The Daevabad Trilogy Books in Order

The Daevabad Trilogy starts in 18th-century Cairo with Nahri, a clever con artist and gifted healer who has built her life on survival. She does not believe in magic, at least not until one of her schemes summons Dara, an ancient djinn warrior, and sends her toward the hidden city of Daevabad. At the same time, Prince Alizayd, usually called Ali, is already living inside that city and learning just how fragile its peace really is.

This is epic fantasy, but it begins with a scam gone wrong.

Daevabad itself is the heart of the series. It is a city of djinn divided by tribe, bloodline, religion, and old political wounds, all held together by wealth, fear, and a ruling family that claims it can keep the peace. Nahri's connection to the long-lost Nahid healers makes her arrival instantly dangerous. Ali sees the injustice built into the world he was raised to defend. Dara carries the memory of older wars, and his very presence turns history into something painfully current.

What keeps the trilogy moving is the way those three perspectives collide. The books shift from road adventure to court intrigue to open conflict, but they always stay focused on character. Nahri wants knowledge, independence, and some control over her own life. Ali wants to be decent in a system that rewards obedience over justice. Dara wants loyalty, redemption, and a place in a world that remembers him as both weapon and wound. Their choices keep changing what the city can become.

Everybody arrives carrying someone else's history.

The tone is rich and immersive, but also tense and political. These books care about romance and magic, yet they care just as much about class, exile, faith, prejudice, and the stories rulers tell to justify power. Chakraborty draws on Middle Eastern history and folklore, but the series never feels like a costume drama. It reads like a living city where every alliance has a price and every act of mercy can turn into a political crisis.

After the main trilogy, The River of Silver is the natural next step. It returns to Daevabad through stories set before, during, and after the events of the novels, giving more room to side characters, hidden corners of the city, and the aftermath of all that upheaval. If you like fantasy that mixes palace politics, emotional fallout, and a magical world with a long memory, this is where to go.