enough.
The palace is soon under siege, and Amrita finds herself a fugitive, utterly alone but for an oracle named Thala, who was kept by Sikander as a slave and managed to escape amid the chaos. With nothing and no one else to turn to, Amrita and Thala are forced to rely on each other. But while Amrita feels responsible for her kingdom and sets out to warn her people, the newly free Thala has no such ties. She encourages Amrita to go on a quest to find the fabled Library of All Things, where it is possible for each of them to reverse their fates. To go back to before Sikander took everything from them.
Stripped of all that she loves, caught between her rosy past and an unknown future, will Amrita be able to restore what was lost, or does another life—and another love—await?
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I figured I like reading novels set in the Middle East, or a land resembling it anyway. Just recently I read Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton and before that there was Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (this had desert scenes). Others I've read include Star Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Choksi, and The Wrath and the Dawn series by Renee Ahdieh.
A troubled kingdom--
an inescapable fate--ancient mythology--
that's basically everything I ever wanted in a book.
~ Aditi Khorana
This book was such I smooth read. Like what the author said it had the elements of a troubled kingdom, ancient mythology, and inescapable fate. I loved it. The story begins with a story and it made sense that what happened in the rest of the book was directly related to it. I think that's what I've always like about book written with these settings, the stories within the stories. The mythology and writing worked so well together and it matched the beautiful cover.
The characters had a subtle development that you wouldn't notice it until the end of the book. I loved how there are these two girls who came from different backgrounds but found themselves in their journey. Amrita is the typical Middle Eastern Princess who was resigned to having an arranged marriage, Thala on the other hand is a drug addicted seer gifted to Amrita by the Tyrant she was supposed to marry. Imagine all the trouble they got into when they escaped the siege in the palace. Amrita was a princess who only saw stories as just that - stories. As all of us bookworms know, stories tend to take us by surprise and change our lives.
Reading this book reminded me so much of the feeling I got when I read Strange the Dreamer only this had a smoother feeling. It was annoying in parts where something was happening to Amrita without a reason why, like when she couldn't crawl in a small space during her escape and it looked like she has claustrophobia but there was no explanation for it. It was negligible at best because the story as a whole was captivating.
I'd definitely recommend this book to everyone.
