A review by maim_mona
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

dark hopeful informative mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

The beginning of the book was a little miserable, her writing is so smooth and well paced you don't realise when you get sucked in, my first war novel as such, barrings things like hunger games cause the arena is still rather artificial in some sense. Kenan is every green flag in the book, rightfully the unconventional hero and salama being the heroine that well and truly takes the centre stage.
when I say finding out Layla was a hallucination, did me in, bro the rug was pulled out from right under my feet quite literally. I was in near tears; didn't think I'd miss khawf in the end but the author managed to do that as well. <spoiler/> my blood pressure was consistently fluctuating and oh my was my anxiety through the roof, there's this deep dread that the author builds up from the very first page and what a wonderful climax it has. Burned through the book and look forward to more writing from her cause buy can she wrote angst. Even in the midst of this chaos, my heart fluttered and soared and beat for salama and Kenan.
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