#maiya ibrahim

[phantomrin]

Guess I haven't properly posted these yet...

"Spice Road" promo-art for Maiya Ibrahim. Featuring Imani, Qayn and Taha.

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (November 19th, 2024)

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Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

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New Releases:

Thanks for Listening by Molly Horan

If You Can Hear This by Faith Gardner

When Mimi Went Missing by Suja Sukumar

Dead Below Deck by Jan Gangsei

Perfect Girl by Tracy Banghart

Visitations by Corey Egbert

New Sequels:

Sophomore Year (Briarcliff Prep #2) by Brianna Peppins

Serpent Sea (The Spice Road Trilogy #2) by Maiya Ibrahim

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Happy reading!

[the-final-sentence]

I cast them out to sea, and I sit with my brother and sister, watching the darkness steadily lift from the world.

Maiya Ibrahim, from Spice Road

[booktineus]

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim | The Spice Road Trilogy #1

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Road is the first book in a YA fantasy series that I cannot wait to continue!

I’m writing this review a month after I finished this book and am struggling to figure out what I want to write… So please enjoy these random (but hopefully insightful!) notes from my reading journal:

That opening line though

I’m loving this writing

Very interesting magic system! I’m intrigued by how the tea brings out unique powers in every individual

Heck yeah magic knife

Amina (the sister) could have her own YA novel. She’s the classic reckless YA protagonist.

The plot progress is not going in the direction I expected… I like it.

I thought we’d skip over the journey, but we don’t. I like it.

Taha and his beast seer abilities are giving Assassin’s Creed

Fantastic character growth!

The perfect amount of romance: a little glimpse of something that might develop over the rest of the series

I wish we’d been able to explore even more of the world and history. We’ve barely scratched the surface, especially with our mysterious djinn companion

Hot damn some of these twists and action sequences!

[sweettoothnerd]

We will fight, but first we will have tea.

[blokettes]

I have just finished spice road my Maiya Ibrahim and words cannot express the feelings I’m currently going through. That book was a true roller coaster of emotions, and one I can only give a 5 star rating. A famously slow reader and I devoured the book in two pages.

The blurb really did not do the book justice. It touches on colonialism, isolationism, family, politics (which I imagine will be explored even more in the books yet to come) and of course, the all time favourite, enemies to lovers. I am also madly in love with Qayn

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sand, Siblings, and Finding Humility, Oh My!

If I was screaming "what the hell, Wenzhi?" for months after finishing Daughter of the Moon Goddess, I'll absolutely be yelling "what the actual hell, Taha?" for months after finishing this book. Let's talk Spice Road.

As an English major, I'm no stranger to occasionally clueless, arrogant, or otherwise abrasively unlikeable protagonists (Catcher in the Rye, anyone?), but what I was wildly not expecting was for Imani to absolutely require being called on her classism, privilege, and prejudice and taken down a few pegs while also being immensely endearing. This intensely middle sibling of a protagonist has nothing but love for her family, particularly her brother Atheer and sister Amira, who work to break open the facade of what Imani believes reality to be and show her not only what is, but what could be. Watching Imani get repeatedly hit in the face with the disconnect between her beliefs and the world and seeing her finally realize that she needs to adapt and change is intensely compelling.

Joining Imani on the quest to Alqibah are Taha, an elite scout, and Qayn, a djinn who has lost his magic and claims to be her Atheer's best friend. Imani has nothing but distrust for either of her traveling companions, and in one case she is justified. Less so in the other case.

The world Maiya Ibrahim constructs is lush, equally beautiful and soft as it is cruel and unrelenting. The magic system--revolving around the Misra tree and the tea her magic users make from its bark--is wonderful in its creative limits. It's perhaps a bit explicitly harder than I prefer my magic systems to be at the beginning, but it bodes fair to soften in future books.

No spoilers here because I strongly recommend giving this incredible book a read!

[fisterdefister]

I read Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim, and it surprised me in such a good way. Spoilers are under the cut.

The main character, Imani, is on a quest to find her missing brother Atheer, and she has to journey alongside her extremely hateful but conventionally attractive male rival, Taha.

I groaned every time it seemed like the book was steering the two of them to become a couple, and the author actually ended up NOT doing that.

It turns out, every time that Imani was letting her guard down around Taha, he was manipulating her so she wouldn't suspect that he'd been given orders to kill Atheer, of which there are hints throughout the journey in his belongings and how he interacts with the rest of the characters outside Imani.

The scene where this is revealed is also not a "she don't need no man" moment. Taha tries to kill Imani by COLLAPSING A CAVE WITH HER INSIDE and she survives through PURE HATRED ALONE. She proceeds to duck an ENTIRE PRISON OF GUARDS motivated purely by the chance to BODY HIM.

All of this is also happening during a geopolitical struggle for governance over the larger country that the focus characters have been secluded from. The native people are generally Arab, while the people of the colonial power threatening them are generally English. It's not a subtle metaphor, but it gets the point across very well.

What happens at the end of this story cements it as a great starting point if you want to get back into reading fantasy books.

I give it a solid 8/10.