Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Ali-Mohammad

Item: Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn: A Steampunk Faerie Tale
Rating: 4
Author: karenbaron

Posted June 20, 2020 by karenbaron in Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Review, Science Fiction / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Ali-Mohammad

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn: A Steampunk Faerie Tale

by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Day Al-Mohamed

Published by Paper Phoenix Press on April 7, 2020
Genres: Steampunk Fantasy
Pages: 256
Format: Kindle
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Book Depository

Come, Best Beloved, and sit you by my feet. I shall tell you a tale such as sister Scheherazade could have scarce imagined...

In the Nejd there is nothing at all...except secrets. A band of thieves wishes such secrets to remain hidden.

In England, far from his desert home, Ali bin-Massoud serves as apprentice to the famed Charles Babbage. One night a mysterious box is delivered by a clockwork falcon and Ali's world is never the same again. Heartache, danger, and thieves mark his journey as Ali is summoned home at the death of his father.

It will take faith, knowledge, and yes, love to realize his destiny, and more than a little skill with steam-driven technology. Can he unravel the mystery of the puzzle box and the clockwork djinn before it is too late? An ancient legacy and Ali's very life depend on his success.

Hear you the tale of Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn.

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Ali-Mohammad is a fantastical book about combining both a fairy tale and a steampunk in this neat journey filled text. This book is a retelling of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Will Ali figure out the meaning of the clues his father left him? And can he keep that a secret?

Ali

Ali bin-Massoud is our main character, and he has a love for machinery. I love that he is different than his brother and father even though Ali and his brother, Kassim, don’t get along very well. The reason for that lies in the intricate plot of the book, so I can’t dive into that. Ali is an excellent character as he is devoted to his religion and to his culture instead of trying to fit in while he was in London. His love of machinery and tinkering around is great to see, as it is always the case for a steampunk book. I like how it was at the forefront of the novel as well.

Massoud

His father, Massoud bin-Farzeen, did something that I didn’t think sit very well for me, but now that I am thinking about it over while writing this review, it might be something that is in the culture for back then. He treated his first son, Kassim, different that his second born. Massoud gave Kassim whatever he wanted and teaches him all about the trading world and their family business. However, unbeknown to him, Kassim did hear when he was little that his new sibling was more the apple of Massoud’s eye than Kassim was. Massoud probably didn’t realize that he created this barrier between his two sons, but he seems like he was a gentle soul from the memories that we get to see with each son.

Kassim

Kassim bin-Massoud is the first son of Massoud and the heir to everything but what he wanted more. He wants the black diamonds that his father kept from him. He is a bit of a spoiled brat in my mind as with everything else that he does. Let’s just say that he didn’t end things right. Kassim is also a character that I think the ends justify the means with what happened to him.

Malakeh

Malakeh is Kassim’s wife, and I thought that their marriage just happened to be of duty-bound than real love. Kassim didn’t treat Malakeh well at all, and I was again surprised that she let that happen. Then still, I had to think about the culture and how that happens. Malakeh is a character that will surprise you as she is smart. She knows about being a merchant’s wife and balancing not only the house’s finances but also that of a merchant’s money for wares. I liked that she is that way since it proves that she is more than just being someone’s wife. I do feel bad for her as she had to deal with a husband like Kassim, even though she did like him.

Rassul

Rassul is our bad guy and the leader of the forty thieves that he had in his arsenal. He stole a lot from Ali’s family and wasn’t happy that he couldn’t find a box that was taken from him. Rassul is a ruthless guy that can control magic but can’t seem to control the djinn that he locked in the control mechanism for the door of the little treasure cove that he manages. He is a guy that I wouldn’t want to cross, but that is the way a bad guy is supposed to be. Rassul is one of those people who you wouldn’t want to meet ever under any circumstances.

Clockwork Djinn

In this book, we have two djinns. One that is in a falcon mechanical body, and the last one is in vapor form. These two are brother and sister djinn that are two separate guardians that are tasked with two different things. The falcon is with a box that is supposed to help whoever to find the treasure cove. The vapor djinn is with the treasure cove, and whoever is supposed to keep that secret. Well, they both are to help protect that person whomever it may be. I love these two djinns as they are both unique and are both excellent characters. The two of them provide a lot of help for our main character Ali in a lot of ways.

Four Stars

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Ali-Mohammad have combined what they do best to make a book that is a good read. I liked a lot about it and the characters. Along with the exciting way that they showed the two djinns and how they made it different. The plot, the story, and the characters are all vastly different from each other that it made you feel like you were there experiencing the same things that they were. I learned a lot about the culture and the religion that Baba Ali was practicing.

I am giving this book four stars and recommending it to anyone that wants to read a steampunk version of Ali Baba.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Ali-Mohammad.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Award-winning author, editor, and publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books.

Her published works include six novels, Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, and the non-fiction writers’ guides, The Literary Handyman and The Literary Handyman: Build-A-Book Workshop.

She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, Footprints in the Stars, In an Iron Cage, as well as many others. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.

In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.

Danielle lives in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail, and three extremely spoiled cats.

To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com or www.especbooks.com.

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About Day Al-Mohamed

Day Al-Mohamed is an award-winning filmmaker, author, and disability policy executive. She is a host on Idobi Radio’s Geek Girl Riot with an audience of more than 80,000 listeners, and her most recent novella, The Labyrinth’s Archivist, was published in July 2019. Her recent publications are available in Daily Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, and GrayHaven Comics’ anti-bullying issue “You Are Not Alone.”

She is an active member of Women in Film and Video and a graduate of the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop. Her most recent film, the Invalid Corps is screening both nationally and internationally. However, she is most proud of being invited to teach a workshop on storytelling at the White House in February 2016.

Day is a disability policy executive with more than fifteen years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She is currently a Senior Policy Advisor with the Federal government. She has also worked as a lobbyist and political analyst. For more information on work in disability policy, please check out: www.DayinWashington.com.

Day presents often on the representation of disability in media, most recently at the American Bar Association, SXSW, and New York ComiCon. A proud member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, she lives in Washington DC with her wife, N.R. Brown, and guide dog, Gamma.

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