This was an amazing read that dragged me in immediately, submerged me entirely in its world and kept its hold on me throughout.

Both the world-building and characters were spot-on, and Abdullah has an excellent turn of phrase, sprinkling little moments of wit and humour throughout the narrative.

I refuse to pick a favourite character *hugs all three of them close* but each of them are drawn artfully, fully fleshed out and flawed, with their own motives, fears and histories. I found myself rooting for all of them - even when they were at odds with each other. And - in Aisha's case particularly - there's a lot of 'I don't necessarily agree with your actions, but I understand why you're doing them,' which to me is always a sign of a compelling character.

Then there's our resident jinn, Qadir, and his found family dynamic with Loulie. The scenes between those two were always *chef's kiss*.

I'm always a sucker for stories within a story and this is done to excellent effect here, with the mythology/ history of this world woven throughout the narrative, and also challenged as the story progresses, and we see how fact and fiction have been manipulated, so that in human stories, the humans are the good guys.

Overall, this is an excellent read for anyone looking for a new epic fantasy to get lost in.

I really enjoyed this middle-eastern, one thousand and one nights inspired fantasy with its beautiful world-building, conflicted characters, magical jinn’s and lovely, little stories scattered through the book.
The story is told from the points of view of Loulie, a merchant dealing with magical relics, Aisha, a battle-weary member of the King’s thieves, and Prince Mazlen, the naïve prince who loves stories. While they have to work together on a quest to find a magical lamp for the Sultan, their motives for undertaking the quest are contradictory (and selfish) which of course leads to lots of fun and peril.
The magical system while not unique is beautifully described for example a description of a tree bearing glass fruit that crunch in your mouth but dissolve into sweetness- something I would love to try. The world-building is fresh with the sinking sands of Sandsea being my favourite
Loulie, Matzen and Aisha are well-rounded and realistic characters and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for them with every setback and peril they encountered. The relationship between Qadir and Louie was one of the highlights of the book- sweet and supportive.
I enjoyed the blurring between black and white- there is a lot of grey in this book. Are the Jinn truly evil or are Humans just as bad? Even the villains are sympathetically drawn ( but still evil!).
I can’t wait to read the next book in the series and discover more about the world of Sandsea.
Perfect for fans
Who enjoy fantasy set in a middle-eastern setting.

Wow, just wow!! Words cannot describe how much I loved this book but I shall try. This is a wonderfully immersive, captivating and spellbinding book which transports you into the heart of the Arabian Nights. A perfect balance of character and plot development, filled with adventure, friendship, loss, betrayal and mystery. There were plenty of twists and turns and the book had me audibly gasping at points, so involved was I in what was happening. It was an emotional rollercoaster full of heart and magic and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thank you Little, Brown Book and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

The cover of this book drew my attention right when I saw it on NetGalley and the description sounded good so I was curious about this book.

To be honest I was hoping for a well developed story with intriguing characters that are in their 20s instead of adult like the description mentioned it. But unfortunately that wasn’t what I experienced while reading this book. The characters felt like teenagers instead of adults and the world building and writing style were in my opinion simplistic. I hoped it had more development but it didn’t get that so I decided not to read any more books in this series.

What a solid debut! The world is brimming with magic. I just wished for more character interactions between people who aren't in the same team. The plot is very simple and I wasn't a jot surprised by the "plot twists". More prince Mazen please!

A fabulous tale based upon the Arabian Nights, and full of magic. I really enjoyed it and it is highly recommended. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.