I went into this book with really high expectations. When it was first announced, I remember being so excited. Another diverse fantasy, set in a Middle Eastern-inspired world, written by a Muslim author?!! After The City of Brass, I was craving something just as rich and unique. It was for that reason that I decided to join the WHTF street team. I ended up in the Demenhur group, which at the time I had no idea what it meant, and it was really nice being surrounded by people so excited for this debut. I was looking forward to getting a physical arc or an e-arc, and when I finally got the link to my e-arc, it didn't work, so I didn't end up reading the book before the release date. In a way, it might have been a good thing because I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't liked it then.

It took a while for me to actually read my physical copy. Not because I had doubts, but because I was waiting for the mood to set in. So when I picked it up finally, I was expecting to mostly enjoy it, though Gretal had told me she didn't care much for the romance. Romance is always a hit or miss for me. But there are times when the main couple grows on me and I end up liking them. This wasn't the case.

To start off with, the writing felt a little off. It just didn't seem to have a natural flow and I found myself stopping a lot and having to reread parts. (Though this could totally have to do with the fact that I was bored for a lot of this book and also sleepy from work). The prose was too poetic at times, other times it was just confusing, and sometimes it was dense to the point where it felt like things were dragging.

Speaking of that...this book is SO SLOW. The pacing was honestly the worst part. Not only do we have super short chapters, but very frequent POV switches. You would be in Nasir's mind for two pages, and then it would switch to Zafira for a page, and then back to Nasir or Zafira again, and it was just too jarring. It didn't help progress the plot or the story, and just made it drag on and on. It was almost like we got two books in one. A book from Zafira's perspective, and then a book from Nasir's, where every single thing that happens, we get to see both their reactions and thoughts. I found this to be so unnecessary, especially when there's no purpose behind it except to really hammer in the fact that Nasir has a dark, troubled past, and Zafira is sad and has no idea what she's doing or who to trust. As the reader, we get that already.

I guess in hindsight, maybe this book was supposed to be mostly character-driven? But it didn't feel that way at all. The found-family trope, or in this case found-zumra trope, just didn't work for me. I wasn't really rooting for the gang at all and I had no idea how any of them were so willing to die for each other when they had just met literally two seconds ago. There were chapters right after Benyamin and Kifah were introduced, and Zafira was like I will protect them with my life and I care about them so much *rolls eyes cause girl you can't even decide if you should trust Nasir or Altair and you want to go ahead and die for some strangers* We didn't see a gradual friendship develop and considering how slow this book felt, we had plenty of time for it. We were mostly told that they're now sort of friends, and I guess the banter between the characters was supposed to make us believe it further, but it just didn't work for me.

I was expecting a good chunk of this book to be the characters trying to make their way through the Arz and then the Baransea. But that literally took a chapter and I was shook at how easy it was. And then the rest of the book was just spent travelling in a desert and being attacked by ifrit occasionally and sometimes having huge revelations a la Benyamin cause he's the only one with answers, except of course he'll only tell them things when he feels like it cause PLOT TWISTS NEED TO HAPPEN. That really annoyed me. We barely got any world building and there were so many unanswered questions that could have been answered easily instead of just being held back for plot devices. I was told the book picks up in the second half, but it didn't. And even by the end, it felt like an info dump all at once during a battle scene that lasted waaay too long, and a lot of it was confusing and I had to read it twice to sort of get it.

I want to discuss the characters a bit, starting with Deen. Deen was honestly such a sweetheart, and I really liked his character and his dynamic with Zafira. I was just not a huge fan of the childhood friends/technically siblings-to-lovers trope. At least it was one-sided, but it felt like Deen's entire purpose was pointless and made no sense to the story. He had so much potential and it went to waste. I loved his relationship with Zafira though, I just wish the romance hadn't been added, only to be removed for another love interest to waltz in.

Benyamin was honestly the one side character that interested me the most. I wanted to learn more about him and Alderamin and also how he uses potions (??) to fight off the ifrit. And what is he constantly reading?? We do get a glimpse of his life, and just like the others, he has a tragic past that's meant to make us feel for him. I did find his backstory to be the saddest, and I really like how he has a wife who he loves very much and is waiting for him at home. We don't see stuff like this a lot in YA. I feel like everyone is usually single, ready to mingle, or already making eyes at someone.

