This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi – 4 Star Review

Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.

I was granted eARC access to This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi through the HarperCollins Canada Influencer program after attending the HCC #FrenzyPresents YA winter catalogue preview event. Thank you for the ARC! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

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About the Book

This Woven Kingdom
This Woven Kingdom Book One
by Tahereh Mafi

Publishing 1 February 2022
HarperCollins

Genre: YA Fantasy, Mythology
Page Count: 512
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Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.

To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.

The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.

Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sabaa Tahir, this is the explosive first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi.

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My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars
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I absolutely love books steeped in djinn lore and when I heard the preview presentation on this title I new this was going to be one of the books in this catalogue that I simply had to read. I’m so glad I got the chance!

You may have read other reviews on this book before mine. You may have noticed people screaming in excited confusion over “THAT ENDING!!!” I concur with those reviewers. Talk about abrupt twists! I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a series at preview time but now I’m sure it will be and I need book two to be published right now. Immediately! Tell me what happens next!

But let’s back track, shall we? Alizeh is a Djinn living in human society as the lowest of lowly servants and trying not to draw any notice at all. She just wants to survive, and she definitely won’t if the wrong sort of person notices what she is. But it’s not just what she is, a djinn, but WHO she is. She’s the royal heir of the fallen Djinn kingdom and a threat to the human royal line.

Kamran, crown prince and next in line to the human throne, doesn’t understand why his grandfather is calling for this beautiful servant’s execution, and he’s doing his best to make sure she survives. Unfortunately for both Kamran and Alizeh, however, his attention is constantly being pulled away by his grandfather’s plans to marry him off as fast as possible now that he has returned home, much to Kamran’s frustration.

This is YA-level Game of Thrones, but Persian, and I love it! The only reason this book isn’t a solid 5 out of 5 stars for me is because it could really use another round of trimming edits. While I loved the story overall and really enjoyed the main characters, I found that some scenes dragged a bit, some side characters didn’t seem very important, and some information got repeated from scene to scene. I think this is due to the vast worldbuilding efforts in this first book in a new series and I expect book two will be tighter.

If you’re a YA fantasy reader or a fan of Persian/djinn mythology, read this book!

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