Freitag, 25. März 2016

Review: The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury



“The things that were once sweet to me are now bitter. The sun is not half so bright. The stars seem dimmer. All this wealth and luxury feels meaningless. All the world is in your shadow, Zahra. I cannot help but see you when I close my eyes.”

“And what do you know of love?"
"That it must be a choice."
"Oh, my naive thief. " I pause briefly to meet his gaze.
"Love is rarely a choice.”


Synopsis

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years—a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.
But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

My opinion

This was so beautiful, I don't know if I can put it into words right now, but I will try!

I have to admit that Aladdin is my favorite fairytale of the Arabian fairytale-collection, it's my favorite Disney movie and my favorite musical; basically it is my favorite everything, so of course I had high expectations for this books. And boy, these expectations were more than met!

I loved the twist to the story that the story is told from the Jinnis POV, who is a girl now. I will not give away too much from the plot, but I can say that it went into a completely different direction than what I was expecting. The book kept me on the edge of my seat all the time, there was not one scene without action or excitement. I loved how the author incorporated things from the past into the present, but only bit by bit. Not everything was revealed at once, and that kept the story interesting throughout. Getting to know what really happened in the past, and why the Jinn fight the humans, was so interesting and it was such a nice twist to the story. The author wrapped everything up perfectly in the end, that I felt eternally satisfied, even though it was just a “short” standalone novel.

The characters were amazing too! I loved the main character Zahra, and I even think she is now one of my most favorite female characters ever, and that says something! She is so tough, so strong, she doesn't depend on anyone, and I love that! Her character development throughout the book (especially the last few hundred pages) was incredible. Aladdin felt kind of one-sided at first, but I grew really fond of him, too. My other favorites were the watchmaidens, though. This group of girls is just slaying, no matter who they face. What would I give to be part of them? I loved all of them so much. We also got not one, but kind of four villains in this story, which was great!

One thing that was also described so nicely was the magic in this world. Usually when magic is used in other books, you hear the sentence "and I felt the magic tingling at my fingertips when I released it", and that's it, but it wasn't like this in this book. I almost felt the magic growing inside of me when I read about it, which was amazing and so refreshing!

Another thing that was great, was that the author incorporated elements and even sentences from the real fairytale, and even from the Disney movie, which made me fangirl so hard! I love it when you can still see some elements from the story the book is based on. I loved that so much. The author even hints at other Arabian fairytales, which was so exciting!


Conclusion


I honestly do not have anything bad to say about this book, that's how much I loved it. It is definitely one of my favorites so far this year! Definitely check it out, guys! You have to read it!

Rating

5/5