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joygarcialim's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Imagine being catfished and after having met the catfisher and he’s a 9/10 instead of the 5/10 you were led to believe, and yet you stay on to complete the date because you have been compelled somehow to find out more about him as a person, why would a good-looking person catfish as a less attractive person, but in the first minute he stands up, rips off his face to reveal he was wearing a mask, and he’s actually a 2/10, and you stay still, confused but even more compelled, on the date. That’s the Spice Road in a nutshell. The blurb sounded so good, but it was a hot mess whilst being compelling somehow, if only to see how much outlandish it gets. Kinda like watching a train wreck you can’t turn away from.
Imani, the MC, starts off being extremely bigoted. It made sense for her to be like that along with her backstory, and yet it goes on for a persistently long duration throughout the book without any signs of character growth until page 180+, and by page 366 she’s still bullshit, exploiting people’s trust to serve her own needs. She was extremely brainwashed and even when that started to derail, she seemed kind of self-serving. For instance, she displayed sympathy for someone only because she wanted people to feel empathy if her loved one was in that same situation. It’s interesting to read the book from her inner monologue because she’s untrusting yet naive, believed she was selfless when she was self-serving, and these are themes can be witnessed from everyday people. Mostly though, she was insufferable. The characterisation can be very, very awkward because she some times showed introspection but only when people reacted in a way she didn’t want.
She was very stubbornly ignorant, during the scene of the execution, she was still unaware of why her brother might leave the safety of their nest to fight alongside the rebels. The weird execution scene got even weirder because Imani expected the girl to say her last words whilst being executed, that is, whilst the noose around her neck and she’s suspending in air. It’s certainly odd to say the least, it’s hard to tell if this a deliberate choice by the author but it adds on to Imani’s bigotry so it kind of worked.
None of the characters were likeable, I’m going so far as to say most of the characters are unlikeable. Even if they were on the side of the morally ambitious, they didn’t have many dimensions or layers, and were mostly just annoying. The only character which had any enticement to them was Qayn.
Taha was a whole ‘nother hot mess. There were hints as to why he might hate Imani, but no clues as to why he likes her. It wasn’t clear if he displayed affection to Imani purely out of true affections or if he had other motives, and there was no indications at any point about it either. There didn’t seem to be much chemistry between Taha and Imani, he was nice to her when they weren’t alone for absolutely no reason. It’s not even a bad thing if people are nice to someone for no reason, but it didn’t work in the context of this book. He was an a-hole towards Imani preceding their travels and there were no nuances to show he harboured feelings towards her.
Speaking of nuances, the writing in general was not good. It was so unnuanced, and had a very-in-your-face way about the narrative. There were heavy, heavy themes ie. white colonisation and execution. These very controversial and sensitive topics are thrown in and there would have been no difference in writing “ooh here’s colonisation, it’s white and it makes me feel bad, and I don’t know why!”.
The author will benefit from learning how to string a story which has highs and lows, peaks and dips; basically shading. There were chapters where absolutely nothing happened, and when the pace picked up, it is just full of action. I mean there was something big happening in every single chapter, but relatively speaking, it didn’t seem like it amongst the nest of other chapters. Everything went wrong, something had to go wrong every chapter from where the action picked up. Additionally, there were so many flashback insertions that it minimised the plot.
Examples of bad writing from the book:
“He is hurting deeply and raising defensive walls to stop anyone from touching that open wound.”
“The weary impoverished hunch on the stoops of homes and flagging shops, smoking pipes, handling prayer beads, whiling the day away for lack of a viable alternative.”
“One of her kohl-lined eyes is the colour of wet clay and exudes hard judgment; the other is concealed by a black patch.”
“Curse him, he is a ship that capsized, no matter the gale. But I will try.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism
alyssasaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was such an unusual ride. One minute it was painfully slow, the next thrilling and compelling.
The world is fascinating and dark, and the mysteries around how it became what it is kept me guessing throughout. The magic system is unusual. I love the method of attaining magic through tea!
Ibrahim clearly is a talented writer. When she is on point, her prose is lovely and poignant. She doesn’t overdo the language, steering clear of the flowery descriptors often present in epic fantasy stories. The result for me was an easy-to-read book with lots of passages highlighted.
Where this book excelled was in depicting the horrors of oppression and colonization. It’s clear from the beginning Imani is going to need to go through a paradigm shift to succeed on her journey. She has such deep-seeded trust in the messages she has been told her whole life, that she has no idea how others could have a different perspective. Her starting point in the novel promises huge opportunity for her to grapple with privilege and lack, and what happens when the powerful abuse their position. This is the most realistic and insightful conflict in the book. I’d love for people to read it if only to get a compelling perspective of a character interrogating her own beliefs she once thought irrefutable facts.
Where this book faltered for me was in the character development. The characters are oddly changeable…they seem to have a basic defined identity, but the book rushes them through conflict and all the ensuing emotions at an unnatural pace. The result was characters I liked most of the time behaving in completely confusing and nonsensical ways for their circumstances and who they seemed to be. And once you step away from the main cast of travelers, the supporting characters start to feel somewhat thin and left me wanting…Farida in particular felt like a thin copy of an archetype I’ve seen time and again in stories.
I think I will likely read the next one. I hope that the character development and behavior improves as Ibrahim continues to write, because she really has created a vibrant cast of characters. I would like to see them grow and continue on their adventures.
The world is fascinating and dark, and the mysteries around how it became what it is kept me guessing throughout. The magic system is unusual. I love the method of attaining magic through tea!
Ibrahim clearly is a talented writer. When she is on point, her prose is lovely and poignant. She doesn’t overdo the language, steering clear of the flowery descriptors often present in epic fantasy stories. The result for me was an easy-to-read book with lots of passages highlighted.
Where this book excelled was in depicting the horrors of oppression and colonization. It’s clear from the beginning Imani is going to need to go through a paradigm shift to succeed on her journey. She has such deep-seeded trust in the messages she has been told her whole life, that she has no idea how others could have a different perspective. Her starting point in the novel promises huge opportunity for her to grapple with privilege and lack, and what happens when the powerful abuse their position. This is the most realistic and insightful conflict in the book. I’d love for people to read it if only to get a compelling perspective of a character interrogating her own beliefs she once thought irrefutable facts.
Where this book faltered for me was in the character development. The characters are oddly changeable…they seem to have a basic defined identity, but the book rushes them through conflict and all the ensuing emotions at an unnatural pace. The result was characters I liked most of the time behaving in completely confusing and nonsensical ways for their circumstances and who they seemed to be. And once you step away from the main cast of travelers, the supporting characters start to feel somewhat thin and left me wanting…Farida in particular felt like a thin copy of an archetype I’ve seen time and again in stories.
I think I will likely read the next one. I hope that the character development and behavior improves as Ibrahim continues to write, because she really has created a vibrant cast of characters. I would like to see them grow and continue on their adventures.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism