This Woven Kingdom #1: This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
If you plan to read this book, do not read this post.

From instagram:
Recently read this in less than a day... The writing is beautiful, the characters are deep but also fun and they banter XD and it works. Every chapter is exciting and adds to the plot in a way that I couldn't stop reading at the end... So I may or may not have stayed up until 6am reading this :x I ultimately had to stop in the middle of a chapter XD because I can't do cliffhangers. I actually haven't read her previous series (Shatter Me) due to such polarizing reviews, but after reading this (series) Im definitely going to 😍

And more:
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this, except that it had good reviews, and better than Shatter Me. I knew that it was based on Persian mythology and that each chapter was so good and the ending was !!!. I think I decided to read it at the moment I did because I recently saw an update e-mail from my Target preorder months ago that book 3 would be arriving soon. So I read it.

And I could barely stop. The writing is beautiful, but to be honest, I skimmed sometimes/I felt like I got the whole picture without reading each word carefully xD Not that it wasn’t lovely, but the plot also was super exciting that I wanted to just get to the action xD. The plot pacing itself was fine/good though.

Alizeh is the lost princess of the Jinn, a supernatural people who are supposedly integrated in the country that she’s currently in, but are clearly discriminated against. After her parents were killed, she has no wish but to stay alive, by whatever means. We meet her as a servant (snoda) for a Duchess. The main male lead, Kamran, is the crowned prince of Ardunia. He catches Alizeh in the act of almost being robbed/killed. This exchange intrigues him, but also sets off a course of actions that will create the tangled web of confusion that is the plot of the story.

I love Kamran x Alizeh.. I love the way that Mafi writes his intrigue with Alizeh, how Alizeh’s actions cause him to rethink himself as a person… While it can’t be love in the course of howmanydayswasit?, I imagine the interest, the infatuation, and the feelings that he can’t stop thinking of her can be so real. Especially for a character like Alizeh, who’s strong and doesn’t necessarily need saving… She does in a way need to be protected.. and I love plotlines like this xDD, I am all for princes doing saving, but I think Mafi does a good job also showing that she’s not just a weak girl.

[[SPOILERS START HERE]]

There’s a character, Iblees, who is the devil that brought down the Jinn with his sins or whatever, and this character also haunts Alizeh. (This is a figure in Persian mythology/Islam.) There’s also Hazan, who’s the righthand man of Kamran, but later we find out he’s also Jinn. Once he reveals himself to Alizeh as someone loyal to her cause, she also receives a nosta from him, a marble that reacts when people are telling the truth. (Btw, these little plot pieces are not in chronological order.)

Omid, the boy/beggar who tried to attack her on the street, attempted to kill himself and ended up being saved by the Diviners, the only respected people in Ardunia who can use magic (they’re priests who can heal and also see if one is worthy to rule..). He and Alizeh become friends and he’s able to procure an invitation to the ball in which Kamran is meant to find a wife. There’s definitely a Cinderella-y feel here, and I’m all for it xD

There are attempts on Alizeh’s life.. Because they find out that she’s the longlost heir to the Jinn kingdom, the one with ice in her veins (I guess literally). So the grandfather, the current king of Ardunia needs her dead, since it was prophecied that she would bring down the kingdom or whatever. But of course Kamran doesn’t want to just KILL her, because she doesn’t SEEM like she would be evil… like she’s a servant… During one of the attempts, Alizeh kills 5/6 of the soldiers, and the king believes that someone tipped her off and that she had help in dispatching these soldiers. He suspects that it is his grandson who did this act of treason, so he even attempts to kidnap him and throw him in the dungeon, which really upsets Kamran.. of course. The father figure in your life who you respect and care for not giving you the benefit of the doubt and doing something scary like that… (but .. he HAD had the thought of helping her escape..)

Kamran is sent to spy on Alizeh at his aunt’s house, for evidence that she is a spy/enemy. It is during this time that she is dismissed from her position due to slipping and causing ‘a scene’ while the prince is there. It is here that they meet and talk for real and banter and kiss ;__; I loved this scene xD because you can feel the longing and the desperation, but also the fact that they can’t be—how could they be?? And in this scene, I feel like you just want Alizeh to be happy, and you want Kamran to be happy.. but Alizeh realizes that there is no happy ending to anything and she leaves.

This, by the way, is also the day of the ball. As she leaves the Baz House, she receives packages from acquaintances that we meet throughout the book, the apothecarist, Deen, who helps her with her wounds, the illegitimate child of an ambassador, Miss Huda, who she makes garments for. These are a dress and shoes, seemingly from Hazan, since there’s a note saying something about a mutual friend, and who else would help her with the ball but Hazan? When they met, he also mentioned that they’re going to get her out, without telling her much information. (Like we don’t know transport her to where, and who’s going to help her..) But guess what. They aren’t from him.

They’re from an unknown person, who transports both Alizeh and Miss Huda to the ball. It turns out that this is the Tulanian king (the small country south of Ardunia who holds the key to a constant water supply for Ardunia). It’s been told that he’s a wretched young king who killed his own father for the throne. We later find out that He was not Hazan’s friend, no, the mutual “friend” was none other than Iblees. His name is Cyrus and he reveals that the king made a deal with Iblees… He has two snakes attached to him and he eats children (the orphaned street children) in order to stay young… And the king, Kamran’s grandfather, is killed in front of everyone at the ball. He starts to fight Kamran although he doesn’t actually want to. Alizeh steps in—but we also know that the clothing that she received from Cyrus help mask her identity.

During the fight with Kamrann, Alizeh is whisked away. Cyrus does not kill Kamran but enchants him. On the back of a dragon x flying carpet, we find out that Cyrus has made a deal with Iblees.. And he needs to marry Alizeh.

SO ACTION PACKED RIGHT. How could I possibly stop right there?! And then I read book 2 yesterday.. In less than like 12 hours xD. There are other things I supposed to be reading right now though :x.

Did I cry? noo, but I definitely felt for the character (it wasn’t necessarily sadness, but other emotions!)
Should you read it? YESSS.

-huay