Beware: this review may contain spoilers!
Hi everyone! It’s Ilenia, with a review of This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi. I bought this stunning copy from Illumicrate, with which I received a copy of The Ivory Key as well (I’ll read it soon... It’s exam time and ugh...)
My rating: (5) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This Woven Kingdom is the story of Alizeh, the forgotten queen of the Jinn, who lives as a servant. Meanwhile, the crown prince Kamran is looking for the girl with strange eyes, since she was in the prophecy regarding his grandad’s death. The slow-burn enemies to lovers, the badass characters, the magic and the surprises will make you fall in love with this book immediately!
As soon as I began to read the book, I was thrown into this amazing world that truly immersed me into the story. The book follows two points of view: Alizeh’s and Kamran’s, alternating each other in 40 chapters of absolute pure magic.
Alizeh is low-key a Disney princess, but rather than marrying the prince to become royal, she already is a queen, and an incredible badass. Kamran is a prince torn between the ideals he was thought and the reality he was when in the army. The way their stories intersect is done so well that I found myself not wanting to stop reading, eating every chapter in a matter of minutes. I am absolutely in love with the settings, the costumes, and the characters the author created, and most of the time I felt like I was watching the book unfold in my mind like a film. (Side note: this series would make a stunning TV show.) This Woven Kingdom well balances happy times with -very- dark times, creating such a realistic balance, using the characters and their personalities.
I am not a big fan of romance, and I don’t mind it when it is a sub-genre of a book. Romance here was kind of one of the main themes, and it is done so well I was rooting for Alizeh and Kamran the whole time. I was internally screaming reading their kiss in Kamran’s aunt’s house. Great slow-burn and enemies to lovers. 10/10 recommend.
Twist after twist after another twist, This Woven Kingdom will leave you hanging, mouth open, when you realise you have reached the last chapter. When I was reading it, it took me a second to realise that I had reached the ending, and that I have to wait who knows how long for the next one. For the moment, we know it is going to be a trilogy. Tahereh Mafi, how dare you leave us hanging like that?
One thing I adored of this book was how Mafi described the segregation of a group of people because of the strength of their power, and this is, unfortunately, still relevant today. Even though the book is an amazing fantasy with well-developed worlds, there is a deeper lesson embedded in it.
This is the first book I read by Tahereh Mafi, and let me tell you, I am sure as hell that I am going to read The Shatter Me series.
Anyway, I really recommend reading this book, in any format you can get it, because it is truly worth it. This is one of the best fantasy books that I have read (and I have read plenty,) and I am so excited to read more about Alizeh and Kamran’s story.
And lastly, the Illumicrate copy is sooo beautiful! The sprayed edges are so perfectly balanced, that when you reach the middle of the book, the firefly is perfectly split into two mirror images. And it looks so good next to my fantasy hardcovers! Even the paperback of this book is stunning.
From me that’s all. Let me know what you think of This Woven Kingdom. Enjoy this fantastic world and slow romance.
Allons-y,
Ilenia
Buy it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/34Q8gy5
Comments