This Woven Kingdom

This book was different than any of the other books ive read this year. In fact, those books dont even come close to the level of writing Tahereh Mafi demonstrates in this book. The writing was almost lyrical in the way she described even the most mundane of moments. Lately I’ve had trouble even finishing the books I start due to me not caring for the storyline enough to finish or the writing just being too simplistic for my taste. Though this was vastly different. This was one of those books I could pick up at any time and be infatuated by its world and actually want to continue reading. I dare say this might be my favorite book ive read this year.

I’ll be the first to admit that my favorite genre the past several years has been young adult fantasy romance. There is just something about it that, when done well, absolutely hits for me. The problem is that recently the books being pushed under that genre just haven’t worked for me. They’ve felt hollow and soulless. This Woven Kingdom was one of my most anticipated releases for 2022 and I was afraid I would have the same issues with it. I should never have doubted Tahereh Mafi. This book is absolutely everything I love in young adult fantasy romance. We have our female protagonist, Alizeh. Alizeh works as a servant in a prominent household and tries only to keep to herself, do good work, and be left alone. Of course, that is not how it turns out otherwise it would be a very boring book. She keeps finding herself hunted and in trouble no matter how hard she tries to keep her head down. The poor girl just wants to live in peace but peace is not something she is going to find. Instead we are in a world of Jinn and magic that sits on the brink of war with an ailing leader at the helm and, obviously, our budding love interest is the prince of that realm. Kamran is an interesting fellow in a “took many hormones, too little space to put them” kind of way and he only has eyes for the mysterious Alizeh. He manages to be both a hard edged, murderous creature and a big ole soft dumplin. Honestly, he seems a little confused and out of sorts about what he wants in life and is struggling to make sense of the difference between his place and what he wants for himself. Of course there are enigmatic shadowy figures that you just know are going to have a bigger part in the story later but there is some solid groundwork laid for those characters here in the first book of this trilogy. Especially Cyrus. I cannot wait for more Cyrus! Overall, I absolutely devoured this book. It had the romance, magic, and high stakes that I love in the genre. I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 for a couple reasons. One being that that world building wasn’t very fleshed out at all but I feel like we will likely get more information on that in the next book. Also there were a couple of characters that took up considerable page space but ended up being little more than window dressing which I found a little frustrating. But, I loved this story and will be scooping up the next book in the trilogy the MOMENT that it comes out.

Alizeh is alone in the world, hiding her true identity and living as an overworked servant. She’s Jinn and has ice in her veins. She’ll be in danger if anyone discovers who she is because she’ll be seen as a threat to the human king. Kamran, the young prince, sees Alizeh help a homeless thief and is intrigued by her actions. The more he observes her, the more curious he becomes. The king, Kamran’s grandfather, sees that the prince is interested in the girl so he explains that their kingdom’s peace is at stake if they let her live. He orders Kamran to put her to death and then be ready to attend the planned ball the next evening and choose a wife. Alizeh works as a seamstress after her servant hours are finished for the day. She’s helping Miss Huda with several gowns. Alizeh is exhausted and after she leaves Miss Huda, she’s attacked by six men. She warns them but they laugh at her so she subdues them with the only weapons she has available, seamstress needles and scissors. Afterwards, she’s approached by a man who has been searching for her and wanting to protect her from harm. He sees the attack and knows she can protect herself. He offers her assistance and safety. He will take her away at the ball the following night. He also gives her a nosta, a rare orb that warms in your hand when the truth is told and chills like ice when a lie appears. This man’s identity is a surprising twist to the story! Huzzah!!! The action takes over and another twist is revealed, ending the book with a bang! I can hardly stand to wait for the next book! Elegant storytelling, 5 stars!

