This book was a pleasant surprise! I was not expecting to love it as much as I did and I'm so glad I finally decided to pick it up.

I never continued with Laini Taylor's DOSAB trilogy. The romance was just not for me and I think it took a lot away from the actual story. Unfortunately, this book does something similar. I really love Lazlo as a character. He is such a soft, precious boy. So pure of heart and willing to help anyone and everyone. He is all things good, and loves stories and living in the past. He is the definition of "dreamer" in all ways. I liked seeing how desperate he was to help Weep, and the journey he goes on to realize what actually occurred. But the romance really overtook the whole plot of this book. Everything was fine until about 3/4 of the way, and then we have Lazlo going from "Strange the Dreamer" to "Strange the Kisser." We literally have a whole chapter full of descriptions of him and Sarai kissing. I was not expecting to read a huge, long paragraph on lips, and tbh it made me super uncomfortable. And then they go off on a long date, and it seemed kind of pointless with everything else going on. While I'm definitely invested in the story and seeing what happens next, I am hesitant a little because of this romance. It is very instalovey. This whole book sort of has this underlying layer of love. Everyone seems to want it and I found it to be a bit concerning because I swear not every 15/16/17 year old is as obsessed with kissing or having sex as Ruby and Feral and Sarai (and to some extents Sparrow) were.

What I did enjoy was the story itself. It's so rich and detailed and fascinating and dark and horrific. I loved seeing how Eril-Fane wasn't a perfect hero. He did what was necessary to protect his people, yet couldn't live with himself for the horrible murders he had to commit. I liked seeing his regret and shame through Sarai and Lazlo's perspectives. And I actually enjoyed the little glimpses of his relationship with Azareen that we get to see. I was 100% into their relationship and actually would have liked to see more of that than Lazlo and Sarai. Weep is a beautiful city and seeing it in Lazlo's dreamscape was even better.

Laini Taylor has a wonderful way with words. They really bring the setting and story to life and everything just feels so tangible and real. That being said, a few things did annoy me. There's a lot of words used to describe things that I have legit never heard of before. It was a bit jarring and I actually sometimes had no idea what those words even meant (even with the context) and I was too lazy to bother looking them up. It's an interesting style of writing for sure, but I don't think it affected my reading experience too much.

This comes as no surprise, but Minya literally terrifies me. I'm quite intrigued by her character, but she's so frustrating and I kind of want to strangle her 99.9% of the time. I did like the glimpse we get into her thoughts, but I definitely don't think it excuses her actions. She's controlling and manipulative and abusive. And while I was expecting what happened at the end, it still made me angry anyway lol. I do love it when books make me feel this way though

Overall, 4/5 stars. Picking up Muse of Nightmares next!

I know I suck cause I didn't end up reviewing ACOMAF when I read it last year – I'm sorry, but it made me so mad I couldn't get the words out. But here I am with something that I hope is coherent.

Overall, I "enjoyed" ACOWAR a lot more than ACOMAF. Which is why I gave it a 3 stars. I couldn't justify giving it a 2.5 because there were parts that I did like. So...because of those parts, I probably will read the novellas once they come out. And no, I'm not going to be happy to read a 500-page novella about Feyre and Rhys having lots of post-war sex. I'm only reading it for Azriel and Elain. That's pretty much it. Oh, and Lucien kind of. And I also want to know what's going to happen with the human Queens.

Okay, getting into the thick of it...

I hate the writing. I don't know why, but in my ACOTAR review, I actually wrote that I enjoyed SJM's writing. I'm not sure if something changed – it probably did – but her writing went from pretty good to overly flowery and contrived. That's the only way I can describe it. It just didn't read well. There were parts where I rolled my eyes, especially when it came to dialogue. And it wasn't just Rhys and Feyre who annoyed me, but also Azriel and Cass and Mor and Nesta. Their lines sometimes just didn't work. They felt too perfect. And that's something I'm going to touch on after...

