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booksthatburn's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
MIRAGE is a story of a girl forced to be the body double for the princess assumed to be the next monarch of her colonized planet. As Amani adjusts to the strict requirements of her new role, she starts connecting with others who are trying to end the occupation.
I love the worldbuilding in MIRAGE. It’s concerned with language, culture, and class dynamics reinforced through colonization. Its suffuses everything from Amani's life with her family to the Vathek court and everything in between. It was obvious to me that many parts of the language are based on Arabic, and the interview with the author which is included in the audiobook clarified for me that it was specifically influenced by Moroccan culture. Even before I knew which specific country's history had contributed to the worldbuilding, there were so many wonderfully detailed moments which filled this picture of a people who went to space and have been living on this moon for so long that their culture references a long history on that moon and not their arrival from somewhere else.
This deals heavily with the cruelty of colonizers, and the difficulty of Amani trying to stay alive when everything she does to preserve her life also helps her oppressors. The Vathek colonizers are quasi-European, culturally and aesthetically different from those they’re subjugating. Long stretches in the middle are a bit more hopeful, as every time Amani is sent somewhere instead of the princess it’s more time that she can interact without a harsh gaze upon her. One complication is that the princess is engaged to be married, so Amani interacts with her fiancé, Idris, who isn't supposed to know about the body double. I like Idris, his dynamic with Amani is really sweet. I especially love the way that they slowly begin discussing more of their history and shared culture together, since Idris was made to forget his first language years ago but Amani still can read and speak it.
As the first book of a trilogy, this establishes Amani's transformation away from who she was before she was kidnapped. There's more of a focus on Vathek culture because Amani has to become familiar with the Vathek court to survive. The ending was a dramatic shift and I'm excited for how the next book handles things.
I love the worldbuilding in MIRAGE. It’s concerned with language, culture, and class dynamics reinforced through colonization. Its suffuses everything from Amani's life with her family to the Vathek court and everything in between. It was obvious to me that many parts of the language are based on Arabic, and the interview with the author which is included in the audiobook clarified for me that it was specifically influenced by Moroccan culture. Even before I knew which specific country's history had contributed to the worldbuilding, there were so many wonderfully detailed moments which filled this picture of a people who went to space and have been living on this moon for so long that their culture references a long history on that moon and not their arrival from somewhere else.
This deals heavily with the cruelty of colonizers, and the difficulty of Amani trying to stay alive when everything she does to preserve her life also helps her oppressors. The Vathek colonizers are quasi-European, culturally and aesthetically different from those they’re subjugating. Long stretches in the middle are a bit more hopeful, as every time Amani is sent somewhere instead of the princess it’s more time that she can interact without a harsh gaze upon her. One complication is that the princess is engaged to be married, so Amani interacts with her fiancé, Idris, who isn't supposed to know about the body double. I like Idris, his dynamic with Amani is really sweet. I especially love the way that they slowly begin discussing more of their history and shared culture together, since Idris was made to forget his first language years ago but Amani still can read and speak it.
As the first book of a trilogy, this establishes Amani's transformation away from who she was before she was kidnapped. There's more of a focus on Vathek culture because Amani has to become familiar with the Vathek court to survive. The ending was a dramatic shift and I'm excited for how the next book handles things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Slavery
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Medical content, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy
mlottermoser's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Space drama with middle eastern culture versus invaders. Stolen from her family to be the princess’s body double, Amani must decide who to trust and her role in the palace.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship
andatherrin's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping
onthesamepage's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I highly recommend checking out chai's review for more context and information about the setting/inspiration.
While this didn't quite give me what I was expecting based on the synopsis, I overall had a good time with it. The world, which is inspired by Morocco, is beautifully described, and sinking into it felt comfortable. Maybe it's the familiarity of the Arabic names or words used throughout the book. It does hit different when you understand them without needing to look it up or read a translation or footnote, and this is only one of many reasons why diversity in books is so important. The book is officially classified as fantasy, probably because it's set in a different world, but there's no magic whatsoever in the story. Science fiction would be closer, but only because it is set on another planet, and because there are droids. And while the world and the mythology do serve important roles in the plot, this story is ultimately about colonization, occupation and the culture erasure of indigenous populations that occurs as a result.