I'm actually torn between a 2,3 or 4 star for this book, but I settled on3 because I had to make a decision. There were times the writing was immersive and the story engrossing, but the characters, mainly Alizeh, were often distracting to the point of annoyance. Alizeh was something of a dichotomy, much in the way that you could never get a good grasp on who she was or what motivated her. She's not had an easy life, and this is going to sound terrible considering everything she has been through, but my GOD, did she whine. There are times its justifiable and completely within reason for someone in her position to become depressed, or fail to see anything good in the world, but it was like it was her entire personality. On the flip side of that, she was sometimes commanding, or haughty when speaking to people at any length and was offended by EVERYTHING. In the span of one conversation, she might say "are you making fun of me? Or Why are you being cruel?, at least a dozen times. And, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but she also asked WAY too many questions. This became frustrating when she'd interrupt an explanation with a question, or ask clarifying questions when the answer was obviously too complicated to give without someone compromising the other characters. This happens even during tense moments, when time is ticking, and it took away from the urgency of the moment, turning the scene into jelly. The writing was sometimes inconsistent as well. At one point its snowing up to her knees and then its pouring rain and freezing cold. The timeline seemed off as well; At one point the ball is to be hosted then next evening, then two days go by and yet the characters mention it being three days ago that they met. There were times in the beginning when I didn't know what was going on when it came to the devil. The thoughts of the character seemed jumbled and moved like a broken compass, and I couldn't tell you at all what was going on in the moments he " visited" her. One big issue that played a part in my rating, was the idea of a super race with unmatched strength and powerful magical abilities, being over powered by HUMANS with nothing more than politics...its so improbable that its laughable. If there had been some talisman that suppressed their abilities, or someone found a way to cut off their magic source, then okay. I'd buy it. But no. Jinns entered a peace treaty with Clay, and were immediately conquered, told they couldn't use their powers and reduced to servants or forced to hide after losing their only land and their rulers, while gaining absolutely nothing. There are way too many things wrong with the concept, and what's worse, is that Alizeh's intentions are to just stay a servant for the rest of her life and leave her people without their queen because it's too "hard". Ugh, I just couldn't. Other than the thing s that annoyed me, like how everyone found her so strange for being kind or just uttering a sentence... The prose is wonderful, the story intriguing and the "romance" between Alizeh and Kamaryn a nice slow burn with lots of promise. Though it is highly unlikely I will finish this series, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys slow burn romance with royal court intrigue and decent prose.

First, I will say that I went into this read with different expectations. I didn't realize it was a Young Adult book because I didn't read lol that being said, the story is HEAVY in world building. The first 6 chapters did reel me in but after that I had to dredge through it until the last quarter of the book finally reeled me back in. I may be a little off but from the first page to the last, it was maybe a week in story time? So it was long and drawn out for me. The characters are well written, and I do have a small attachment to them. The romance is minimal and very PG with only one romantic scene. The female lead is strong and intelligent and the male lead has that tough with everyone else but soft for her type of personality and I LOVE IT. But it was definitely a bit rough getting through. After reading I wasn't left with that needing sensation of getting the next book. I will pick it up when the second one drops in paper back, but I don't have that "I can't live until I read it" feeling like I get with most reads.

I think my love for this type of story stems from the old Sinbad type movies from the 50's&60's. Imagine seeing for the first time dragons flying and genies popping out of lanterns and such. I know now how corny they are but as a small child who had never seen it before it was awesome. Ever since I have loved stories along those lines. This one is very well written and I couldn't put it down.

This was a thrilling story based on Persian mythology (although the main plot is obviously Cinderella, including the magical dress and shoes for the ball) with a great setting. Alizeh is a Jinn, who are a magical race hated by humans, although a recent peace treaty allows them to live and work (as second-class citizens) so long as they don’t use magic. However, Alizeh has special magic that connects her to an ancient prophecy, so she has to be even more careful not to let anyone know what she can do. We also get the POV of the prince, Kamran, who is conflicted between his loyalty to his grandfather and the inequalities he sees in his kingdom, especially as he starts to fall in love with a Jinn. But there are also other players including a street urchin named Omid, the minister Hazan, the devil Iblees, and the rival king Cyrus. Each one has their own mysterious plans. The constant twists and turns of the plot kept me on my toes! This was so exciting to read and the cliffhanger ending was such a shock! I hope the sequel is announced soon, because I can’t wait to find out what happens next. I recommend this book to fans of fairy tale retellings and anyone who wants to learn more about Middle Eastern culture. It’s great to see a fantasy world with a different perspective. I haven’t read other books by this author before, but now I’m intrigued enough to check out her other series.

This book was very well written imo. The author reacquainted me with words I had forgotten. I enjoyed the lyrical language and how it fit with the stations of her characters. I feel like the book was Interesting enough to keep me entertained while also setting up for a beautifully written story to play out over the next few books.

The product was extremely fantastic

I love this series! The descriptions are rich and the main character soft and charitable bit also determined

J'avais beaucoup aimé en VF, j'ai acheté le VO car moins chere. Je reommande, l'édition paperback est très jolie !

I love it. Especially the end and a new character really intriguing and interesting.

It became my fave book and cyrus one of my book boyfriends ;3 I love Tahereh mafi alot she writes nice characters Yes the gurl is a bit overpowered but i enjoy this book so much The beginning was alot of world building but when you got through it yes