Reviews

The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

k8so's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I appreciated being pulled into a world I didn't know much about, but I also didn't expect this to be as dark as it was, and I really wasn't in the mood for that. Knowing something terrible was going to happen for 75% of the book was rough.

ashlee_erin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

brookieworm's review against another edition

Boring

jelloflop's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.25

jennifleur's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sarahbryson's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

naimar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

3.5

I was excited to read this book because the back blurb said it was Rebecca-esque, while also being set within a South Asian - South African family. While I found it was a page-turner, it wasn’t super evocative of any strong emotions for me. 

myjourneywithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Fifteen-year-old Sana and her father have just moved into their new place of residence, the once grand Akbar Manzil on the coast of South Africa, now a boardinghouse that is home to a ragtag group of tenants. Unlike the others, who are dismissive of the mysterious aspect of the large house that seems to hold many secrets, Sana is curious to uncover everything it is hiding. This is how she chances upon the locked room that decades ago belonged to the wife of the man who built the house, a room that now houses a djinn who had a strong connection to the woman. Haunted (literally) by her own past, Sana tries to work out what happened to the original inhabitants of the house.

After Sana's discovery of the locked room, the story alternates between the past, when the house was first built, and the present, Sana's time. I was much more invested in the telling of the story from the past and wouldn't even have minded if the whole book had been about that. There was something about the detached narrative style, especially when it came to the present timeline, that kept me from getting as immersed in the book as I would have liked.

I also expected the djinn to have played a much more prominent role in the story, given that its name is splashed out across the title but instead it felt more like a character who was thrown in as an afterthought and the story would have worked just as well without it. The author did nail the atmospheric bit though, with all the descriptions of the house exuding that nice chilling gothic vibe.

mockh2's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

roroem's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0