This Woven Kingdom

This Woven Kingdom #1

by Tahereh Mafi

Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.

To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.

The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.

Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sabaa Tahir, this is the explosive first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Romantasy, Fantasy Romance, Young Adult Fantasy, Mythology

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2022

About the author

Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series. She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Santa Monica, California with her husband, fellow author Ransom Riggs. She can usually be found over-caffeinated and stuck in a book. Shatter Me is her first series, with television rights optioned by ABC Signature Studios; Furthermore, her first middle grade novel, is on shelves now, and Whichwood, its darker companion, will be on shelves November 14, 2017.

Reviews

[Ayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tahereh Mafi put her whole taHUSSY into this…

this was 40 chapters of badassey, ecstasy, and euphoria. this book singlehanded cured my depression. it’s been a hot minute since i picked up a fantasy book and after reading this book…i won’t be able to get enough.

this shit was gold. the writing? immaculate. the characters? i would DIE for them! the ending? TAHEREH if you don’t drop book 2 IMMEDIATELY 🔪

i was here for every minute of this book. from the Persian mythology that was woven into it to the lush romance. omfg like i was NOT disappointed once! our main girl Alizeh? badass to say the least. Kamran? deserves the fucking world!

the way Kamran is falling HARD for Alizeh… “You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you…i feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. i think i might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.” like AHHHHH

this book reminded me why the forbidden love trope is my FAVORITE. we get this knife to the throat scene that had me screaming into the night sky. “speak the truth now or i will slit your throat” is a love language

tahereh deserves to get her ass ATE for publishing this masterpiece ngl. ma’am is THAT bitch!

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is very ‘an ember in the ashes’ meets ‘the city of brass’ and i couldnt be happier.

because this reminded me of two books that i love, of course i would subjectively enjoy this. but from an objective perspective, i think this also has all of the necessities for a strong start of a series:

- really interesting world (based on persian mythology)

- readable writing (good pacing, consistent flow/development, and engaging plot)

- characters you can get behind (who doesnt love a long lost queen, a dutiful prince, and good forbidden romance?)

all of the basics are there and TM has masterfully woven them into a really intriguing story - one i couldnt stop reading.

a massive thanks to harper collins for the ARC!

↠ 4.5 stars

[Bryce Rocks My Socks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kamran is Aaron Warner in another universe if he had better parents

[Sara Carrolli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

UPDATE Jan 2025: yup, still one of the worst books to come out of the pandemic

UPDATE: this book is a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction, y'all, this is my 13th reason
___________
“And the Oscar for Best Actress in the new exciting drama Managing Not to Throw This Book Repeatedly Against a Wall goes to… Kat!”

*I pretend to be shocked over my win and squeeze out a few tears for the cameras while hugging my emotional support dog who is sitting next to me*

*I then get up, make my way toward the microphone, and out of my teensy tiny I-couldn’t-care-less clutch, I pull out my prepared acceptance speech*

“Dear readers, fellow friends. First and foremost, I would like to thank myself and my inner strength that have allowed me to push through, read this book until the end, and not abandon it 20 pages in. It was an incredible display of team effort, the team consisting of me, myself, and I. However, for the uninitiated, I would like to give a brief overview of This Woven Kingdom.

The fact that this book was promoted as “the explosive first book in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology” without ever disclosing that it is your basic rags-to-riches Cinderella story, shows the marketing team was very good at their job; meaning: they knew exactly how to sell this as something NEW and ORIGINAL even though we’ve been fed stories like this a hundred times over. Published in 2022, This Woven Kingdom read like a novel that came out and should have been forgotten about in 2012.

Now let me give you a more accurate, spoiler-free synopsis: set in a patriarchal society, this novel is about an obnoxious, spoilt princeling who, through the course of the book and by meeting a “speshuuul” girl destined to become KWEEEN and overthrow his family, realises that monarchy is an unfair class-based system profiting off the hard, underpaid, and often unpaid, labour of the working classes. What he doesn’t realise is that women perhaps aren’t objects and that servants and lower-class citizens maybe deserve rights, too.

It's not that the author took a very traditional Western fairy tale and let it play out in a Persian-inspired setting. Our fairy tales are long overdue a more diverse, intersectional overhaul. Any kind of retelling set in a different society is welcome, but CAN WE PLEASE, PLEASE, then at least make those retellings worth TELLING? If we have to bear yet another YA Cinderella retelling, can people at least bring something new to the table? Is this such an impossible ask?

It surely seems an almost insurmountable task given that this book presents its readers with all those things you have already read time and time again:
the servant girl that is bullied, disregarded, and beaten by the evil, evil housekeeper. 😢 The same servant girl who has MAGIC 🪄 and can sew BEAUTIFUL gowns 🤩🪡👗 but knows she can never wear them. The prince who doesn’t want to become king and carry all those responsibilities. 😠 You have to understand; NO ONE in his life understands him! 😭😭 Women are all either simpering stupid little princesses or evil! 👿 JUST LIKE HIS MOTHER! But lo and behold, there is one girl, so beautiful, so mesmerising, so enthralling that he falls head over heels in love with her at first sight! 😍😍 BUT SHE IS FORBIDDEN! 😱😱 SHE IS AN ENEMY OF THE STATE! 😨 Don’t you understand? She could be his family’s DOWNFALL! 😩

Bla-dee-fucking-blah. Someone hand me a red pen because Mafi seems to have written this with every single YA book published between 2008-2012 lying open next to her.

And it’s not just the insane lameness and utter unoriginality of the plot but that the book was lowkey steeped in misogyny. Except for our special self-insert 17-year-old main character ‘Alizeh’, there is not a SINGLE (and I’m not exaggerating here) likeable female character in this book. Except for one girl (who is portrayed as stupid, spoilt, easy to scare and terrify) that Alizeh befriends towards the end of the novel, every woman in this book is downright nasty. The MC doesn’t have any female friends; there are no female role models. Alizeh’s mistresses treat her like garbage, are jealous, frivolous, insensitive, or all three.

On top of that, our “his face looked like cut from marble” princeling Kamran does nothing but belittle every woman he meets (except for Alizeh, who, after having exchanged five sentences with her, surely must be the love of his life). All the princesses courting him are insipid, stupid, gold-digging little creatures. His mother is barely in the book (screen-time of maybe about two pages?), and of course, she is sort of insane and always plays twisted games with him.
I can excuse some things; this, I absolutely won’t. It’s wild that a book like this is part of and published in a genre predominantly geared towards teenage girls, but what do I know.