Let's talk about the plot. IT WAS THERE. There was plot, you guys! Don't get me wrong, you get plenty of sexual tension b/w Nesta and Cass (*rolls eyes), and don't even get me started on Feyre and Rhys...but there was something other than relationships lol

I won't say the plot was amazing, cause it wasn't. I felt bored a lot while reading this book. Like I'd read a bit, then groan at how long it is, then read a bit more, then take a break and wonder when things are actually going to happen, etc. The one thing I didn't like at all was that SJM wrote all these terrifying, oh-my-god-everything's-gone-to-shit scenes, and then ta-da it's solved two seconds later. I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT. What's the point of something dramatic and horrible happening when there aren't any serious consequences. Like yeah, Hybern breaks through the wards in Velaris and attacks Nesta and Feyre in the library. And as the reader, you're like YES LET'S SEE WHERE THIS GOES. But then, Feyre obviously decides to go and find the crazy monster living at the bottom of the library. *dies from rolling my eyes* And everything's fine. Rhys is just pissed that "his family was hurt" and that's the end of that.

There's this thing with Feyre where she happens to do everything that no one else can do and it annoys me so much. She's such a special snowflake, and so is Rhys. It bugs me so much!

Going back to the plot. This book is pretty much a how-to-deus-ex-machina-the-hell-out-of-a-book. Whenever something went wrong, Feyre came to save the day. Or Rhys. Or someone else. Like the final battle...everyone's dying, and it looks like they're going to lose, but oh wait, guess who arrives?? Miryam and Drakon – who've only been mentioned five billion times throughout the book. And when Feyre's dad arrived, I literally rolled my eyes and they fell out. Great way to "tie up" everything and make everyone redeem themselves. Lucien arriving was like not even a surprise. And I was already spoiled for what happened after the battle ended.

Spoiler

Rhys dying was so anticlimactic. Reading as Feyre screams and cries and tells the High Lords to bring him back was like rereading the final scene in ACOTAR. It worked okay once, but the second time...no, it just felt repetitive. Like of course he wasn't actually dead-dead. And of course he would grab onto Amren and bring her back cause Varian needs to be happy.

Let's talk about Lucien. I still don't know how I feel about him. Like the fact that he went with Feyre just because he wanted to see Elain and not because he felt that what Tamlin did was wrong bugs me. I wanted something more for Lucien than that.

Spoiler

The whole reveal about his birth kind of came as a shock. Like I'd heard that Lucien is biracial, but I couldn't see it cause SJM made him sound like a "tanned white guy". So I was kind of confused, but I liked it cause Helion is pretty cool. I want to see him and Helion together, and his mother too.

And I definitely don't ship him with Elain. I kind of see a Vassa-Lucien thing happening instead.

I'm sidetracking here, but since I was talking about skin colour...was it just me or did anyone else notice that Cassian and Azriel seemed more darker-skinned in this book than in ACOMAF. Like the way they were described seemed like SJM was saying "no, they're not very tan white guys like in the previous book, they're actually brown"??? I hope I wasn't the only one picking up on that. I felt like there was a lot of convenient diverse-dropping in this book. Now don't get me wrong, at least SJM tried??? But I don't think she executed it well, and it really felt like she did it to appease the people who were kind of boycotting/hating on her books. It didn't feel sincere.

Tamlin was a douche during this entire book. I hated him in the beginning, he annoyed me (and amused me) during the meeting. Surprised me during the whole beast-mode-phase, and at the end I was just like – I don't know where SJM is trying to go with his character. I'm not sure if she's trying to redeem him or something, but it just made me not like him even more? I don't know. I'm still confused about how I feel.

Cassian and Nesta...I still don't like Nesta. I like her more than I originally did, but she changed a lot. And the reason for her changing bugged me. Like I'm all fine when character's develop and change and become better people. And obviously, a lot of the times it's because of certain circumstances or a person. But I'm not a fan of a person changing because they have a love interest now. I honestly felt like Nesta got her hands dirty (quite literally) just because of Cassian. And can we talk about the VERY OBVIOUS sexual tension. Like every time they were in a room together, Feyre literally points out how she's watching them watching each other. And I don't doubt that everyone else is watching too. WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE IGNORING THEIR FEELINGS BUT BEING TOTALLY OBVIOUS ABOUT HOW THEY FEEL. It bugs me. I just want them to get a room, or admit it, or something, instead of staring at each other. The banter between Cassian and Nesta was fun, but eventually it was just too much. I do want to see what happens with them after the war. I know Nesta is not in the right place after what happened, so that will be interesting...if the sexual tension can stop already.

