This is probably a 3.5.

Elif Shafak is an interesting person to listen to. Highly recommend her Desert Island discs episode. I've read two of her novels already and really enjoyed them both.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last two. I found the constant moving back and forward between the 11th and 21st century jarring. I could kind of see the point, but it didn't work for me.

I enjoy reading her novels as they take me really out of my own frame of reference. I know nothing about Rumi and Shams of Tabriz and I did enjoy those parts of the tale. I know nothing about Sufism either. So I can't really judge this from a theological point of view as it's not my subject.

From a purely storytelling perspective, it leaned towards the melodramatic - as Shafak does tend to do in my limited experience. But she tells her stories beautifully. I will continue to read more of her novels; I am always interested to see where she is going to take me.