Aneesa Marufu

Representation: Asian characters
Trigger warnings: War themes, fire, explosions, arson, death of people, disappearance of a sister, blood depiction, physical assault and injury, sexism, racism
Score: Six and a half points out of ten.
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It looks like I finally read this one. One year ago, I read the first instalment of the duology: The Balloon Thief--a massive disappointment. One year later, it was time to read the second and final part: An Emerald Sky. I picked it up, hoping it would be an improvement over The Balloon Thief. However, it also was only okay.

It starts with the characters that need no introduction, Khadija, Darian and Jacob, picking up after the events of The Balloon Thief. Everything looks typical at first until Khadija's sister, Talia, disappears. It turns out someone captured and took her to another realm called Al-Ghaib, a world full of jinn. The first three hundred pages don't have much happening, allowing me to immerse myself in the worldbuilding. The pacing was snail-like, but then it swiftly increased. Even though I could vividly see the locations in An Emerald Sky, some elements left me with questions. Most notably, I didn't know some words, which made it challenging to understand the narrative sometimes. Also, how can jinn survive underwater when they're made of fire? How do they make magic air pockets? How did one character get away with burning a school? Speaking of, there were too many of them for me to keep up. The writing style is inconsistent, as sometimes it shows, and other times it tells. The characters are only okay, but not ones I could connect or relate to. An Emerald Sky promises a romance based on the cover, but there wasn't too much of that, much to my liking. The last 90 pages had more action and fight scenes, and there's a high note in the conclusion as Khadija now rules Ghadaea and enacts fairer legislation for all.… (plus d'informations)

Representation: Asian main character
Trigger warnings: Terrorism, racism, sexism, near-death experiences, military violence and war themes, hospitalisation
Score: Five points out of ten.

I picked this up a while back from one of the two libraries I go to, and the latter has more modern books than the former, so I chose that one. I was hoping that I would enjoy this since I typically like fantasy novels like this, but too bad this isn't the case since I found so many issues within this, so where do I even begin? It starts with the main character, Khadija, whose surname I don't know yet. She is forced to marry a man her father already chose for her, much to her disappointment, and the only way she can escape is through the sky and a hot air balloon. This must've been set a while back if inventions like aeroplanes, electricity and airships weren't described. Anyway, Khadija meets another character called Jacob, who plays a critical role later in the book. Soon enough, it is revealed that the country they live in is called Ghadaea, or something along those lines, oppressed a particular type of people called hari, and they do magic, which they don't like, and the tensions start to brew further. And here's where the problems show. For starters, the characters aren't even that well written and didn't experience any character development and second of all is the worldbuilding, which is barely explained and left me more questions than answers, like where did the hari come from, how can they do magic and what are the jinn, I don't know. Towards the end of the book, the conflicts come to a head when there are acts of terrorism, and then Khadija and Jacob are involved in a big revolution, which leaves them in a sorry state, wrapping this up in a cliffhanger and a low note. I don't know whether I will read book two in the series, but maybe that could explain some plot elements.… (plus d'informations)

At 17, Khadija is nearing her use-by date for marriage, and her father is desperate to find her a husband. She, however, dreams of the hot air balloons she sees outside her window, which are a man's domain and key to long-distance travel & commerce. After a bad marriage talk, Khadija impulsively steals a hot air balloon and flees. She meets a glassblower's apprentice from the abused caste, and finds herself embroiled with rebel groups, powerful djinn maneuvering, and internecine plots. She gets a bit of romance, of course, because it is YA after all, and she eventually reconnects with her father, because this book does have a Muslim sensibility.

I don't want to think on this book too deeply, because I think the plot and characters are problematic in a couple ways, but it was also lovely in its worldbuilding and themes. It reminded me of Lion's Blood in its flipping of which skin colors are lauded, a lot of steampunk books in its technologically inverted world, and the entire genre of resistance movement and outside-society adventure stories. I found it extremely enjoyable as genre fiction, but I'd probably tear it to pieces for its underlying cultural messages in a literature analysis class.… (plus d'informations)