A review by undertheteacup
Climbing the Date Palm by Shira Glassman

4.0

Though the writing feels clumsy and lacking in maturity, particularly in the characterization of Aviva, and words like ridiculous, cheesy, and corny often came to mind while reading, I feel a strange affection for this book. The author really does manage to leave you with a distinct impression of the world she's created, and it's very sensual: tied in with food and spices and smells that she describes. It's so nice to see a world that isn't based on medieval europe, to see queer protagonists of color, and religion take such a prominent and positive role in the lives of queer people. After all developing a more nuanced writing style is something one can only do with practice, and to me at least it seems like the worldbuilding foundation here is a solid one.