I wasn't expecting the whole Mor reveal at all. It came as a total shock for me, but it made sense why she hadn't said anything to Azriel. I just hope this is resolved in some way, cause I feel sorry for Azriel who has no idea what's going on.

Speaking of the Shadowsinger. I really liked Azriel in this. He has more of a role in ACOWAR than he did in ACOMAF, and more lines! While I loved watching Cassian fighting in the battles – it felt like I was watching Achilles fight against the Trojans – I loved seeing another side of Azriel. I definitely ship him with Elain. I knew there was something there since ACOMAF, so I hope they're endgame cause they're perfect for each other. He cares about her so much, but it isn't super obvious like it is with Cassian, and I prefer that so much more. I don't like the whole in-your-face romance that you see with Rhys and Feyre and Cassian and Nesta. Honestly, Elazriel is the reason this book is a 3 stars and why I'm going to read the novellas.

Onto Rhys and Feyre. I don't like either of them. Feyre is just annoying, she's too perfect and capable of everything. I just want to strangle her sometimes. And Rhys is TOO DAMN PERFECT. Actually, the whole Night Court is too damn perfect – and yeah, that includes Azriel and Cassian too. That's what I really didn't like. Feyre makes it sound like Rhys is the best of the best. He's perfect, can do no wrong, he's super understanding, gives her so much freedom (I don't have the actual sentences saved or anything, but I'm sure you know which ones I'm talking about. It was like a legit contrast between Rhys and Tamlin all the damn time), plus he's the most powerful of the High Lords. I get this book is from Feyre's perspective, so she's biased, but well...I hate her for that. She seems so blind to everything else. Even Rhys' faults are perfect: he wants to die for his people, he sometimes doesn't know where to draw the line for himself, he's super into self-sacrificing, he blames himself when things go wrong, he's hard on himself (I know I'm repeating myself, but all these supposed "faults" aren't really faults). And you get the same feeling with the other members of the Inner Court, though it isn't as bad as with Rhys and Feyre.

Amren's story in this was boring. She didn't do much till the end and when it looked like she had

Spoiler

betrayed

everyone, I wasn't even surprised cause SJM would do that, but then she didn't turn out to be doing what Feyre thought she was doing and I was like *le sigh*.

I don't know what else to say. Oh...the post-battle sex scenes. WHY. Everyone around you is hurt or dying, you're tired and sore from battle, but nope. It's time for some sexy time. LIKE PLEASE STOP. That is so unrealistic. It's literally a fantasy of a fantasy of a fantasy. I am definitely not looking forward to the novella because of this.

I did like seeing the other High Lords and more of Prythian. So there's a plus. I was really excited to see more Day Court since that's the court I'm in apparently!

Anyway, that's it I think. I should probably mention that I was shocked about Jurian – but then again, I feel like SJM needed to add something that wasn't predictable. I hope the novella has some decent plot in it, cause otherwise I will probably die from reading it.

Hope you enjoyed this review! I'm trying to come back to reviewing more regularly on here!

Reread 2020:

Ahhh just as good as the first time around. I love Daine so much. She’s scary when she’s angry and I think that makes her more lovable. She will do anything for those she cares about. I loved the addition of Zek and Bonedancer and Kitten as as lovely as she ever is. The Graveyard Hag still annoys me lol but oh well. Excited to finish off this series soon!

***

I'm literally just giving all of these 5 stars cause I can't help it.

All I have to say is: NUMAIR

More of a 3.75/5 stars

I actually really liked this one. It was cute and funny, with the perfect amount of tension that comes with a plot like this. I actually didn't mind the romance. It sort of goes from Jack annoying Pepper constantly in class, to them being enemies, to frenemies, to friends, to dating. And I really liked it. It was nice to see them getting to know each other slowly, watching them mess everything up multiple times, and finally get a satisfying conclusion.

