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A review by cloudbooks
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If any book could present a pathetic meow meow, this book did it. Never have I ever been more frustrated and completely in love with the same character. The way he's rendered completely speechless by the sheer softness of Alizah just made me squeal.
With that said, the story itself is not very solid. It takes a while to get going, and while I excused it for trying to present the world - and it did - it did feel like a bit too many pages were spent on seemingly unimportant scenes and inner dialogue. There was also a solid lack of important secondary characters until at least the 2/3rd through and even then it's not like they play a major role. The only real secondary characters are a boy who seems to mainly just push the plot forward, and a very whiny lady who has an evil stepmother.
I listened to this book, not read it, but I have a feeling that the writing of this author takes some time to get used to. It's very descriptive and in some ways formal, more formal than I'm perhaps used to in fantasy settings. There were times where I lost track of time in the book and it took me a while to figure out.
Another thing is that this is, in some ways, a slightly twisted retelling of Cinderella, and the setting is in no way unique - sure, it's more diverse than the original fairytale but it's not new. It doesn't really pull the book down for me but if you expect something else than a somewhat classic "poverty makes a queen, unfairness changes spoiled princes" story, you'll be disappointed.
Last but not least while I loved the characters and the romance in this story, it was a little unrealistic. It is quite literally love at first sight to the point that the prince starts out wanting to murder her, then begs his grandfather not to murder her, then announces that he wants to make her his queen (if she'll allow it). But if you stick by the Cinderella retelling, it's to be expected.
I will probably read this book again on my own just because I loved the characters so much but it's definitely not the greatest book I've read.
With that said, the story itself is not very solid. It takes a while to get going, and while I excused it for trying to present the world - and it did - it did feel like a bit too many pages were spent on seemingly unimportant scenes and inner dialogue. There was also a solid lack of important secondary characters until at least the 2/3rd through and even then it's not like they play a major role. The only real secondary characters are a boy who seems to mainly just push the plot forward, and a very whiny lady who has an evil stepmother.
I listened to this book, not read it, but I have a feeling that the writing of this author takes some time to get used to. It's very descriptive and in some ways formal, more formal than I'm perhaps used to in fantasy settings. There were times where I lost track of time in the book and it took me a while to figure out.
Another thing is that this is, in some ways, a slightly twisted retelling of Cinderella, and the setting is in no way unique - sure, it's more diverse than the original fairytale but it's not new. It doesn't really pull the book down for me but if you expect something else than a somewhat classic "poverty makes a queen, unfairness changes spoiled princes" story, you'll be disappointed.
Last but not least while I loved the characters and the romance in this story, it was a little unrealistic. It is quite literally love at first sight to the point that the prince starts out wanting to murder her, then begs his grandfather not to murder her, then announces that he wants to make her his queen (if she'll allow it). But if you stick by the Cinderella retelling, it's to be expected.
I will probably read this book again on my own just because I loved the characters so much but it's definitely not the greatest book I've read.