What happened in The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty

The basics

Title: The Kingdom of Copper

Author: S. A. Chakraborty

Series: The Daevabad Trilogy #2

- The City of Brass (2017)
- The Kingdom of Copper (2019)
- The Empire of Gold (2020)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.

Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family and one misstep will doom her tribe.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid, the unpredictable water spirits, have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.

Read a full summary of The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty below. If you can’t remember what happened in The Kingdom of Copper and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE KINGDOM OF COPPER?

• Prologue: Ali is picked up by some Geziri desert people. Hes able to conjure water in the desert now. Nahri is married to Muntadhir. He doesn’t force her to consummate the marriage but he says he’ll always be loyal to his father. Dara has been feed of Suleiman’s curse by Manizheh, Nahri’s mother.
• Djinn are arriving in Daevabad from all over for the big festival of Navasatem. Zaynad and Nahri slip away and discover the old Nahid hospital, and the three ex-slaves who live there. Their names are Issa, Eshaia, and Razu. Nahri wants to rebuild the hospital.
• Ali is now living in a self made oasis in the desert, called Bir Nabat. A distant “cousin” of his, Musa, arrives and asks for Ali’s help crossing the desert to Daevabad. Ali refuses, so Musa sabotages the well before he leaves. Ali now has to take Musa’s salt tax to the city.
• Lubayd and Aqisa go with him.
• Dara, under Manizheh’s orders, captures a few Geziri soldiers and brings them back to the camp. Kaveh is there when he returns, and Dara apologises for what he did to Jamshid. Dara, Kaveh, and Manizheh argue about keeping Nahri in the dark.
• Nahri sees Muntidhir kiss Jamshid and Jamshid turn him down. Nahri speaks to her husband about the hospital and her shuts that down immediately, because Ghassan would never go for it.
• Dara and Manizheh meet with Aeshma, an ifrit. Aeshma tells them the marid owe Dara a blood debt and this might be the way they cross the lake.
• Dara threatens the marid and asks them to allow passage into Daevabad through the lake. He also asks if they can transform the water to bring the guard tower down.
• Ali returns to Daevabad and immediately runs into a Geziri man selling shafits. Ali buys them with his zulfiqar and reveals himself as the prince. Ghassan sends his Guard to retrieve Ali.
• Muntadhir is angry with Ali. Ghassan sends him out of the room, then tells Ali he is to stay in the city for seven months until Navasatem is over.
• Nahri tries to heal Jamshid’s wounds that Dara inflicted, but she only manages to fix a couple of nerves before Muntadhir interrupts.
• Ali goes to see Nahri in her private garden and she angrily sends him away.
• Ali finally goes to see his mother, Hatset, and Zaynad. They admit to being behind the plot to bring him home. Hatset finds out about Ali’s scars and what happened in the lake, and she promises to help.
• A feast is held for the royals to try out various dishes before Navasatem. Ali is poisoned and nearly dies, but Nahri saves him.
• Nahri decides that Ali owes her, and she ropes him into fixing the hospital.
• Dara speaks to Abu Sayf, one of the captured soldiers, about ruling djinn and Daevabad.
• Nahri and Ali go to see Doctor Subhashani Sen, who is a shafit who heals her people the “human” way. Nahri wants her to help rebuild the hospital. Subha is reluctant and says they need the king’s permission before she agrees to help. Smart.
• Dara and Manizheh learn that Jamshid poisoned Ali. Kaveh confides in Dara and they talk about what is to come.
• Ali and Nahri pitch the hospital idea to Ghassan. He agrees as it’ll look like a promising joint effort between tribes. Nahri asks Jamshid to work with her. Muntadhir doesn’t like the idea at all.
• Two weeks later, Nahri, Ali, and Subha scope out the hospital. Ali hints at something awful having happened there. Other than the battle where all the Nahid’s and daevas died…
• Dara and co are planning to attack the second night of Navasatem. This is when Abu Sayf decides to try to escape. He kills Mardoniye and Manizheh can’t heal him because of the zulfiqar wound.
• Manizheh kills Abu Sayf using a potion. This potion detects Geziri relics and kills the holder. Manizheh admits she can’t contain it. She plans to kill all the Geziri in Daevabad to get her throne back.
• Manizheh tells Dara that Jamshid is her son.
• Muntadhir takes cousin Tariq, the slaver, to see Ali for compensation. Ali rightfully refuses, and causes a scene.
• Muntadhir is now upset with everyone and gets drunk. He’s unable to visit the Daeva Temple as planned, so Ali and Zaynab step up in his place. Nahri argues with her people but with Jamshid’s support, they convince them to back the hospital.
• While Ali is speaking to Ghassan, Kaveh steps in with a crying woman. She says her husband has been killed outside the hospital, and there are now riots and fights between the shafit and the Daevas.