*The last sentence is uttered with every bit of irony my voice can conjure, and I enjoy the audience’s laughter for a few more seconds before I continue*

Now, if you like your romances well-developed, well-seasoned, with a good dash of character development, mutual emotional growth and maybe a little bit of slow-burn and tenderness, this book… IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR YOU as the only thing it “served” was luke-warm insta-love with a whiff of love-triangle. They see each other ONCE and already can’t stop thinking about each other. They see each other TWICE, and already they’re madly in love and obsessed. You don’t understand, I was laughing so hard, the Nokia phone I was writing my 1D fanfiction on nearly fell out of my hand.

If Kamran had been likeable at least, hell, maybe if even one of them had been likeable, this would not have bothered me THAT much, but our spoilt brat spends his days insulting his ministers, moping over Alizeh, being a petty misogynist, and delivering a page-long rant about how ANNOYED he is that he has to wear fine clothes to the ball. Mf wouldn’t even be able to distinguish between silk and corduroy, shdjdjdjjdss, get out of here.

Aside from the messy plot, the pile upon pile of discarded YA tropes which I thought we had left in the last decade; aside from the flat MC and unfeeling, rather repugnant male love interest, there was the WRITING.

If only I had known what frustration beautiful words used in the wrong context could cause, oh my. Mafi’s writing is nothing short of theatrically histrionic. If you don’t know what that means, don’t fret, that’s precisely what Mafi seemed to be going for when she wrote these whoppers:

“He felt his muscles were atrophying slowly in the suit of his skin, a silent litany of epithets perched in his mouth even when he smiled.”

“It was in fact at the king’s behest that Kamran was to continue his inquiries into the girl’s whereabouts, for Zaal, too, had seemed perturbed upon hearing a more detailed accounting of the morning’s events.”

“I might accept an explanation of idealism more readily were your actions symptomatic of a larger philosophical position, which we both know they are not, as you've never before taken an active interest in the lives of street children - or servants, for that matter.”

Shakespeare really ran so the author could crawl, huh?
This has the exact same vibe as letting everyone in House of Gucci speak English… but with an Italian accent because they are Italian, yk? It’s got to be authentic! Same as you can’t let those characters speak either Italian or English without any kind of ridiculous accents, the author couldn’t write about a fantasy world without using over-the-top language that, if read out loud to a 17th-century landlord, would scare the shit out of him. God bless thee, good Sir.

*I take a sip of water, adjust the microphone, and prepare to bring my speech to an end*

Dear Academy, friends, and fellow readers. It is with great pleasure that I accept this award. As you surely understand, it took immense self-composure and strength to act in Managing Not to Throw This Book Repeatedly Against a Wall, but I hope you can see that your votes and confidence in me are much appreciated.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my eyes, for they had to see, and my brain, for it was forced to comprehend. Thank you, for not dumbing me down in the process.

[Clace · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25!

“You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you,” he said to her. “I feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.”

This book was so well written like the writing in this book was beautiful that I actually fell in love. The way she described everything, the dialogues, the worldbuilding and the characters all of them delivered! I honestly went in waiting fall for Cyrus but warmed up to Kamran?? I wont lie for 150 pages I was so lost as to what was happening but the vibes were there and I was enjoying this book solely based on vibes but then the plot started to progress although slow the payoff to the build up was very well done.

“Never before had he been so consumed by the thoughts of anyone.”

Alizeh is among one of the best written fmc's because I loved reading about her point of view and not once was I bored because I wanted to know more about her and there was this sense of mystery like the characters were hiding something and you just wanted to know what was happening so, I think the way she executed that was very well done. Kamran, I don' know what to think of you because on one hand I was at the start really bored of him and wanted to get rid of him but then his story became more interesting and after 150 page mark when both the main characters meet he gets more interesting also the way he would describe Alizeh and the things that he would say were so swoon-worthy and he was actually worthy of being a king because of his heart....Im so conflicted because I like him but then there's this other guy who shows up near the end and now I AM CONFUSED. Cyrus the other guy who showed up at the end and left my emotions in a state of disarray. How do you plead for your crimes? The crimes being making me choose between Kamran and him and also for being charming and changing my perspective of the story in just the last 50 pages. Hazan cutie but also sus??

“He'd forgotten how beautiful she was. This revelation was astonishing to him, for he'd spent more time than he cared to admit thinking about the girl, conjuring her face when he closed his eyes at night. He did not think of himself capable of forgetting anything about her, and yet he must have, for he was struck stupid anew, drawing near her now like a hungry flame to tinder.”

The romance is why I hate love triangles because the way we got the trope forbidden romance between Kamran and Alizeh...it was lusty but its one of the rare cases where I liked it just because of the way he talked about her, it was so beautiful. So we get this Cinderella type forbidden romance with angst and swoon-worthy dialogues being built up between them and I am rooting for them and then came Cyrus with his lush copper hair and cocky one liners and drops a mega bomb on us in the final page and im just sitting there staring at the wall trying to process what to think of it.

“He realized, with some despair, that everything would now remind him of her. The very sun and moon, the shifting of lightness and dark.”

The plot was so fucking confusing like I literally was so confused that I had to ask Roxy about some stuff but I absolutely loved the Persian mythology aspect of this book and it was so similar to Arabic (the language) that I mistook at times for that but nvm that, back to the plot, but I loved when it started making sense, it was giving City of Brass and I love that book sm. I also loved how it was being built up and we thought the the payoff would be in the next book but a part of it literally happened in the last 70 pages and it was so satisfying because there's this character whom I hate sm and also Hazan you were playing mind games with me and that was not appreciated because the ending had me shooketh.