We see these themes the most in Idris, the Andalan prince who is betrothed to Maram, the daughter of the occupying king. The betrothal was arranged as a pretense at an alliance and a way to control him and his family after their rebellion against the king. Idris is no longer fluent in Kushaila, the original language of their planet. He can't read the writing tattooed on his arm, even though it is part of his culture. The conquering Vath outlawed these things and many more out of fear of retaliation. Idris really resonated with me for this reason, even though I don't feel like we got to know much about his personality.
Our main characters, however, do come across loud and clear, especially Maram. She is unpredictable, which makes her intriguing, and we get to see several sides of her throughout the story. I'm not sure we've seen all her layers yet. Amani is more straightforward; what you see is what you get, and in this case it's someone who has a lot of empathy for others, regardless of who they are. She also has a reckless streak a mile wide, which leads to a couple of questionable choices, but then surprised me with a few decisions I wouldn't expect from a YA heroine, but that definitely made me like her more.
There is also quite a lot of focus on romance, which was a bit insta-love and not my favourite, but I did appreciate the directions it took.
The book focuses much more on character development than plot, and this is perhaps its weakest point. I wanted more danger. Amani is meant to serve as Maram's body double because we are told that there have been or will be many attempts on Maram's life, but we don't really see that happen. Instead, Maram uses Amani to get out of events she isn't in the mood for. Amani is also given a lot of leeway for someone in captivity, and for a world that has droids, I would expect there to be better monitoring of her in general. Instead, she gets sent to a different city without any supervision, which helps the plot along, but does little for its believability.
Still, this was a very solid debut, and I'm excited to see how Maram and Amani's story ends.
While this didn't quite give me what I was expecting based on the synopsis, I overall had a good time with it. The world, which is inspired by Morocco, is beautifully described, and sinking into it felt comfortable. Maybe it's the familiarity of the Arabic names or words used throughout the book. It does hit different when you understand them without needing to look it up or read a translation or footnote, and this is only one of many reasons why diversity in books is so important. The book is officially classified as fantasy, probably because it's set in a different world, but there's no magic whatsoever in the story. Science fiction would be closer, but only because it is set on another planet, and because there are droids. And while the world and the mythology do serve important roles in the plot, this story is ultimately about colonization, occupation and the culture erasure of indigenous populations that occurs as a result.
We see these themes the most in Idris, the Andalan prince who is betrothed to Maram, the daughter of the occupying king. The betrothal was arranged as a pretense at an alliance and a way to control him and his family after their rebellion against the king. Idris is no longer fluent in Kushaila, the original language of their planet. He can't read the writing tattooed on his arm, even though it is part of his culture. The conquering Vath outlawed these things and many more out of fear of retaliation. Idris really resonated with me for this reason, even though I don't feel like we got to know much about his personality.
Our main characters, however, do come across loud and clear, especially Maram. She is unpredictable, which makes her intriguing, and we get to see several sides of her throughout the story. I'm not sure we've seen all her layers yet. Amani is more straightforward; what you see is what you get, and in this case it's someone who has a lot of empathy for others, regardless of who they are. She also has a reckless streak a mile wide, which leads to a couple of questionable choices, but then surprised me with a few decisions I wouldn't expect from a YA heroine, but that definitely made me like her more.
There is also quite a lot of focus on romance, which was a bit insta-love and not my favourite, but I did appreciate the directions it took.
The book focuses much more on character development than plot, and this is perhaps its weakest point. I wanted more danger. Amani is meant to serve as Maram's body double because we are told that there have been or will be many attempts on Maram's life, but we don't really see that happen. Instead, Maram uses Amani to get out of events she isn't in the mood for. Amani is also given a lot of leeway for someone in captivity, and for a world that has droids, I would expect there to be better monitoring of her in general. Instead, she gets sent to a different city without any supervision, which helps the plot along, but does little for its believability.
Still, this was a very solid debut, and I'm excited to see how Maram and Amani's story ends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Physical abuse
corvicore's review
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
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