This book is a bit of a genre-bender, a modern take on fantasy that edges into science fiction despite being about Fairyland and jinnis that turn up in our world in a sort of proxy war during a power struggle that results in a regime change in Fairyland. Blended into this story are various theosophical concepts about the nature and existence of gods, the nature and existence of good and evil, and the role of mankind in the universe. But these philosophical threads are just tangents to the primary tale, which is fantasy, essentially, a story told by people far in our future, about a time still in our future but much closer to us. And, since Rushdie didn't state a particular date for these events, his book won't suffer the obsolescence that so many near-future stories do once the date they focus on is over and no jinnis, or bizarre supernatural activity, or great wars have turned up.
I've read a few Rushdie books so far, after avoiding his writing for years fearing it would be just about political current events in Israel or the Middle East. But, so far the books I've read have all just been rather creative fantasy or magical realism, with more characters from Southwest Asia and North Africa, but not particularly about any heavy sociopolitical situations in our real world. I definitely recommend his books, so far, for fantasy and sci-fi readers looking for new stories in these genres. ( )

My friend recommended this book to me by saying it was too weird and fantasy-like for her. A blend of fantasy and literature, and based on the blurb perhaps some magical realism too? Sounded perfect to me!

It started out promising, with jinns and jinnias and clever wordplay - and then it stayed just that. Clever, and witty, with sentences that run for paragraphs, referencing older stories, and history, describing famous people without using their name, that kind of stuff. Usually I sort of like that, finding these little easter eggs makes me feel smart, but in this case it was just too much. It was almost desperately self-conscious, trying to be intelligent and interesting.

The story itself was.. ok. Not great, not terrible. It sort of drowned in all the wittiness, and in the second half it also started drowning in the rants against faith, and believers, and religion. It wasn't offensive, just.. well, boring, to be honest.

We get the point - fear is used to drive people to religion, religion is used to oppress the masses, but the manipulating masterminds don't realise that this strategy will eventually lead to those masses turning away from faith. Also, in the purely hypothetical case that there actually is a god, he/she/it would want us, their children, to grow up and become independent. Fine, get on with the story instead of making these points over and over again.

Wouldn't recommend, won't read again. ( )

The usual delightful richness from Rushdie. His books always make me think of the little threads that connect us to one another - reminding me of the size of the world.

It was both a terrifying and hopeful book to read in the age of Trump - though it was obviously written before this year it resonates well.

Except in this case we have 1,404 days to go. Three years, 10 months and three days by my reckoning. Watch for flying urns until then... ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastical work. The flowing language and the amusing side stories kept me entertained throughout. I will have to read it again to actually get the philosophical thoughts behind the story, though. ( )

I am giving up on you as I can see that it will take me at least 1001 days to get it done. It has tired me. I get that this is magical realism, but it got boring. Life is too short.