Overall, Tahereh did not disappoint at all!!
~~~
Cyrus- written by the same author who wrote Aaron Warner??? I NEED THIS!

(Besides, it's been a while since I've read Tahereh's works and they tend to be among books I love and Roxy really liked this one so 🤷🏻 I'm bound to love it)

[Cait Jacobs (Caitsbooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

no thoughts, just screaming

thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC

[Maditales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg how can I even explain how much I love this books. I went into this with high expectations just because shatter me is one of my favourite series of all time and I was positively surprised.

Not only did I love the third person writing style but the world building was great. KAMRAN, Alizeh and every other character like Miss Huda had amazing characters and detailed story lines. I loved Alizeh. She had such a amazing backstory with so much mystery and I cannot wait to find out more and more in the next book.
Kamran's position in this book, as the nice prince is also quite great. I loved his perspectives and his role in this entire story.

Now the romance was good. This is definitely not slow burn but more love at first sight but oh wow that first kiss was amazing.

The plot twist was also great and the introduction of the enemy was very detailed and still I have questions.

I absolutely have no idea who the love interest will be since we have so many options and the theories in m head are running wild but I cannot wait to see what Tahereh does with this amazing first book.

[sama ୨୧ (slumping.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.50 stars ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪
⟶ bye this was so much fun <3

first of all, kamran supremacy >>

🌷 “You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you,” he said to her. “I feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.” 🌷

LIKE HUHH!?!? MY MANS A POET 🥵🥵

i do think naturally i will be team cyrus just bc I never get second lead syndrome. but omg he has such a special place in my heart for how sweet he was to her when all the odds were against him.

💐 dedication to my love 💐

i read this with my precious, gorgeous, hilarious, beautiful best friend kangna who i love so so so much and oh my it was the most fun i’ve had in a long long time idk how I’ll read a book alone ever again. i would wake up early and have something to look forward to when i came home bc it meant we could giggle and scream about this book together heheh.

ngl i am not the smartest LMAO this book was very very confusing to me like if i read this alone i would not have survived ask kangna i’m not even exaggerating. she explained like half the plot and meanings help. so thank you my dear (if you even see this) ily so so much <33

🧸 plot 🧸

oki i’ll try my best but again, I didn’t understand it much so…

so there are jinns and clays. jinns are devils, clays are human. alizeh is a jinn kamran is a clay. jinns have it very hard to find work bc, well, no one likes them. so when she finally finds a job as a servant, she’s very grateful and will do anything to not lose her job — although she is very very mistreated. and the prince (kamran) is obsessed with her. very insta-lovey he sees her defend herself once and falls in love help. it is a cinderella retelling after all though so it makes sense. oh and his grandfather, the king, wants to kill her (just as much as i’d like to kill him 🔪🔪) so forbidden romance woo !!

then one day whilst she’s just minding her business, she recieves a package. and this is where the cinderella part plays in but she gets invited to a ball~ i’m so jealous me and kangna were literally fantasising about attending one and having those huge flowy dresses🙁 the dream fr. and who does she get invited by?! this copper-haired beautiful stranger 🤭 who is the enemy apparently— but most of this happens towards the end bc the book is soooo damn slow.

🎀 the romanceee 🎀

honestly tahereh is so cruel for this. setting us up like that. kamran is so so so perfect and amazing and swoon-worthy rn but all our hopes will be crushed bc he’s not even the male lead. the male lead only shows up like in the last 5 chapters of the book and for the smallest amount of time ever 😭😭
i like kamran so far but she’s gonna pull an adam and make us hate his guts probably by book 2–

He only knew that she seemed apart from this mundane world; above it. The mere sight of her had paralyzed him.

like come on, it’s not everyday you find a man who will almost pass out because he’s too captivated by your beauty. how can one not love him is my question!?!?! 🥲💗

👑 alizeh 👑

she’s a legend, she’s an icon, she’s the it girl.

tahereh knows how to write a good baddie fmc like she is gonna have juliette’s exact development i just know it - starts really fragile, small and shy, and comes out a baddie who will not take crap from nobody 💅

she’s so brave too, she’s the only person who ever spoke her truth, and she was nice to people even when they were so rude to her 🙁 she’s so precious im obsessed with her.

😿 Never was she spared a moment of peace; never would her demons leave her be. She was always fatigued, always tense. She couldn’t even change out of her miserable, sopping clothes without being besieged, and now she would be pitched out into the winter streets. 😿

i wanna give her a hug and tell her everything will be okay 🫂

One day, her father had said, this world will bow to you.

i look forward to seeing when this actually happens 🙈🙈 it better or i’m suing. I want this series to end with everyone at her feet, begging for mercy and forgiveness for the horrible disgusting things they put her through

OH AND THE FANART !!this is her and cyrus and omg crying it’s so beautiful🥹

👩‍🍳💋 kamran 👩‍🍳💋

bye they made him too perfect.
he’s gonna be soooo hard to let go of I can’t
cyrus has some serious standards to live up to

no but for me, it was when she had a knife to his throat and all he could think was:

Was it terrible that his heart pounded in his chest at the soft sound of her voice? Was it worrisome that he felt nothing but pleasure to be held at her mercy?

like plz and you’re telling me I have to hate him!? no. it’s not happening (no but watch me take back all my words in book 2 HAHA)

💗 bye bye now 💗

ok i’m really sorry for all the rambling help. thank you to those that stuck around to read this and thanks to my pookie kangna for tolerating my dumbness for so long 😽😽 this book does have a pretty low rating only bc whilst i loved the story so so much it was a very slow book. something crazy would happen and then it’s followed by a whole bunch of nothing for 100 pages. but the second has potential to be a 4 or 5 YAY 🎀
(looking back at this omg I use so many emojis wth it’s looking a little hectic ngl)

also guys do you like this format? or the one from my last review😭 im so indecisive plz H E L P 💌

ily all i would definitely definitely recommend you read this asap and tell me all about it <33

happy reading 🧸🌷

[Marianna Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guys…. I’m so sorry (I’m not), reading this book was quite literally the equivalent to watching paint dry. Like I genuinely think bored is putting it lightly when it comes to how I felt while reading this book. NOTHING HAPPENED!!!!! And I don’t mean like things happened and I just didn’t care so it felt like nothing happened…. No, like actually nothing happened until the last three chapters. I cannot rationalize waiting until the 90% mark of a book for things to pick up.

Also something about the writing felt so weird and off to me, I don’t even know what. I just felt so disconnected from the characters and the story. Alizeh and Kamran both were very bland to me, there was nothing about them I found interesting, or that made me eager to learn more. Their insta lust romance was very strange and seemed so misplaced. The amount of times we spent telling instead of showing made me want to fall asleep. We spent so much time in these characters heads with so little dialogue I felt like I was gonna go insane.

