Review: Ahdieh’s retelling of “The Arabian Nights” is made magical by her prose. 

 

Unfortunately, I did not love this book as much as I would’ve had I read it in middle school. As someone early in their twenties, I found myself getting frequently frustrated by the rash decisions made by Shahrzad (Shazi)—the novel’s sixteen-year-old protagonist—and how quickly she abandoned her revenge plot even though I likely would have had the same impulsive behavior at that age.  

 

I also had trouble investing in the romantic relationship between Shazi and Khalid (her love interest and the Caliph of Khorasan) because it developed too quickly for my tastes and did not seem believable as a result. Shazi claimed to hate him so much because of the women he killed, his difficult personality, and the numerous secrets he kept from her, but then fell for him at a moment’s notice citing his dashing appearance. Both characters presented many red flags, Shazi especially for initiating strange sexual encounters that I could not wrap my brain around. 

 

While their romantic connection forms almost instantly, the novel’s main conflict does not present itself until the very end, which is frustrating. I did, however, enjoy Ahdieh’s beautiful, immersive prose. She uses language that is reminiscent of her source material to build a world with magic and deadly curses that the reader explores through alternating points-of-view.