I went into this book with a little to no knowledge of what this story was about. All I knew was there was a girl pretending to be a guy, a prince, and Arabic influence. So I was already sold because I’m already trash for a good book based on Arabic culture such as The Forbidden Wish and The Wrath of the Dawn and I’m a slut for the “girl pretending to be a guy” trope so I was sold already I didn’t even need to read the whole synopsis. Plus, someone even said if you liked Aladdin then you’ll end this story so I’m here expecting an Aladdin story but gender-reversed and instead of Jasmine being a princess, she’s a poor girl who pretends to be a boy and steals and helps the poor. This what I was actually hoping this what this story was about.
Boy was I wrong.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay wrong.
Instead this book was about a girl who pretends to be a boy who hunts in a magical forest for her starving village and she’s known famously at “The Hunter”. A witch convinces her to help restore magic to their kingdom by shipping her off to this island to find this book but there’s an assassin, also a prince known infamously as “The Prince of Death”, who’s sent to kill “The Hunter” and retrieve the book and then stuff happens from there.
Honestly I’m pretty sad it wasn’t what I thought it was lol but the author did tell a good story but there was so much issues I had with this book.
The pacing was so weird. The first quarter of the book was so slow and boring and it was so hard to get into the story that I keep getting distracted by other things. It starts getting interesting right when Zafira (The Hunter) goes on her journey and this book had both Nasir (The prince) and Zafira POV and I was getting excited when Nasir was set on his mission to kill her but that excitement quickly faded away as I continued reading on the book because this characters literally don’t do anything majority of this book until the end and then there’s that cliffhanger.
The plot twists the author threw in this book were really underwhelming. It wasn’t predictable, it’s just when certain information were reveal, it didn’t make me gasp and clench my pearls, like that cliffhanger in the end.
If there was a campaign for the president of brooding men, I would vote for Nasir because I swear this guy can be so depressing and dark to read and he gets kind of repetitive at times. I’m glad we had Altair in the story because his humor not only got Nasir through tough times but me through this book, he was honestly my favorite character in this book and the only character that really shined in this book.
I honestly think this book was more centered towards the character than the plot since majority of the book the characters didn’t do anything and I find Benyamin (or however you spell his name) and the girl (whatever her name is) so random because they came out of no where and I don’t exactly know how they even came into the story and what were their purpose in this story. I really wished we could’ve seen more character development with the girl because she was honestly this warrior princess with no personality and I wish her and Zafira had some type of friendship or showed some girl power.
I’m also a little disappointed in the romance. It wasn’t insta-love but I was really hoping for some enemies-to-lovers vibes and we barely got any and I really couldn’t tell why they like each other except the fact they’re attracted to each other.
What really bugged me was SHE WASN’T EVEN A DUDE FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE BOOK! I was looking forward to that the most and plus basically everyone already knew she was girl so I’m here in confusion as to what was the point of her disguise???? Like I know the message this book sends on feminism but I was really looking forward to the “girl disguised as guy” trope and love interest questioning his sexuality (I’m going to assume homosexuality is a taboo in the story since it’s based on Arabic culture).
I think my expectations kind of got in the way of the book but honestly the author did tell a good story and I did enjoy reading it. I will be looking forward to the second book. This review was a big expection vs reality.
I rate this book three stars!
Thanks for reading!
People lived because she killed.
People died because he lived.
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.
Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
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