By Gabrielle Kroeger

“This Woven Kingdom” by Tahereh Mafi (“Shatter Me”) is an epic fantasy novel full of magic, danger and forbidden love. 

Alizeh is Jinn, meaning she has magical powers that make her stronger and faster than the average person. In addition to this, she is the long-lost heir to a Jinn Kingdom. Her entire family was murdered years ago and since then Alizeh has been on the run, desperate to disappear. She’s working as a servant who must wear a snoda, a mask of silk that covers the top half of her face, helping her keep her true identity a secret.

Kamran is the crown prince of Ardunia, and is Clay, which means he has no powers. His grandfather has always told Kamran to be on the lookout for the evil monster set to kill the king. When Kamran meets Alizeh, he becomes suspicious of her, but something cannot keep him away.

This book has many elements common in fantasy novels including, royalty, a forbidden romance, an impending war, betrayal and rivals to lovers. There is a powerful female lead who knows how to defend herself and survive on her own. Fantasy novels sometimes include female characters always in need of saving but having Alizeh be the stronger one made this an exciting read.

There are many intense action scenes in this book where we get to see Alizeh show off her powers. She is an extremely clever character who knows how to use whatever she has to her advantage. Since she has been on the run since she was a child, she can make a home out of something as small as an old storage closet. She is a strong and admirable character who does not let the negative things that have happened control her life. Kamran goes through a strong character development throughout this novel. He starts off as a passive character who does not stand up for what he believes. As he gets to know Alizeh, he sees that the king has been unfair, and he tells him such. Kamran risks his position as the crown prince to continue to help Alizeh and ignores his grandfather’s wishes.

This book has many positive aspects, but there are a few things that made it a bit unenjoyable at times. Alizeh and Kamran are not allowed to fall in love because of both of their positions, but there is some romance between them. Mafi did not give the characters enough time to fall in love before Kamran started talking about marriage. It seemed too fast for the two characters to actually be in love. It would have been nice if there were more scenes included where Kamran snuck into the house Alizeh was working at to pretend he was spying, but he was really going to visit her.

Another aspect of the story that could have been improved was the beginning. Mafi included many scenes towards the beginning of the novel that seemed unnecessary. It took a while for her to build up the action and it would have been nice to see less of Alizeh cleaning, and more of her and Kamran doing things to fight the common enemy.

That being said, Mafi did an amazing job with world building in this story and the plot was strong. This is the first book in an upcoming series that will be released over the next few years. After finishing this book, you will find yourself missing the world and wishing the series was already complete.

Image from Tahereh Mafi via Instagram