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3.1 AVERAGE
3.1 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I truly don't have words eloquent enough to do this book justice. AZK said she loved writing it and the power of that love and care shines through like the power of the Claim. The world building is deftly woven into the story itself without large, clunky info-dumps. The writing is beautiful. The characters are well-developed and nuanced. As it is the first of the series, it doesn't resolve anything, and ends with a gut-wrenching cliff hanger. My heart is a lump in my throat. I cannot wait for the next book. It's official-I will read anything AZK writes. She's incredible. She's gives such depth and strength to her characters and her stories. Read this now. I need others to suffer the wait for book two with me.
Ugh. That was painful. Actually, physically painful, and I am so disappointed. This book was one of my most anticipated releases of the entire year. I actually pre-ordered this book! I purchased it! Paid money for it because I was sure I would want to have it on my shelf forever to read and reread! Instead, from the very first chapter I found myself struggling to get through it. This is a novel with great potential that was executed terribly. Let's go through the problems one by one:
→ It is undeniable that Khan has created an intriguing world, though much of it is based on ours. The parallels between the antagonists, The Talisman, and ISIS/Taliban, are painfully obvious and heavy-handed. The Claim, ancient religious words inscribed with power, is clearly meant to be the Quran. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of this - in any other book I might have relished it - but here everything is so confusing and mashed up together that I had a difficult time following along. The main character, Arian, is a First Oralist trained in the power of The Claim - and yet it is never exactly clear what precisely the Claim is or how its magic works or how Arian uses it against her enemies. Given that Arian's powers make up the crux of the plot, leaving it unexplained greatly hindered my understanding of the overall plot. This is not the only bit of worldbuilding that was left unexplained, or touched on only vaguely. Khan throws a lot into this book and very little of it makes sense until the very end.
→ Despite the aforementioned, this book also somehow constantly delivers plodding exposition to explain worldbuilding rather than revealing it organically. The narrative comes to a shuddering halt to explain something (and not very well, either). It's very jarring and is the mark of an inexperienced writer. There is just so, so much telling rather than showing, and it's not even a little bit subtle.
→ I suspect it is the lack of skill in writing that makes the whole book so very, very bland. From the first chapter, which should have been a harrowing, nail-biting scene as our protagonists endeavor to save a group of women from slavery, is dull. From the get-go I just Did Not Care. And I tried, oh did I try. I wanted to care, I wanted to like this book. But there were no characters I cared about (Arian, the lead, is painfully, painfully bland) and the stakes were established properly to get me to give a damn about anything that was happening. The writing isn't technically bad, but there's just no spark to it. This book is lifeless.
→ The author uses omniscient narration, but she does it very, very badly. First of all, it took me a while to figure out it was omniscient narration, because the book at first gives the impression that it's in third person limited, with most of the POV given to the protagonist, Arian. But there are throwaway chunks and sentences that are in other characters' perspectives, even very minor characters, that just shove their way into Arian's thoughts. And then the narrative will flit back to Arian's POV. It's clumsy, messy, and confusing.
→ The overall plot was terrible. First off, I'm beginning to think that ~journey~ stories take a supremely talented author to pull off, and the ~journey~ in this book was very badly paced. It's taken me over a month to finish this book because it was just so damn boring. I literally had to force myself to finish it. And not only was the overall plot uninteresting, but even the few scenes that should have been exciting felt empty because they were written so badly! Big, action moments that should have been exciting were barely given a sentence (sometimes I barely even noticed that something huge had happened). What should have been big reveals were not revealed properly, and so they didn't deliver any punches.
→ This is clearly being marketed as a ~feminist~ story, but unfortunately even that falls flat. Our two heroines spend the whole book ogling handsome men and having their fates controlled by them. Daniyar is introduced as Arian's love interest and an extremely handsome man, and the author won't let you forget it. His beauty is constantly referenced, Arian's companion Sinnia is constantly talking about how desirable he is, and Arian herself is in love with him for reasons that baffle me, since he's very much an asshole. This obsession with handsome men and the women in love with them doesn't just feature with our protagonists, but with various minor characters as well, making the book not only borderline misogynistic but also shockingly heteronormative (there are NO queer characters here).
