I truly was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, but it was incredible! The story started off a tiny bit slow; the world building took a while, and it felt like most of the action was relegated to the final 2-3 chapters. However, it paid off beautifully, and painted such a wonderful picture and world that was inspired by Morocco and its history. 
I loved the character development of both Amani and Maram, as well as their blossoming friendship. The romance was a little fast for me, but I still enjoyed the depiction. Overall, this was a really great book and story! I loved it. I also found the author's interview very interesting. I loved her discussion of feminism in colonization, among other things, and found it really cool how she tied these things in with her novel.