I honestly love the influx of YA debuts we’re seeing that center non-Western mythology, and even specifically Middle-Eastern mythology! I love myths and fairytales and these sorts of stories, no matter the origin, and it’s so nice to see our idea of mythology, within these sorts of stories, expanding to include more than just the classic Greek gods. However, as with anything, not every new release will be a runaway hit, and unfortunately, that’s true for Spice Road.

This book had a lot going for it, especially in the beginning. I loved the world that seemed to be set up, the magic and myth that seemed inherent in every detail, and I couldn’t wait to explore this magical society further. Unfortunately, a large chunk of this book actually takes place away from this magical society, and since magic itself is rationed out through tea, we don’t actually see that much of it either, at least not consistently. It ended up kind of being a let-down, that as the book went on, we seemed to see less and less magic, and focus more and more on the world outside the magical society the main character grew up in. And while this made sense, for the story that was being told, it also meant that the story had to work a bit harder to keep me as invested in later parts of the book, when all I wanted was to go back to where we were at the beginning of the story.

One thing I did like about this book was Imani’s devotion to her city, to a fault. I’ve read a lot of books where the main character is blindly devoted to a cause or government, only for the curtain to suddenly be dropped, and dark secrets revealed, but it’s very rare to see a main character actually struggle through the change of readjusting your beliefs and your perception of the world after this curtain drops. Spice Road did a wonderful job of showing the struggles that come with this change, and how long it actually takes, and how many horrors you have to actually see, before you accept that a lot of what you believed in wasn’t true or that you were manipulated. It was interesting to see her journey, even if this didn’t always endear the reader to her either. I think this is what stood out most in the book for me.

Unfortunately, beyond this, there wasn’t much else I was a big fan of. I felt like the plot generally was a bit bland, just wrapped in magic so that it took a while to notice how bland it was. I find it difficult to find reasons to keep reading this series, though I will at least see if the synopsis of the second book will tempt me! This is also probably due to me just overall disliking the ending and how certain events feel glossed over, by characters that I wouldn’t think would gloss over them. Depending on how this plays out in the second book, maybe my thoughts here will change, though. Overall, it just didn’t entirely work for me, though I can see myself enjoying future works from this author one day!