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As others have noted, this is an alternate steampunk universe set in the 1910's. A world changed by a single man piercing the veil, and bringing Djinn and magic back into our world. Since that happened about 40 years ago, the djinn have transformed Cairo with their amazing mechanical creations, including robots, flying gliders and trams, and mechanical brains in buildings.

The main character, Fatma, is a respected, if youngest female, investigator in the Ministry of Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. She is definitely a maverick, dressing in suits, hats, and carrying a sword cane.

The descriptions of clothing and locations feed the imagination, breathing life into the world and putting it all in your mind's eye. The gradually revealing of the consequences of the mass murder in a secret brotherhood in honor of al-Jahiz, the man who brought back magic to the world, is gripping. The impostor who claims to be al-Jahiz has a dramatic flair that makes everything so much more cinematic. There are more than enough plot twists to keep you guessing until the end, and in the end you are left wanting more of this fantastical world and this amazing investigator.

My one criticism is, of course, Fatma has to save the world.

Again.

What does that leave her for an encore?

All said, the book is a fun romp with descriptions that you can taste and see in your mind's eye. There are multiple strong female characters, which definitely gives the book a distinct flair.

I only give 5 stars to books I think I will read again, and this fits into this category easily due to the cinematic world-building, enchangint character arcs, and gripping adventure.

I expected a lot from a book that claims to be the basis for the Knowledge Management Program put into place at NASA after the various shuttle disasters. While the book makes some very good points, they can be summed up briefly as 1. Define your audience and their primary mission. Focus on this. 2. Define your stakeholders and get their support. 3. Who will you report your KM progress to? Who will benefit, who's decisions will it help the most? 4. Give credit to your team, champion, and stakeholders when you share KM successes. 5. Gather and Filter the knowledge from information to knowledge.

Based on it being created in response to the Shuttle accidents, I can see why it seems to focus almost exclusively on what we call Lessons Learned (as in, mistakes that have occurred, and what we learned from them) and case studies as being the critical knowledge that must be preserved.

Maybe this is the case, but it seems to miss a lot of practical knowledge that would also be critical.