Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “No True Believers” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

No True Believers

Rabiah York Lumbard (Goodreads Author)

4.01 · Rating details · 257 ratings · 75 reviews

Fans of the riveting mystery in Courtney Summers's Sadie and the themes of race and religion in Samira Ahmed's Internment will be captivated by this exploration of the intersection of Islamaphobia and white supremacy as an American Muslim teen is forced to confront hatred and hidden danger when she is framed for a terrorist act she did not co ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published February 11th 2020 by Crown Books for Young Readers

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about No True Believers, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about No True Believers

Lists with This Book

2020 Releases by Muslim Authors

27 books — 24 voters

2020 YA/MG Books With POC Leads

261 books — 632 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.01 ·

Rating details

· 257 ratings · 75 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of No True Believers

Sep 30, 2019 Rabiah Lumbard rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

Rating for effort. I put three years of my soul into this baby!

flag 25 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2019 Chandra Claypool (WhereTheReaderGrows) rated it really liked it

Wow. This book is pretty powerful. Salma is quite the character and I give her SO much love for dealing with things the way that she did. Unfortunately this is all too real, especially in this day and age which is really sad. Dealing with Islamophobia, Salma and her family have to deal with white supremacy and hatred within their own neighborhood.

As we all know, kids are especially mean and don't really think about the repercussions of their actions. Salma being bullied in school, physically pu ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2020 Aj Sterkel rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

I inhaled this book. It’s a “one more chapter” novel. I told myself I’d read one more chapter before bed, and then it was suddenly midnight, and I had no intention of putting the book down. Once the plot gets moving, it really takes off. You’re in for a wild ride.

The main character, Salma Bakkioui, is a fairly typical suburban teenager. She has a loving Muslim family; a shy, nerdy boyfriend; and a group of girlfriends who are always ready to party. Her life becomes more complicated when a new fa ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2019 Rachel Knuttel rated it really liked it

Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network for a review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

NO TRUE BELIEVERS is out on FEBRUARY 11, 2020!

Whew. This book was quite the ride! Let’s do this in list form.

Things I Loved:
- The cover - it is sooooo gorgeous and powerful! Definitely catches your attention right away.
- The blurb. It is super intriguing and it made me request this book with no prior knowledge, which I rarely do. HOWEVER, the blurb is also a big part of my critique below. Stay tuned ha Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network for a review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

NO TRUE BELIEVERS is out on FEBRUARY 11, 2020!

Whew. This book was quite the ride! Let’s do this in list form.

Things I Loved:
- The cover - it is sooooo gorgeous and powerful! Definitely catches your attention right away.
- The blurb. It is super intriguing and it made me request this book with no prior knowledge, which I rarely do. HOWEVER, the blurb is also a big part of my critique below. Stay tuned haha.
- Salma. Salma B. Girl kicks some serious butt and I love her. She is strong and sassy but vulnerable and scared all at the same time, which is very real. She loves powerfully and rages against injustice. She turns away from the opportunity to be cruel even when presented with easy and deserved opportunities. She uses her powers for good!
- Salma and Amir I love Amir! Amir is adorable! Amir can do no wrong. I love their relationship and how strong it is. I love that there is no drama about the relationship and that we fall into it when it is already strong.
- Family dynamics. The force is strong with this one, and I’m a sucker for good family dynamics in YA.
- Mysteries! Thrills! Questions! Answers! Secret societies. Scary plots. This story has it all, and once the plot picks up, man does it fly. However...see below.
- This story deals with some very relevant and important topics. It is so vital to hear from these marginalized voices and learn how to be an ally.

Critiques!
- The blurb is a bit misleading. Most of what it discusses does not happen until the end of the book or does not happen the way it leads you to expect. Which sometimes can be good but this time left me hanging.
- Pacing. This story is definitely a slow burn with loooots if set up. Most of the action happens in the last, like, quarter. Once we got to that last quarter, it was fantastic and heart pounding! However, because of what the blurb teases about the story, you spend a long time waiting for all of the action.
- I would have loved a glossary in the back to define frequently used Arabic words/phrases so that I wouldn’t forget what they meant!
- We never feet closure with some of the characters who give Salma trouble at the beginning. That’s life, but I would have liked it haha.

