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4.57 AVERAGE
4.57 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow! A stunning masterpiece, this weighty graphic novel takes place in a fantastical version of Cairo, where wishes are real (and for sale), and the owner of a modest kiosk tries to sell 3 of them. I was blown away by the deep, immersive story and utterly enchanting illustrations, and plan to buy a copy of this book for myself! Highly recommend!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
Loved this book, the last story really got me. Very creative, incorporates politics throughout, amazing.
This takes place in modern-day Egypt in a world where wishes can be bought. There is a government agency that tries to regulate wishes, which adds a whole other layer to this story.
This book follows three class 1 wishes being sold by one street vendor. The lives of all three people are deeply impacted by their intention to use the wish before ever even using the wish.
I love every point-of-view character in this story though, they are all very self-reflective. Each chapter is written in a way that shows you how each person thinks and what the inside of their mind is like. For example, one character is a smart kid with depression and his chapters contain very dark panels with no text and also panels showing his thought process in graphs.
Each of the three protagonists in the book come from different economic backgrounds and the way this book shows that was interesting and effective. In particular, the vendor tells two different people the price of a wish and a stack of money is shown in their thoughts showing how much that money represented to them personally.
The majority of the art is black-and-white with the exception of the introductory pages of each story, as well as diagrams between the chapters explaining the classes and legality of wishes. The wishes themselves are in the form of genies but the bodies of the genies is Arabic text. It’s beautiful.
This is a really moving book. It took me awhile to get through just because I would finish one of the three stories and then think about that story for days.
This book follows three class 1 wishes being sold by one street vendor. The lives of all three people are deeply impacted by their intention to use the wish before ever even using the wish.
I love every point-of-view character in this story though, they are all very self-reflective. Each chapter is written in a way that shows you how each person thinks and what the inside of their mind is like. For example, one character is a smart kid with depression and his chapters contain very dark panels with no text and also panels showing his thought process in graphs.
Each of the three protagonists in the book come from different economic backgrounds and the way this book shows that was interesting and effective. In particular, the vendor tells two different people the price of a wish and a stack of money is shown in their thoughts showing how much that money represented to them personally.
The majority of the art is black-and-white with the exception of the introductory pages of each story, as well as diagrams between the chapters explaining the classes and legality of wishes. The wishes themselves are in the form of genies but the bodies of the genies is Arabic text. It’s beautiful.
This is a really moving book. It took me awhile to get through just because I would finish one of the three stories and then think about that story for days.
I liked this book, both the visually rich but deceptively simple art style and the author's sensitive approach to some fairly deep topics. I think tackling hard topics in a way that is easily understood and still contains nuance is super difficult and this book does that well. I did find the final story the weakest, while it wraps up the story well its themes regarding morals right and wrong, and self-determination were the least clear of the three. It could be however that as a white person, I am missing the cultural context required. Overall this is one of the strongest graphic novels I have read and I highly recommend you give it a try.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely adored this!!! Each of the stories were so special, and I love that they were combined to be one larger book in the translated copy. The art was so beautiful!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated