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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.

Thank you to the publisher, HarperCollins, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books I wanted to like so, so badly. I’ve had mixed experience with Mafi’s books – from being disappointed by Shatter Me but absolutely loving A Very Large Expanse of Sea. I decided to pick this one up due to the intriguing synopsis and some great blurbs from some of my favourite authors such as Cassandra Clare and Leigh Bardugo.

Sadly this book just ended up being okay for me. I read 400 out of the 495 pages in just one day, so I must say this one was an easy read and was compelling enough for me to continue. But I also feel like I could summarise the plot in a few sentences. What I expected to happen by a quarter of the way through the book happened three quarters of the way through, and I feel like most of the book was summarised in the synopsis itself.

I did really like Alizeh’s character and she had a strong identity which I loved, and she felt like a strong female lead. I wasn’t a big fan of Kamran and I do feel like Mafi struggles to write male characters that I have any sympathy with. Their romance felt very insta-love to me which I also struggled to enjoy reading about.

The part of the book that probably turned out to be my favourite was the world building, and I liked the fantasy elements a lot. It felt like a really unique fantasy in a lot of ways and elements such as the language felt really natural and genuine.

Overall, this one was definitely mixed but I enjoyed it, it just didn’t blow me away.

★★★★
3.5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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