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coffeekitaab's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This was a rollercoaster ride - chapters 40ish onwards (all I'll say is the ceremony of all the leaders) is where this became a pageturner for me. I had been lulled into a false sense of security and leisurely reading at my own pace but then it became imperative to finish this book asap as I was struggling to put it down without knowing what happened next and then in the end!
Book 2 was incredible - Book 1 for comparison only was a slower read but in hindsight the introduction we needed before all the madness, action, drama and magic that unfolded in book 2. I adored the storyline and Altair is even more of a favourite after book 2, his trajectory in this book for me personally was gorgeous. His innuendos had me laughing out loud and his equation with Lana as a banter-ful duo was so fun to witness. Faizal did justice to stay true to the traits of each character, there were so many laugh out loud points, then I'd be riveted by emotion at tender moments within the characters, the loyalty of the zumra and the love between them was beautiful....I was then left in awe of the sudden plot twists which came out of nowhere and took my breath away. Simply, wow.
This is a 4.75 star for me - Nasir's hesitancy and indecisiveness in the beginning. I get it is his character and arguably, the 2nd half of the book left me vindicated but the guy is so frustrating at times. For all selfish purposes, I was also left wanting for something to happen between Yasmine and Altair - weirdly had picked up on some energy in the Epilogue of Book 1 and was craving it throughout Book 2, the suspense around their meeting left a void in me and as the writing is so brilliant, I knew that I would have loved this equation no matter what direction Faizal had taken with it/what that introduction would look like - the book would have absolutely been a five star for me! I have my fingers crossed for a book 3 with these two as the main characters...eek! In summary though, I want to congratulate Hafsah Faizal at penning this one down, an absolute mastermind in delivering a powerful, fierce, emotive and magical piece of writing. Kudos!!
After this and A Tempest of Tea, I am absolutely a fan - cannot wait for Faizal's next!
Book 2 was incredible - Book 1 for comparison only was a slower read but in hindsight the introduction we needed before all the madness, action, drama and magic that unfolded in book 2. I adored the storyline and Altair is even more of a favourite after book 2, his trajectory in this book for me personally was gorgeous. His innuendos had me laughing out loud and his equation with Lana as a banter-ful duo was so fun to witness. Faizal did justice to stay true to the traits of each character, there were so many laugh out loud points, then I'd be riveted by emotion at tender moments within the characters, the loyalty of the zumra and the love between them was beautiful....I was then left in awe of the sudden plot twists which came out of nowhere and took my breath away. Simply, wow.
This is a 4.75 star for me - Nasir's hesitancy and indecisiveness in the beginning. I get it is his character and arguably, the 2nd half of the book left me vindicated but the guy is so frustrating at times. For all selfish purposes, I was also left wanting for something to happen between Yasmine and Altair - weirdly had picked up on some energy in the Epilogue of Book 1 and was craving it throughout Book 2, the suspense around their meeting left a void in me and as the writing is so brilliant, I knew that I would have loved this equation no matter what direction Faizal had taken with it/what that introduction would look like - the book would have absolutely been a five star for me! I have my fingers crossed for a book 3 with these two as the main characters...eek! In summary though, I want to congratulate Hafsah Faizal at penning this one down, an absolute mastermind in delivering a powerful, fierce, emotive and magical piece of writing. Kudos!!
After this and A Tempest of Tea, I am absolutely a fan - cannot wait for Faizal's next!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Death, War, Blood, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, and Grief
shauna_grenead's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lexquiv's review against another edition
1.0
I don’t DNF books. I should, but I can’t. That said, this is the closest I have come to DNFing in YEARS.
I didn’t love book one and if it was a trilogy I wouldn’t have continued. However, there was POTENTIAL in book one and I thought I could get through one more to see how things went. Regret. The ending sucks so if that’s what you’re reading for don’t waste your time.
Reviews are infrequent for me as well so this will probably be a jumbled mess and might blur the lines between book 1 and 2 but I just have to get some of these thoughts out.
The writing is bad. It is so flowery and I love flowery, when it’s done well. Unfortunately in 9 out of 10 instances in this book it is not done well. It is repetitive and focuses so much on constructing an elegant sentence that the meaning of what is being described seems to be actually forgotten. Let me emphasize repetitive again while we’re here. The ashy eyes and icy eyes, kill me.
One of the biggest flaws of these books is that they tell you when they should show you. The number of times a character says something and then what the character has said is described as amazingly witty… I wish I counted. The kicker is that IT WAS NEVER ACTUALLY WITTY. It’s like the author thinks if she tells us they were witty we’ll be tricked into thinking they were. All of the characters actually had a notable lack of wit.
This book bored me. It was hard to get through. But it kept building and building and then I realized I was only 100 pages from the end and I thought YAY but also - how?? There were so many loose ends. A terrible, rushed, predictable ending, that’s how. I won’t get into spoilers, but everything that happened was predictable and much of it was disappointing.
