supercheesegirl

This was really fun to read, but I felt like the ending wasn't thought through well enough. Everyone in the entire country hates Khalid, including the army that was recruited specifically to depose him, and yet they all band together to help him defeat his uncle? Just because Tariq said so? I mean, we literally see the army guys bantering about how they'd like to murder Khalid, and then at the end we're all one big happy family. How did that issue of an entire country being ruled by a murdering despot get resolved, exactly? Oh, because Shahrzad said, that's right. Also, the Despina bit felt forced (although I never really bought the Despina/Jalal love story anyway). Finally, the ending with Shahrzad's father... it might have worked well if the book had been written by someone else. As it was, he didn't feel like a real character to me, we kept getting bludgeoned about by his MOTIVES every time he had a POV chapter. Also, I wanted more out of Shahrzad's magic, which seemed good for exactly two things: convenient transportation and convenient escape. Three stars anyway, though.