5 Books About the Horror & Magic of Djinns to Read After Watching ‘Ms. Marvel’
Between the 2019’s Aladdin, last month’s trailer for George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing, and recent events in Ms. Marvel on Disney+, djinns, and their various other monikers, are rising once again in popularity within American media. This has been met with mixed reactions from those who grew up with stories of djinn in their family. Djinn are pre-Islamic beings (similar to demons) that live between realms, including the human world. Different cultures in and around the Arab world have a version of these creatures shared in religious contexts as well as contemporary folktales.
Most of the responses to Miller’s trailer, from these communities, seem to rest firmly in the “this looks like a problem, but I’m cautiously optimistic.” A Gizmodo analysis of episode three of Ms. Marvel seems to concur similarly—albeit with some theorizing about a bait and switch because after all, Kamala Khan is in the MCU now. The recent backlash is really a continuation of the way stories from Arab and Asian cultures have been appropriated and orientalized, especially within adventure stories in science fiction and fantasy. This includes narratives built into video games, card games, and tabletop games. (Yes, I’m alluding to Wizard of the Coast properties, but they aren’t the only company doing this.)
For those interested in these beings, it’s always a great idea to look at work from those from cultures and religions where djinns appear in one form or another. I’ve put together a list of some places to start. While this coming-of-age graphic novel looks adorable and should be on your radar, Iasmin Omar Ata’s Nayra and the Djinn doesn’t come out until 2023. Therefore, it couldn’t make the list. From one of my favorite fantasy series of all time to new finds that should be high on your TBR pile, here are six-plus novels featuring djinns in some form to check out!
Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain
Indelbed is a lonely kid living in a crumbling mansion in the super dense, super chaotic third world capital Of Bangladesh. His father, Dr. Kaikobad, is the black sheep of their clan, the once illustrious Khan Rahman family. A drunken loutish widower, he refuses to allow Indelbed go to school, and the only thing Indelbed knows about his mother is the official cause of her early demise: Death by Indelbed.
But When Dr. Kaikobad falls into a supernatural coma, Indelbed and his older cousin, the wise-cracking slacker Rais, learn that Indelbed’s dad was in fact a magician–and a trusted emissary to the djinn world. And the Djinns, as it turns out, are displeased. A hunt has been announced, and ten year-old Indelbed is the prey. Still reeling from the fact that genies actually exist, Indelbed finds himself on the run. Soon, the boys are at the center of a great Diinn controversy, one tied to the continuing fallout from an ancient war, with ramifications for the future of life as we know it.
A Tale of Two Djinns by Mina Khan
Akshay, warrior prince of the earth djinns, earns the title of Crown Prince at a high cost when he loses his best friend in a battle against ancient enemies, the water djinns. Heartsick, he escapes to Earth to mourn.
Nothing gets the biological clock ticking (and elders lecturing) like almost dying in battle, so Maya, princess of the water djinns, travels to Earth for some no-strings-attached sex to fulfill her duty and produce an heir. But the beautiful and tough warrior gets more than she bargained for when she meets Shay.
Their not-so-simple one-night stand is interrupted by assassins and the world, as they know it, is changed forever. As Maya and Shay pull together to survive, both are determined to have their happily-ever-after and bring peace to their worlds – warring families, shadow assassins, and nosy busybodies be damned.
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
City of Brass is book one in the completed Daevabad Trilogy.
On the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, Nahri is a con woman of unsurpassed skill. She makes her living swindling Ottoman nobles, hoping to one day earn enough to change her fortunes. But when Nahri accidentally summons Dara, an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior, during one of her cons, she learns that even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
Forced to flee Cairo, Dara and Nahri journey together across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire and rivers where the mythical marid sleep, past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises and mountains where the circling birds of prey are more than what they seem, to Daevabad, the legendary city of brass.
It’s a city steeped in magic and fire, where blood can be as dangerous as any spell; a city where old resentments run deep and the royal court rules with a tenuous grip; a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound–and where her very presence threatens to ignite a war that has been simmering for centuries.
The Seal by J. F. Mehentee
Centuries after King Solomon’s death, the djinn are still searching for the seal, a heavenly ring he used to subdue them. The djinn are dying, and now their fate lies in the hands of Roshan, a young woman unaware she can weave a new and dangerous magic. Can Roshan find the seal and save the djinn, or will her newfound magic doom them?
The djinn are among us. Those fighting to save our world from destruction live in the hidden city of Baka. Set in an alternate world to ours, the Baka Djinn Chronicles recount the adventures of Baka’s inhabitants during 600 BCE.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
Through market lanes crammed with too many people, dogs, and rickshaws, past stalls that smell of cardamom and sizzling oil, below a smoggy sky that doesn’t let through a single blade of sunlight, and all the way at the end of the Purple metro line lies a jumble of tin-roofed homes where nine-year-old Jai lives with his family. From his doorway, he can spot the glittering lights of the city’s fancy high-rises, and though his mother works as a maid in one, to him they seem a thousand miles away.
Jai drools outside sweet shops, watches too many reality police shows, and considers himself to be smarter than his friends Pari (though she gets the best grades) and Faiz (though Faiz has an actual job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants, and together they draw up lists of people to interview and places to visit.
But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumors of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again.
Honorable Mentions:
When Dune (2021) came out we mentioned Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz as a great science-fiction and fantasy novel to check out. It’s a retelling of the European translation of One Thousand and One Nights as mentioned in the PBS Storied video above. Also, while P. Djèlí Clark doesn’t mark any qualifiers for the main list, I wanted to recommend A Master of Djinn. This is the first novella set in the steampunk The Dead Djinn Universe.
(featured image: Unnamed Press, Random House Trade, and Harper Voyager.)
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