I was planning on giving this a 3, but the ending definitely brings it up to a 4. This story is for sure worth reading! It’s gritty and heavy and intense, but that’s what makes it great! ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 21, 2020 Gary Anderson rated it liked it

Salma is a talented young hacker, but when Islamaphobia rears its head in her school and community, her Muslim heritage makes Salma a target, both physically and technologically. No True Believers, Rabiah York Lumbard’s debut YA novel, includes plenty of interesting high-tech intrigue and Muslim cultural references, but both of those elements self-consciously weigh down the plot of this thriller. It’s likely that some readers will relate to or learn from those aspects, but No True Believers is a ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2019 Stacie Ramey rated it it was amazing

This book was both ripped from the headlines and completely believable. Salma is a Muslim American teen who faces Islamophobia including subtle micro-aggressions, physical and emotional attacks, and a full scale white supremacist terror plot that attempts to frame Salma. The writing is fresh, the pacing is right on. Salma, who also suffers from EDS, gives a face to chronic illness in addition to her struggles with being accepted for who she is. Salma is a believable heroine with supportive frien ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2019 Shazia rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed-for-journal

Link to my School Library Journal review:

https://www.slj.com/?reviewDetail=no-... ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2021 Janna rated it liked it

3.5/5🌟: this was a solid, interesting read. it deals with quite heavy topics which i think are quite important to talk about though. the writing style was easy to follow, nothing extraordinary. one of the reasons why i couldn't give this book a higher rating was that the plot was very predictable to me. i don't want to spoiler it but it was so obvious to me that one thing was a nazi term and .. the main character just didn't know? and then in the end that was like one of the plot twists and i wa ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2019 TMooreInc rated it it was amazing

The title of the book is taken from a line from Rumi: “In the religion of love there are no true believers. Everyone is welcome.” The main character and the author, both American Muslims, have each clearly taken Rumi’s point to heart: the real enemy is not the Other, but the human tendency to otherize your neighbor.

Salma is a seventeen-year-old girl living in Virginia who knows what it’s like to be otherized. She has a rare chronic illness that puts people off, and she has recently lost her best The title of the book is taken from a line from Rumi: “In the religion of love there are no true believers. Everyone is welcome.” The main character and the author, both American Muslims, have each clearly taken Rumi’s point to heart: the real enemy is not the Other, but the human tendency to otherize your neighbor.

Salma is a seventeen-year-old girl living in Virginia who knows what it’s like to be otherized. She has a rare chronic illness that puts people off, and she has recently lost her best friend because of bigotry. Then, after a local terrorist attack, she’s pushed down the stairs at school because she’s a Muslim.

What’s really unusual about this book is that, like its main character, it never gets preachy in the face of all this bigotry. Salma struggles throughout the book with the prejudice she finds in her own heart as well as with the prejudice all around her. Woven through the book is the image of a butterfly, which is often used as a very outward sort of symbol: transformation means simply adding wings. But Salma understands that transformation of the self is a lot more radical than that. She says, “The caterpillar turns into a stew of enzymes and literally feasts on its own body...a worm...dares to imagine a higher existence.”

Here is a book about extremism that doesn’t fall into the very evil it’s condemning: the demonization of any one group. Instead, it recognizes that the origin of the evil we see in the world is not ultimately the Other—even when the Other is obviously evil—but the human heart itself. The problem begins inside. The caterpillar’s job is not just to accomplish a little self-improvement, a little outward decoration, but to dissolve its very core in order to be transformed, from the heart out, into something beautiful.

I read this book (an advance reader’s copy) in one sitting. Salma is realistic and engaging, the pace of the writing is perfect, and the author weaves in explanations for religious and cultural traditions unobtrusively so that the book is accessible to anyone. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2019 Thindbooks rated it it was amazing

*This arc was given to me by the author to give an honest review*
This book will change your life. A Muslim girl seeks her freedom in the U.S. when she is framed for a terrorist act.