Also I think I’m just so so so beyond over the same copy and paste YA romantasy plot line where she’s hiding her identity as the heir to a lost kingdom and there’s some prophecy about her being everyone’s downfall. Then of course the boring first love interest is just instantly head over heels in love with her even though he’s spoken all of two words to her, but OH NO, she’s from a rival kingdom and they just simply can never be together, she’s supposed to be the enemy blah blah blah. Then we have the morally grey “villain” second love interest come in and take her away and she “hates” him at first and he’s so evil and the worst but ends up being misunderstood and broken blah blah blah. Guys I can’t I’m complaining I know I’m just so over it.

And listen I HEAR YOU!!! I know books two and theee are apparently LEAGUES better BUT AT WHAT COST?!!! I know I’m promised yearning and longing and banter and a pathetically in love and weak man which I LOVEEEEE I do like that is my TYPEEEEEEE!!! But now I’m scared because I don’t have any interest in the story or characters at this point… Can Cyrus change my mind?! That is the fucking question. Will I continue?? I have no fucking clue.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, "This Woven Kingdom" blew me away! Tahereh Mafi weaves a spellbinding tale that's part Persian mythology, part forbidden romance, and all kinds of amazing.

The main character, Alizeh, is a total badass - a secret queen forced to work as a servant, hiding her true identity and incredible powers. And don't even get me started on Kamran, the crown prince who gets tangled up in her world. Their chemistry is off the charts!

Mafi's writing is pure magic. She paints such a vivid picture of this fantasy world that I felt like I was right there, feeling the icy chill of Alizeh's touch and the heat of the growing tensions in the kingdom.

If you're into epic fantasies with strong heroines, swoon-worthy romance, and enough plot twists to keep you up all night, grab this book ASAP. Trust me, you won't regret it!

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[Azanta (azantareads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

wait……..this was actually so good? ignore anyone who says this is like Game of Thrones tho bc that’s very much not true at all lol, this book is straight up a fairytale/retelling with very, very strong Cinderella vibes — but in the best way. truly i enjoyed this from start to finish and that’s saying a lot because i don’t love any of TM’s other books. i want book 2 now tho

this is a Persian YA fantasy through and through and i’m glad to see that Tahereh is finally embracing the culture and not writing for the white gaze anymore. it has Islamic influences re: the history of jinn which was very exciting to read

the fairytales that this reminded me of were: Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and Aladdin

[Pang Clearing Series, Will Come Back!! xD · Rating 4 out of 5]

🏜️ Yay! :D It felt soooo good to come back on reading your favorite author's book. Not just that! It's even beyond exciting to take an adventure in Persian Fantasy world with giddy romance among the sun ☀️ sand, and sea and Mrs. Mafi's new hot, HOT boys. xD

Not that I'm familiar with Persian culture, I told you first. lol That's why I'm nervously excited to dive into this. *hehehe*



Okay let hear my story. lol I began my adventure at Ardunia. Here I met the crown prince of the empire 'Prince Kamran' who is instantly interested in my jinn friend Alizeh just a few times they met! This fast, mannn!! Even though she's just a servent!! 😲 I don't know why?

Then, there is Iblees who pop up in and out of Alizeh's life. Always tell her of that riddle I didn't understand! and made me skeptical in everyone in this dangerous empire! *ugh*



TROUBLE FOR WARNER/JULIETTE SHIPPERS

Why I say it's trouble? Because not just this prince! You guys will meet 2 boys here and SERIOUSLY! Both boys have our Warner vibe. One way or another. Prince Kamran is obsessed with Alizeh ( just like Warner's obsessed love for Julette, you remember? ) While another is oh my gosh bad, bad boy..

And I'm curious who your heart will lean to?
I don't know what people say..

🐉 Now my heart flew to Tulan already..



*Shriekkkkkkkkkkkk kk k k k*

Again!! This Tulanian guy swept me off my feet!! Cyrus. Cyrus. CYRUS. Who is this??? Hahaha I know who he is. :P BUT I just want to know more about him. His reputation is really interesting. And I think.. there might be something behind that dark background, I didn't know. 🤔

Cinderella-ish, my friends. Just read it! Though, I need to complain.. the romance is too few for me. I want moreee!!



ONE QUESTION : Which TEAM are you on, I'm curious? 🤭

*waves* 😁👋 All lovely booklovers. Let's be friend together on my bookstagram 📚🏜️🐪 I follow back! yeahhh. :D Let's follow each other and have fun. See ya there!! 🥰❤️❤️

[Sahil Javed]

if there's any characters like juliette or adam i'm gonna fucking shoot myself

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was three seconds away from DNF’ing when i got halfway, so me finishing this was nothing short of a miracle🙂‍↕️

anyways, team cyrus or whatever

[mitra ౨ৎ]

─── ౨ৎ ... pre read.
ⓘ 01/21/25. sigh i am very easily influenced

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”What worlds he might be inspired to give up, he wondered, in the pursuit of knowing more of her mind.”

the world building based on Persian mythology is this book was so interesting. Alizeh is a jin and because of this she’s forced to hide her identity, along with some secrets she withholds about her where she comes from. Kamran is the prince of Ardunia and finds himself infatuated with Alizeh, despite everything working against his wishes to pursue her. the writing is beautiful and i enjoyed the story but i must admit that i feel like not much happened until the last quarter. i know this series has multiple books though, so im looking forward to getting more movement in the plot and im so curious about Cyrus after that ending 👀

been meaning to get to this one for a while, the covers are all so gorgeous im obsessed!! 💛✨

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kamran is the middle eastern version of Aaron Warner.

it’s true Tahereh Mafi told me 🫡

[HalointheSkye · Rating 2 out of 5]

"You are quite good," his grandfather said coldly, "at taking clear and logical arguments and elevating them to a level so esoteric they are rendered ineffectual."

It's also true that this book is quite good at taking clear and logical storylines and elevating them language-wise to a level so esoteric they are rendered ineffectual.

I am filled with disappointment. Seriously. Absolutely filled to the brim with it. I had previously put this as a 3 star read... but the more I think about it, the more I think it deserves a 2 star. I know this book just got released at the time of me writing this review, so I'm actually going to put a lot of care into this review and state my case as to why I believe it deserves my terrible rating.

1. Writing style
I've not read a book from Tahereh Mafi in a long time, so I'm not sure if it's a consistent issue I personally have with her writing (not all authors suit all readers - and that's okay!) But while I tolerate most writing styles, this one was really grating on my nerves. It was filled to the brim with tedious, superfluous language - the kind that made you want to tear your hair out after only reading the first chapter, because you realise that the whole book is exactly like it. I found it incredibly boring, slow-paced, lacking in tension and pretentious. I understand why it was written this way (idk... old ye english, medieval fantasy style???), sure, but I disliked it all the same. It made my reading experience horrid, honestly. I thought it was a me problem at first, but then I was so bewildered by it that I read out a sentence aloud to my sister and even she had to ask me to repeat it to make sense of it. (The sentence, if you're curious, was this: "I might accept an explanation of idealism more readily were your actions symptomatic of a larger philosophical position, which we both know they are not, as you've never before taken an active interest in the lives of street children - or servants, for that matter".) It felt like I was drowning in a pool of what the author deemed *Big Words To Throw Into My Book*. And then there were other issues, such as-

