The Kingdom of Copper Summary: Daevabad’s Fall
TL;DR: The Trap Tightens
The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty is the second novel in the Daevabad Trilogy. It resumes the story five years after the events of The City of Brass.
Nahri is forced to marry Muntadhir and rebuilds a ruined hospital to help her people.
Ali, exiled in the desert, discovers water magic and is dragged back to the capital. Meanwhile, Dara is resurrected by Nahri’s mother, Manizheh, to lead a Daeva army.
A shafit rebellion erupts, King Ghassan is assassinated, and Dara invades the city. Muntadhir dies saving Ali, and Nahri discovers she has human blood.
To stop her mother, Nahri places Suleiman’s seal on Ali, which strips Daevabad of all magic.
They wake up in Cairo, Egypt.
- Core conflict: A Daeva revolution seeks to overthrow the Geziri Qahtani dynasty.
- Key relationships: Nahri’s forced marriage to Muntadhir; Ali’s bond with Nahri; Dara’s loyalty to Manizheh.
- Themes: Vengeance cycles, systemic oppression, family duty versus personal morality.
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Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Nahri | The last Banu Nahida, forced into a political marriage and determined to rebuild her ancestors’ hospital. |
| Alizayd (Ali) al Qahtani | The exiled youngest prince of Daevabad who develops powerful water-manipulation abilities. |
| Darayavahoush (Dara) | The legendary Afshin warrior, resurrected by Manizheh to serve as her military commander. |
| Banu Manizheh | Nahri’s mother, a powerful Nahid healer who feigned death and masterminds the Daeva revolution. |
| Muntadhir al Qahtani | The crown prince, forced into a political marriage with Nahri, who sacrifices his life to save Ali. |
| King Ghassan al Qahtani | The tyrannical king of Daevabad who wields Suleiman’s seal and is assassinated by poison. |
| Kaveh e-Pramukh | The Daeva Grand Wazir who secretly conspires with Manizheh and poisons the king. |
| Jamshid e-Pramukh | Kaveh’s son and Muntadhir’s lover, revealed to be Manizheh’s hidden son and a Nahid healer. |
| Nisreen | Nahri’s strict mentor, tragically shot and killed during the shafit attack on the parade. |
| Queen Hatset | Ghassan’s second wife, fiercely protective of her children, banished to Ta Ntry. |
| Subhashini Sen | A highly skilled shafit surgeon who partners with Nahri to establish a cross-tribal medical practice. |
| Aqisa and Lubayd | Fierce Geziri trackers who rescued Ali in the desert and escort him back to the capital. |
The Kingdom of Copper Summary: The Deep Dive (Spoilers)
The story opens five years after the battle on the lake.
Nahri has been forced to marry Emir Muntadhir to cement a political alliance. She lives under King Ghassan’s constant surveillance, stripped of her independence.
Nahri dedicates herself to her duties as Banu Nahida, running the palace’s overcrowded infirmary. She discovers the crumbling ruins of the ancient Nahid hospital near the Citadel. There, she meets formerly enslaved djinn—Razu, Elashia, and Issa—and decides to rebuild the hospital to serve all citizens regardless of blood purity.
Meanwhile, Prince Alizayd is in deep exile in Bir Nabat, Am Gezira. Left to die in the desert, he was rescued by Lubayd and Aqisa. Over the years, Ali has unlocked powerful water-related abilities from his marid possession.
He uses these abilities to uncover springs and transform Bir Nabat into a prosperous oasis. His peaceful life ends when his mother’s Ayaanle relatives sabotage the village’s wells. They force him to escort a massive salt tax caravan back to the capital.
In the distant northern forests, Darayavahoush has been resurrected by Banu Manizheh. Dara finds himself in a strange, more powerful daeva form, free of Suleiman’s curse. Manizheh and Dara are assembling a secret Daeva army to reclaim Daevabad.
They form an uneasy alliance with the cursed ifrit. To secure their entry into the city, Dara travels to Lake Ossounes. He brutally sacrifices a human acolyte to force a blood debt from the ancient marid water elementals.
Ali returns to Daevabad and is greeted with suspicion by his father and open hostility by Muntadhir. He throws himself into helping Nahri with her hospital project, using his financial skills to secure funding. Nahri also recruits Subhashini Sen, a highly skilled shafit surgeon.