This book is about the coming of age of Salma, the main character. She is brave and goes through many problems with this book which she solves on her own. The author put many obstacles for her to go through so that the main character will fight for her freedom and not be judged of who she is. I liked the writing of t ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 05, 2019 Cynthia Gaetani rated it it was amazing

Salma is an American Muslim teen who gets swept into a white supremacist plot. The only way out of having this pinned on her is to figuring out who is behind the dangerous plot. Salma has a clear and strong voice. She is smart and a completely American teen.
The book is tight and has plenty of twists.
It provides a good shift of the paradigm for the Y.A. reader.

One critique: A basic Arabic glossary will be a friendly addition. While most of the terms are briefly explained within the text, not all ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2020 Alex rated it liked it

Shelves: teens-fiction

I thought this book fast-paced and action packed. I liked how the characters were diverse in more ways than one. The main characters were extremely likeable. And, I really liked that Salma was a hacker. I just always think that’s super cool! I did think there were some loose ends that didn’t get tied up. I’ll mention those down below. Overall, I give this 3/5 stars because I am frustrated with the loose ends. But, this would be a PERFECT, #OwnVoices book to have in a school library.

SPOILERS BEL ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2019 Laury rated it it was amazing

This is a taut young adult thriller centring around a Muslim teen, Salma, who gets set up for a crime she didn’t commit. This is no spoiler, you get this information in the opening pages. Like many young adult books, it is also a great read for adults. Honestly, I found it as tightly plotted as the best thrillers out there, only instead of our hero uncovering a conspiracy in which “Moozlems” are secretly plotting to destroy the free world, here a Muslim girl, with budding hacking skills, has to This is a taut young adult thriller centring around a Muslim teen, Salma, who gets set up for a crime she didn’t commit. This is no spoiler, you get this information in the opening pages. Like many young adult books, it is also a great read for adults. Honestly, I found it as tightly plotted as the best thrillers out there, only instead of our hero uncovering a conspiracy in which “Moozlems” are secretly plotting to destroy the free world, here a Muslim girl, with budding hacking skills, has to unravel a series of tips and clues, break into houses, lose tails, and do some baby black hat hacking to save her loved ones and the rest of us from [can’t tell you!]. Let’s just say, it doesn’t end up where the Islamophobes would like.   

Unlike most thrillers, this book does not put the weight of the tension entirely on the plot, here the emotional life of the characters makes every wrong move every save feel like so much is at stake. It felt to me like the emotional tension of HBO’s “The Night Of,” in which a young Muslim man, an excellent student and good son, makes one bad choice that destroys his life and the life of his family. The weight that Muslims carry, making one wrong move, that looms so powerfully in the book. We just can’t make the jokes, or post links, relax publicly in the way that non-Muslims have the luxury of doing. If we do, we are immediately suspects. Islamophobia haunts the lives of Salma, her family, and friends. York doesn’t portray all non-Muslims as Islamophobes, she has a breadth of characters from loyal friends to concerned moms who stand up for her and her family, just like we find in real life. You all are out there, and we appreciate it!

And that gets me to the thing I liked the most about the book, it’s realistic depiction of Muslim life. Look, Muslims are like everyone else. Muslims observe Islam in diverse ways, every one of us makes choices that are natural for us within our families, our communities, our wider world. Salma, gasp, has a boyfriend and a really innocent, chaste, and sweet relationship that harkens back to the “good old days” when kids could grab a kiss and hold hands and that was pretty much it. It’s a lovely relationship and feels real. I’m glad York did not portray her without the desires and feelings that most kids feel. I think a lot of young adult Muslim fiction does this these days, some kids remain fully chaste and others do much more. It’s all real and I really appreciate it.   ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2019 Tylor Brand rated it it was amazing

The book is simultaneously a bildungsroman AND a detective story starring a smart, kinda cool, young, outwardly white American Muslim girl who is coming to terms with herself as a person while also trying to stop a white supremacist terror attack.

