Interesting book, did not like a single character in it. I felt like I was supposed to, but they could have all died and I would have been fine. The plot was cool, though.

dnf @ 18%


The conceit is really interesting-sounding, but I just wasn't finding myself attached to the characters or invested in the plot. I want to give the author a try again in the future, but this one didn't work for me.

By the time I got to the end of this dense, expansive, wild far-future novel, it was driving me nuts trying to figure out why it felt so familiar. And I finally realized: It's because it feels like the experience of reading Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash for the first time. In the same way that book takes place in a junky hyper-advanced future where some people are just trying to get by and some people are out to subvert society and blow up the world, this one jumps back and forth between small-scale personal dilemmas (like the robot monkey who just wants to win a local bot-fighting tournament that the local criminal syndicate won't let him enter because he's too small) to city-sized crises, and from conflicts that seem kind of funny and light-hearted (like another protagonist's effort to seduce the son of the local ruler) to conflicts with much grimmer stakes.

I often zip through novels in a weekend, but this one took me a lot longer, in part because it's so heady and so filled with ideas. I guess if I was going to try to sum it up, I'd say it's about rebels trying to use magic to save a seemingly doomed and despised techno-slum, while disagreeing about how and whether to do that. But that's the big picture: The small picture is a chapter-to-chapter adventure that keeps shifting gears and goals, to the point where the raising of a giant, city-changing work of architecture that suggests a seismic shift in the city's politics blows by and is all but forgotten after a few pages.

At times, that rapid shifting threw me and I wanted to get back to a specific character or idea that seemed like it had been all but forgotten. But most of the time, I felt like I was just on a particularly intense ride where I had to get off from time to time to digest everything I'd just experienced. I'd recommend this one, especially for fans of early Neal Stephenson, but don't count on tearing through it in a sitting or two.

I was immediately enraptured by the world of Shantiport from the beginning. I wanted to know more about the people and the bots that live there and how it worked. As the story went on, however, I felt like the world building lost some of its details as the action and plot twists took center stage. I was told that the populace was under the thumb of the Tiger clan but I didn't really see it in the world (other than the main characters butting against the Tiger clan). Overall, still a fun read.

DNF'd at 20%. I might pick this one back up later. The beginning of the story is very confusing and makes the reader feel like they're in a tailspin. Could benefit from being clear with the world-building and gradually becoming more complicated.

A wonderful take on "Aladdin" with insightful social commentary (and a bit of eat the rich) thrown in. I enjoyed this tremendously.

An Aladdin-inspired sci-fi with magic, dystopic landscape and AI was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. The stakes of the world are high and yet Basu injects wit and humour that befits its Aladdin comparison. Easily an underrated book but fingers crossed it's audience will steadily grow.

I had hopes for this novel as a sort of "Murderbot meets Amina al Sharafi", but was disappointed. The Jinn-Bot's narrative voice was mainly absent, and (as far as I got), neither protagonist was compelling enough for me to finish. I will definitely try again, as people whose opinions I respect love The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport. What I will say is that the world-building is quite impressive!

A little to heavy on the tech details for me personally, but it definitely painted a really vivid picture of the world right from the beginning. I wanted a little more fun and a little less darkness. But again -- personal preference!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I have started this book three times, at least, and as fascinating as it is and as much as I want to see things play out and learn the secrets being hidden, I just struggled to want to actually pick it back up every time I set it aside. I think this has a lot of potential, but in the end I think I’m the wrong reader to enjoy this book.

I think the only way that I've been able to sell this is because I have read it and enjoyed it, and know how to handsell it to costumers. I simply say, do you like Aladin and dystopia?!? This met my robotic needs and wasn't disney at all in entirley the best way!

DNF at 60%

I love the cover of this book. It's what drew me to it in the first place. The content, however, was rather disappointing. Part of it is due to the rather non-existent worldbuilding. There is the city of Shantiport that might or might not be sinking, and it's implied that it's part of a bigger inter-galactic civilization, but we don't get much more details than that. What planet is this on? How is this civilization organized? Why are people fleeing it? Is it really sinking? There are hints here and there, but they never form a coherent picture. 

Problem is, since I can't see the overall picture, I don't understand the stakes. And since I don't understand the stakes, I can't really get invested in the characters' fights. Will a revolution be good for Shantiport? How is that better or worse than what they have now?

 Another reason for my gradual lack of interest with this book is that the author chose to tell this story through the eyes of dispassionate (at least at first) observer. Yes, Moku ends up getting involved in the action and even taking sides, but it was a little too late for me. Since Moku can't read Lina or Bador's minds (after Bador blocks him), he can only observe their actions and speculate to their motives. Problem is, they show very little, especially Lina, who had to live with constant surveillance all her life and learned to show a blank mask to the world in most occasions. It's an interesting concept in theory, but a boring read in execution. I can't empathize with a character if I have no clue what their motives are. Both Lina and Bador appear shallow and self-centered at times because of their actions, since the reader isn't privy to their motivations. Which also means that some of their actions come a bit out of the left field as well.

The pacing of the book is also very slow. The action sequences are fun, especially Bador's intervention during the fight between two giant robots, but they are few and far between. What we have most of the time are pages upon pages of dialog (and sometimes monolog) that go absolutely nowhere. And since the characters are under surveillance, they speak in riddles, which makes those passages even more convoluted and, honestly, boring to read.

I am very disappointed in this book. The cover drew me in and promised something fun and original, but the content let me down.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the description, I should have enjoyed this book more. I did like the disintegratingly soggy world of Shantiport. I really loved the personality and uniqueness of the narrator character, Moku. The monkey-bot, Bador, is funny and brings excitement with the fighting scenes. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the haphazard plot which made the book difficult to connect with. While some scenes were fun, others were hard to get through. Overall, the story was about too many things and not enough about any one thing. What should have been a fast-paced romp was slow and took me months to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an e-ARC of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately this book turned out to not be a good fit for me. There’s something about the writing style that doesn’t click with me. The idea behind the book is very interesting thiugh

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is a wide-ranging critique against capital, oligarchs, corruption in government, forced scarcity, the surveillance state, over-reliance on technology, and the unknowable complication of consciousness. It is also bananas in the best way possible.

2.5 stars

This. Book. Is. A. LOT.

I really wish that I could say I enjoyed this book more, because I think the premise is great. But everything with our main character Lina is, I’m sorry to say, kind of a mess. She goes here and there, and everywhere, there are subplots upon subplots, and it’s just too much to follow. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of how she treated her brother Bador. If he is supposed to be your brother then treat him that way rather than an afterthought. Bador is by far my favorite character of the book, and the fighting scenes with him channeling his inner UFC fighter were tons of fun.

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor Publishing Group for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

DNFd at 20%

I was enjoying the storyline and was intrigued by the world. However, there was just something about the writing style that was breaking my brain. I definitely think that there will be a lot of people out there who enjoy this, I just was not one of them.

This was advertised as a sci fi Aladdin, and it just didn't work for me. The story was told from the perspective of a robot and I just did not enjoy it. It was supposed to be an objective narrator, but I just found it confusing. This made it difficult to feel connected to the character or the world, and thus made it almost impossible for me to read.

If you like unique narrators, this could be for you. I am also not much of a sci fi person but was interested in the premise enough to give it a try - could be a better fit for people who are more interested in sci fi than I am.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was really interesting with a lot of action and unique world building. The narration gave me "MurderBot" vibes, which I enjoyed. Its the first I've read by the author and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more!