I think this is a cool introductory book for someone who likes astrology and wants to incorporate it into their wellness routines. It has good ideas and it's something I might flip back through for ideas for my own wellness or even things I can gift to friends/family based on their signs. I did find some sections to be rather vague and I found myself wanting more details. For example, in the breakfast/snack section, I would've loved if actual recipes were included that I could try out instead of just listing different foods. And there were quite a few typos I found throughout reading it. Overall though I think it was a good intro read as someone who is starting to learn more about astrology and who tried to incorporate wellness into her life.

“For my whole life, until I die, I want to just breathe without anyone interfering in my life. That’s all I wish for.”

This was a quick and entertaining read, and I liked some of the things discussed throughout it, but overall it wasn’t really what I was expecting which made it underwhelming for me. The synopsis made it sound like a book I would love to read at this time in my life, but I didn’t get what I wanted out of it unfortunately.

It was so nice to be back with Jude and Cardan. I forgot how much I love this series. Because it is just a short collection of stories I don't think it warrents five stars but I did love being back in this world.

To be honest, I feel very indecisive about my rating so I'm going to give it 3 stars for now. I was definitely entertained most of the way through. It was slow moving and most of the thriller aspects came into play at the end, but I was still intrigued by the story. However, once the twists started being revealed and as I reached the end of the book, I started to get confused and pretty underwhelmed. By the time the book ended I didn't really care anymore. And I could've done without the other perspective chapters thrown in. They honestly just confused me more and didn't really add anything to the story. I'm still glad I gave this book a shot because I enjoyed most of it, but overall it wasn't a new favorite. I don't agree that it's inherently a bad book, but it didn't wow me.

I am so disappointed about how this book turned out for me... and I have a lot of thoughts.

First of all, this book was way too long in my opinion. The plot moved way too slowly to the point where it felt like nothing was really happening for most of the book. I was intrigued at the start of the novel by Nahri's story and the start of her journey, but that quickly faded. For the first 50% of the book, her chapters basically just consisted of her traveling to Daevabad and while they did have to fight several creatures along the way, it kind of felt like filler content until they reached the city. Then once they finally reached Daevabad I thought things would pick up but they really didn't until the very end.

I liked Ali's perspective way more than Nahri's and I found it a lot more intriguing. I liked the politics, learning about the dynamics among his siblings and other people close to their family, his whole thing with the Tanzeem, and overall I just thought his personality was way more likable and interesting than Nahri. In fact, Ali was the only character I really cared about in the story which brings me to the next point in my review.

Ali was honestly the only character I was attached to. I didn't care about Nahri at all and I agree with another review I read saying that Nahri was pretty overshadowed by the other characters around her. Ali's whole storyline was way more interesting than Nahri's and because of that, I didn't feel invested in anything she was trying to accomplish. The only time I liked her character was when she was interacting with Ali. Then there was Dara. I liked him in the beginning but by the end of the book, I didn't care about him at all. He was just really annoying most of the time. And in my opinion, he and Nahri had no chemistry. I couldn't picture a romantic relationship between them at all and I think Nahri had way more chemistry with Ali than she ever had with Dara which I hope means she will end up with Ali in future books.

The world was also pretty confusing to me and I found myself struggling to remember the details of the war and all the different tribe names and language names. Even by the end of the book I still didn't feel like I fully understood the different names for everything.

Overall, this book was highly disappointing for me and I honestly don't know if I will be continuing with the series. I own the second book so I might try but I honestly don't know if I can make it through 600 more pages. The only reason why I would continue is to see what happened with Ali and if he and Nahri end up together but I don't know if that's enough reason to read two more massive books.

I liked this one a lot! I really like Shirin's character right from the start. She held a lot of anger in her and rightfully so. I liked that she had no problem giving people's bullshit right back to them. The back and forth between her and Ocean got a little repetitive for me after awhile. It kind of started to seem like they were just having the same conversation over and over again about their relationship and there was one scene in particular where Ocean says something that I just find so cringy (saying "please don't do this to me, baby" to Shirin when they weren't even dating like why are you calling her baby LOL) but once they finally figured things out the story picked back up. I also enjoyed the side plot of Shirin breakdancing with her brother. Overall, I enjoyed this one and I definitely plan to pick up more of Mafi's work in the future!