Reviews - These Infinite Threads

3.75k reviews for:

These Infinite Threads

Tahereh Mafi

4.01 AVERAGE

fatima_'s review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

daphass's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nijarpk's review against another edition

5.0

//// spoilers, I guess? I tried to stay vague but tread carefully regardless!

actually y’know what, I said to myself I wouldn’t do long reviews anymore but this book has been living rent free in my head since I turned the first page (literally I dreamed about it. like five times in one night. I hadn’t even read much of it at that point what the hell brain) so you’re getting one anyway! except by review I mean just my incoherent yelling. strap in folks

(maybe I’ll manage to make this look pretty later. with like quotes and nice formatting and all. don’t count on it though.)

I really liked This Woven Kingdom! I thought it was neat, had a great time with it, the vibes were on point and I liked the characters a lot and the writing was beautiful etc., and after finishing I was very excited to read the sequel because hell yeah more of this

but I did not expect to go THIS feral over These Infinite Threads. Tahereh Mafi did it again. I don’t wanna compare this series to Shatter Me (my beloved) too much because I feel like that does both of them a disservice, but she very much pulled an Unravel Me in that the first book was great fun and then the sequel went into a somewhat different, very character-driven direction that I will LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THANK YOU VERY MUCH

since the two POV characters are apart from each other for the whole book I’m just gonna split this up into Kamran’s Side and Alizeh’s Side to have at least a modicum of structure for people to maybe kinda follow, but the tl;dr is I LOVE THEM BOTH I do not want them to date BUT I LOVE THEM anyway here gOES

Kamran’s Side

I love this boy. he is so mean and so CONFUSED about everything. which like I can’t really blame him for, his grandpa just died he isn’t thinking clearly so even if I sometimes wanted to grab and shake him I like get it? he’s suddenly thrown into a situation he is Not equipped to deal with, definitely not emotionally at least, and he is also surrounded by utterly insufferable people (affectionate) who he doesn’t know whether to believe or not

I saw a bunch of people say they found Kamran’s chapters harder to get through because Alizeh’s were just so much better and I don’t even disagree with that on principle, but I personally found that seeing this court in shambles around a prince who’s not really prepared to handle it (no matter how much he would like to think so) and the ensuing power struggle very interesting to read! we also get to see him dealing with his grief and the belief that everyone he’s ever trusted is either dead or has betrayed him, and having to build that trust back up … this is a story in which not much plot happens but it’s all about character exploration and I!! really loved it!!

this book is also like. surprisingly funny …? Tahereh Mafi is rly good at writing dialogue as we all know and I find it made some lines absolutely hysterical. “with all due offense, sire, please fuck off” is gonna be part of my daily vocabulary now, but also the scenes where everyone is talking over each other and saying increasingly ridiculous things and Kamran is just kinda standing there wordlessly? hilarious I could read a whole book of that. Kamran’s newly changed dynamic with Hazan is just to die for also I kinda ship them a bit, but generally this group of people he has somehow involuntarily assembled is just so much fun to watch happen.

also shoutout to Omid who is definitely my son whom I will die for, shoutout to Miss Huda who’s honestly probably my favourite side character in here, she’s just so much fun, and shoutout to Deen who did not sign up for any of this

as an aside though: with the whole thing where Kamran

Spoiler

can’t hear Alizeh’s name now without Big Feelings(™) + his magic mutating + the aversion to gold only having rly started when he met Alizeh + Kamran thinking about Alizeh far more than Alizeh is thinking about Kamran (I’m so sorry my boy her heart is currently occupied)

I am starting to feel like their love may be magical / cursed / not entirely natural in some way. just a thought. since Alizeh is known to have powerful magic that just lays dormant, maybe she unconsciously did something that binds them together …? or it’s another prophecy, who knows! or maybe I’m just coping idk but it feels off somehow—

oh but speaking of Alizeh,

Alizeh’s Side

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OKAY SO
okay so. okay SO Cyrus endgame or we riot
(I jest, I would not riot over a fictional couple.
… probably.)

throughout this whole book I was like oh no I’m on the losing side of a love triangle again because like there’s no way Alizeh & Cyrus are gonna be a thing when Kamran is the other POV character and it’s their whole love story and all BUT YOU CANNOT GIVE ME THESE TWO AND TAKE THEM AWAY. the banter, the hatred turning into reluctant affection, the thin line between trusting Cyrus & being afraid of him, the FLOWER FIELD SCENE?? they are so cute and so intense and full of so much love how does Tahereh Mafi always DO this I swear she is an absolute god at writing romantic & sexual tension. I could quote the whole damn book it’s just line after line of OOF! MY! HEART! god they play off each other so well, they just seem to FIT in a way that Kamran & Alizeh (whom I actually enjoyed in book 1! no dokis but I did enjoy them! Kamran dear I am so sorry!!) just didn’t and their whole relationship is so so SO much more intense

and it is absolutely terrifying because after all of this build-up how are you even gonna bring Kamran back as an actual love interest if not by just straight up killing Cyrus? and my man has a lot of death flags flying over his castle! I’m scared!! pls stop!!