They plan to reopen the hospital as a joint venture teaching both djinn magic and human medicine. This progressive outreach angers Kaveh e-Pramukh, the Daeva Grand Wazir. He orchestrates a violent false-flag operation to frame the shafit and stoke tribal tensions.
The friction reaches a boiling point during the Navasatem celebrations. A group of shafit militants launches a devastating attack on the Daeva parade using human firearms and Rumi fire. Nisreen is tragically shot and killed, and Jamshid is severely burned.
Distraught, Nahri uses a massive sandstorm to smother the fires, inadvertently drawing upon the palace’s latent magic. In the aftermath, King Ghassan orders the Royal Guard to raze the shafit district. Ali, refusing to slaughter innocents, leads a military mutiny and seizes the Citadel.
During the chaos, Kaveh lies to Nahri and Jamshid to lure them to the palace.
Ghassan confronts them, revealing that Jamshid is actually Manizheh’s hidden son, making him a Nahid healer. As Ghassan threatens Jamshid’s life, Kaveh breaks a hidden copper ring.
The ring releases a deadly vapor designed by Manizheh that targets Geziri relics.
The poison immediately kills King Ghassan. Simultaneously, the marid rise from the lake, fulfilling their debt to Dara by creating a giant water serpent that destroys the Citadel and drowns the Geziri army.
Dara and the Daeva army invade the palace. Ali is captured and brought before Dara, who seeks vengeance. Nahri and Muntadhir, having fled the poisonous vapor, find Ali and Dara. Nahri is horrified to find Dara alive and aligned with the invaders.
In the ensuing clash, Muntadhir takes a fatal zulfiqar strike meant for Ali. Before dying, Muntadhir implores them to retrieve Suleiman’s seal ring, embedded inside their father’s heart. Nahri and Ali flee to the palace library, navigating through a rampaging zahhak.
They defeat the creature by flooding the room using Ali’s water magic. They reach Ghassan’s body, where Nahri cuts out his heart to retrieve the seal ring. Manizheh arrives and reveals that Nahri has human blood, warning that the seal ring’s magic will kill her.
She threatens to execute Ali unless Nahri surrenders the seal. Nahri tricks her mother by throwing a duplicate ring, slips Suleiman’s actual seal onto Ali’s finger, and jumps with him into the lake.
As they submerge, a massive release of energy strips all magic from Daevabad, freezing the invasion.
Nahri and Ali wake up on the muddy banks of the Nile in Cairo, Egypt, looking upon the Pyramids of Giza.
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Books Similar to The Kingdom of Copper
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty — The first book in the Daevabad Trilogy, introducing Nahri’s journey from Cairo and the initial tribal conflicts.
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty — The trilogy’s conclusion, following Nahri and Ali’s struggles in Cairo and their return to save Daevabad.
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang — A dark military epic featuring a young orphan who unleashes shamanic powers, dealing with war, legacy, and vengeance.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri — A politically charged fantasy inspired by ancient India, featuring an imprisoned princess and a maidservant with magical abilities allied to overthrow a tyrant.
Story Snapshot
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Genre & Subgenre | Historical Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Political Fantasy |
| Core Narrative Tropes | Exiled Prince, Enemies to Allies, Resurrection, Secret Heirs, Forbidden Magic, Loveless Marriage |
| Tone & Atmosphere | Tense, dramatic, lush, dark, claustrophobic |
| Primary Conflict | The struggle to control Daevabad and Suleiman’s seal during the Daeva revolution |
| Pacing Style | Deliberate, slow-burn with a rapid, explosive climax |
| ISBN | 978-0062678140 |
| Pages | 656 |
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Quotes from The Kingdom of Copper
“I’ve made you a marvel. A miracle. The first daeva to be freed of Suleiman’s curse in three thousand years.”
“If you can’t protect yourself, how can you possibly protect the rest of us?”
“You don’t stop fighting a war just because you’re losing battles, Alizayd. You change tactics. Surely, that’s a lesson you learned in the Citadel.”
“I am the weapon the Nahids made me. Nothing more, nothing less, and apparently for all of eternity.”
“I’m sorry, akhi. I couldn’t watch him kill you. Not again.”
“Go steal some happiness for yourself, my friend. Trust me when I say the chance doesn’t always come back.”
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