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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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
I'm kind of conflicted but I did like it more than I thought I would, and it was pretty good for a debut.
Mirage begins on a lowly farming planet that is controlled by a brutal empire. Amani is a girl who dreams of a world before the occupation, of poetry, and living a life free and filled with adventure. When adventure finally finds her, it is in the way of being kidnapped by the regime and taken to the royal palace. It turns out Amani is a perfect match for the cruel Princess Maram. Here she will have to learn to take Maram's place during functions that are deemed too dangerous for the Imperial Heir. As Amani is forced into her new role, she can't help but enjoy the finer palace life, and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. If Amani ever wants to get out of this alive, she'll have to play the princess perfectly and one wrong move is her death.
Something about this book was really hard to get into, and then halfway through I was just tired of it and I wanted to be done. The world was well described and created but it felt like it just kept going on, and the book isn't really that long. It's Amani going from one event to another and that's it.
My favorite part was the friendship between Amani and Maram. It was a complicated relationship full of distrust at the beginning which slowly turned into something stronger. Unfortunately it was quickly overshadowed by a romance that I wasn't into at all. (Would it have been weird to have romance between them? They for sure had more chemistry.)
All in all, it was a fair read.
Mirage begins on a lowly farming planet that is controlled by a brutal empire. Amani is a girl who dreams of a world before the occupation, of poetry, and living a life free and filled with adventure. When adventure finally finds her, it is in the way of being kidnapped by the regime and taken to the royal palace. It turns out Amani is a perfect match for the cruel Princess Maram. Here she will have to learn to take Maram's place during functions that are deemed too dangerous for the Imperial Heir. As Amani is forced into her new role, she can't help but enjoy the finer palace life, and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. If Amani ever wants to get out of this alive, she'll have to play the princess perfectly and one wrong move is her death.
"You are not defined by the men in your life, no matter how powerful. You lived before them and you shall live after them. You can't let them determine your path."For the sci-fi part of this book, ehhhh it's through and through a YA fantasy. The sci-fi is very light and as a fan of sci-fi (and less on fantasy these days) I was disappointed. I'm glad I knew what I was getting into beforehand at least. That said, the mix of the rich culture and religion in a somewhat space setting was a really interesting mashup and was pretty interesting to read.
Something about this book was really hard to get into, and then halfway through I was just tired of it and I wanted to be done. The world was well described and created but it felt like it just kept going on, and the book isn't really that long. It's Amani going from one event to another and that's it.
My favorite part was the friendship between Amani and Maram. It was a complicated relationship full of distrust at the beginning which slowly turned into something stronger. Unfortunately it was quickly overshadowed by a romance that I wasn't into at all. (Would it have been weird to have romance between them? They for sure had more chemistry.)
All in all, it was a fair read.
(First of all, I need to apologize for my poor writing. English isn’t my first language, and I hope you won't cringe too much at my errors.)
Mirage really is a great book. I felt fully immersed in the world while I was reading. I feel like the strength of the novel doesn’t come much from the story itself, but is more due to the way Somaiya Daud fleshed out her world and characters.
The world
The world-building is incredible. The descriptions of the settings are rich and detailed. The reader is guided into a sci-fi world, inspired by moroccan culture. We get to see beautiful buildings, dresses and motives, all really well described.
But what I loved the most about the world-building is that the author didn’t stick with detailing the decor. She did an incredible job with putting a whole culture into shape, from its traditions to its mythology, faith and poetry, all inspired from moroccan culture. I really liked the fact that faith was such an important part of the story, strenghtening and accompanying the heroine as she followed her path (or, as she created her own path from sheer dust and bright hope). I also loved the fact that the author included poetry in the novel. It adds a lot of complexity and believability to the Kushaila culture.