→ Arian's companion, Sinnia, is black. The author doesn't let you forget this either. References are constantly being made about the strangeness of her dark skin, how ~exotic~ she is, how pale Arian is in comparison, how jealous Sinnia is of Arian, etc, etc. And she is the only black character. It was extremely fetishistic and made me very uncomfortable, especially given that Sinnia's entire existence seemed to be rooted in being Arian's loyal companion. We are given little to nothing of her backstory, her wants or desires, despite the omniscient narration.
→ I want to touch again on how utterly boring and lifeless this book was. The author just couldn't make me care about anything in this book. The plot was a fairly straightforward journey, with little to no intrigue or suspense. For me, this book only got mildly interesting in the very last ten pages, when there were two big reveals and twists, one of which I'd been expecting since the last third of the book. And then the book ended on a cliffhanger that I don't particularly care about because I don't care about anything in this book.
I don't have much else to say. I really disliked this book, I nearly DNF'ed it multiple times, I had to drag myself back into reading it, and I'm just so relieved to be done with it.
→ It is undeniable that Khan has created an intriguing world, though much of it is based on ours. The parallels between the antagonists, The Talisman, and ISIS/Taliban, are painfully obvious and heavy-handed. The Claim, ancient religious words inscribed with power, is clearly meant to be the Quran. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of this - in any other book I might have relished it - but here everything is so confusing and mashed up together that I had a difficult time following along. The main character, Arian, is a First Oralist trained in the power of The Claim - and yet it is never exactly clear what precisely the Claim is or how its magic works or how Arian uses it against her enemies. Given that Arian's powers make up the crux of the plot, leaving it unexplained greatly hindered my understanding of the overall plot. This is not the only bit of worldbuilding that was left unexplained, or touched on only vaguely. Khan throws a lot into this book and very little of it makes sense until the very end.
→ Despite the aforementioned, this book also somehow constantly delivers plodding exposition to explain worldbuilding rather than revealing it organically. The narrative comes to a shuddering halt to explain something (and not very well, either). It's very jarring and is the mark of an inexperienced writer. There is just so, so much telling rather than showing, and it's not even a little bit subtle.
→ I suspect it is the lack of skill in writing that makes the whole book so very, very bland. From the first chapter, which should have been a harrowing, nail-biting scene as our protagonists endeavor to save a group of women from slavery, is dull. From the get-go I just Did Not Care. And I tried, oh did I try. I wanted to care, I wanted to like this book. But there were no characters I cared about (Arian, the lead, is painfully, painfully bland) and the stakes were established properly to get me to give a damn about anything that was happening. The writing isn't technically bad, but there's just no spark to it. This book is lifeless.
→ The author uses omniscient narration, but she does it very, very badly. First of all, it took me a while to figure out it was omniscient narration, because the book at first gives the impression that it's in third person limited, with most of the POV given to the protagonist, Arian. But there are throwaway chunks and sentences that are in other characters' perspectives, even very minor characters, that just shove their way into Arian's thoughts. And then the narrative will flit back to Arian's POV. It's clumsy, messy, and confusing.
→ The overall plot was terrible. First off, I'm beginning to think that ~journey~ stories take a supremely talented author to pull off, and the ~journey~ in this book was very badly paced. It's taken me over a month to finish this book because it was just so damn boring. I literally had to force myself to finish it. And not only was the overall plot uninteresting, but even the few scenes that should have been exciting felt empty because they were written so badly! Big, action moments that should have been exciting were barely given a sentence (sometimes I barely even noticed that something huge had happened). What should have been big reveals were not revealed properly, and so they didn't deliver any punches.
→ This is clearly being marketed as a ~feminist~ story, but unfortunately even that falls flat. Our two heroines spend the whole book ogling handsome men and having their fates controlled by them. Daniyar is introduced as Arian's love interest and an extremely handsome man, and the author won't let you forget it. His beauty is constantly referenced, Arian's companion Sinnia is constantly talking about how desirable he is, and Arian herself is in love with him for reasons that baffle me, since he's very much an asshole. This obsession with handsome men and the women in love with them doesn't just feature with our protagonists, but with various minor characters as well, making the book not only borderline misogynistic but also shockingly heteronormative (there are NO queer characters here).
→ Arian's companion, Sinnia, is black. The author doesn't let you forget this either. References are constantly being made about the strangeness of her dark skin, how ~exotic~ she is, how pale Arian is in comparison, how jealous Sinnia is of Arian, etc, etc. And she is the only black character. It was extremely fetishistic and made me very uncomfortable, especially given that Sinnia's entire existence seemed to be rooted in being Arian's loyal companion. We are given little to nothing of her backstory, her wants or desires, despite the omniscient narration.
