3.75 stars
The Map of Salt and Stars is beautifully written and at times devastating book, following two girls over different times who set out across the same route - one a modern-day Syrian refugee (Nour) escaping the fighting in her country with her sisters and cartographer mother, and the other a cartographer’s apprentice (Rawiya) in the Middle Ages, setting out to help map those lands for the first time.
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At the start of the book Nour and her sisters, Huda and Zahra, are discussing the idea of universes running in parallel with one another, across all different times and eras. Although the two narratives unfolding are technically 800 years apart, if you think of them as running in tandem with one another it makes it feel more special.
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But I did have the age old issue of books with dual perspectives - I vastly preferred Nour’s narrative to Rawiya’s, especially as Rawiya’s Middle Ages storyline had a lot of sword fights and battles of mythical creatures. I’ve always found battle scenes hard to follow. I found myself rushing through Rawiya’s parts to get back to the modern-day storyline, desperate for Nour and her little group of family and friends to reach some kind of safety. Joukhadar doesn’t shy away from exposing the brutality and violence experienced by refugees who are seeking asylum elsewhere, so it’s an important read tackling a topic that will never not be relevant.
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I also loved the start of each new section, where Joukhadar would write a little poem narrative in the shape of the country that section was based in! Unique and beautiful.
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Overall I think 3.75 stars accurately reflects my feelings for Nour’s sections and occasional frustration with the more fantastical Middle Ages section!