Oh. Wait. Where was I? What was I saying? Are you confused? Me too, because another aspect of the writing style I could not stand was the use of interruptions or dashes at the end of a paragraph. Once or twice, okay, I'll accept it. But if you use it consistently, then you have issues with wrapping up sentences and actually introducing tension effectively in your writing without resorting to cheap devices. It confuses the reader and makes the writing feel lost and disjointed. The amount of times that it happened was astonishing, and was a clear sign of poor writing.

2. Plot
What did I say about the storyline before? It was clear and logical. Well... it should've been. It did nothing new in this genre, only serving old tropes in a remix. Flying carpet? Check. Dragon getaway? Check. Secret princess? Check. A royal ball? Check. Annoyingly obvious Cinderella plot mirroring? Check. Which is why it annoys me more when a book fails to execute even an unoriginal plotline well. It was bogged down by the lack of pace, associated with a terrible writing style, and characters that served to inspire absolutely nothing in me, the reader. Talking of the characters...

3. Characters
I'm supposed to root for Alizeh, sure. Poor girl, living a life of forced servitude, spending out her days in absolute abject misery and torture to earn some coin in order to fend for herself. She's meant to be Cinderella, the lower class girl we pity and empathise with. But the thing that really bothered me with this whole concept was that she KNEW the entire time that she was destined to be the Queen of the Jinn. She knew she was special, she had ice in her veins, yadda yadda yadda. It makes absolutely no sense why she'd debase herself to the lowest levels of society while life goes on around her and she knows of the cruelties that her people suffer, but she doesn't do anything to help them (WHEN IT'S LITERALLY IN HER DESTINY). I think the author at some points tried to justify why anger wasn't a solution, sure, but Alizeh ultimately reeked of cowardice and self-pity and scored an absolute zilch in the queen material department. And then you expect me to believe she can just kill 5 men when she won't even fight back against the housekeepers who beat her? Please.

Kamran is an insolent child prince. I understood that was his character arc, of becoming king and learning about his duty, but GOD there was a bit he said about suffering and how he too was going through it and I really felt like I needed to punch him in the face. Like boohoo, you need to find a wife and produce an heir instead of traipsing back to battle! Of course instead he goes and acts all softly around Alizeh because he sees how she stoops so low for her level! She's a queen and yet she is a servant! And then he gets praised for literally the simplest of actions - showing basic human decency to HIS OWN people. In reality he's an angsty, angry little dude who doesn't know what he's doing in life.

Everyone else was cardboard material, AKA 2D prints of side characters. Honestly I'm not even sure I can really exclude the main characters from that either.

And the romance? *Sigh*. My God, the insta-love was heavy in this one. When you have a nightmare/vision about the devil prophesising something you don't want to hear about and then suddenly you're looking at the face of a stranger, would you immediately be taken away by their attractiveness? (I just know some of you might say yes... but you get the point! It's still ridiculous!) In actual fact, the whole thing is ridiculous. They keep describing each other as the sexiest, most beautiful, most handsome person alive etc. etc. and you expect me to believe their love is founded on valid grounds of trust and friendship and genuine, deep connection? A big nope from me. Nothing was compelling about their romance whatsoever. I did not root for them in any way nor do I think that they did each other any good.

4. Final thoughts
I said before that I'm immeasurably disappointed in this book. That's because the blurb had me hooked! I was willing to lay down my life for good old favourite tropes of mine. I wanted to love this book so badly. And yet here I am, writing this review at 4:30 am, because I'm exasperated that I had to go through 500 pages of it.

But as the king says, "I clear away the darkness, so that you may enjoy the light." So I'm here to tell you that this is no Ember in the Ashes and no Game of Thrones. Go read them instead because they're far beyond the reach of what this book tried to accomplish.

[Dawn Solaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

★彡 4.25 stars 彡★

𑁍༘ What a strange girl you are... to behold a rose and perceive only its thorns, never the bloom 𑁍༘

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ So this is love… so this is fantasy. It’s no wonder I went in with high expectations. So, to see them not only met, but exceeded with such flair too was quite the delight!

I’m not impressed; I’m simply obsessed ⋆. 𐙚 ˚

It wasn’t an explosion of a debut, no. It’s the kind of starter that seeps through like the soft presence it is. Like the mellowest of whispers. Growing up, if you loved fairytales and fantasies and such, then rest assured because this is the book for you. For romantics and believers alike, this story was crafted with care. Woven with all our childish daydreams.

This is when a book is everything and more (◍•ᴗ•◍)

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

⋮ ⌗ ┆ ᏖᏒᎧᎮᏋᏕ ᏗᏖ ᏇᎧᏒᏦ ⋮ ⌗ ┆

❆ Secret Heir

❅ Slowburn

❆ Clashing Kingdoms

❅ Enemies To Lovers

❆ Persian Mythology

❅ Dual POV

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

⋮ ⌗ ┆ ᎷᎩ ᏖᏂᎧᏬᎶᏂᏖᏕ ⋮ ⌗ ┆

: ̗̀➛ 🅣🅗🅔 🅢🅣🅞🅡🅨 & 🅣🅗🅔 🅕🅔🅔🅛🅢: Listen to the devil himself tell you this tale: The cruel world tries its best to weather down the quiet kindling that burns in the very soul of our long lost Jinn queen, Alizeh. But it’s far from being a quiet kindling. The fire in her can burn down empires, if she only let it. Rather she suffers and endures because she only wants a life of safety, a life of anonymity. Alas, a chance encounter with a crown prince and a possible deal with the devil later, she’s thrust into a war among people she’s now meant to lead ~

About the fantasy? In a world of black and white, it’s golden like daylight >ᴗ<

And yes, I mean that. These days, it’s rare to find innovative fantasies. It’s all he’s fae, she’s fae, we all live fae. And don’t get me wrong, I love my fellow fae boys like the girl next door. But maybe, seeing something new is the kind of thrill-seeking I’m on lately. It’s the first instalment, but I can already feel the strength of this story. So, the concept of Jinns, and humans in a world inspired by Persian mythology is innovative, in every sense of the word. All of that penned in floral prose too, like… honestly, could it get any better? ×͜×

: ̗̀➛ 🅐🅛🅘🅩🅔🅗: My little pink rose bud, this girl. She’s so full of life, when life itself has been nothing but cruel to her. The perfect portrayal of kindness personified, because Alizeh is really truly kind. Why am I making a big deal about it?