→ I want to touch again on how utterly boring and lifeless this book was. The author just couldn't make me care about anything in this book. The plot was a fairly straightforward journey, with little to no intrigue or suspense. For me, this book only got mildly interesting in the very last ten pages, when there were two big reveals and twists, one of which I'd been expecting since the last third of the book. And then the book ended on a cliffhanger that I don't particularly care about because I don't care about anything in this book.
I don't have much else to say. I really disliked this book, I nearly DNF'ed it multiple times, I had to drag myself back into reading it, and I'm just so relieved to be done with it.
Good story, but the Talisman/Taliban thing was so strongly correlated it was distracting.
Enjoyed this eastern nomadic feel fantasy. Although all the magic is in The Claim the lore the sisters of the order follow and the lore of The One. However the Talisman are taking away written word, the women are to be hidden away or sold to slavery.
Arian and her friend Sinnia are bound to a quest but not an easy one. This reminded me of the monastery where the women's power were in their hair.... looking four another in that series next. This is book 1 & with the cliffhanger dropping over a sharp edge at the end of this I NEED to find out if the Silver Mage is bound for the blood bowl and if those who follow The Claim are changing.
Arian and her friend Sinnia are bound to a quest but not an easy one. This reminded me of the monastery where the women's power were in their hair.... looking four another in that series next. This is book 1 & with the cliffhanger dropping over a sharp edge at the end of this I NEED to find out if the Silver Mage is bound for the blood bowl and if those who follow The Claim are changing.
3.5 maybe? I'm processing. Also wondering if this one might be one of those books that feels better once you've read the sequel?
I just could not get into this book. It's a sprawling fantasy with a very detailed world, but I often found myself forgetting what was what and who was who without an impulse to go back and check. I felt very removed from scenes that should have been big dramatic moments. It just sort of washed over me as a chorus of people speaking in the kind of language I associate with high fantasy,
Though I should mention I did like the basics of said fantasy--it's not yet another medieval European-based fantasy. It's Middle Eastern with what seemed like direct ties to our own world, though not modern.
Probably the thing in the book that most held my attention was the young slave boy freed and than sort of adopted by the heroine--which I just realize is very similar to a storyline in Finniken of the Rock, which I also just read.
Though I should mention I did like the basics of said fantasy--it's not yet another medieval European-based fantasy. It's Middle Eastern with what seemed like direct ties to our own world, though not modern.
Probably the thing in the book that most held my attention was the young slave boy freed and than sort of adopted by the heroine--which I just realize is very similar to a storyline in Finniken of the Rock, which I also just read.
*DNF'd at 200 pgs**
I am not going to officially review this book because I am putting it down for the moment. I do have some thoughts about this book and why exactly I didn't feel the connection between this book but I am unsure if it was just me or the writing. So, I'm unfortunately going to chalk this one up as ....eh.
I am not going to officially review this book because I am putting it down for the moment. I do have some thoughts about this book and why exactly I didn't feel the connection between this book but I am unsure if it was just me or the writing. So, I'm unfortunately going to chalk this one up as ....eh.
I want to know how the story ends, but I don't know that I want to read another book...
3.5
What I enjoyed about this novel was its beautiful prose, its intercultural feminism and its deliciously labyrinthian politics as played by one character in particular.
What didn't work so well for me was finding that the main character Arian, too often, seem to lack agency. Ironically, at times, the power of her voice, which entwines thematically with the story's concern regarding the power of the word and of the written word, did not have the oomph I expected it to. But then again, this may have given the novel a more subtle feel and the impediment is in me the reader.
Overall, I think this is a book that is very much going to work on different levels for different people.
What I enjoyed about this novel was its beautiful prose, its intercultural feminism and its deliciously labyrinthian politics as played by one character in particular.
What didn't work so well for me was finding that the main character Arian, too often, seem to lack agency. Ironically, at times, the power of her voice, which entwines thematically with the story's concern regarding the power of the word and of the written word, did not have the oomph I expected it to. But then again, this may have given the novel a more subtle feel and the impediment is in me the reader.
Overall, I think this is a book that is very much going to work on different levels for different people.