A review by gabalodon
The Bloodprint: Book One of the Khorasan Archives by Ausma Zehanat Khan

2.0

Dnf at a little over 50%. There were some aspects to this that had a lot of promise but something about the execution just didn't deliver on that promise. The characters seemed very one-dimensional and it was really hard to connect with or care about any of them. Their personalities and motives were either lacking or reductive or inscrutable. Sometimes it is unclear where they fit into the larger society (is Daniyar a bartender or an esteemed wandering mage beyond reproach?). One of the big dichotomies was men vs women (which already doesn't leave a lot of room for exploring gender), and all the men were pretty much universally terrible (even the ones we're supposed to like are very uncomfortably possessive and entitled) while all the main women are supposed to be strong, which is then undermined by plot developments that require rescue from or collaboration with a man. A lot of imagination was put into world-building (geography, names, language, magic) but those aspects aren't fully or smoothly introduced or explained. For example, the Claim is supposedly this amazing power that enables Arian and Sinnia to take down slave chains, but after the opening sequence that power seems extremely limited in its application. A lot of places are introduced as "only legends" but for all that they seem to be known or easily discovered by a lot of people. It is unclear what the history is, who all the major political players are, what they all think of each other, and what their goals may be.

Overall very imaginative, but something connecting that imagination to the reader was missing for me.