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posthumusly's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the premise was so interesting, but I had so much trouble getting into the book. It just did not capture my imagination and I kept putting it down because I was bored.
meghan_e's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written. So good I want to tell everyone about it, BUT ALSO so good I want to keep it a secret so I can give it to a ton of people as Christmas gifts in a couple months.
This is not my preferred genre, but I loved this book.
One thing I wished I'd paid more attention to while reading: there's a glossary (as well as a cast of characters) at the end of the book. There were a bunch of words I just absorbed through context, and wish I'd known more concretely. The map at the beginning was very useful.
Can't wait for the next in the series.
~~~
Read again to (FINALLY!!!) read the next book, which I got as an ARC. This time I listened to the audiobook, which is VERY well done. Still highly recommend this book, especially for people trying to figure out what to read after The Broken Earth trilogy or Children of Blood and Bone.
This is not my preferred genre, but I loved this book.
One thing I wished I'd paid more attention to while reading: there's a glossary (as well as a cast of characters) at the end of the book. There were a bunch of words I just absorbed through context, and wish I'd known more concretely. The map at the beginning was very useful.
Can't wait for the next in the series.
~~~
Read again to (FINALLY!!!) read the next book, which I got as an ARC. This time I listened to the audiobook, which is VERY well done. Still highly recommend this book, especially for people trying to figure out what to read after The Broken Earth trilogy or Children of Blood and Bone.
ccallan's review against another edition
4.0
I heard Ms. Khan speak on a Jaipur Literature Festival event last year (one benefit of the otherwise awful pandemic is that we can get access to people across the planet if we pay a bit of attention), and was inspired by her vision of what fantasy literature can be. So I put this book on my list, where then it sank in among the many other books there, waiting for the day when I could get to it. (So many books, so little time....)
Well after a string of Boys SFF books where the women served as arm candy or foils for our intrepid heroes, I picked this book out to see if it could restore my faith in the possibilities of the genre for showing us other values, other ways of being. And it delivered. But the women are more complex, and while most of them still fall into the usual tropes of beautiful and alluring, they are also heroes, trying to do their best with limited information and resources. They make mistakes, they are unsure of the next step, they are conflicted over following their own desires or serving greater purposes. And there are men in this book too, but they are the foils this time. They tend to be either dashing, loyal, and talented, or nasty, duplicitous, and evil. Not much in between.
So Jane Austen it's not, but it's nonetheless refreshing to have women drive the plot and be the agents of action and change.
But what really drew me in was the inspiration that the book draws from the long, exotic history of Central Asia and the surrounding area. The main plot of the book draws on the history of Taliban in Afghanistan, Tamerlane and Samarkand, and scripture and institutions of the region's Islamic practices. I had to read this book with my phone at hand to look up the historical references and understand the inspirations she was building on, which were fascinating. Even the map at the beginning of the book was clearly an echo of the actual map of the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, with imagined territories redrawn over it. (And I must say I'm usually skeptical of books that start with maps -- can we get past Tolkien already?)
"There is no one but the One. And so the One commands." For me it echoed the Shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam, "There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God."
One theme that develops later in the book is how religious inspiration can be a force for good or evil, often in ways that individuals don't understand fully as they act. And it brings characters to do their best even when they don't know the way forward. And to constantly search and struggle to figure out how to act, treat people, strive. There's a fascinating subtheme of "struggle or peace" vs. "struggle and peace," which comes up over and over, often tempting people to take the easy way out.
Well after a string of Boys SFF books where the women served as arm candy or foils for our intrepid heroes, I picked this book out to see if it could restore my faith in the possibilities of the genre for showing us other values, other ways of being. And it delivered. But the women are more complex, and while most of them still fall into the usual tropes of beautiful and alluring, they are also heroes, trying to do their best with limited information and resources. They make mistakes, they are unsure of the next step, they are conflicted over following their own desires or serving greater purposes. And there are men in this book too, but they are the foils this time. They tend to be either dashing, loyal, and talented, or nasty, duplicitous, and evil. Not much in between.
So Jane Austen it's not, but it's nonetheless refreshing to have women drive the plot and be the agents of action and change.
