6 stars out of 5!!!
What excellent world-building. Fantastic, rich, and draws you in. Not a spare word. Intriguing characters that leave you hungry for more. Good thing Clark has written more! ( )

4 Stars

The blurb really does say it all - 1900’s historical setting imbued with paranormal elements in a classic case of a whodunnit.

Look. I have a weird penchant for steampunk and that gets a book automatic bonus points.

Admittedly, I didn’t always recognize names or terms in this alternate Cairo. However, it doesn’t hurt that the female protagonist is resourceful, smart, and faces misogyny on a daily basis. One could tell she has a stalwart inner strength, knowing that she constantly has to prove herself, and I can’t help but admire such resilience.

Overall, a great introduction to this world and a heroine to root for. I definitely will be checking out the other installments in this series!
( )

Flows better than Tram Car 015, but still felt a little tight. Looking forward to the novel, which I have on hold! ( )

I love so much about this - the alternative timeline Cairo in which a cavalcade of mythological beings were released led to the British colonials getting kicked out, the clockwork and sacrifice magic tech, the nod towards other gods and eldritch horrors being out there, the grounding of aforementioned supernatural beings in the setting, the catty criminal sidekick and sapphic love interest being set up, and the prose isn't face melting, but it's pretty good. Hell, even the English suited and bowler hat wearing femme detective is as close to being cool as someone can be while being a cop (ACAB).

The parts are great and this is probably as close to a 4/5 as it could be while I still can't personally give it that. Aspects of it are far beyond 3/5 for sure. I'm just not sure if the mystery, detective work, and actual narrative did it for me. I just wasn't hooked or gripped. My revulsion at cops definitely had an impact on my enjoyment, but I don't think that actually significantly effected my feelings about the narrative. However, it was absolutely worth far more than the 99p I paid for the audiobook of it on Audible.

I would still like to check out the first actual novel of this series. I just have far too many things at higher priority right now to warrant spending a credit or money on it any time soon, but it's definitely going on the TBR pile of many.

The narration by Suehyla El-Attar was superb. ( )

40 pages of steampunk Cairo :)

I loved the setting - gas lighting, air ships, automata, djinn and weird angels. The mystery plot does not stand out in any way, but Fatma is cool. (I give the thumbs up to the suit, the cane, and the watch!) Also, the old gods are up to no good, as usual. This is the nicest short story I’ve read in a while and I’ll be happy to read more stories set in the same universe. ( )