Nahri is an inhabitant of Cairo. A X on artist with a couple of strange abilities. She can understand pretty much any language she hears, can see when people are sick, and can even occasionally heal them. But she prefers it when she can swiftly take the right number of coins off Cairo. When she is pulling another scam by exercising a demon in a young girl she accidentally summons a real warrior and Nahri suddenly finds herself in the midst of a dangerous adventure.

This book is an absolute stunner and the story sounded great. Who doesn’t like a story filled with magic, djinns, adventures, and a magical hidden city amongst the swirling sands of the desert, right? Well… it took me some time to really like this book. It ticked all the boxes, but…

Don’t get me wrong, this book was extremely well written, but I found the pacing of the story lacking. You should think, that if the issue is a slow pacing, there would be enough room to explain this difficult magic system, right? Well… In my opinion, it lacked enough explanation.
After a brief history from Dara about the tribes and the story of existence, I still found it difficult to understand the complex relationship between the tribes or who was who? A lot of questions that kept unanswered until the very last chapters of the book."

However, I really rooted for Nahri, Khayyam, Munthir, and Jamshid. Unfortunately, I didn't really like Dara. I found him having quite the rigid attitude. He had very old-fashioned opinions which didn't strengthen Nahri at all. Maybe this was the reason I couldn't root for a romantic relationship between those two. Especially Dara's jealous behavior towards Ali and Nahri's friendship was quite irritating.

I see those cogs turning in your head: did anything tickle your fancy? Oh, absolutely! Specifically, I adored how Charaboty skillfully unveiled the impact of segregation on a community, be it in a made-up world or the real deal. Watching how hatred weaves through society, shaping its tomorrow and affecting the folks within, was an eye-opener!

Alrighty, drumroll please... Brace yourself for a twist - despite all the pondering, this read was a total blast! The book's vibe was a total mood, the Eastern culture infusion was a standout, and the author's bold take on segregation was a real tearjerker. Altogether, the book snagged a solid 3.5 stars from me!