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I can't stop thinking about this book. Maybe it's where the ending left us, but I can't help feeling like I just put it down in the middle and haven't finished it up yet, that I need to get back to it.
The book definitely has some faults. Shazi acts like a spoiled brat all the time, and somehow all the men in the book find her to be the most appealing woman they've ever seen. If I were the king I probably would've just killed her. Also, I'd really like to see some other female characters get some air time: other than Shazi and Despina (decidedly a side role), and Yasmine the threateningly beautiful, there wasn't much. Shazi's sister Irsa fell off the map like immediately. Where's Irsa while dear ol' dad is exploring black magic? Doesn't she have any suspicions, anything to say? There's an early scene that made me think there'd be more interplay here, but then Irsa just disappears. Also, why is everyone's mother dead? Can someone please have a mother who is alive, active, and not destroyed by grief? Overall there was a lot of discussion of dead female characters but not a lot of living female characters. I'm hoping this balance will shift in the next book, now that the past has been revealed and we can move the heck on already. The male characters are, overall, decently written. Tariq got on my nerves at first because he's such a Mary Sue, but then Ahdieh reveals that he's really a kid in a lot of ways and can't compete at anywhere near the intrigue level of characters like Khalid and Jalal or even Shazi. I thought this was pretty nicely done.
I'd give this book 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I can't stop thinking about it and can't wait for the next book.
The book definitely has some faults. Shazi acts like a spoiled brat all the time, and somehow all the men in the book find her to be the most appealing woman they've ever seen. If I were the king I probably would've just killed her. Also, I'd really like to see some other female characters get some air time: other than Shazi and Despina (decidedly a side role), and Yasmine the threateningly beautiful, there wasn't much. Shazi's sister Irsa fell off the map like immediately. Where's Irsa while dear ol' dad is exploring black magic? Doesn't she have any suspicions, anything to say? There's an early scene that made me think there'd be more interplay here, but then Irsa just disappears. Also, why is everyone's mother dead? Can someone please have a mother who is alive, active, and not destroyed by grief? Overall there was a lot of discussion of dead female characters but not a lot of living female characters. I'm hoping this balance will shift in the next book, now that the past has been revealed and we can move the heck on already. The male characters are, overall, decently written. Tariq got on my nerves at first because he's such a Mary Sue, but then Ahdieh reveals that he's really a kid in a lot of ways and can't compete at anywhere near the intrigue level of characters like Khalid and Jalal or even Shazi. I thought this was pretty nicely done.
I'd give this book 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because I can't stop thinking about it and can't wait for the next book.