This character, Salma, is important for several reasons. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims who defy stereotypical conceptions (from Russia, the Balkans, Africa, North Africa, China, South Asia, Southeast Asia...). Nevertheless, racially "atypic The book is simultaneously a bildungsroman AND a detective story starring a smart, kinda cool, young, outwardly white American Muslim girl who is coming to terms with herself as a person while also trying to stop a white supremacist terror attack.

This character, Salma, is important for several reasons. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims who defy stereotypical conceptions (from Russia, the Balkans, Africa, North Africa, China, South Asia, Southeast Asia...). Nevertheless, racially "atypical" Muslim erasure is a thing, not just in the Middle East, where the default conception of Muslim is still associated with those from the region, but also in the West, where fair skinned Muslims might blend in to society more seamlessly, but are nevertheless still members of an out-group due to their religious beliefs. Floating between communities and defying stereotypes in all directions, Muslims of both white and black backgrounds are rare as unicorns in fiction, unless they are being portrayed pejoratively as secret fifth columnists in some low rent Tom Clancy knockoff.

Salma is none of this. Her composite identity influences how she sees the world and interacts with it. She is a Muslim, she is white, but she is also a young American woman who experiences desires, anxieties and emotions that one would expect from a girl her age. She is utterly believable. Oddly, this might draw the ire of more conservative Muslim readers, who might object to portrayals of desire and other questionably pious character traits.

Nevertheless, Lumbard is not trying to write a didactic parable about the dangers of Westernization, she's writing a young adult thriller, and this one cooks. The pacing is steady enough for the reader to grow attached to the character and get a sense for her personality as the story begins. When the suspense kicks in, the reader is pulled along by Lumbard's dynamic writing and knack for narrative pacing. The storytelling is GOOD, and the ending satisfying.

I highly recommend this for young adult readers of all backgrounds (and adults in search of a great afternoon read). ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2020 Julia rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star-books, ya-contemporary

my first thought upon completing this is: lol wut? i was not prepared for the ride this sent me on. i thought it was about a Muslim American teen having to deal with prejudice and high school and stuff but it swiftly evolved into a high stakes national conspiracy that only our 17 year old protagonist can take on! as enjoyable and exciting as the drama was, it was so far-fetched and unbelievable that i just cannot really take it seriously. our gal Salma uncovers an underground network of terroris ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2020 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: mt-bookpile-2020, old-reads

At times this was difficult to read because of the realness of the reactions of the characters to the "threat" posed by Salma and Amir, and the way in which white supremacists can appear relatively normal and can act less hate-filled than they are. And those schoolmates, with the points system, was very realistic. Not just ripped from the headlines, but ripped from the national moment in which we find ourselves. The ending however, fueled by Salma's hacker skills and a too convenient twist, wasn ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 08, 2020 Deborah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: tayshas2022

This book had me hooked from the beginning. Hackers? Check. Edge of your seatness? Check. Didn’t want it to end? Check. An amazing story of one who fights for her rights and fights back to save her family. Salma’s detective skills were amazingly written. The scenes at school, when Salma was being bullied, not just by students but by educators and administrators had me squirming and wanting to slap these people for treating her so badly, just because of her religion. To point fingers without unde ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2020 Aya Khalil rated it it was amazing

No True Believers is an excellent book that is not only authentic, but well-written and captivating. Lumbard does a great job with the characters and Muslims can definitely relate to Salma throughout the book. I love the Arabic phrases used throughout the book, including Allahu Akbar, which is used by Muslims many times throughout the day. The usage of the phrase normalizes the word since it is often portrayed negatively in the media. Highly recommend this book!

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2021 Sadia rated it it was amazing

Author No True BelieversRabiah York Lumbard has written a book close to the political reality of this moment. Today January 6, 2021, when white extremists stormed the highest offices of our nation, assaulting our values as americans... Finishing this book on this day felt very serendipitous.

