A Master of Djinn

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Chapters 22-24

Chapters 25-27

Chapter 28-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

Fatma and Hadia suspect that Worthington wants to speak with them, specifically, so that the murders will look less like a crime and more like a paranormal incident.

At the mansion, Abigail, her hand still bandaged, mangles an Arabic greeting. Abigail suggests a bond between herself, Fatma, and Hadia as women in a man’s world, and she grows faint on learning the masked man has confessed to the murders. When pressed about when Alexander arrived in Cairo, Abigail stresses that he arrived the following day. Abigail confirms that Alexander had joined the brotherhood, albeit only to stay in his father’s good graces to protect his inheritance—she had not joined, as her father rarely allowed female members.

Abigail leads the two agents to the meeting room, now scrubbed clean, and introduces Alexander. He states immediately that his sister, not he, pushed for this interview, then expresses disdain for the agents and refuses to offer relevant information. Alexander has recently risen to the rank of captain in India, where England is fighting to hold on to its British colony with rifle and sword. Abigail admits to studying fencing herself. Alexander dismisses his father’s beliefs as delusions and superstition, putting his faith in the future, not the past.

Alexander also claims he did not arrive until the day after the murders. He appears shocked when Fatma asks if he called the newspaper that night to keep the story quiet. He only came to Egypt at the behest of his father, who rarely wrote to him; once he settles affairs and sells the estate, he plans to leave.

Outside, Abigail apologizes for her brother, giving the agents a book, The Vizier’s Account, that belonged to Archibald Portendorf, who worked closely with her father. In Portendorf’s book, the agents find years of information regarding the purchases of Alistair Worthington—listed as TOM, the old man—along with several scathing comments about Wesley Dalton. Many of the items purchased came from the remote Siwa, a place al-Jahiz never visited. The final entry lists 50,000 pounds for the sword of al-Jahiz, but notes a second wire transfer from two weeks earlier by AW, who the agents decide must be Alexander Worthington.

When Hadia asks about the reoccurring note “Red Street,” Fatma realizes these items were purchased locally in the artisan district, Siwa being the name of a djinn.

Chapter 14 Summary

Though many djinn name themselves by geographical spaces, only one seller goes by Siwa. Fatma and Hadia find him, a massive djinn, in an apartment that looks small. He greets them warmly, catching them by surprise, then invites them into his home, which is much larger on the inside and filled with books.

Over tea, Siwa answers their questions directly and doesn’t elaborate, telling them mostly things they already know. Portendorf came for the sword, which the djinn swears was authentic; he describes a blade that Fatma recognizes as the one held by the impostor. Siwa refuses to divulge his sources, however.

When Fatma asks about the money from AW, the djinn spits out a racist tirade against Ethiopia before clapping a hand over his mouth. The interior of the house ripples as the djinn’s behavior becomes stranger, and as if against his will, he unhinges his jaw and begins to cut out his own tongue. The agents flee the apartment.

After, Fatma identifies the erratic speeches as poetry and Siwa as an illusion djinn. The camel motif in Siwa’s apartment, Fatma suspects, suggests a gambling addiction—he probably lost the money he was paid. His behavior became erratic when Fatma mentioned AW, who she still assumes is Alexander, so she suggests someone has placed a powerful spell on the djinn to prevent him from sharing any relevant information.

Their speculation is cut short by an oncoming sandstorm, unusual for this time of year. The agents walk against the wind back to the Ministry.

Chapter 15 Summary

On the automated carriage ride back, Fatma mulls over the mystery until Hadia realizes the unusual sandstorm is descending on the ministry. They charge inside, prepared for a fight.

Inside, the power is out, which should be impossible, and the building seems abandoned. Hadia produces a pair of spectral goggles, which reveal a swarm of ghuls inside the building’s brain. Fatma, recalling the impostor’s threats, decides they need to search for survivors. Hadia confesses she has only ever fought ghuls in simulations, but when she insists on staying, Fatma gives Hadia her knife.

On the fourth floor, where their office is, they find signs of a fight and, finally, Hamed and Onsi in hiding. As a group of ghuls lays siege to Director Amir’s office, Hamed explains that the masked man initiated the attack, leaving once Amir barricaded as many people as possible inside his office. Fatma again recalls the impostor’s threat, that he would drag their secrets into the light, and figures he has gone to the ministry’s vault. Hamed adds that the masked man mentioned a bomb.

