A Master of Djinn

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark is the first full novel in his Dead Djinn universe. Preceded by several short stories and novellas, the alternate history steampunk universe centers on Fatma el-Sha’arawi, an agent for Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. In her position, she frequently deals with the magical beings living in this alternate version of Cairo in the early 1900s, including djinn and angels.

Published in 2021, the novel blends elements of steampunk, fantasy, and detective fiction to tell a story about social justice and racial equality for djinn and humans that possesses relevance to readers in 21st-century America. A history professor at the University of Connecticut, Clark draws on his expertise in Atlantic slavery to portray inequality and white supremacy.

This study guide uses the Kindle version of the novel.

Plot Summary

Lord Worthington, an English aristocrat in Giza, holds a meeting for his Hermetic Brotherhood of al-Jahiz, a group dedicated to fostering peace using the relics of their historical namesake. As they unveil the newest relic, the sword of al-Jahiz, a masked man enters the room, claiming to be the mystic himself returned to life. Using magical fire, he incinerates the entire brotherhood.

Fatma el-Sha’arawi, an agent with the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, is assigned the case. She meets with Worthington’s daughter, Abigail, who encountered the masked man as he fled—her hand is bandaged, as she injured her wrist upon fainting. Hadia, a young female agent, arrives at the scene to introduce herself as Fatma’s new partner. Returning home, Fatma finds her mysterious but long-absent lover, Siti, waiting in her apartment.

The next day, Fatma and Siti meet with Ahmad, high priest of the Cult of Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile god. Ahmad, who bears a slight resemblance to his deity, is concerned about the case—one of the murdered brotherhood members was Ahmad’s divine consort. Later that night, Ahmad leads Siti and Fatma to the slums of Cairo, where Fatma has her first encounter with the al-Jahiz impostor, a masked man riling up a crowd about social injustices.

Fatma’s next encounter is even less successful. Though the impostor admits openly to the murders, the crowd takes his side once he removes his mask, revealing an uncanny resemblance to historical descriptions of the real al-Jahiz. A riot breaks out, triggered by police violence. After the riot, the newspapers break their silence on the Worthington case. Under public pressure, Alexander Worthington, Lord Worthington’s son, consents to an interview and begins to emerge as Fatma’s main suspect. At the estate, after the unhelpful interview, an apologetic Abigail hands over a ledger of her father’s al-Jahiz relic transactions. Her hand is still bandaged.

The ledger leads the agents to Siwa, an illusion djinn. When Siwa attempts to answer questions, however, he can only speak nonsense phrases; Fatma recognizes that a spell is silencing him, so she and Hadia head back to the ministry in a growing sandstorm. The sandstorm, they soon realize, is an attack on the ministry’s headquarters. The impostor successfully raids the vault, stealing the disassembled Clock of Worlds, a dangerous machine able to access other worlds.

Days later, the king holds a peace summit, inviting leaders from across Europe and the Middle East. When the impostor makes a dramatic appearance, attempting to sow discord among the diplomats, Fatma and Siti give chase. The impostor realizes that Siti is part jinn and takes control of her as he has done with other djinn, and Fatma barely manages to snap Siti out of her trance. Fatma, retaliating, steals the impostor’s mask and cuts off a lock of hair. With a vague reference to the “Nine Lords,” the impostor escapes again.

The mask and hair make clear that the al-Jahiz resemblance is an illusion, and Fatma’s suspicion of Alexander grows. She and Hadia visit Zagros, the ministry’s library djinn, who is now disgraced after failing to guard the vault due to the impostor’s ability to control djinn; Zagros is also under a spell preventing him from sharing information, but he instructs the agents to visit a bookseller.

The bookseller tells the agents about King Sulayman’s magic signet ring, which could command djinn. A confounding spell cast by the angels prevents humans from remembering its existence and prevents the djinn from speaking about it. The bookseller teaches Hadia and Fatma how to exploit gaps in the spell, and Fatma arranges a meeting with the angels.

The angels claim that the seal was stolen from their custody on the same night as the sword of al-Jahiz. Since the angels created the Clock of Worlds, Fatma presses for more information. However, the angels dismiss the Nine Lords as djinn superstition, telling the agents nothing more than how to break the confounding spell. After breaking the spell, the agents return to Siwa.

The djinn still struggles to communicate anything about the impostor; at any attempt, the silencing spell forces him to cut out his tongue, which then regenerates. Nonetheless, what he can communicate deepens their suspicion that the “AW” in the ledger is Alexander Worthington—though when Fatma says so, Siwa pushes a book at them, The Tale of the Lady Dhat al-Himma. The book tells the story of a mother who defeats her arrogant son in battle to humble him, revealing herself as a woman after.

With enough evidence in place, the ministry drives to the estate to arrest Alexander. Yet Fatma, mulling on Siwa’s book, feels something is off. When the siblings meet the agents, Fatma presses them both into an impromptu duel. Hadia easily defeats Alexander, but Abigail shows great skill. Giving up the charade, Abigail unwraps her bandage to unveil the ring of Sulayman, and the house begins to shake. A giant mechanical djinn, the Clock of Worlds at its center, rises from beneath the estate, Abigail aboard, and heads toward Cairo. Siti arrives on a motorbike to pursue it with Fatma. Abigail heads toward where al-Jahiz once broke through to other worlds, calling all djinn to swarm around her in protection.

The Clock of Worlds reassembled, Abigail summons the Nine Lords and attempts to command them. During her exchange with the Ifrit King, Ahmad, easily mistaken for a djinn in his full crocodilian transformation, sneaks up behind her and bites off her hand—along with Sulayman’s ring. Freed from her control, the Nine Lords attempt to enslave the djinn to wage war against the humans. The djinn refuse, rejecting the Nine Lords as no better than Abigail. Fatma watches the ensuing battle helplessly until Ahmad reappears, offering her the ring.

Fatma uses it, and though the ring tempts her, she declines, making her worthy enough to access its full power. She commands the Nine Lords to leave Earth and to seal the portal shut behind them. She then instructs Ahmad to put the ring somewhere no one will find it.

The Ifrits magically lobotomize Abigail for enslaving them. Alexander offers his full support to the Ministry as penance for his sister’s deeds, planning on pulling his family’s presence out of Egypt. Hadia resolves to fight for better living conditions for the people in the slums, and Siti’s family gives their blessing to her relationship with Fatma.