My only complaint would be that the Vathek seemed a little unidimensional. I can understand it, given that we only get to see the most powerful and merciless of them, but I would like to learn more about their culture too. I can’t believe that every one of them is awful and cold, and I hope that we will learn more about their own history in the next book. It would also be really interesting to get to see how the Vathek people are made into believing their regime is doing the right thing by conquering other territories for their resources, which sadly doesn't happen in fiction only. I feel like it would make the villains more interesting if we could understand why they act that way, and how they have been raised, so that they wouldn't appear to us as heartless aliens, with no other trait than being evil.
The characters
Amani is a strong main character, well developed. She is ready to fight for what she believes in, and never loses hope. She won't let anyone defines who she is, even though the Vathek try to shape her into another person. I enjoyed the fact that she isn't blinded by her desire for revenge neither. She does what she thinks is the right thing, without being caged by one loyalty over another. I also love Amani's feminism and social intelligence (though she seems sometimes a little too clever to feel real). Her kindness of heart leads her to trust others easily, which I can be dangerous in her situation.
Maram is an interesting character. She feels rejected by both side of her family, doesn't think she can belong anywhere. She is a good demonstration of the way one can accomplish horrible things without being intrinsically evil. She feels weak but is forced to look strong. She doesn't know who she is, who she can trust. She's constantly walking on a rope, and can change her mind easily, switching from one emotion to another in seconds.
It felt a little harder to connect with Idris. I think that it would have been easier to like him if his romance with Amani was more slow-burning, if they got to really know each other before losing their mind in each other's presence. I felt like Idris lacked some depth.
The relationships
The most interesting relationship was the one between Amani and Maram. I love how they complement perfectly each other. Amanis hope, determination and assurance helping Maram to be more confident and trusting, while Maram's maturity, power and objectiveness help Amani understand better the complexity of the situation. Their relation developed slowly, which lets us see how they evolve, constantly resetting their points of view.
Amani's insta-love for Idris fell flat in comparison. The two characters didn't take the time to know each other before being deeply attracted to each other. I think that the thing that bothered me the most with the romance was the way it made Amani look helpless at first. It didn't feel right coming from such an independent character.
What I also loved in this novel is the family dynamics it showed. Characters like Idris and Amani have really strong bonds with their family. It helps them going on even when life strikes them hard. Even Maram considers family as an ideal. One of the main reasons she has closed herself to the world is the fact that she is sure no family could ever want her.
The plot
Given that this is a character-driven story, the plot is mostly linked with the complexity of relationships between characters, as well as their evolution throughout the novel. I feel like the plot itself is quite simple,. It made her characters and story feel far more realistic, far more human.
Conclusion
All in all, I had a great time reading this novel and felt completely immersed in the universe Somaiya Daud shaped. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.
Mirage really is a great book. I felt fully immersed in the world while I was reading. I feel like the strength of the novel doesn’t come much from the story itself, but is more due to the way Somaiya Daud fleshed out her world and characters.
The world
The world-building is incredible. The descriptions of the settings are rich and detailed. The reader is guided into a sci-fi world, inspired by moroccan culture. We get to see beautiful buildings, dresses and motives, all really well described.
But what I loved the most about the world-building is that the author didn’t stick with detailing the decor. She did an incredible job with putting a whole culture into shape, from its traditions to its mythology, faith and poetry, all inspired from moroccan culture. I really liked the fact that faith was such an important part of the story, strenghtening and accompanying the heroine as she followed her path (or, as she created her own path from sheer dust and bright hope). I also loved the fact that the author included poetry in the novel. It adds a lot of complexity and believability to the Kushaila culture.
My only complaint would be that the Vathek seemed a little unidimensional. I can understand it, given that we only get to see the most powerful and merciless of them, but I would like to learn more about their culture too. I can’t believe that every one of them is awful and cold, and I hope that we will learn more about their own history in the next book. It would also be really interesting to get to see how the Vathek people are made into believing their regime is doing the right thing by conquering other territories for their resources, which sadly doesn't happen in fiction only. I feel like it would make the villains more interesting if we could understand why they act that way, and how they have been raised, so that they wouldn't appear to us as heartless aliens, with no other trait than being evil.
