siti. (If you like F/F, there is F/F in this, and yeah, the relationship is pretty nice!)

A discussion I came across described it as "you can tell the author is just putting everything he likes into this book" and... yeah, I think that's fair, actually. But I found the result pretty cool, so it works for me.

This is the first novel in this series; there are other works in this world though - novellas and short stories. I'm really looking forward to reading The Haunting of Tram Car 015, which I've heard is pretty good.

The fact that most of the author's other works are shorter does show - toward the end the plot unravels a bit, the pacing is kind of off, something like that. Some discussions that I saw about it were really bothered by this, but I wasn't particularly fussed. Good to know that the short works are even better, though!

So, yeah. Fun novel, and I'm looking forward to reading the author's other works. My main disappointment is that there isn't much fandom related to this series; I was hoping to find some cool fanarts of the world and also of Fatma and her stylish suits, but so far haven't turned up much. What a bummer. :V

Misc+++

Came down with a cold. Feeling horrible. Won't be able to go to judo tomorrow. Disappointed.

I'm feeling very worn out and I kind of want to go on a vacation but kind of not. Going on vacation would probably be more stressful than restful. But at least there is a stat this month. And there are two more of those special posture yoga classes that I signed up for, and then I'm done with that. Which is good because even though they've been interesting, it sucks up too much of my time (well more specifically the homework sucks up a lot of my time).

These times sure are Interesting re: tariffs and the USA shitting the bed. I do appreciate that people are starting conversations about buying Canadian, because it's something that I do feel strongly about and support when possible, but I hate that it took these circumstances for it to happen.

Watched the 2005 adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I think someone purchased it for me back when it was relevant, and I watched it once and then never again, because I have no recollection of it. Anyway, it was much more entertaining than I expected; I'd been anticipating putting it in the donation bin, but I think I'll keep it. It probably helps that my feelings about the novel are basically "I read it a couple of decades ago and thought it was all right" - if I had a much stronger opinion on it, I probably wouldn't have liked the movie as much.