-Chakraborty went balls to the wall many times over making her mysterious tortured antihero 1) turn out to be basically a fantasy version of an einsatzgruppe guy 2) double down on wrong choices and 3) still refuse to resolve his arc with his death. Sometimes you have to walk on your knees in the desert for a hundred years repenting (interesting, felt somewhat like a plot choice, but certainly a bold move and an utter refusal to engage in what is derogatorily referred to as 'dark fuck prince' type fantasy writing.)

-refusal to do love triangles but instead set up a bunch of realistic and somewhat painful love angles that turn into a path (better than a love triangle plot, but not as emotionally kinetic as I like in my books tbh)

-actually poignant approach to fathers sons and brothers in the context of historical royalty (good, well done, complimentary, some of the most emotionally honest and resonant parts of the book)

-ali’s cerebral POV not even allowing him to parse his own desires is well done writing. You don't notice the POV differences in focu

-Nahri’s being negatively polarized into preferring “her” tribe (Daevas) in book 2 because of the political position she has to accept and her proximity to other Daevas without really realizing it is really well done, I need to reread book 2 more but her attempts to thread an impossible moral needle for political reasons failing to solve any of her problems was well done.

-Ali is the author’s favorite special morally correct cinnamon roll but his negative traits (reckless, rude) serving his actual correct moral takes and his positive traits (loyal, loving) making him compromise his morals all the time is v well done.

-Dara’s plot need to be the POV in the enemy camp artificially restricts his character arc… he basically has the same arc in book 2 and 3, which is to obsessively desire both vengeance and victory, and normal connection. Guy who is suicidally depressed and also managing his moral injury by “just one more atrocity bro then we will have peace” is not a fun POV.

I will have more to say upon reread but it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the text is forcing you to, which is that People From The Past Have Alien Mindsets. it's very funny to do that in the context of a text that is also set in the Past, but it's clearly a preoccupation of Chakraborty's. She spends a long time ruminating in Book 3 on the dwindling of pagan practices like human sacrifice with the marid arc, the entire conquest of Daevabad is predicated on a religiously-motivated-human-rights-concept that gets slowly buried under realpolitik, and the conflict hinges on How Do We Lay Our Ethnic Hatred To Rest? idk there is this theme of things from the deep past affecting the present and in some ways Dara's character embodies the Deep Past (Iron Age-ass ideas about tribe, family, and loyalty) while Ali embodies the Present (modernity, monotheism, morality).

I don't know enough about history or linguistics to say much more except that I also think there is an element of Dara and the Daevas (the horse riding archers) being aesthetically the same as Persians or Scythians (at the same time, whatever), whereas Ali and the Geziri (sword wielding aesthetes in robes) echo the much later Arab-Islamic world. in text the Geziri are literally influenced by the Arab world and have Arab names, but the Daevas aren't like, explicitly Persian or Scythian except if you count that they dress exactly like the Greeks described the Scythians, down to their striped pants and tattoos, and their names are extremely Persian and their magical city is literally in Persia and they have fire religion. I honestly have no clue why the Geziris are explicitly Arab Muslims and the Daevas are a sort of non specific Zoroastrian-coded Persians with Scythian characteristics. And I think most of those choices are for aesthetic flair but what they do ALSO is showcase Dara's association with the past and Ali's with the (historical) present.

Anyway, tl;dr, guys from the Past are humans (ok, magical djinn) with the same feelings as modern humans (magical djinn) but it might take them several years and many crimes before they undo their brainwashing. Nothing to learn here about how the Past is a stand in for several mindsets, probably.

-Dara is the only character who has a capital R romantic arc/interaction with Nahri. The subsequent relationship with Ali is a more mature and adult realistic relationship but doesn’t gratify the part of me that enjoys emotional obsession, which is an important dynamic of the Dara Nahri arc. obviously this was a choice, Nahri is practically (literally?) a teenager in Book 1 with her first love, but whomst among us doesn't enjoy a little obsession?

-Muntadhir is my special blorbo. Bisexual heir to the throne, motherless child, in love with the person whose birth circumstances are the reason his mother died young, drinking problem, huge coward, incredibly brave, constantly cheating, getting emotionally cheated on his whole marriage—no, his whole life—never his father’s favorite, doing incredibly important political work through seduction, getting whumped in a dungeon, doing murders.