But what really drew me in was the inspiration that the book draws from the long, exotic history of Central Asia and the surrounding area. The main plot of the book draws on the history of Taliban in Afghanistan, Tamerlane and Samarkand, and scripture and institutions of the region's Islamic practices. I had to read this book with my phone at hand to look up the historical references and understand the inspirations she was building on, which were fascinating. Even the map at the beginning of the book was clearly an echo of the actual map of the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, with imagined territories redrawn over it. (And I must say I'm usually skeptical of books that start with maps -- can we get past Tolkien already?)
"There is no one but the One. And so the One commands." For me it echoed the Shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam, "There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God."
One theme that develops later in the book is how religious inspiration can be a force for good or evil, often in ways that individuals don't understand fully as they act. And it brings characters to do their best even when they don't know the way forward. And to constantly search and struggle to figure out how to act, treat people, strive. There's a fascinating subtheme of "struggle or peace" vs. "struggle and peace," which comes up over and over, often tempting people to take the easy way out.
irfoxwriter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
I LOVED THIS BOOK. I was transfixed throughout - Daniyar and Aryan and Sinnia are brilliant characters. I am launching into book two as soon as I get my hands on it.
varmint3's review against another edition
3.0
Good story, but the Talisman/Taliban thing was so strongly correlated it was distracting.
cdbaker's review against another edition
4.0
This book was great. I loved that it was a scifi/fantasy based in Middle Eastern culture (rather than European). I struggled a bit at times because I was listening to an audiobook. The narration was lovely, but the pronunciation of words influenced by Middle Eastern languages was a bit off, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the author meant by certain terms. I also spent the first half of the book trying to figure out if the Talisman (the bad guys) were meant to be some kind of symbolic analogue of the Taliban, but I think I was reading too much into it.
tl;dr: Fabulous; I overthought it a bit.
tl;dr: Fabulous; I overthought it a bit.
booksandprosecco's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.25
readingintothevoid's review against another edition
Even though I previously found a book by this author very boring, I thought this desert fantasy with kickass women murdering slavers and Quran verses incorporated sounded really interesting. On page 6 the quote, “She had killed many men in this effort. And did not regret it.” had me convinced I was going to love this.
However, on page 10, this quote had me questioning things, “…women didn’t ride in Talisman territory. They covered their heads, their faces, their bodies. Their voices were silenced…” I’m like wait… since the two MC women who were already described as shocking the slavers they killed by having their hair uncovered, is the author now directly equating women covering themselves with oppression and being silenced? Because I’m not down with that.
So I decided to look at reviews and found a lot of discussion about the only Black character in the book being frequently compared negatively to the other fair skinned MC. And since I had already raised my eyebrows a bit at the Black MC being described in the first paragraph of the book as “coal-skinned”, I’m confident that I am not going to take any more kindly to these issues other reviewers mention happen throughout the book.
I couldn’t find any reviews discussing the issue I see might be developing with the author equating hijabs and women covering themselves with oppression so I don’t know if this remains an issue throughout the book. But me questioning these things I find very troubling before I’m even past ten pages… I think I’m comfortable simply DNFing.
However, on page 10, this quote had me questioning things, “…women didn’t ride in Talisman territory. They covered their heads, their faces, their bodies. Their voices were silenced…” I’m like wait… since the two MC women who were already described as shocking the slavers they killed by having their hair uncovered, is the author now directly equating women covering themselves with oppression and being silenced? Because I’m not down with that.
So I decided to look at reviews and found a lot of discussion about the only Black character in the book being frequently compared negatively to the other fair skinned MC. And since I had already raised my eyebrows a bit at the Black MC being described in the first paragraph of the book as “coal-skinned”, I’m confident that I am not going to take any more kindly to these issues other reviewers mention happen throughout the book.
I couldn’t find any reviews discussing the issue I see might be developing with the author equating hijabs and women covering themselves with oppression so I don’t know if this remains an issue throughout the book. But me questioning these things I find very troubling before I’m even past ten pages… I think I’m comfortable simply DNFing.
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
4.0
This book is not perfect, but I can’t imagine giving it less than five stars.
random_queer_human's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75