The characters
Amani is a strong main character, well developed. She is ready to fight for what she believes in, and never loses hope. She won't let anyone defines who she is, even though the Vathek try to shape her into another person. I enjoyed the fact that she isn't blinded by her desire for revenge neither. She does what she thinks is the right thing, without being caged by one loyalty over another. I also love Amani's feminism and social intelligence (though she seems sometimes a little too clever to feel real). Her kindness of heart leads her to trust others easily, which I can be dangerous in her situation.
Maram is an interesting character. She feels rejected by both side of her family, doesn't think she can belong anywhere. She is a good demonstration of the way one can accomplish horrible things without being intrinsically evil. She feels weak but is forced to look strong. She doesn't know who she is, who she can trust. She's constantly walking on a rope, and can change her mind easily, switching from one emotion to another in seconds.
It felt a little harder to connect with Idris. I think that it would have been easier to like him if his romance with Amani was more slow-burning, if they got to really know each other before losing their mind in each other's presence. I felt like Idris lacked some depth.
The relationships
The most interesting relationship was the one between Amani and Maram. I love how they complement perfectly each other. Amanis hope, determination and assurance helping Maram to be more confident and trusting, while Maram's maturity, power and objectiveness help Amani understand better the complexity of the situation. Their relation developed slowly, which lets us see how they evolve, constantly resetting their points of view.
Amani's insta-love for Idris fell flat in comparison. The two characters didn't take the time to know each other before being deeply attracted to each other. I think that the thing that bothered me the most with the romance was the way it made Amani look helpless at first. It didn't feel right coming from such an independent character.
What I also loved in this novel is the family dynamics it showed. Characters like Idris and Amani have really strong bonds with their family. It helps them going on even when life strikes them hard. Even Maram considers family as an ideal. One of the main reasons she has closed herself to the world is the fact that she is sure no family could ever want her.
The plot
Given that this is a character-driven story, the plot is mostly linked with the complexity of relationships between characters, as well as their evolution throughout the novel. I feel like the plot itself is quite simple,
Spoiler
but I enjoy the fact that the author didn't force reversals of the situation just for the sake of itConclusion
All in all, I had a great time reading this novel and felt completely immersed in the universe Somaiya Daud shaped. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.
This was a good debut novel, and what surprised me the most about it was how much I ended up enjoying the overall trajectory of the story. I suspect that Daud has crafted a duology with the second follow up being "The Court of Lions". This was an interesting YA novel in that it wasn't a fantasy novel, rather was akin to the the soft science fiction setting that Herbert created for his wildly successful Dune franchise. Daud, who created an #OwnVoices Sci-Fi novel, draws upon her Moroccan and Amazigh heritage to craft a novel that is rich with her heritage set in space, and asks the touch questions of colonialism, indigenous rights, the use of resources, biracial identities, and other intersectional issues that is coupled with some of the more classic tropes in YA fantasy and science fiction.
The story of Mirage follows 18 year old Amani just as she comes of age, and is immediately taken hostage by the Vathek Empire, because she is the body double of the crown princess Maram, and she has been conscripted to become her body double. As Amani becomes further ensnared in the palace and learning more about Maram and her fiance Idris, Amani begins to realize that life in the palace, though clear in the brutal affects that the Vathek have on the crown princess and their conquered territory, she also learns that colonialism and imperialisms truly disenfranchise both the oppressor and the oppressed because of the power imbalance that is created.