• Ali recognises this woman as one of Kaveh’s employees, and says as much. Muntadhir and Ghassan become angry with Ali and send him away.
• Of course, Ali goes straight to Nahri and they ride over to the hospital. It’s bloody upsetting, with dying shafit all over the place. Nahri breaks her family’s code and starts healing them.
• Ghassan arrives just after Nahri heals the last of them. Kaveh is upset about Nahri healing shafit, and she shoots him down as clearly her powers are still working and her people are just arseholes.
• Ghassan hits Ali, and tells him he is to remain in the hospital while Nahri has to remain in the palace. They’re not to see one another, and have to communicate through a messenger only.
• Dara leaves his body and becomes a bit of hot wind. That sounds weird, but that’s the only way I could describe it. It’s a daeva’s true form.
• Navasatem finally arrives and the hospital is opened. Nahri comes across a sleeping Ali, who has been having nightmares.
• Ali has been dreaming about the lake and the marid and how “they are coming back.”
• Nahri comforts Ali and thanks him for all his help.
• There’s an archery tournament in the arena, and Muntadhir and Ali battle it out after Ali calls Muntadhir a coward for not sticking up to his father.
• Muntadhir embarrasses Ali. When they leave the arena, they fight in a broom closet. Zaynab arrives to break it up, and the siblings discuss their father. Ali says Ghassan shouldn’t be ruling and he wants his sibling’s support. Muntadhir is upset, but tells Ali that Suleiman’s ring is in Ghassan’s heart. To get it out, they’ll have to cut into their father.
• There’s a parade, in which Nahri is pretending to be Anahid. Aqasi is there to protect her, and it’s a good thing too because the parade is ambushed by three shafit men. They have guns and bottles of Rumid fire, which can’t be controlled. Chaos ensues, and Jamshid is hit by a bottle of fire. His back is badly burnt. Nisreen is shot and killed, as Nahri can’t save her from iron bullets. Nisreen tries to tell her something before she dies but doesn’t manage it.
• Nahri and Jamshid run into Kaveh as they’re fleeing to the infirmary, and Kaveh tells them there’s something wrong with Muntadhir, who’s in the Temple. They head there, but they’re intercepted by Wajed, the king’s Quaid. He takes Jamshid away and puts Nahri and Kaveh in chains.
• Ali heads to the Citadel and decides it’s time to see if the Guard are loyal to him. It turns out a lot of them are. He sends a letter to his father outlining the coup and his demands.
• Ghassan shows up where Nahri and Kaveh are imprisoned. He says he has sent Jamshid away, and he always knew that he was a Nahid. Kaveh and Ghassan argue about Manizheh, someone they really should have been over by now, while Nahri catches up with what’s been going on.
• Ghassan tells Nahri what Ali is up to, and tells her to tell him to stop. Otherwise they’ll kill Jamshid. Nahri refuses, Kaveh gets upset and breaks his ring, releasing Manizheh’s poison into the room. It kills Ghassan pretty quickly.
• Muntadhir beaks into the room, and Nahri has to help him get away. She tells him to take out his relic and the mist passes them by. They run to the harem to warn Zaynab and the other Geziris in the palace.
• A water beast brings down the guard tower and the Royal Guard are plunged into the lake. A bunch of Dara’s soldiers are waiting there and picking people off, with the help of the ifrits’ ghouls. Ali fights a bunch of people to help his soldiers survive.
• Ali fights his way through using his new water powers, and eventually bumps into Vizaresh, the ifrit from Cairo, and Dara.
• Nahri and Muntadhir warn Zaynab, who heads to warn the other Geziri. Nahri and Muntadhir then have to head back to Ghassan’s body to get the ring for Muntadhir.
• Just as Vizaresh is putting a slave ring on Ali, Nahri and Muntadhir arrive. Dara is shocked, and Nahri doesn’t believe it’s him. Ali and Dara fight, Muntadhir gets in the middle and is hit by a zulfiqar. *cries*
• Nahri brings the ceiling down on Dara. She and Ali head to Ghassan’s body while Muntadhir distracts Dara by shooting arrows at him and tormenting him.
• Nahri and Ali reach Ghassan and Nahri cuts out his heart. They’re intercepted by Manizheh, who reveals that she is Nahri’s mother. Nahri was apparently taken from her by the marid as a baby. Manizheh tells Nahri she can’t handle the ring because she’s a shafit.
• Nahri throws a different ring at Manizheh to distract her and then puts the real ring on Ali. Then she flings them both off the balcony.
• Strange things start to happen in Daevabad. The Daevas can’t conjure their fire. Muntadhir’s wound stops leaking poison (YESSSS).
• Dara reaches Manizheh, who now knows that she has to cut out a heart to get the ring. She’s sad her daughter betrayed her. Dara starts to question everything he’s done so far (it late for that buddy).
• They realise that the magic has left Daevabad.
• Nahri and Ali end up in Egypt! The end.

This is a full plot summary of what happened in The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

Other recaps for this series:

• The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)