As Fatma distracts the ghuls, drawing their attention and killing the leader, the others set off the sprinkler system. The water sends the remaining ghuls into fits, and they win the fight. Amir, now freed, instructs Fatma to take men with her as she pursues the impostor—though she protests, asking only for Hadia, Hadia insists on helping with evacuation.

Fatma, with two men as backup, races toward the vault in the library. The librarian djinn, Zagros, appears to be standing guard, but Fatma quickly realizes she is mistaken. The impostor appears and begins to whisper to Zagros, while behind them, the ash-ghul’s duplicates plunder metal objects from the open vault. Zagros roars and attacks, and the impostor and his assistant head for the exit. Using an electric truncheon, Fatma shocks the djinn until he passes out, only for the bomb to shake the building.

The two agents help Fatma to the foyer, where she realizes the explosives were inside the ghuls—the “brain” of the ministry is devastated. The storm now abated, Hadia and Hamed try to calm a terrified Fatma: She has realized that the stolen items are the plans and pieces to the Clock of Worlds.

Chapters 13-15 Analysis

The theme of The Role of Illusions and Expectations in Society is present throughout these chapters. During the interview that is, on the surface, meant to be with her brother, Abigail is really the center of attention. She fosters her persona, speaking in terrible Arabic and noting that her father excluded her from the brotherhood. She makes an attempt to bond with the two agents, turning over Portendorf’s ledger to further nudge the agents toward suspecting her brother. Nonetheless, Abigail drops clues that will eventually give her away—that she trained with a sword, that she has a much more vested interest in Egypt than her brother, and that she knew about her father’s quest for artifacts. Notably, her hand is still bandaged.

Siwa similarly uses illusion to hide his reality. Ashamed of his meager lifestyle, which is likely the product of his gambling addiction, he literally places an illusion over his apartment to broadcast affluence. Siwa’s illusion coincides with a spell limiting his ability to communicate. Perhaps most notably, among other things, he spews racist rants—words that others literally put in his mouth. The theme of Racial Supremacy and Power Structures is at work here as well. Clark has shown racism in his novel not just as a destructive facet of society, but a tool used in subtle ways, usually wielded by the wealthy and powerful. Here, it is used to stymie an investigation. Earlier, Madame Nabila used it to test the agents’ loyalties. Ultimately, it serves as a major part of the impostor’s plan: enslavement of one race, the djinn, in order to establish dominance over another, the Egyptians. The novel thereby sends a more powerful message than simply “racism is bad.” Clark wants us to see how people have consciously embedded racism into the workings of society, fueling the illusions generated and enabled by people’s beliefs and expectations.

While Clark has teased their existence throughout the book, this chapter gives us the first—and only—significant moment for the ghuls, a lower, “primitive” type of djinn. The monsters appear in One Thousand and One Nights, and while not in the Qu’ran, mentions of them do pop up in the Hadith, the collected sayings of Mohammed. The origin of the English word ghoul, the beasts behave quite similarly to modern zombies, with some details added by an inaccurate French translation of One Thousand and One Nights and some by Clark himself. An obsession of popular culture, fading somewhat in the years leading up to A Master of Djinn’s publication, these ghuls ultimately serve as nothing more than a distraction for both reader and character. Clark never returns to them, and does not explain the impostor’s ability to control them like the djinn. As a point of curiosity, Fatma offers to distract the ghuls, who themselves are distracting her.

Distraction plays a major part in stage magic, with misdirection a vital component in passing off the illusions of the magician, and of course much of the novel depends on the impostor’s command of illusion magic. Fatma’s success as a distraction herself may indicate the power gap between her and the villain is closing, as she is capable enough to wield the same tools.

The strike against the Ministry, however, is a profound attack. As her job symbolizes everything she believes in, her entire mission, the destruction of the building, and disruption of the organization hits Fatma as hard as the physical defeats she has suffered. Even those she trusted can turn against her, and the battle with the enslaved Zagros takes a psychological toll. Continuing from her sword fight with the impostor, Fatma must be broken down before she can ascend as a hero.