While it was a strong debut, I did have some serious concerns about the book. First, even with the first person narrative of Amani, there were moments, especially when a chapter or part was ending where I felt that Daud and Amani became detached from the narrative. The focus shifted more to how Amani was processing her feelings towards either Idris or Maram that it took away from the action that was occurring in the novel. Second, I did not appreciate the lack of temporal markers in the narrative. Whether first person or third person, I really do appreciate it when authors give the reader some clear indication on how much time has passed between events or chapters. There were key moments where I felt that, especially with such a short book, that the time elapsing should have been quantified, especially for the reader to know. Third, while we know that the Vathek are to be viewed in this negative light, I felt that a lot of times Daud focused on the indigenous tension that came from the Kushaila people against Maram/Amani, and the only Vathek animosity came from the half sister of the princess and at the council meeting. We don't really see any direct manifestation that keys in to how Maram feels about her Vathek family, and I think Daud could have used those moments had they been in the novel to really juxtapose how the Vatheki really do isolate Maram because of her biracial identity. Finally, while the book is soft science fiction, the sci-fi aspect really came from the limited travel between the planet and its moon, the droids used, and the brief mention of AI. While I wouldn't say that its afro-futurism like we come to see from Marvel and Wakanda, I do wish that Daud had leaned more into that aspect of the novel, infusing more of the traditional Moroccoan/Amazigh/Andalus designs and ethos into the technology operating in the world.
Despite its flaws, "Mirage" is a powerful debut from Daud, and I can't wait to read the next part in the series, and to also see what she has in store for future stories.
The story of Mirage follows 18 year old Amani just as she comes of age, and is immediately taken hostage by the Vathek Empire, because she is the body double of the crown princess Maram, and she has been conscripted to become her body double. As Amani becomes further ensnared in the palace and learning more about Maram and her fiance Idris, Amani begins to realize that life in the palace, though clear in the brutal affects that the Vathek have on the crown princess and their conquered territory, she also learns that colonialism and imperialisms truly disenfranchise both the oppressor and the oppressed because of the power imbalance that is created.
While it was a strong debut, I did have some serious concerns about the book. First, even with the first person narrative of Amani, there were moments, especially when a chapter or part was ending where I felt that Daud and Amani became detached from the narrative. The focus shifted more to how Amani was processing her feelings towards either Idris or Maram that it took away from the action that was occurring in the novel. Second, I did not appreciate the lack of temporal markers in the narrative. Whether first person or third person, I really do appreciate it when authors give the reader some clear indication on how much time has passed between events or chapters. There were key moments where I felt that, especially with such a short book, that the time elapsing should have been quantified, especially for the reader to know. Third, while we know that the Vathek are to be viewed in this negative light, I felt that a lot of times Daud focused on the indigenous tension that came from the Kushaila people against Maram/Amani, and the only Vathek animosity came from the half sister of the princess and at the council meeting. We don't really see any direct manifestation that keys in to how Maram feels about her Vathek family, and I think Daud could have used those moments had they been in the novel to really juxtapose how the Vatheki really do isolate Maram because of her biracial identity. Finally, while the book is soft science fiction, the sci-fi aspect really came from the limited travel between the planet and its moon, the droids used, and the brief mention of AI. While I wouldn't say that its afro-futurism like we come to see from Marvel and Wakanda, I do wish that Daud had leaned more into that aspect of the novel, infusing more of the traditional Moroccoan/Amazigh/Andalus designs and ethos into the technology operating in the world.
Despite its flaws, "Mirage" is a powerful debut from Daud, and I can't wait to read the next part in the series, and to also see what she has in store for future stories.
adventurous
emotional
medium-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
I love the rich cultural history that author Somaiya Daud pours into this YA sci-fi debut, much of it drawn from her own Moroccan heritage. She has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the politics of occupation and resistance, and although the plot of a commoner forced to become the princess's body double can be rather slow, it plays well to those inherent tensions. (I'm still confused as to how the girls so resemble each other if one's father is a colonizer from another planet, but you sort of have to suspend your disbelief about doppelgängers going into a Prince and the Pauper / Prisoner of Zenda story like this.)
I would have liked more of a dramatic climax to this first volume of the planned trilogy, and greater interaction among a few key characters, but it's a solid foundation for the sequels to follow. The #ownvoices worldbuilding and dark-skinned, primarily-female cast add to the novel's distinctiveness, and while the male love interest feels somewhat perfunctory so far, the strengths elsewhere in the book lead me to hope he will improve as the series goes on.
