This Woven Kingdom | Book Review
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Genre: YA Fantasy, Romance, Islamic/Persian Mythology.
Publisher: Farshore
Release Date: 01/02/2022
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️
Synopsis:
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight. The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
Review:
TW//: violence, self-harm, suicide.
So, a few weeks ago, the cover for book four of this series was revealed and my social feeds were pretty much flooded with excited readers anticipating a grand wedding. i innocently liked many of these posts which led to fan art and commissioned illustrations of the characters ending up on my feeds. and if you know anything about me, you know that the main thing that will always get me to read a fantasy series that i was previously unaware of or uninterested in is the fan art!!! and so, once again, the fan art agenda wins me over!
this novel starts with an epigraph from the shahnameh (which is an epic poem about the old history of greater persia) and that alone had me excited since i quite enjoy stories inspired by this poem. also finally, i’m reading a tahereh mafi book inspired by her persian heritage/roots! the story is also rooted in islamic teachings about the jinn and the devil/iblees!
anyway, the story is about a jinn girl named alizeh trying to make ends meet -and not cause any ruckus in the mean time since her parents’ untimely deaths- in a clay ruled kingdom/world. however, iblees being iblees, he got other plans for her, as he wants her to assume her titled role so he can rule again! on the other end of this story, is kamran, the crown prince of the fore-mentioned kingdom, who instantly becomes boy-obsessed with alizeh upon their not-so-cute “meet cute”! and from then on the story unfolds.
i quite enjoyed the novel (i mean duh, i gave it 4.5 ☆) and while some people may find the 1st third tedious with its info dumpy world building, i did not, cuz i’m very familiar with islamic teachings about the jinn and enjoy them quite a bit! however, the 2nd third did drag a bit too long for my liking with the author running in circles trying to save all the action for the last third of the novel. now, the last third, that was my favourite part. i breezed through those chapters. they had intrigue, magic, action, romance, and most importantly lovers banter!!! oh and, a massive revelation and cliffhanger!!
i read this book physically while simultaneously listening to the audiobook and i really enjoyed the narrator as she did a good job and pronounced all the words correctly. just a heads up tho, the major character introduced at the end of the book, their name is pronounced so funkily it had me in fits of laughter the whole time!
anyway, i loved this book and i recommend y’all pick it up if you’re interested in a YA romantasy. now, i’ll be off to read the sequel!! 😁
