You can’t end it there! That was my reaction when I finished Of Soul and Steam by Ibraheem Qureshi, a phenomenal Baghdadi steampunk novel, that is, thankfully, the first in a series.
I read Of Soul and Steam as an ARC kindly provided by the author. It is an exquisite novel. I have always had an interest in Islamic/Arabic culture and the rise of fantasy novels set in these worlds are an accessible way to learn more. Readers may be familiar with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, and if you enjoyed that book you will love Of Soul and Steam.
The plot is complex. There’s a prologue that sets up how Baghdad was created, and then the action moves far forward in time. Worshipping the old gods is banned, clockwork animals roam the streets, and the nobility have also been enhanced with clockwork. Into this we meet Esen, an amnesiac trapped in the desert, and Hayla, a scholar who can understand Ruh (which powers everything). Esen’s problems include a talking rock, while Hayla is from the slums and is not allowed to be a scholar, although this lack of access to knowledge affects everyone, regardless of status. The novel is told in alternating chapters from either Esen or Hayla’s point-of-view.
I assumed that the two characters would meet but they never did. This isn’t as big a spoiler as it sounds. There’s a clever bit of writing whereby one character encounters something the reader would need explaining, and then the next chapter has the other character having an excuse to explain that thing. Exposition (a fancy writing term for dumping lots of explanatory info on the page) can kill a novel and I thought this was a skilful way of doing it.
It’s fair to say there is a lot of learning with Of Soul and Steam. Qureshi has taken existing Arabic stories, culture and even architecture, and then woven them into a fantasy world. All the novel is set in Baghdad, but this is a very different place to the one readers will know. Although fantasy Baghdad has been torn apart by wars, which I suspect is most modern Western readers’ main idea of modern-day Baghdad.
There were times when I longed for a glossary, which is coming with the full publication of the book. And then I thought how arrogant this was. The majority of fantasy novels are set in a version of medieval Britain. No one supplies a dictionary of terms for readers who aren’t White British. Throughout Of Soul and Steam, Qureshi repeats concepts so readers can learn how the magic system works, what the laws are, who is who in Baghdadi government. The writing isn’t lazy and the reader needs to pay attention. But isn’t that how it should be?
It does make guessing what happens next difficult. As someone who reads a lot of crime fiction and is pretty good at picking up on clues, this was quite refreshing. I had no idea where Esen’s space opera style story was going, but it is satisfying and events are set up well for the second book. Hayla, on the other hand, was more my sort of story and I loved spending time with her. Again, book 2 is set up with a great adventure for her, as well as some romance. There isn’t a great deal of romance in Of Soul and Steam, this is definitely not a romantasy. But there are some personal subplots that will come to fruition in later novels.
Of Soul and Steam is a solid 5 out of 5 stars. I urge everyone to read it and other novels by non-white, non-British or American authors. It’s a great way to respectfully learn about other cultures, but it’s also really good fun.
