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A review by vicktorea
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
city of brass meets cinderella(ish) vibes!!!
ok I really enjoyed this!
Here’s what I loved:
- The writing; it was lush, the imagery was vivid and the plot was adventurous! I never could quite put my finger on what would happen next!
- The characters! Alizheh (our FMC) is smart, resourceful and a badass fighter when she needs to be! Moody, broody, melancholy Kamran (our MMC) oozed angst and tension and I’m still wondering what’s up with two other characters (who shall remain nameless as I don’t want to add any spoilers)!
- the Persian Lore/Mythology; I loved this! This was what reminded me of City of Brass and it lent such an interesting spin on the plot and magic system! There also seemed to be some elements of Cinderella in this and I loved that incorporation!
My criticisms:
-the magic system. I actually liked it, but I didn’t quite understand it; however, I think this is because the character (that we know of) with magic, Alizheh, didn’t quite understand how her magic worked and I hope as the story continues and Alizheh discovers more about herself, the reader will too.
-the romance / pacing. I’m grouping these together because, at times, both felt a little disjointed. The beginning of the book did start out slow and it picked up towards the second half of the book, as expected with most books. But the development and pacing of the romance itself coincided with this. Alizheh and Kamran had met once and afterwards the reader gets his reaction to her, but not so much her reaction to him. By the time they meet again, we know he’s into her but we don’t know what she makes of him so her strong reaction to him during that second meeting felt like it came out of nowhere. Then by the their third meeting, it felt like those feelings just…fizzled? We don’t hear her dialogue of how drawn she is to him like we did during their second meeting and that kind of threw me off - I expected a stronger reaction from her.
These criticisms didn’t take away from the story, I just wish they’d been more fleshed out, but this is a trilogy, so I’m hoping (expecting) we’ll get more in the next book…..
especially bc WHAT TF WAS THAT ENDING???!! 😭 and whose team am i on???? I think I might actually like—you know what lemme not say anything except I need book two asap and I’m so glad I took the plunge and ordered that Bookish Box special edition!
Big thank you to HarperCollins for the ARC!
ok I really enjoyed this!
Here’s what I loved:
- The writing; it was lush, the imagery was vivid and the plot was adventurous! I never could quite put my finger on what would happen next!
- The characters! Alizheh (our FMC) is smart, resourceful and a badass fighter when she needs to be! Moody, broody, melancholy Kamran (our MMC) oozed angst and tension and I’m still wondering what’s up with two other characters (who shall remain nameless as I don’t want to add any spoilers)!
- the Persian Lore/Mythology; I loved this! This was what reminded me of City of Brass and it lent such an interesting spin on the plot and magic system! There also seemed to be some elements of Cinderella in this and I loved that incorporation!
My criticisms:
-the magic system. I actually liked it, but I didn’t quite understand it; however, I think this is because the character (that we know of) with magic, Alizheh, didn’t quite understand how her magic worked and I hope as the story continues and Alizheh discovers more about herself, the reader will too.
-the romance / pacing. I’m grouping these together because, at times, both felt a little disjointed. The beginning of the book did start out slow and it picked up towards the second half of the book, as expected with most books. But the development and pacing of the romance itself coincided with this. Alizheh and Kamran had met once and afterwards the reader gets his reaction to her, but not so much her reaction to him. By the time they meet again, we know he’s into her but we don’t know what she makes of him so her strong reaction to him during that second meeting felt like it came out of nowhere. Then by the their third meeting, it felt like those feelings just…fizzled? We don’t hear her dialogue of how drawn she is to him like we did during their second meeting and that kind of threw me off - I expected a stronger reaction from her.
These criticisms didn’t take away from the story, I just wish they’d been more fleshed out, but this is a trilogy, so I’m hoping (expecting) we’ll get more in the next book…..
especially bc WHAT TF WAS THAT ENDING???!! 😭 and whose team am i on???? I think I might actually like—you know what lemme not say anything except I need book two asap and I’m so glad I took the plunge and ordered that Bookish Box special edition!
Big thank you to HarperCollins for the ARC!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, and Slavery
Minor: Death of parent