Reviews with content warning for Violence - Spice Road

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

31 reviews

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm reviewing this about five months after I read it and unfortunately, not much memorable about this really stuck out, so I'm basing this off of notes that I took back then. The MC's search for her brother is what drew me in because I love a good sibling-related plot especially if there's danger involved or a case of finding the sibling and hoping they're not dead. The setting is very unique and I loved the Arabian inspiration. Qayn was an interesting character but besides that, nothing else appealed to me. The FMC and her love interest were severely lacking in chemistry and I was just not invested in their stories and development. A lot of parts in the book seemed to just drag and there was very little I can remember as far as scenes go that I thought were impactful. I will probably not be picking up the sequel.

Content Warnings

renettereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

This is a book that really pleasantly surprised me recently. This was a damaged copy that my friend gifted me when she received a replacement and so I didn’t go into it knowing much about the plot or with any expectations.

We follow Imani in an Arabian-inspired setting where she, as a Shield of Qalia, uses her magic to protect her people against monsters. When she learns her brother, who she thought dead, might still be alive, she embarks on a journey with a rival Shield and a hidden (and forbidden) Djinn.

I loved the magic system in this – I thought the tea magic was not only unique but fit beautifully in this setting. I also loved the journey element of this book and this seemingly endless quest to track down the ghost of her brother. But what I really loved was how this tackled colonialism and racism in a heartfelt and interesting way.

Seen entirely through Imani’s POV, it was heartwarming to see her growth. Going from a very ‘us against them’ mindset where she thought only her people were worth protecting, to genuinely being moved by the plight of “the outsiders” was touching and I liked how she could admit that she was in the wrong.

Though some of the internal dialogue became a little repetitive, there were plenty of things I loved about this.

Content Warnings

honuzbubbles's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

katrinaschaffede's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.0

I found it an extremely good read at the beginning but, as I went along, the story became more and more drawn out. I was relieved to finish it.

Content Warnings

joygarcialim's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

kirstenf's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

shannnne_reads_words's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Maiya Ibrahim's Spice Road - the first in a trilogy - is a novel that for me, worked best in its last 200 pages or so.

I don't mean to say in this that the rest of it was bad, as it wasn't. Spice Road is a book that I am still trying to work out my feelings for. It took a long time for me to read it - over a month - and that may have had something to do with it.

I can appreciate Ibrahim's intent here, and for what I believe is a debut author, I think - objectively - that she has done some very accomplished work here. The worldbuilding and magic system was reasonably crafted and was well-communicated to the reader. The characters were well-drawn and developed, particularly Imani (our MC), Taha and Qayn. I puzzled over the motives of the latter two of these characters constantly, which I suspect was Ibrahim's intention. The action scenes were fast-paced and contrasted well with the quieter moments between.

Maybe the problem was despite the quality of the worldbuilding, fantasy elements, pacing and characters, I couldn't get into it enough, in a way that I'm really having trouble describing here. I did fly through the last 200 pages because it was compellingly written and really well-paced. But even then, I couldn't really warm up to it.

The ending of the book left me with enough potential to make me consider continuing the series when the next book is released, but I haven't decided yet.

Objectively, Spice Road is a good book. Emotionally, I'm not entirely sure.

Content Warnings

marleywrites's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ibrahim blew me away with this book. I went in thinking it would be a book I enjoyed, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. The prose was beautiful and unique, and I loooved the pacing of the story. Every fight and chase scene was well choreographed and epic. I felt like I was racing through the streets with Imani. I swear I could feel the wind on my face.

I see reviews saying the love triangle is boring, but I find it interesting. It’s not crucial to the plot at this point, but I can tell it’s getting set up to be important. I like seeing the relationships fall into place.

There were a few heartbreaking moments that really drove home the severity of the situation, and I felt my heart break with Imani’s. And at the same time, her joy was my joy.

And every kiss with Taha was so emotional. I felt that!

If you are squeamish, there are a few gross scenes. There’s an animal death, human deaths, and description of dead bodies. They are impactful scenes, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

I’m excited to get to know Atheer and Qayn more in the sequels. I think Amira will turn out to be incredibly important as well, as she was quite clever and helpful in this book. I’m also curious to learn more about Taha’s relationship with his father. I’m curious about their auntie as well.

I’m wondering what the future of this series will be, but I have a feeling it will be awesome and epic. I look forward to the sequel of this trilogy.

Content Warnings

mezzythedragon's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

Solid debut. I like how colonialism gets addressed here. Would be interested to read at least the second book.

As much as I love the enemies-to-lovers/rivals-to-lovers trope, and despite some moments between them, not sure if I should root for Imani and Taha. Can’t trust someone who acts one way when they’re alone with their love interest but then is the complete opposite when other people are around.

Content Warnings

More...