the comparison to Unravel Me is easy to draw but I was actually more so reminded of A Court of Mist and Fury, which also happens to be a favourite of mine (that’s not to say Kamran is like Tamlin, again, love my boy). just. the whole “let me show you this beautiful place I rule over”, the back and forth, the fear and trust and finding where you belong … I adore it so much

BUT! just talking about the ship would be very mean toward the characters individually so Alizeh! I love Alizeh. I already loved her in book 1 but I feel she rly grew into herself here; my girl just wants to be able to goddamn relax and what does she get? all of this nonsense. I feel she’s got a very pure, less mature vibe about her because due to how messed up her life was she hasn’t rly experienced a lot of things other people would (and she is oh so lonely I wanna give her lots of friends), but she also had to grow up so fast and she’s fierce and funny and smart and strong and absolutely willing to fight for herself and she’s gonna be an amazing queen because she has so much compassion but won’t let that compassion blind her (most of the time). wonderful protagonist, we stan. can’t wait to see how she grows and develops as the series goes on!

and then Cyrus, my boy what did you do that’s so bad

Spoiler

the devil tortures you for fun

?? I’m kind of scared to find out honestly. but I also love him! there’s so much depth to him despite us not having seen things from his POV (yet?), it’s clear that his past actions are a lot more complicated than they may first seem and there’s actually so much we don’t know about him yet. he too gives me “fiercely loyal” kind of vibes like he will go absolutely feral if someone hurts the people he loves … I just doubt that’s very many people at this point, considering how even his mother treats him (though his people seem to like him well enough). I very much want his POV also because we just know there are some Thoughts and Feelings going on in there that he can’t show or talk about, but ig with the mystery made around his deal with the devil that would be revealing too much at this point. NOW JUST DON’T DIE! YOU HEAR ME??

… can you tell I love everyone?

etc.

what else do I have to say then … oh of course the writing was magnificent, I absolutely love the lyrical kind of style she’s going for, it’s all very poignant and makes the dialogue shine even brighter. I cannot overstate just how much fun Tahereh Mafi’s dialogue is to read, I know I’ve already said it but I need to say it again. everything has just the right amount of weight, and even I as a Perpetually Tired Aroace whose standards for fictional romance are very high and probably kind of weird can’t get enough of the way she writes her couples. the things they SAY to each other! I know this isn’t a visual medium but (gestures wildly) the way Cyrus looks at Alizeh

then, the world! the only flaw about this book is that it needs a map please I am begging you idk where anything IS, but generally I find it to be pretty light on worldbuilding and y’know what? I am completely fine with this. the magic system is nice and intriguing, the world feels lived in but unobtrusive, and since this series is more about the characters than the plot (it feels like) I think it’s actually the perfect amount of vivid but not overbearing. also I love the nosta as a plot device, the idea of a lie detector that may lead you astray sometimes because some people have different beliefs or there’s more than one truth to what they say I think adds a lot to the story. it doesn’t rely on it to a point of absurdity, making everything too easy and convenient, but instead adds a layer of depth. also I just appreciate sometimes knowing who to trust. my heart needs the break.

and this has nothing to do with the story but the cover is just really pretty. I love the shade of pink they went for, it looks so nice next to the first one, I hope the next book continues the trend! personally I think bronze would be cool.

conclusion

I was not planning on writing a conclusion. but here I am. writing a conclusion.

I’m so incredibly invested in these characters and this world, they make my brain go brrrr and my heart go dokidoki to a degree that few books ever manage, even the ones I absolutely adore. in case it wasn’t obvious yet, I highly, HIGHLY recommend this series and maybe if you were like me and found the first one just Very Neat, you should give the second one a chance once you feel like it and you may love it! I think for me it was also a “right time, right place” type situation—sometimes a book just kinda yells at me until I read it and usually I end up loving those books, and boy did this one yell at me—, but I do genuinely believe it was a huge step up from a first installment that was already good. it’s so easy to get lost in the characters and their world, and I can’t wait to see where this goes in the future! … no seriously I can’t wait, please give me book 3! please! please …?

(masterpieces take time but still.)

ALSO THERE IS DRAGONS!! okay bye

//////////// original review

beautiful. amazing. magnificent. exceptional. I owe Tahereh Mafi my life except for the part where I have to wait for the sequel now. I love Alizeh and Cyrus and Kamran and the utterly ridiculous people he's somehow surrounded himself with and I love this world and the writing and my heart is so full of so many emotions good GOD

mangosorbet's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rheasaarang15's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This series is very bizarre to me so far because the first book covered the events of only two days, and this book covered the events of just a little over 24 hours.

The fact that Alizeh has two men in love with her in this amount of time makes her a girlboss though.

On that note, this book had me SO conflicted.

Introducing a second love interest that I lowkey hated but then was kinda rooting for towards the end

was something I did not enjoy because I have my loyalties! I enjoyed the little group that was formed in Kamran’s POV at the end to go to Tulan though, that had me giggling! Overall was pretty good but I’m so excited for the next since the contents here felt like mostly filler events before the real stuff happens.