I was worried that I wasn't going to be a fan of the end. I sort of thought I knew what was going to happen, but I was actually really surprised when we finally got told both sides of the story. Everything seemed to make a lot more sense then and I wasn't as angry as I thought I would be with Pepper's mom. It made her actions more understandable, thought not excusable. However, I like how things ended off. Seeing Pepper and her mom sitting down and talking through things, and that mirrored with Jack and his dad was really sweet and made my heart hurt. I related a lot to some of the things Jack and Pepper were both going through, especially the whole "working so hard to try and not be a disappointment" thing.

The epilogue was a bit too mushy and cringey for me, but it was nice to see where the characters are and what they're up to one year later. Made for a nice ending to the book.

I don't really have a lot to say about this one. It was unique and interesting and a little disturbing at times. The perfect dystopian book setting. I liked the idea behind the Scythedom and the Thunderhead. My favourite parts were learning more about how this world works and how things came to be. The little journal snippets we get from the different Scythes were also a nice touch.

But overall, I was underwhelmed. I think I had really high expectations because of the hype surrounding this series. While the book was enjoyable enough, it didn't leave me wanting to read more. The characters were okay, but I didn't really connect with them fully. Scythe Faraday was probably my favourite and I liked his connection with Scythe Curie. Citra and Rowan on the other hand were nice POVs to read from, but I wasn't super invested in their lives, but more interested in the corruption within the Scythedom.

Probably won't be reading the rest of the series, at least for now.

I have no words. This graphic novel is a real-life account of Omar Mohamed's story as a Somalian refugee. It was eye-opening, heartbreaking, yet filled with so much hope. The pictures we see of Omar and Hassan at the end, and their life after the events of this book, made me almost cry. It's definitely a difficult story to process at times, but I think it's important and necessary for people to become aware of the refugee crisis and what refugees have gone through and are still going through in their journey to find a place to call home.

Adding this trigger warning because it was difficult for me to read about: one of the girls that Omar is friends with gets married off at a really young age to an older man instead of being allowed to continue on with school

aghhh guyssss this was so good!! I don't even know what to write for my review.

I don't usually read mystery/thriller, but this one is rooted in Korean history, so it felt like I was reading historical fiction.

I loved the author's note at the end where she goes over the history during this time period. I'm a sucker for stuff like this because it shows how much effort went into making this story as accurate as possible.

The mystery itself was written really well. I loved following Seol as she discovers little clues and conducts her own investigation. And as more and more is revealed, the stakes got higher and higher. There were a lot of intense scenes, as well as some pretty disturbing ones, but it fit so well with the story as a whole. I was engaged and invested the entire time and I just wanted to keep reading.

The writing was beautiful and I didn't mind the first-person narration at all. It fit, and there were some lines that I wish I could have marked/tabbed if I was reading a physical copy.

Overall, incredible book. I definitely want to reread it again at some point!

I don't know how to review or rate this book. I want to rate it a solid 3 stars, but at the same time there were some glaring issues with the Muslim representation that annoyed me.

This book does seem to be based on Nadine's own life, so I obviously don't want to invalidate her experiences, and I'm sure this book will be relatable for some Muslims. But at the same time, I think this book has some misinformation when it comes to Islam that has me hesitant to recommend it to non-Muslims.

I will admit. This book made me feel a lot of emotions. The blatant Islamophobia that Allie experiences was horrible to read and made me so angry I was shaking. But I think that just means it was done very well. I think I've been lucky for the most part because I haven't experienced the level of hatred that Allie and her friends and family experience for being Muslim, but I know these things do happen and it is much worse for so many. I loved seeing Allie going from staying quiet to standing up for herself, and I also really liked the internal struggle she goes through where she's trying to keep a low profile, and not draw attention to herself, and just be super nice and overly friendly so people don't get the wrong idea...it's stuff that I do regularly, but I just don't think about anymore. I honestly don't know how I would react if someone told me to my face to "go back to my country", because it's never happened to me, and I feel like I'm the kind of person to just walk away instead of defend myself. So in that way, Allie is quite admirable. The things she says are things I wish I could say out loud, so it was great being able to read that in this book.