-The major failure of the book is uncomfortably straddling historical and modern perspectives and also doesn't work as a high fantasy. Fails to either immerse in the past fully (everyone should be way MORE bigoted and religious, but that would probably be offputting to most readers) OR re enchant the past (the prose is so modern, including the dialogue!) and fails to embrace what fantasy can be in that it struggles to grapple with the transformation of humanity its premise suggests. This is truly a 'swords and sorcery' or 'adventure' book in the sense that the setting and plot are fantastical premises used to explore real ass ideas about politics and violence. I think a traditional high fantasy narrative has to engage with the fantastical premise more directly and thematically.

( I don’t think any of these were the goal of the series but there were several missed opportunities to make these truly great. the prose is my biggest beef. incredible technical skill in service of plot only.)

-the prose style is so consistent across povs and rockets so fast that Chakraborty truly does pull the wool over your eyes in the sense that the pov characters are legitimately blind to noticing certain things, and those limits are only sometimes telegraphed. This is where I give the prose style its due: it does its job here.

-related, the characters are so plot responsive that we rarely get to lean into their horror, victory, or sit with their feelings too much. When we do, the prose again alienates you so the emotions are very told, not shown. this is probably a big case of YMMV.

-asks the question so few “dark” “romantasy” books will, namely “what would you do if the tortured noble guy you have feelings for and is willing to die for you, was revealed to have a dark past that included actually nauseating crimes?” and answers it with “break up with him”.  bold move that adds some serious tragedy to the books as well as upsetting me, a person who really enjoys tortured guys in love. Not punished by the narrative but just rejected by your lover. Also punished differently by the narrative. It creates a moral tension that usually isn’t present in fantasy books. Also subverts my personal desire to have the original “couple” stay together. Also upsets my preference for the “knight/princess” dynamic where both parties are unhinged.

Basically I found this arc frustrating and thought provoking because it literally refused to satisfy my narrative desires explicitly on moral grounds. In this aspect it refuses the romantasy label wholesale.

It sets up the elements of a romantic narrative concerned with literal, emotional, and indeed moral power imbalances between the man and woman but then doesn’t play out the fantasy. 

Similarly there’s no mad rush of desire and obsession bt Nahri and Ali, instead they slowly grow closer, accept their attraction with minor or no moral judgment, and only act on it once, partially. Realistic plotwise, but needs support to engage the crazy part of my brain.

-“came back wrong" happened four times in a row to my friend darayavahoush, then he did come back super right in a pure immortal body so he could do a thousand years of penance, so never give up!

-"does Ghassan want Nahri", a question the book will not touch or acknowledge but definitely implicitly asks. I assume that the reason the books only v v v briefly touch on sexual violence despite being mostly about violence, is because it feels sort of scuzzy to swim in the sewer vs walk in the shadows, to borrow a phrase from a friend. however it does basically raise like several shadow psychosexual narratives that it won't address by doing this.

I’m thinking about Jamshid. The country boy turned captain of the royal guard, I guarantee he has a whole collection of scars. Each with an interesting story. Some horseback adventure in Zariaspa gone sideways, or some blows originally meant for Muntadhir in a drunken brawl…

…and of course, the half dozen arrows buried in his spine. What did they represent to him? Failure to prevent or stop Dara’s rampage? Success in protecting his Emir? Perhaps a bitter reminder that being a Daeva under Qahtani rule means service at the cost of your body and life? Maybe they could have become trophies one day? Once he constructed the modified saddle that would accommodate his disability on horseback, the scars could have become a reminder of what he was strong enough to adapt to for the sake of what (and who) he loved. 

inspired by this post by @bagheerita :)

Dara e Afshin: ~1450 years old

Lived around 30 years, was enslaved for around 1400 years, and "lived" another 20 years or so before meeting Nahri.

Razu Qaraqashi: 2300 years old

"Indeed. I'll be twenty-three hundred at this year's generation celebration. Anahid's grandchildren were ruling Daevabad when the ifrit took me." (KOC 45)

The Ifrit: 6000+ years old

“Do you?” Muntadhir waved about the courtyard. “And what do you think all this is if not politics? I find that those who look on politics with contempt are usually the first to be dragged down by them.”

S.A. Chakraborty. The Daevabad Trilogy