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A review by rosabellepages
Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So good points first: the plot, world-building and magic system were all good. Simple to follow yet interesting and felt sufficiently fleshed out. I liked that the magic was triggered through drinking a special tea and I thought the lore and world of the Sahir was intriguing (honestly I wish it was explored more & the story was based more in it).
Bad points: the characters. I just felt like they all fell a bit flat. The budding romance between Taha and Imani kinda came out of nowhere. I feel like so much more could have been done with Qayn. Also I just could not gel with Imani’s inner monologue. It was too flowery/descriptive/poetic, I dunno 🤷 it just didn’t feel like an authentic inner monologue an actual person would have.
The book definitely had promise and I wouldn’t say it was a bad read. It was good but not great. I may read the sequel but it’s unlikely.
Bad points: the characters. I just felt like they all fell a bit flat. The budding romance between Taha and Imani kinda came out of nowhere. I feel like so much more could have been done with Qayn. Also I just could not gel with Imani’s inner monologue. It was too flowery/descriptive/poetic, I dunno 🤷 it just didn’t feel like an authentic inner monologue an actual person would have.
The book definitely had promise and I wouldn’t say it was a bad read. It was good but not great. I may read the sequel but it’s unlikely.