I loved seeing Allie's relationship with her mom, especially seeing how supportive her mother is as Allie learns and discovers more about Islam. Her father though...I kind of still hate him. He's so dismissive and disrespectful when it comes to religion. Like I know people who aren't religious who don't go around bashing other people's faith. At one point he even refers to prayer as "nonsense", which was just infuriating. I get that by the end, we start to see some change in him, but honestly I don't know. I was expecting to get some kind of backstory of why he ended up the way he did. But we never got that. He was also super rude to his own wife, saying she only converted because of formalities and pretty much speaking for her, even when she said she converted because she wanted to.

The ending with Teta and the rest of Allie's family was perfect and so well done that I technically cried. Technically. It was heartbreaking and painful, but I think it was my favourite part of the book.

Now onto the the actual Islam portrayed in this book. There's a lot of discussion about Islam and various interpretations about the rules and what Allie's friends think in regards to all of that. I think for a non-Muslim, most of this stuff would sound complicated and/boring, though I really don't think this book is meant for non-Muslims. If it is, I feel like it doesn't really do a good job of explaining the true Islam. The little Quran circles Allie has with her friends were really annoying. I get that the point was to show the differing opinions, but these girls start talking about how to change Islam to suit their lives instead of changing yourself. And it was never challenged in anyway. We're left off with Allie sort of going "well I'm learning and growing and if people don't like me doing things my way, it won't stop me from being Muslim", which is just .... I'm not saying she isn't a Muslim, I'm just saying that for a young Muslim teen reading this book it's not the message of Islam I want for them to come across. I don't expect Allie to suddenly go from non-practicing to a "perfect" Muslim. It's hard giving up aspects of your life you're used to and even enjoy or want. But I just don't like how this was done.

Overall, giving this a 2 stars I guess, since I hate not leaving a rating.

Reread 2020

I did enjoy this one, though I'll admit, the journey through the Realms of the Gods did drag a little. Though I think this pandemic is really affecting how I feel about the books I'm reading. For some reason I wasn't as obsessed with Daine and Numair's relationship as I remember being when I reread this book last (and when I read it the very first time). I still love them together as a couple and I think they fit really well together, I just remember squealing a lot more in this book when I was little than I did on this reread. That's probably just me being weird though.

***

OH. MY. GOD. When I read Immortals the first time around, I remember loving it, but not "LOVING" it the same way I did Protector of the Small. Reading it again almost 10 years later, all I can say is WOW. SO GOOD. I literally don't remember the last time I've obsessed over a book this much! I absolutely loved Song of the Lioness, but there's just something different about Immortals. The writing, the plot, the character development...it's just so much more detailed and well thought out and so realistic! I remember after reading Tamora Pierce for the first time, I sat down with my friend (who had also read the books) and we talked about how Tamora Pierce's characters feel so real - almost like you could bump into them in the street. These characters made me hurt and cry inside, and they made me smile, and laugh and squeal. These emotions are what I cherish when it comes to reading. It's what makes reading an adventure.

I literally cannot wait for Numair's book to be released!!! I NEED MORE NUMAIR IN MY LIFE NOW!

May 20th, 2020 - THIRD READ. I HAVE JUST AS MANY QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS AS I DID THE FIRST TWO TIMES. IRONICALLY FINISHED READING THIS THE DAY AFTER THE NETFLIX ADAPTATION WAS ANNOUNCED. WE ARE NOT READY TO SEE THIS BOOK ON OUR SCREENS.

***

January 21st, 2019 – I HAVE FINISHED MY REREAD. EVERYTHING IS A MESS. SEE REVIEW BELOW CAUSE IT'S MY FAVOURITE REVIEW I'VE EVER WRITTEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I AM NOT READY FOR KINGDOM OF COPPER, BUT I HAVE A DEATH WISH AND I'M IMMEDIATELY STARTING IT CAUSE I LOVE PAIN

***

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Canada for sending me my very first arc! I honestly couldn't have requested for a better book because I absolutely loved it and it is now one of my top favourites of the year!

