So Malik feels entirely betrayed, because he is starting to fall for Karina, but this just hardens his resolve to kill her and save his sister. Nyeni (Hyena) – Appearing throughout the story as Nyeni the griot (storyteller), she reveals herself to Malik and Karina to be Hyena, the mythological figure from Sonande’s legends. And I absolutely loved how well mental illness was represented through both Malik's and Karina's characters. Karina uses this distraction to her advantage, trying to get back to the cavern her mother took her to right before she died because Karina suspects there is a clue there about where she can find the other ingredient she needs. Malik, thinking this may be his opportunity and realizing he can use his illusion powers to essentially make himself invisible, follows shortly after back to the palace.

Seventeen year old Karina Alahari is the princess of Ziran, who lost her father and sister in a mysterious fire outbreak. But the main ingredient needed is the heart of a king, which Ziran has not had since her father died. If you are looking for something new and different in the world building of YA fantasy, especially one that’s influenced by non-European cultures, check this book out!As for their "chemistry", well I am still looking for it because I sure did not feel any chemistry between Karina and Malik in this book. Shes a princess with a sharp tongue and an affinity for playing music- she's sort of the "second son"- and has been wildly considered a bit of a screw up. Their personalities clash and they often lash out at each other, but throughout it all there's an undercurrent of unconditional love and support and I just love the Hilali siblings okay.

But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal-kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia's freedom. I do think there's a lot more room for growth with her character though; for instance, although Karina is horrified at the truths about her country's cruelty and xenophobia, she's still unable to look past her privilege, like when she wonders why Malik is so intent upon defending a "lowly servant". After the raid when they’re heading back, they overhear some merchants talking badly about the Kestrel and Karina herself, and Karina tries to break up the fight by revealing her identity, but just when Malik is trying to get himself to strike her from behind with this opportunity, someone else throws a rock at her, and she is hurried away by guards before she is further hurt. But Malik doesn’t rely on the wishes of a genie or jinn to trick his way into winning Karina’s hand. The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A.

It's nothing any of us haven't read before, nothing really original, more like your typical I-came-to-kill-you-but-I-ended-up-loving-you kind of story, but very, very good nontheless. Raised like a brother to Karina, he was in love with her older sister Hanane, though supposedly Hanane didn’t love him back that way. All of the characters are black or brown, with cultures, clothing, and appearances inspired by tribal African, ancient Egyptian, and Middle Eastern cultures. An action-packed tale of injustice, magic, and romance, this novel immerses readers in a thrilling world and narrative reminiscent of Children of Blood and Bone. So if you’ve got any other fantasy novels to recommend that are written by black/POC authors, please drop them in the comments, I read a lot of novels by white ladies, which is fine, but certainly not the only YA fantasy perspective out there and I really want to broaden my horizons.

Lush, elaborate worldbuilding, genuine emotional stakes, beautiful imagery, engaging writing, and best of all, the story COMMITTED to itself. He takes Malik’s sister Nadia prisoner and says he will only release her if Malik kills the princess by the end of Solstasia. But as part of his deal to Idir, Farid has to kill Karina on his behalf, which he doesn’t seem to have any remorse for because he blames the death of Hanane and the king on Karina. Lost her older sister Hanane and her father to a terrible fire when she was a young child, and grew up not really knowing her mother, both of them dealing with their grief in flawed ways.I’m out here trying to diversify my bookshelf, and I realized really the only other fantasy series I had on my shelves that was written by a black author is Children of Blood and Bone. As they are standing in line to enter the city, Malik helps a boy who is about to get crushed by the crowd, but the boy repays him by stealing the bag containing their identification papers and disappearing. Or at least I wished there was initially, as this book does not ease you gently into the beautiful but intense language of the story. The sheer care and thought that went into constructing this vibrant world can be felt with every word - the history, the folklore, the mythology, the different cultures and their dynamics, the religion. Ebooks fulfilled through Glose cannot be printed, downloaded as PDF, or read in other digital readers (like Kindle or Nook).

When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. Each alignment temple chooses a champion to compete in Solstasia, with the winner gaining ultimate glory and a position in court, and their alignment will be the alignment that defines the next era until the next comet cycle. Dedele does not even perform, dropping out of the competition, as this was Karina’s win condition for wakama. Katrina needs a king's heart to perform a ritual to revive her slain mother and Malik needs to kill Karina to free his sister from a powerful being. That being said, the set up for the second book in this duology looked pretty cool, so I will probably check it out.Karina finds the blood flower, the ingredient she needs for the ritual, though this is not revealed to Malik. Both realize that it is easier to kill someone you don’t know well (and who you’re not attracted to), and both come to a point where they have to weigh winning back what they’ve lost against the possible future that could be built if they worked together. Regardless, my main issue is that none of the side characters were interesting enough for me to care much about, which made the lack of scenes between our leads pretty tedious.