Let’s just say, the bar for sweet and kind FMC representation is in the deepest dredges of hell. I’m not going namedrop any FMC in particular because I do NOT want an untimely death but frankly? In the name of kindness, we’ve been fed naïveté all these days. When I asked for sweet and sunshiny, I got dumb and doofus. Even if they were portrayed as good, it came off as a really phoney way of selling that. With Alizeh, what went right is that kindness, goodness and love naturally seeped out of her in every darn way… through her words, her actions and her mannerisms even.

Another thing Tahereh struck the right notes while doing, was shaping the way Alizeh saw the world around her. I wanted to scream:

This. Is. How. You. Write. A. Romantic.

Because believe it or not, Alizeh was a romantic in the skin of a pragmatic. She wasn’t allowed the luxury to fantasise because her days went by trying to survive, but in those idle moments… she would simply unwind and smell the roses. Or close her eyes and drink in the melodies around her. She would dream small dreams, and doing that didn’t render her a fool. She was strength and wits and all things beautiful at once unlike those dumbass divas in the name of romantics (¬_¬")

“This living, breathing world was hers to admire for this single moment in time, and she wanted to breathe it in; to luxuriate in the beating heart of civilization.”

#PointOfReference #AlizehProtectionSquad

: ̗̀➛ 🅚🅐🅜🅡🅐🅝: So the story of my life is as follows:

I’m enjoying. BAM, KAMRAN POV! I’m anticipating the next plot twist. BAM, KAMRAN POV! I’m living Alizeh’s life. AND THEN BAM, KAMRAN POV! Honestly, could’ve been alive and well without the unnecessary bombardment of Kamran POVs…

⊲ Ⅱ ⊳ 𝔽𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝔽𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖-𝕄𝕖-𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕃𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 ⊲ Ⅱ ⊳

Here I thought I was the whiniest bitch in land, but Kamran just had to outdo me. If I have to read another fricking paragraph about how gold threaded silk makes his royal-ass skin itch, I’ll rip HIS skin and sew him clothes from that. His victim mentality was making me see red, maroon, magenta and whatnot (⊙ _ ⊙)

Now, given the wholly unproblematic and unbiased person that I am har har (≖⩊≖) I’ll say that Kamran wasn’t a total bore. In fact, his character, infuriating as it was, can be very fun to keep up with when he’s not thinking in bitch-boi-mode. His sense of humour, entitled demeanour and the generally prickly behaviour made his POVs a lot more bearable amidst his bitching and moaning. And, point to be noted… dude can say some REALLY charming shit when in his element:

“I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.”

I’m weak, OKAY? I might’ve cooed a little ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

My bitch-boi senses are tingling so I KNOW he will act shitty in the books to come, FOR REASONS (˶˃⤙˂˶)

: ̗̀➛ 🅒🅨🅡🅤🅢: This was crueler than the Warner-drought episode in Unravel Me. Like what do you mean I have had to wait that long? Anyways, as late as he was to the show… he did have a dramatic presence otherwise where’s the swoon-factor, amiright?

I do not have much intel to come to a final conclusion on him. But from the few interactions, I just know he’s a cutesy devil not like disgusting Iblees tho. Him and Alizeh in the same square foot means drama delivered:

“What is your name?”

“Of all the non sequiturs. Why do you need to know my name?”

“So that I may hate you more informally.”

“Ah. Well, in that case, you may call me Cyrus.”

#MyKindaMeetCute

Then he laughed.
“Damn the devil to hell,” he said softly. “He didn’t tell me you were a Jinn.”

His reaction after being slapped by her so hard he got knocked over ヽ༼ ಥ_ಥ༽ﾉ

Real life sucks. Real men suck.

»»——★ fιnαℓ тнσυgнтѕ ★——««

➳ Whoever thought it would be a fun idea to lace a book with drugs? May you be blessed! I cannot believe people haven’t written ballads about this series yet! <(ꐦㅍ _ㅍ)>

Or have you? If so, send them my way ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

｡･ﾟ♡ﾟ･｡｡･ﾟ♡ﾟ･｡

[hailey:･ﾟ✧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feb 1, 2022: Don't walk, RUN, to your nearest bookstore and get this book now!

Jan 3, 2022: never ending thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins publishing for providing me with my first arc
publish date: Feb 1, 2022 preorder now!!

➝ 4.5/5 stars

"Though, if you mean to take me captive, you need only ask. I would come willingly."

"I think I might fetch you the moon, if only to spare your tears again."

*clears throat* Ms Mafi, this review is personal. You hear? personal. Because who told you to write such a literary masterpiece...and then not immediately give me the next book? My jaw is on the floor right now, I don't even know where to start.

I want to start off by saying that her writing style is just so amazing- and the more she writes, the better it gets. It really was amazing watching her writing develop throughout her books, especially this one! The writing was beautiful, the world building was immaculate, the plot twists?. And the characters?

Don't even get me started on Mr Kamran, he reminds me so much of Warner<33 He is everything you want in a dark-haired-morally-grey prince who fell so damn hard for the forbidden queen destined to destroy him🥰. NOW ALIZEH the ultimate badass with a heart of gold and the strength of ten women (yes, women). Her character is just amazing and SO SMART?? Like, usually the fm main character would make all the wrong decisions and not trust their instincts and be oblivious to everything, but NOT ALIZEH. And that's one of the main reasons I loved her!!

The story might be kind of slow for some people at the beginning, though that wasn't the case for me. I was hooked from the very beginning, and hardly wanted to put it down. Everybody and their mothers- go read this!!

Now Ms Mafi- THE ENDING?? THE AUDACITY YOU HAVE TO kill the king and reveal that he ate children???? the devil was behind it all, the king of Tulan basically kidnapped Alizeh TO MARRY HER, and Hazan was OUTED AS A TRAITOR AND TAKEN INTO CUSTODY AND THEN MAKE US WAIT MONTHS- YEARS, FOR A NEW BOOK? HOW WILL I SURVIVE? UGH

[évieane · Rating 3 out of 5]

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . 3.5 - 3.7 ☆ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ˋ°•*⁀➷ㅤmight contain spoilers ❗

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ᯓ ✿ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍re-read ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⪼ ┆03-Aug-2025┆
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⤿ my god, the ending of this book hits so much harder and is so much more entertaining when you read this a second time 🤭


ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ Unfortunately, all the magnificently captivating and vivid writing and the incredibly amazing FMC I managed to discover in Alizeh could not make me give this book more than 3 stars. Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a good book, and I enjoyed it extremely much, especially due to the insane manner in which it is written, but I admit I did get bored at times, and I found myself barely pushing through most of Kamran's POVs. This might also be entirely due to my slight dislike for him as a character, but there really wasn't much going on in the book itself to keep me that intrigued.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ I was mainly here for Hazan's sassiness towards Kamran and the last 50 pages of the book, when a certain someone makes an appearance and wreaks complete havoc.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ “What a strange girl you are...to behold a rose and perceive only its thorns, never the bloom.”

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ short summary