I've decided to make this review non-spoilery so you can all enjoy it and see what you're missing out on!

THE WRITING

I don't usually talk about the writing in a book unless it stands out to me, and in this case I was just in awe at how beautifully this book is written. It's descriptive and poetic, but not overly flowery, making it a quick and easy read. The banter between the characters was just awesome and made me squeal and laugh and grin like a crazy person while on public transport.



The action scenes were intense and fast and terrifying. I loved the way things were gradually explained as the world was expanded. It was a bit confusing at first, but it was a good kind of confusion. It made me really feel like I was Nahri, experiencing and learning everything for the first time. The two different POVs – Nahri's and Ali's – were just ahhh! I especially loved seeing different parts of Daevabad through different perspectives. And also seeing Nahri and Ali interact through their individual POVs was just perfect!

THE WORLD

I don't even know where to start. The world Shannon created is vivid and colourful and beautifully diverse. I was mesmerized the entire time as little bits about the djinn and their history  was revealed. I'm a sucker for a good background story and this book does an awesome job describing it!

What I especially loved about this book is that nothing was black and white. I find that with a lot of books I've read in the past, it's very obvious who is good and who is bad. But The City of Brass is so unique. While Nahri is on the run and while she adjusts to living in Daevabad, we get to hear both sides of the story about the rebellion that ended the reign of the Nahids in Daevabad and began the reign of the Qahtanis. And as the reader, I was never really sure which side was good. Both sides did horrible things to each other for different reasons, and I love that because it's based in reality. Cause no one just does something because they're "bad" – there's always a reason they use to justify their actions. And we see that done really well here. Even at the end, I was like..."I don't know who to root for", but it kind of made me realize that it's really not that simple. And this complexity makes me love this book a billion times more!

REPRESENTATION

Oooh...let's talk about this. I think I was about almost half way through this book when I sat back and thought: THERE ARE NO WHITE PEOPLE. No offence to anyone who's white, but it just hit me and I realized how accustomed I've become to reading books with at least a couple white characters. But there aren't any here. And I kind of really, really loved it!

As a POC and a muslim, I related to so many aspects of this book! The fact that there are people with a similar skin tone as me – YES. I was geeking out at all the traditional clothing that the different djinn tribes wear. THE FOOD WAS JUST AMAZING AND I WANTED TO EAT ALL OF IT. But what made me especially happy was the Muslim representation.



As a Muslim, it's very rare to find fantasy books with anyone who is similar to me. And it's kind of frustrating cause it makes me feel like Muslims can't exist in those worlds. But I absolutely fell in love with The City of Brass because of its Muslim representation. When a character would hear the call for prayer and realize it's time for Maghrib, I was like YES LETS GO PRAY TOGETHER BROTHER (lol totally haram, I meant sister, unless he is actually my brother). When a certain character was uncomfortable being alone with someone of the opposite sex, I was like YUP IT IS ME! Whenever Nahri adjusted her veil, I was like WAIT IS MY HAIR SHOWING, and then realized I was in my room and no one could see me. As you can see I was really having the best time of my life  And to be totally honest, whenever I read books with characters who are religious, it makes me want to become a more religious and practicing Muslim and its a great feeling cause it's RELATABLE.

CHARACTERS: aka "don't-think-about-crossing-her-Nahri", "my-precious-cinnamon-roll-Alizayd", and "his-eyes-are-as-green-as-a-fresh-pickled-toad-please-don't-kill-me-Darayavahoush"

I loved Nahri's character so much! You have the common tropes like "the chosen one" and "girl discovers she has magical powers", but it was done so well! I really hate it when a character realizes they have a destiny or are special and then suddenly they become this awesome person who can do everything and they never fail. Nahri wasn't like that, and seeing her struggle with what she wanted vs. what others wanted of her, and also seeing her struggling to come to terms with her new life just felt very real.

