Lora Hates Spam

by S. A. Chakraborty

This is the second book in The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty. The first book, City of Brass, was a good read so it made sense to continue.

It begins five years after the events of the first novel and Nahri has married the eldest son of Daevabad's ruler, though it's a sham marriage. Her friendship with the younger son has been permanently damaged by the events that killed her real love, Dara. Again we have a magical world with Djinn and halfbreeds called Shafit, as well as other spirits like the Ifrit.

This one moved slower for me than the first book. Nahri's journey was high adventure, but now she's working toward practicalities in a world that has effectively imprisoned her. A lot of political intrigue features as well as royal family dynamics, more world building information about various djinn entities and a rebellion.

Nahri develops further as a character in this one as does Dara. This made the story more interesting as it went along. There was quite a lot of dramatic action towards the end that made it worth the slower parts, but the ending felt incomplete. It wasn't a cliffhanger, just one of those "Well what happens now?" endings. I expect another book will follow.