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I would have liked more of a dramatic climax to this first volume of the planned trilogy, and greater interaction among a few key characters, but it's a solid foundation for the sequels to follow. The #ownvoices worldbuilding and dark-skinned, primarily-female cast add to the novel's distinctiveness, and while the male love interest feels somewhat perfunctory so far, the strengths elsewhere in the book lead me to hope he will improve as the series goes on.
--Subscribe at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke to support these reviews and weigh in on what I read next!--
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter
6.86 on CAWPILE | three stars.
(this is a spoiler-free review)
i don’t usually love science-fiction novels so i was a bit hesitant to pick this up. i’m glad i eventually did. it surprised me, and in a good way.
this is a well-crafted story (especially world-building wise) about colonialism. it has lovable characters, beautiful writing, and clever ideas. the story did take a bit to pick up, but when it did, i was fully immersed.
at first, maram and amani felt almost interchangeable to me and i was contemplating dnfing this, but after reading a few more chapters, i began to understand these characters better. their personalities slowly developed and consequently i began to care for them, especially for amani. i think the author did a wonderful job at crafting these characters and making them feel real and authentic.
at times, i felt like the plot wasn’t given enough space to breathe in. i do think that this story needed more time (and pages) to develop. the beginning was really slow, whereas the last few chapters were too fast-paced for my liking. they felt rushed compared to the rest of the novel.
overall, i consider this to be a really strong debut. i am excited to read the sequel. i hope the second book will be able to delve a little deeper into the backstory of these characters while also not losing sight of its main plot. we’ll see.
content warnings: blood, body horror, confinement, death, genocide, grief, gun violence, kidnapping (main plot point), physical abuse, torture (main character + loved ones), violence.
——————————————————
rtc !!
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slow start but things are finally getting interesting!! i think this might be my first science fiction novel? wait, i have read 1984 by orwell but that doesn’t count jsjsjs. anyways, i usually i am not drawn to dystopian settings so we’ll see if i end up liking this! i really hope i do because everyone on goodreads has been speaking so highly of this ya novel.. we’ll see how it goes though c:
(this is a spoiler-free review)
i don’t usually love science-fiction novels so i was a bit hesitant to pick this up. i’m glad i eventually did. it surprised me, and in a good way.
this is a well-crafted story (especially world-building wise) about colonialism. it has lovable characters, beautiful writing, and clever ideas. the story did take a bit to pick up, but when it did, i was fully immersed.
at first, maram and amani felt almost interchangeable to me and i was contemplating dnfing this, but after reading a few more chapters, i began to understand these characters better. their personalities slowly developed and consequently i began to care for them, especially for amani. i think the author did a wonderful job at crafting these characters and making them feel real and authentic.
at times, i felt like the plot wasn’t given enough space to breathe in. i do think that this story needed more time (and pages) to develop. the beginning was really slow, whereas the last few chapters were too fast-paced for my liking. they felt rushed compared to the rest of the novel.
overall, i consider this to be a really strong debut. i am excited to read the sequel. i hope the second book will be able to delve a little deeper into the backstory of these characters while also not losing sight of its main plot. we’ll see.
content warnings: blood, body horror, confinement, death, genocide, grief, gun violence, kidnapping (main plot point), physical abuse, torture (main character + loved ones), violence.
——————————————————
rtc !!
——————————————————
slow start but things are finally getting interesting!! i think this might be my first science fiction novel? wait, i have read 1984 by orwell but that doesn’t count jsjsjs. anyways, i usually i am not drawn to dystopian settings so we’ll see if i end up liking this! i really hope i do because everyone on goodreads has been speaking so highly of this ya novel.. we’ll see how it goes though c:
I read 71% of this book 2yrs ago and tbh I don’t remember why I left it midway.
Today I started reading from where I left off and finished it in one sitting.
Can’t say much about the first 2/3 of the book but I really enjoyed the last 1/3 and loved the romance!!
Today I started reading from where I left off and finished it in one sitting.
Can’t say much about the first 2/3 of the book but I really enjoyed the last 1/3 and loved the romance!!