This book tells the story of a young girl who is suspected of crimes she has not committed. The protagonist Salma fights with her brains, with her heart, and with faith. She is a normal teenager until very s ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 05, 2020 Edith Hemingway rated it it was amazing

NO TRUE BELIEVERS is the epitome of a “high concept” novel—a term used by editors and agents, but one which, until now, I found difficult to define. The story is essentially a high stakes thriller involving a teenaged Muslim girl who is at first treated unfairly and bullied by Islamophobic students and school officials and ultimately framed as a suspect in a terrorist bombing conspiracy. It is through Salma’s computer hacking skills, bravery, and perseverance that she is able to uncover the cons ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2020 Hannah rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-release, read-in-english, audio, contemporary, protagonists-i-adore, read-in-2020, mystery, young-adult

(8.9/10) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let me start by saying that whoever was in charge of the synopsis really did readers a disservice here. It’s not that it’s wrong, per se, but it manages to both give away too much while also giving the impression that it focuses on something it doesn’t. My advice would be to go into this one without knowing anything about it, but if you find yourself here… well, that ship might have already sailed. My condolences.

Anyway!

No True Believers did a great job of both building suspense ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2020 J Mccarragher rated it really liked it

Shelves: kidlitexchange

@kidlitexchange #partner “Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network for the
review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.”

A debut novel, No True Believers by Rabiah York Lumbard works. The protagonist, Salma B, draws strength from her close friends, her boyfriend Amir, and her family even through a sudden surge of Islamophobia. What I enjoyed most was Salma’s ability to rise above the hatred she experiences developing her strength as the main character. Favorite quote: “The caterpillar turns i ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2020 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) added it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, finishedreviewcopy

Leaving this one unrated, because ultimately it wasn't really my thing, but I don't want anyone to hold that against the book. I use audiobooks to experiment with genres I don't typically read, because taste change, and it's also just nice to have a sense for other genres. No True Believers is a mystery/thriller. It starts out more like a contemporary about bullying and Islamophobia, but then transitions into something more intense, roughly equivalent to, say, a Veronica Mars series ender in ton ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 10, 2020 Alec rated it really liked it

This book was both impossible to put down but also difficult to read, because the story feels so realistic. I loved the characters, I thought it was really cool that Salma was a hacker, and I loved how that played into the story. The book explores a lot of important themes I don't see a lot of YA books discussing. The only criticism I have is that books without LGBT characters and that don't challenge homophobia, should never have the word queer used as an insult. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2020 JJ Kelly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks

Gripped me immediately and I don't see it letting go any time soon ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2020 Emily rated it it was amazing

Amazing read! It's true that the blurb is misleading, but this was a wonderful book. It's fast-paced (especially at the end), and it tells a story that needs telling. I was also pleased with the well-done representation of living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I highly recommend it! ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2020 Salma19 (High Lady of the Dawn Court) marked it as to-read

Shelves: give-it-to-me

That’s the first time that a main character has my first name 😀💕. Plus, she’s Muslim! I have to give it a go!

#MuslimVoicesMatter

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 07, 2020 Mariela rated it really liked it

This was an easy to read & interesting YA book.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2020 Karlan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, ya

The beginning of this exciting novel seemed to be a story of a Muslim teenage girl being bullied at school after a terrorist attack in Wash., DC. It quickly became a thriller involving the girl's considerable hacking talents. It was truly frightening. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2020 Becky rated it it was amazing

Salma is a people-pleasing, muslim Veronica Mars. If you like books about girl detectives you'll love this book. Along with being a great mystery, it shows you what it's like for a teen to deal with a chronic health issue and Islamophobia on top of normal high school life. I highly recommend it. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Young Adult

38 users

Contemporary

35 users

Mystery

26 users

Thriller

16 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

11 users

Fiction

9 users

Young Adult > Young Adult Contemporary

4 users

Realistic Fiction

4 users

Action

2 users

Audiobook

2 users

See top shelves…

About Rabiah York Lumbard

Rabiah York Lumbard

55 followers

Alexis York Lumbard aka Rabiah York Lumbard is an American Muslim children’s book writer whose debut picture book, The Conference of the Birds with illustrations by renowned artist Demi (Wisdom Tales Press, Sept. 2012), is a contemporary retelling of the classic Islamic work by the 13th century poet Farid ad-Din Attar. Her most recent picture book, The Gift of Ramadan, is a heart-centered approach ...more