I found A Master of Djinn via this year's awards list, and, in my opinion, the awards people have had a point. One the one hand, the book is a well-done supernatural mystery that keeps you wanting to keep reading. The initial incident involves a mystic brotherhood of bumbling Englishmen who're trying to uncover the 'secrets' of Al-Jahiz (who, back in the middle of the 19th century, some forty-odd years before the story takes place, let magic back into the world, and who no one knows much about) getting murdered by a mysterious man who claims to be Al-Jahiz by tw destructive fires. And then things keep getting worse, and it's up to our heroine, Agent Fatma, her mysterious friends, and the new partner she's reluctantly gotten stuck with to figure out what's going on and save Cairo.

But, in the background of that, you get some really good worldbuilding on the question of "what if Europe got kicked out of colonialism a lot earlier and wasn't as dominant of a cultural power as it is in our world?" The return of magic has led to Britain, France, etc. getting yeeted out of their colonies, and, among other things, resulted in Egypt becoming one of the Great Powers. The effects of this change get woven into the story: for instance, in what people are wearing, and the fact that Paris-Cairo fusion is casually mentioned as a recent fashion trend among wealthy dignitaries.

So, yeah, this is a fun steampunk-ish fantasy mystery novel which does an excellent job of painting an alternate history setting without shoving it in your face too much.

Oh and did I mention Agent Fatma is also casually being lesbian? And wearing suits?