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A review by anna4
Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
adventurous
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Well..I'm glad it's over tbh.
It started off well (as in: the first 2 or 3 chapters were actually good) with a promising setting, but then it went quickly downhill for me and unfortunately, after almost 500 pages, the book didn't really recover from that.
I wasn't really sure if I am slowly but surely outgrowing YA and maybe that's why the characters didn't work for me, but I do think the characters were actually that annoying. Mainly the main character, that is.
Imani was really..exhausting. Considering her status in her home city and having earned the name "Djinni Slayer", it's really mind blowing how naive and incredibly stubborn she is.
I feel like every conversation she was having with someone was basically a fight. Her relationship with her sister (Amira) was a back and forth of heartfelt conversations and fighting over their missing brother or Amira's behaviour.
Similar situation with Imari and Taha. Don't know which one was actually more annoying.
Do Imani & Taha like each other ? Do they hate each other ? I wouldn't know. One chapter they were cute to each other, then they had a fight. Another chapter they kissed, then one did a 180 and tried to kill the other. All of this paired with repetitive monologues of "I feel he likes me? Do I like him? No it's Taha after all, he's the bad one here".
I'm also not sure why we were introduced to Qayn, because, as interesting he maybe is, he was barely there. I guess it's for the inevitable love triangle, which..no thank you.
The book was also at least 50pages too long. I don't think all those words were necessary.
Will not be continuing the series.
It started off well (as in: the first 2 or 3 chapters were actually good) with a promising setting, but then it went quickly downhill for me and unfortunately, after almost 500 pages, the book didn't really recover from that.
I wasn't really sure if I am slowly but surely outgrowing YA and maybe that's why the characters didn't work for me, but I do think the characters were actually that annoying. Mainly the main character, that is.
Imani was really..exhausting. Considering her status in her home city and having earned the name "Djinni Slayer", it's really mind blowing how naive and incredibly stubborn she is.
I feel like every conversation she was having with someone was basically a fight. Her relationship with her sister (Amira) was a back and forth of heartfelt conversations and fighting over their missing brother or Amira's behaviour.
Similar situation with Imari and Taha. Don't know which one was actually more annoying.
Do Imani & Taha like each other ? Do they hate each other ? I wouldn't know. One chapter they were cute to each other, then they had a fight. Another chapter they kissed, then one did a 180 and tried to kill the other. All of this paired with repetitive monologues of "I feel he likes me? Do I like him? No it's Taha after all, he's the bad one here".
I'm also not sure why we were introduced to Qayn, because, as interesting he maybe is, he was barely there. I guess it's for the inevitable love triangle, which..no thank you.
The book was also at least 50pages too long. I don't think all those words were necessary.
Will not be continuing the series.