Books Like The City of Brass
Introduction: What Readers Mean by “Books Like The City of Brass”
When readers ask for books like The City of Brass, they are rarely asking for just another fantasy novel. They are asking for something more specific: a fantasy rooted in Middle Eastern and Islamic lore rather than European, djinn and magical beings at the center, and a heroine who discovers she belongs to a world she did not know. The City of Brass (2017) has all three: Nahri, a con woman in eighteenth-century Cairo who accidentally summons a djinn; the magical city of Daevabad where she discovers her true heritage; and the politics, the magic and the war that follow. The books that come closest are the ones that find their own way to the same combination.
This guide gathers the strongest readalikes, old and new, with honest content notes and a clear sense of what each book shares with Chakraborty’s novel and where it departs from it.
The Daevabad Trilogy
The books that come closest to The City of Brass are the rest of the trilogy and the author’s own world.
The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty (2019) is the essential companion: the second volume of the trilogy, following Nahri and Ali as Daevabad’s politics and magic spiral toward war. It shares The City of Brass’ world, its characters and its depth, deepening everything the first volume built. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war and politics; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty (2020) is the essential companion that concludes the trilogy: the final volume, in which the war comes and the world is remade. It shares The City of Brass’ world and its resolution. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with war; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Djinn and the Lore
A second branch of the family is the novel about the djinn and the lore of the Middle East.
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (2022) is the essential companion: Loulie, a smuggler known as the Midnight Merchant, who hunts for djinn relics in a desert inspired by the Arabian Nights. It shares The City of Brass’ desert, its djinn and its rich worldbuilding, with the register sharpened. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with violence; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (2013) is the essential companion in different setting: a golem and a jinni, both newly arrived in 1899 New York, in the novel of the two beings who must find their place among humans. It shares The City of Brass’ djinn and its magical beings, with the desert replaced by the city. Content note: a fantasy novel; for readers from around age fifteen upward.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty (2023) is the essential companion from the same author: Amina, a retired pirate captain in the medieval Indian Ocean, called back for one last adventure - in the novel of the sea, the magic and the lore. It shares The City of Brass’ author, its Islamic world and its magic, with the city replaced by the sea. Content note: an adult fantasy dealing with violence; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Rich Worldbuilding
A third branch is the novel about the worldbuilding - the worlds built with care and magic.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015) is the essential companion: Agnieszka, a village girl taken by the wizard who protects the valley, in the novel of the magic that is not what anyone expected. It shares The City of Brass’ heroine discovering her power and its rich worldbuilding, with the lore moved to Eastern Europe. Content note: a fantasy novel with some violence; for readers from around age sixteen upward.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011) is the essential companion about the magical place: two young magicians bound in a duel, in the circus that appears without warning and only opens at night. It shares The City of Brass’ magic and its atmosphere, with the politics replaced by the wonder. Content note: a fantasy novel; for readers from around age fifteen upward.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (2019) is the essential companion about the doors: January, a girl in the early twentieth century who finds a book that tells her own story - in the novel of the doors to other worlds. It shares The City of Brass’ discovery of a hidden world and its rich telling. Content note: a young adult fantasy novel; for readers from around age fourteen upward.
Themes and Values That Hold the Readalikes Together
Once you have read a few of these books side by side, the shared themes become clear, and they are worth naming because they are what make the category cohere.
The hidden world as the inheritance runs through every one of them. The City of Brass’ central structure - Nahri’s discovery that she belongs to a magical world she did not know - is the load-bearing structure of the whole family. The books are united by the conviction that the hidden world is the inheritance, and that the discovery is the beginning.
The lore as the depth is the second shared shape. The family is united by the djinn, the golem, the magic drawn from real tradition - and by the conviction that the lore is what makes the world deep. The books agree that the culture is the magic.
The politics as the weight is the third shared theme. The family is united by the politics beneath the magic - the factions, the wars, the betrayals - and by the conviction that the magic is not escape but engagement. The books agree that the world matters as much as the wonder.
What to Read Next Depends on Why You Loved It
If you loved the trilogy, read The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold.
If you loved the djinn, read The Stardust Thief and The Golem and the Jinni.
If you loved the author, read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.
If you loved the worldbuilding, read Uprooted and The Night Circus.
If you loved the hidden world, read The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
Content Notes: What These Books Contain
The City of Brass is an adult fantasy dealing with war and politics, usually recommended for readers from around age sixteen upward. The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold continue the trilogy with similar content. The Stardust Thief deals with violence. The Golem and the Jinni is a fantasy novel. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi deals with violence. Uprooted has some violence. The Night Circus is a fantasy novel. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a young adult fantasy. None contain gratuitous content; the weight is magical and political. Our thoughtful guide to world literature and our best cultural heritage list offer related reading paths for the cultures and stories these books draw on.
Why These Books Work as a Set
Read together, these readalikes form a coherent shelf rather than a random pile, and the coherence is worth naming for anyone building a reading list. They are bound by the conviction that the hidden world is the inheritance, that the lore is the depth, and that the politics is the weight beneath the magic. They are also bound by craft: nearly every title here builds a world with care and roots it in real tradition. That shared DNA means the shelf rewards reading in almost any order - the books talk to each other. The Kingdom of Copper deepens The City of Brass; The Golem and the Jinni echoes the magical beings across the ocean; The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi extends the author’s world. For a reader working through the family, the pairings are as instructive as the individual titles, which is why the reading plan below suggests specific combinations rather than a single sequence.
A Reading Plan for Book Clubs
The City of Brass generates conversation on every level: the world, the politics, the question of what heritage actually requires. Some of the best discussion questions come from pairing it with a book that shares or challenges it: read it with The Golem and the Jinni, and compare the two magical beings and the two cities; read it with The Stardust Thief, and ask how the two deserts differ; read it with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and discuss how the author’s world deepens across the books.
Conclusion: The City That Keeps Giving
The City of Brass endures because it is about something permanent: the conviction that the hidden world is the inheritance, that the lore is the depth, and that the politics is the weight beneath the magic. Every book on this list takes one piece of that - the world, the djinn, the wonder - and builds its own account around it. The joy of reading them is the joy of watching the same magic practiced in different cities, different seas, different registers. Start with whichever part of Nahri’s story you loved most, and let the comparison teach you what the brass is really made of. For the full collection of reading paths, start at the Worlds section of our site.