I also loved how she was willing to stick up for herself and say what was on her mind – the banter between her and Dara and her and Ali was THE BEST! She always said the wrong stuff, which I found hilarious, and her I'm-so-done-with-this attitude is just me 50% of the time lol She wasn't the kind of character who would sit back and let others makes decisions for her. But at the same time, we could see her vulnerability and uncertainty. And her background and way of thinking was so unique and fun to read about, especially once she arrived in Daevabad. To say I'm excited for the next book would be an understatement...

Her relationship with Dara was literally sparking with CHEMISTRY. And I was squealing more than once. Here's proof (ignore the middle one, cause I'll come back to that):



I love banter. It's absolutely my favourite thing to read and write, and when it's done well it makes me want to squeal and run around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Speaking of Dara and also Alizayd...

What I love about these characters is how detailed and conflicted and complicated they are. And I'm honestly in awe because it adds this sense of authenticity. You get to really feel for the characters and the decisions they make because they are decisions that you would make in their situation. None of the characters are perfect, and they're constantly battling their demons and trying to decide whether they should do what they think is right or what others want. And it's also frustrating...especially seeing them struggle with who they should stay loyal too and it made me want to cry inside and hug my children and tell them it's going to be alright.



Dara was a mystery to me. I loved his character from the beginning. He's mysterious and powerful and you don't really know much about him. It's pretty much his word against a bunch of other djinn and that causes some interesting conflict. Also, he has brilliant emerald eyes and I think anyone would just about drown in them *heart eyes* I am freaking out right now thinking about what could happen in the next book, but I won't say anything else. He is complex and interesting and scary and you need to read it to understand.

Let's talk about my precious child, Alizayd al Qahtani. First of all...Ali is also my middle name. So when I was flipping through the arc and came across his POV, I may have screamed with excitement cause MY NAME IS IN A BOOK (well, close enough). Besides that, Ali is the character that I related to the most. While there are a variety of djinn who are at various levels of religiosity, Ali is quite into his faith. Seeing him praying, avoiding alcohol and the company of women, and trying his best to be a good djinn was just asdjksadjskf. Literally. I know many people can't relate, but it hit a spot where I was just like "yes, this is what I've always wanted in a book". I felt for his character. When other people commented on his religiosity, not understanding why he refused to drink, or why he was so shy around women, I just kept thinking "this is me, this is my life, and it's in a book" – except, replace women with men, cause I avoid them like the plague.

Besides that...Alizayd's relationship with his brother, who he affectionally calls Dhiru *literally cries tears of happiness and pain* was just  There is literally a lack of sibling affection in books, and seeing how much Muntadhir cared for his brother, made my heart hurt from feels.

Alizayd's story is a very complex one. And I'm a huge fan of complex plot lines that all come together at the end and make you go WOWOWOW WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING AND HOW WAS THIS DONE SO WELL AND PUT TOGETHER. Pretty much, I need Shannon to teach me her ways because she did it so well.

As I said before, all the characters are very three-dimensional. And Alizayd was probably the most out of all of them. We do get to see a lot of his POV, and we get to learn about his naivety and his innocence, but also his determination and resoluteness and his sense for justice. He's my favourite character in this book, hands down, and probably one of my favourites so far this year. I just love him so much, and he deserves so much more, and I will admit I am scared and worried for book two, and I KIND OF NEED IT NOW.



I don't want to say too much more, except the last 100 pages will be mind-blowing and crazy. So prepare yourself. And yes, when you finish reading this book, you'll want to reread from the beginning all over again, and you'll cry cause who knows when the second book is coming out

BUT YOU SHOULD READ THIS...

YES PLEASE GO READ IT NOW AND COME BACK AND FANGIRL WITH ME OKAY



If you're Muslim and you're not reading this, like why?? Go buy it or borrow it from the library and do yourself the favour of reading a book with characters that you can see yourself in.

And even if you're not Muslim, the characters, the plot, the world, the banter, the twists and turns...it's just all amazingness and addicting. It's cleverly written and it will cause you pain in the best of ways. Also, there's sword fighting (completely forgot to mention that) and two djinn who sort of hate each other and can't stand to be in each other's company which creates the most intense and dramatic scenes...okay, I'm done

If you've read The City of Brass, please comment down below and scream with me. Thank you.