Hugos 2022: A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

This novel is set in the world of the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, where djinn and other creatures are active in early twentieth-century Cairo. This is Clark's fourth piece of fiction in this setting, but first novel; one of the earlier ones, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, was a Hugo finalist in 2020.

Published: 2021
Acquired: April 2022
Read: June 2022

It's a police procedural set in a government agency devoted to the supernatural; a "master of djinn" purports to return, dozens of British residents in a secret society are dead, and Ministry agent Fatma el-Sha'arawi is on the case. I found it occasionally charming but often a plod; there are too many dull fight scenes, and as a mystery, it's not very satisfying. There are no red herrings: pretty much the only person you suspect to have done it, has done it. But it takes Fatma far too much time to work this out, and it usually felt like she didn't really work anything out, actually; people would tell her things. A bit too much of the plot turns on somewhat obscure details of relationships between magical beings.

I feel a bit disappointed, in that the idea of a government department devoted to the supernatural could have a fun collision of rationality and irrationality. How does a government standardize something that by nature cannot be standardizes? But Clark's magical entities don't really feel, well, magical, and the story doesn't do anything with this idea. I mean, I guess it didn't have to, but maybe it would have been about something if it had. On the basis of some of Clark's other Hugo finalists over the years (e.g., Ring Shout) he is capable of more interesting work than this, which like so many other Tordotcom novellas, feels more like the pilot for a streaming show  than a work of prose fiction.

It was fun. It you handed this to me and said, "I think you will enjoy this," I probably would, but unfortunately, it is a Hugo finalist, which means it was handed to me with the statement, "This is one of the best six science fiction/fantasy novels of the year," and that I found difficult to believe, and thus my enjoyment was diminished.