Kifah's character needed more. Her backstory is again sad, though maybe I'm stupid, but I still don't exactly understand what her father did or tried to do? I wish we could have had more interactions between her and Zafira, besides Kifah cooking and offering her something to eat. I just didn't understand where the zumra came from, cause it didn't feel like a gang, but more like a bunch of people who happen to be walking in the same direction. Altair flirting with Kifah hints at something more happening down the road, but I'm also annoyed cause is everyone in this gang going to pair off now? I guess the way things ended makes sense now lol

Nasir. Lol. I'm sorry but I'm over the dark, brooding, self-deprecating, deeply tortured male love interest. Nasir's POVs were annoying to read. He's constantly wondering how Zafira looks at him without fear, yet I swear he's not that scary. And then we get the typical he can't stop looking at Zafira and noticing everything about her, and how is he supposed to kill her when he might have feelings for her, BUT WAIT HE CANT CATCH FEELINGS CAUSE TRAGIC PAST STORY ALERT! And then of course we have a

Spoiler

make out scene in the middle of a creepy, dark, marble room because that's the only way Nasir can get Zafira out from under the Lion's grasp, by kissing her duh, only for Nasir to be like "what haha no, that meant nothing, you mean nothing, I'm nothing, I deserve to die, my past is too dark and horrible, everyone I love dies, I hate you" and Zafira reciprocates with "haha, I knew this was a ploy for you to get close and kill me, I AM A SMART WOMAN AND I WILL NOT FALL FOR YOUR TRICKS", meanwhile both are like "nonono we shouldn't being saying those things cause they're not at all true" in their heads.

*BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL* I'm sorry, I am not a romantic. I'm sure for plenty of people, this was everything, but it wasn't for me. Take my review with a grain of salt, cause I'm picky lol

Altair and his flirting. It was cute and funny in the beginning, but eventually it became kind of annoying. Every other sentence out of his mouth is some kind of innuendo. And while it was funny at times, especially when it was directed towards Nasir, the reveal we get later on, made me feel weird about the whole thing? I understand characters who are naturally flirty, but I feel like they also need to balance between being the comic relief and also being serious? It just sounds tiring being Altair, and while he can be charming, he goes from aww-that's-cute, to ugh-can-he-please-shut-up super quick.

Zafira as a character was alright. I just didn't really feel for her as much as I should have. Her reunion with her mother in the beginning was definitely a beautiful moment, and I liked her relationship with her sister Lana and her best friend Yasmine. And while I understand her motivations on joining this quest, I didn't really follow the whole "she did this because she wants to be loved" thing?? I don't get where that comes from? Is love synonymous with famous? But I swear she was curious about the darkness and she wanted to save her people, I didn't really see any selfish part of her wanting to become famous? She has people who love her at home anyway? Besides that, we get a lovely scene where she's bandaging up our love interest and it's very sensual and weird. Why can't we have a scene like this but platonic??? AND WHY DID SHE HAVE TO STRADDLE HIM. WAS THAT EVEN NECESSARY? I DO NOT SEE DOCTORS STRADDLING THEIR PATIENTS IN THE HOSPITAL IN ORDER TO BANDAGE THEM OR PERFORM SURGERY. Oh and I almost forgot the whole, I-want-to-fight-you-cause-sexual-tension scene. That made me roll myeyes. There were just a lot of tropey moments and scenes that did not work for me.

Overall though, I was bored. Like really bored. I sort of flew through the first half of the book, mostly because I was waiting for the other side characters to show up and hoping we'd get more plot and world building and answers and something other than walking through a desert. But then things got really slow and nothing new was happening and I had to force myself to keep reading. That's not what I want in a book. I decided about 3/4 of the way through that I wasn't going to read the second book. I just don't care enough about the characters or the story or the world to keep on reading. Even the ending didn't really sway me. The book overall wasn't that memorable and didn't have parts that stood out to me. I'm sad cause this could have gone so well and it didn't, and I am partly disappointed in myself because I know a lot of what I didn't enjoy is just me and not the book itself.

I'm lowering my rating to a two stars, cause it's more accurate, even if its a little harsh. I still think that a lot of people will enjoy this book. I have friends who did. But I guess my expectations are just higher after The City of Brass. And that's my fault cause you can't really compare an adult fantasy to a YA fantasy, but I can't help doing it anyway. I still think my opinions are honest and true to what I read though.