This Woven Kingdom

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!

What a great start to this new Persian-inspired fantasy series! I was hooked in chapter 1. By chapter 2, I was entranced. Between mention of what seemed like fire magic, the shadowy and mysterious appearance of the devil and an origin story all in the first 3 chapters — I knew this was going to be a story I would devour and crave more of! Alizeh, long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, is forced to live her life on the run and hide in plain sight when her path unexpectedly collides with Kamran, crown prince and heir to the reigning kingdom of Ardunia. Their distinctly divided lives can't help but keep crossing as rumors swirl and prophesy Ardunia's downfall - with them both at the center of it all. There's a swoony forbidden romance, royalty in hiding, deception, secrets and sinister plots. And oooh the twists!! It's heavily character driven but with just enough plot development and enchanting mysteriousness to keep you turning page after page! I'm really looking forward to the next installment. And that ending!!! Beware the cliffhanger. READ THIS IF YOU LIKE: — lush, magical fantasy worlds — Persian mythology — dual POVs — jinn x ancient kingdoms — fire? ice? magic — origin stories — warring kingdoms x courtly intrigue — forbidden love x royalty in hiding — prophecies x foretellings — woven things x fireflies — body positivity — magical artifacts — DRAGONS Possible Content Warnings: self harm, depression/hopelessness, fear of the dark, grief, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts Thank you to the publisher for my advanced galley copy!

This Woven Kingdom is written like a poem, with every word chosen to have utmost meaning and beauty. Truly a joy to read. The story itself also captures the imagination, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

The book itself appears okay, but the pretty dust cover is all bent up and torn from shipping. I'm sad because I got this as a gift for a friend, and it doesn't look very nice.

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.

Giving Cinderella vibes. A queen in her own right forced to live the life of a servant (snoda). She has to grow on her own and out of her own miserable life and back into who she was meant to be.

A most educated author with a beautiful style of writing. The story felt historic as well as fantastical. I loved the careful thought behind the laughs of the characters. The story itself was well spun. Looking forward to book 2

I've been waiting to write this review because I'm torn on whether I like this book or not. I'm settling on 3.5/5 stars for now. The best thing about this book is the plot. The worst thing about this book is also the plot. I think the general synopsis of what's going on, a Jinn Queen being forced to hide her identity and work as a lowly servant in a world of humans who despise her kind and a King who tries to kill her when he finds out who she is, is very captivating. What's frustrating is the idiotic actions of the characters. I won't spoil anything, but it's not like their backs are against the wall and they have no other choices to make that lead them into the dilemmas they face. Instead, they're clearly written to move the plot along. It would've been more interesting if the characters made smart decisions and still found themselves in dilemmas. The plot isn't clever, but it's still entertaining. Though the plot is entertaining, the book drags because of a lot of fluff. Mind you, it's beautifully written fluff, Mafi has an exquisite writing style, but it's still fluff. Far too often for my personal taste, paragraphs were written when one sentence would've sufficed. At one point Mafi wrote four whole paragraphs to describe a main character drinking cold tea. I promise I'm not exaggerating, it's towards the end of chapter 20. There's also too much character exposition. Readers are capable of analyzing a character's personality without being constantly told character traits. I think this book would've been more enjoyable if Mafi showed us instead of telling us. My last complaint is the cliff hanger at the end. It was very fun and exciting for sure, but it makes this a "series" book instead of a stand alone novel. The book doesn't feel complete because the ending isn't in any way satisfying. With all of that said, I'm heavily invested in the story and will read the next book in this series when it comes out.