NetGalley Review: The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
Hey all, Sam here.
I’m ready to talk about books some more…Wait. When am I not ready to talk about books? I have such a huge digital stack of books to read, which doesn’t look as impressive or imposing as a physical stack, but it also isn’t super intimidating either. But there are so many books that I both want and need to read, and I’m feeling like I just want to read ALL THE TIME right now…which is slightly unfortunate because I also need to be writing right now.
But I’ve had months in the past where I’ve read like 30 books in a month, so I’m thinking this is going to be a pretty decent reading month. I’m already at 14 books read for July, which feels pretty darn awesome.
So today I’m back with another NetGalley read. This book will be out July 18th, at least in the US, so there’s not much longer to wait for the release. Let’s get into it.
My Thoughts
Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic outlawed; its royal family murdered down to the last child. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe.
The lost Heir of Jasad, Sylvia never wants to be found. She can’t think about how Nizahl’s armies laid waste to her kingdom and continue to hunt its people—not if she wants to stay alive. But when Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi rebels to her village, staying one step ahead of death gets trickier.
In a moment of anger Sylvia’s magic is exposed, capturing Arin’s attention. Now, to save her life, Sylvia will have to make a deal with her greatest enemy. If she helps him lure the rebels, she’ll escape persecution.
A deadly game begins. Sylvia can’t let Arin discover her identity even as hatred shifts into something more. Soon, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she left behind. The scorched kingdom is rising, and it needs a queen.
In this Egyptian-inspired debut fantasy, a fugitive queen strikes a deadly bargain with her greatest enemy and finds herself embroiled in a complex game that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever.
Rating: 4.5 stars
There were some predictable moments in this story. From early on, I knew what was going to happen to make Sylvia expose her magical ability, and who was going to be the cause of that spark of revelation, and I was completely right. From there, Arin is aware that Sylvia is Jasad…but that’s where the knowledge ends…and Sylvia is pretty darn keen to keep her true identity hidden.
Even from the beginning though, I could definitely feel the sparks, the chemistry, between Sylvia and Arin. And I actually really enjoyed that so many characters were hiding things and keeping secrets. It absolutely made it seem even more tense and you didn’t know who to trust or how much to trust them, which I actually really enjoyed.
When it came to the worldbuilding and magic, it felt like we got a decent amount of information about the world’s history and lore in the beginning, as the world is preparing for this competition, but I felt like since we were in a community that’s very anti-magic, we didn’t really get information about magic, and when we did, it was the biased and incorrect knowledge of people who are scared of or hate magic wielders.
It certainly made for an interesting set-up.
I enjoyed that this had so many fantasy elements I do tend to enjoy: magic competitions, a more political fantasy, and there’s a lost hidden royal, plus a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers sort of situation. And unintentional (by our leading lady, anyway) found family elements as well.
There were some bits that felt a bit slow, while others felt a bit rushed, but overall I still did have a nice time reading this book. And it only took me a couple days to finish it all, which is also pretty darn great. I’m definitely intrigued, and look forward to both having a finished copy of this on my shelves, but also reading the sequel when it comes around.
All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