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ "This Woven Kingdom" by Tahereh Mafi is a gorgeously written fantasy that practically glows off the page. Set in a rich, Persian-inspired world full of jinn, political tension, and secret legacies, it follows Alizeh—a servant girl with a dangerous hidden identity—and Kamran, a crown prince who’s very much not supposed to notice her… but definitely does.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ The prose is lush and poetic, the worldbuilding beautifully layered with cultural depth and mythological touches. Every scene feels cinematic.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ The romance, though? Pretty to look at, but it lacks real emotional grounding. Alizeh and Kamran’s connection feels rushed and a bit too much like fate trying to do all the heavy lifting. Still, the atmosphere, intrigue, and writing alone make it a journey worth taking—even if your heart’s not entirely in it.


ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ honest thoughts
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ You know what is the first thing I am going to talk about when it comes to this book: the writing is one of the most beautiful I've ever encountered in any book. I was genuinely shocked with how much I was devouring every single word from the pages of this novel. The writing matches the atmosphere, the setting, and the characters of the book itself so perfectly that you get the feeling you are literally experiencing the events yourself; you find yourself shocked by revelations, you feel the helplessness of a cruel society, you experience the lies and the betrayals firsthand, and you cannot do anything but be a pawn yourself in a game of political intrigue.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ Despite the amazement that the writing managed to inspire in me, the plot of the novel fails in supporting the writing and enhancing it to its full potential. I do understand that the book itself spans a rather short period of time, but exactly due to this, I couldn't get as attached to some of these characters as I hoped to. The plot is indeed engaging, but, for me, the incredibly long monologues made me feel like the story itself was slightly dragging at times.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ It's been so long since a book kept me so intrigued and really made me gasp at a revelation or a plot-twist; this book managed both perfectly. The fact that I entirely did not see anything coming about these characters is probably what kept me addicted to this book and made it hard for me to just put it down. (I literally ended up carrying the book with me at the office 😭)

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ Now, here comes the main reason I was deemed fully incapable of entirely getting immersed in this book: the romance was lacking in so many aspects; from the more than insta-lust(?) vibes I was getting from both Kamran and Alizeh to the lack of genuine feelings being present anywhere, this romance plot entirely lacked emotional depth. I couldn't understand how two people who barely knew each other for only a few days could just act like their world would simply end without the other or something; especially Kamran, because Alizeh seemed rather just attached to him, not necessarily in love with him.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ To be entirely honest, at one point I was here only for the incredibly amusing bromance between Hazan and Kamran. I was living for their diss-like interactions.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ And now we come to the seriously mind-blowing part of this book; the last 50 pages of this novel are simply there to create complete chaos, to give you whiplash, and to shock you in the best way possible. I went into this series entirely blind, so I had no clue about what was going to happen, and, God, I made the most perfect decision. All of my praises go towards the ending of this book because it was absolutely perfect!


ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ characters
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍I am such an easy-to-please person when it comes to characters in a book: all you have to do is to give me some characters that are showing at least some sort of personality and character traits, and I am instantly sold.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ✴︎ Alizeh - I started reading this book expecting to meet some helpless, weak FMC that, by being put through challenges in her life, will be forced to evolve into something way more powerful. How wrong I was. Alizeh is such a strong woman and such a complete badass! I instantly fell in love with her strong, yet gentle personality, her brilliant mind, and her absolutely stunning character throughout the entire book. I just know the banter in the second book is about to be absolute perfection because of her.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ She does seem rather innocent in so many ways too, mainly because she instantly confuses attraction with love and is so eager to feel less lonely that she is falling so easily in love with a person that... basically does nothing and only talks prettily to her (yes, Kamran, I am talking about you).

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ✴︎ Kamran - If this man has no haters, then I am definitely dead. I'll admit, his poetry is definitely nice and he had some cute moments as well, but why is this man acting like a selfish teenager most of the time? I was so put off by his superiority complex all through the book; and while I do understand that he is a prince and he was treated in a certain way his entire life, I could only see a child throwing tantrums in him.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ I also couldn't fall for his character in what concerns the romance in this book either. Hear me out: he did not fall in love with Alizeh as a living being; he fell in love only with the idea of her. He simply fell in love with the image of her that he created for himself in his own mind, and I do certainly believe this, mainly because he knows absolutely nothing about her character or personality. He falls in love with her only because of his own suppositions about her character and only because she is very beautiful. I will die on this hill!

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ✴︎ Hazan - King, you dropped this 👑! I was absolutely in love with his character instantly. He is simply so sassy, outspoken and petty that I just couldn't help but instantly like him. I genuinely hope he gets to play a bigger role soon because I am living for whatever he does.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ✴︎ Cyrus - I am in love. I need this mean to threaten me too. Please! He just came in and conquered it all.


ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ should you read this?
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ Yes! Don't be deceived by my rating of the book because I am, most of the time, a rather pretentious little thing that easily dislikes things in books; but you should all probably read this book as soon as possible. It is so beautifully written, and it does such an amazing job in portraying the world of the book that you are bound to fall in love with its writing.
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ Now, I am going back to reading the second book. I literally had to force myself to put it down and drag myself to my laptop just to write this review. 😭




⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ᯓ ✿ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍pre-reading ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⪼ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ started ┆15-June-2025┆
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⤿ Well, based on my poll, the people of Goodreads have spoken and decided that this is to be my next read 🙌🏻 I am pretty excited about this series and I can't wait to see what all the hype is about.

[Herica Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ tahereh mafi has done it again.
i loved alizeh and kamran but that ending??? i think i might be into cyrus a little. is kamran the new adam?? 😭 i need the next book immediately. i’ve always loved tahereh’s writing and the way she weaves emotion into every page. plus, the persian mythology? absolutely obsessed

[Tilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

I was really excited for this book as I am a huge fan of Tahereh Mafi, especially her Shatter Me series. Sadly, this book didn't live up to my expectations.

This Woven Kingdom is just under 500 pages and for over half of that, I was incredibly bored and didn't have any attachment to the characters or excitement for the book at all. I nearly DNFed so many times but luckily had seen a review that said the story got better in the second half, which it did. Why we needed 250 pages of nothingness to get there is beyond me. There was no worldbuilding, no interesting scenes or characters and the pace was SO slow. The first half could easily have been condensed into 100 pages or less and it would have been a better book. Luckily the story did pick up and get interesting but there was only real excitement in the final 50 pages of the book. There wasnt enough magic or fantasy aspects so the fact that Jinn can communicate via fireflies was the most exciting aspect for me for most of the story!

I found the lead female character Alizeh (who is the lost queen of the Jinn and who has magical powers) to be incredibly dull and lacking in any real personality. She gets a little more interesting towards the end but I just didn't connect with her at all. I also desperately wanted to see some of her magic but we barely saw anything.
The lead male is Kamran who is also pretty dull but thankfully his personality does pick up quicker than Alizeh. The side characters were all 2D apart from one who does become interesting. There was noone who I was excited by until right near the end.

I found the romance to be a little ridiculous. It is definitely filed under "instalove" and I just didn't feel the connection between them at all. I adore romance so am swayed easily but the spark just wasn't there for me.
I felt the writing was not up to Tahereh's usual standard and the pace was way too slow to the point of boredom. I also thought the storyline was lacking in imagination and the politics, romance, magic and worldbuilding was all pretty basic. The dialogue at the start felt stilted and cringe worthy but thankfully that became much better by the end.

The final 100 pages saved this book for me. We finally got some mystery, twists and turns, action and a new exciting character came into the mix. The story ended on a cliffhanger and because I finally felt myself interested in the story and characters, I want to know what happens next and so I will be picking up the next book.

Overall, a story lacking excitement and individuality. There was potential but it wasn't used to it's fullest and so I often found myself bored. The story did finally pick up towards the end and this saved it from being a 2 star read. I am sad to write such a negative review and gutted that this book didn't wow me.

Please note that I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review.

[areeba ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ★

one thing i've noticed about tahereh mafi is that her real strength as a writer lies in her characters. i enjoy the plots of her books—they’re well-written and engaging enough, though not exactly groundbreaking. but it's really her characters that stand out. i think that’s why, even though i liked the book, i didn’t end up loving it.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ the plot ꒱ ˎˊ˗

i love mythologies and folklore-type stories, so naturally, i loved the plot. it was interesting, and i liked the overall setting. however, after a captivating start where we learned about the world and the mc's past, things slowed down a lot. for about 150 pages, not much really happened. it wasn’t boring exactly, but the story didn’t seem to be moving forward. smh 😒

and then the story took a turn in the last 100 pages or so. there was so much stuff going on at once, it was just one thing after the other (in a good way). talk about a wild ride.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ the characters ꒱ ˎˊ˗

➸ alizeh:

i absolutely adored her character. she is kind, resourceful, can kill you in the blink of an eye but will choose compassion everytime 😭😭😭. and she has suffered sm my girlll i wanted to give her the biggest hug ever.

➸ kamran:

and here in lies my biggest critique of this book: kamran. i did not like his character at all. he has been blessed with everything a person could want in life but he doesn't appreciate any of it. he looks down upon people around him all the time, may it be his friend, family, the ministers, the king, hell even his own freaking mother. and don't even get me started on how he talks about the women around him. according to him, every female creature around him wants to marry him and is incapable to stringing two words together. cool 🤡🤡.

and all his feelings for alizeh seem to stem from the fact that she doesn't fall upon his preconceived notions about people. ugh.

➸ cyrus:

watch tahereh mafi single handedly destroy my "i-want-a-dark-haired-man" agenda. first aaron, now cyrus? 😭 his character has me so intrigued.

my man has dragons + can do magic + is infamous as hell + committed patricide + can banter with the fmc 🤸🏻‍♀️ need i say more?

˗ˏˋ ꒰ the romance ꒱ ˎˊ˗

the way the romance is written is good enough. but i wasn't a fan of alizeh and kamran's relationship because, for me, there didn't seem to be any real feelings involved. there was lust and attraction, yes. but they didn't even know anything about each other as actual people. and there is a huge difference between feeling true emotions for someone and liking someone for who they are vs. being attracted to someone.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ bottom line ꒱ ˎˊ˗

a good story that fell short for me only because of the mmc and it's slow pace at times. but i'm still going to continue the series because:
- i want to see alizeh get everything good in life
- i want to see more alizehcyrus dynamics
- the story is so interesting

[Kenz The Dragon Queen]

If Tehereh Mafi is writing a mafia fantasy novel, then it’s not my fault that I’m going to buy several copies.

[Sîvan Sardar · Rating 5 out of 5]

there is something about middle eastern muslim authors that write fantasy like they r really gnna eat every single time.

[hillary]

Described by TM as: Game of Thrones set in the Persian empire, inspired by Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

Omg I can’t wait

[SHOMPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this the same author who wrote the "Shatter Me" series!? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Let me just digest a few more minutes of what I actually got from the first book in this new series by Tahereh Mafi. It's been days since I finished it, still digestin.

Okay, when I first saw that it's a story about Jinn, Iblis, and dark magic, I was eagerly waiting to read the book and see how it would be arranged with these intriguing topics. But sadly, this whole book didn't focus too much on that. Even though the book has been standardized, it uses weighty sentences to make the world of the story believable. Still, it seemed to me that the author was focusing more on her writing than on improving the story or characters. I don't know what happened to this great writer. Is it possible that someone else is writing her book? Ehh.. I know it sounds very ridiculous. Never mind.

Despite my general dislike for the love triangle trope, I have to admit that the second half of the book was quite enjoyable. The author has a track record of handling this trope with great finesse, and even though it's not my cup of tea, I found myself drawn to the story. The final page left me with a hint of what's to come, which has piqued my interest even further. All in all, I'm more curious now than I was before.

[❀ Rose ❀]

“Inspired by Persian mythology” — say no more