I love an enemies to lovers and in book one I was there for a Nasir/Zafira romance. She built it up in book one. It was time, one way or another. And then she just ripped the rug out from under them and thought this worked the first time, let’s do it again!?!? I was completely over them by the time this ended. Zafira was disgustingly indecisive, Nasir’s lack of self worth grew exhausting. Also, Nasir made no sense. At some point in this book he randomly became sexually confident (based on what? One previous relationship? THIS DOESN’T FIT HIS PERSONALITY) and would make daring comments and kiss Zafira, but still would never ever speak to her about what was happening. It was just tiresome and didn’t work. Additionally time drug on and they never even had a conversation… their feelings became more and more far fetched. I had no investment by the end.
The descriptions and implications involving Yasmine and Altair at the end were simply weird. I was looking forward to them finally meeting after it was narrowly avoided so many times, but it never happened.
What the silver witch did: predictable. What Nasir did: predictable. The end of the fight against the lion: disappointing. Zafira’s relationship with the Jawarat: disappointing.
The jawarat added nothing to the book but words.
This had a lot of potential to address issues like racism and sexism and it mostly just brushed over these with quick unbelievable “solutions”. There wasn’t enough about the caliph’s secret daughter, and the dealings with the ifrit at the end felt shallow, disingenuous, and way too brief.
I’m sorry this is quick written and I’m likely forgetting lots of things. TLDR I really didn’t like this book.
I didn’t love book one and if it was a trilogy I wouldn’t have continued. However, there was POTENTIAL in book one and I thought I could get through one more to see how things went. Regret. The ending sucks so if that’s what you’re reading for don’t waste your time.
Reviews are infrequent for me as well so this will probably be a jumbled mess and might blur the lines between book 1 and 2 but I just have to get some of these thoughts out.
The writing is bad. It is so flowery and I love flowery, when it’s done well. Unfortunately in 9 out of 10 instances in this book it is not done well. It is repetitive and focuses so much on constructing an elegant sentence that the meaning of what is being described seems to be actually forgotten. Let me emphasize repetitive again while we’re here. The ashy eyes and icy eyes, kill me.
One of the biggest flaws of these books is that they tell you when they should show you. The number of times a character says something and then what the character has said is described as amazingly witty… I wish I counted. The kicker is that IT WAS NEVER ACTUALLY WITTY. It’s like the author thinks if she tells us they were witty we’ll be tricked into thinking they were. All of the characters actually had a notable lack of wit.
This book bored me. It was hard to get through. But it kept building and building and then I realized I was only 100 pages from the end and I thought YAY but also - how?? There were so many loose ends. A terrible, rushed, predictable ending, that’s how. I won’t get into spoilers, but everything that happened was predictable and much of it was disappointing.
I love an enemies to lovers and in book one I was there for a Nasir/Zafira romance. She built it up in book one. It was time, one way or another. And then she just ripped the rug out from under them and thought this worked the first time, let’s do it again!?!? I was completely over them by the time this ended. Zafira was disgustingly indecisive, Nasir’s lack of self worth grew exhausting. Also, Nasir made no sense. At some point in this book he randomly became sexually confident (based on what? One previous relationship? THIS DOESN’T FIT HIS PERSONALITY) and would make daring comments and kiss Zafira, but still would never ever speak to her about what was happening. It was just tiresome and didn’t work. Additionally time drug on and they never even had a conversation… their feelings became more and more far fetched. I had no investment by the end.
The descriptions and implications involving Yasmine and Altair at the end were simply weird. I was looking forward to them finally meeting after it was narrowly avoided so many times, but it never happened.
What the silver witch did: predictable. What Nasir did: predictable. The end of the fight against the lion: disappointing. Zafira’s relationship with the Jawarat: disappointing.
The jawarat added nothing to the book but words.
This had a lot of potential to address issues like racism and sexism and it mostly just brushed over these with quick unbelievable “solutions”. There wasn’t enough about the caliph’s secret daughter, and the dealings with the ifrit at the end felt shallow, disingenuous, and way too brief.
I’m sorry this is quick written and I’m likely forgetting lots of things. TLDR I really didn’t like this book.
littleredmacks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The perfect conclusion to the perfect duology. No notes.
beckzareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
This is such a great adventure series.
I was once again in love by the story, the details, the Zumra.
I loved how everything we learn in this world intertwined together. I will cherish this wondrous world on my shelf, always.
As the Great Altair put it: " His family. His zumra. His lifeline."
I was once again in love by the story, the details, the Zumra.
I loved how everything we learn in this world intertwined together. I will cherish this wondrous world on my shelf, always.
aliyah_101's review against another edition
3.0
I adore Nasir and Zafira but the writing was testing me
faatimah_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
aimelou's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The first half was a bit slow which made it harder to really get into the story, but the second half found a much better pace, and I loved the ending and how it was crafted.