This Woven Kingdom

Book Reviews

Apr 18

This Woven Kingdom (This Woven Kingdom #1)
By: Tahereh Mafi

[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2022]
[Nominated for ‘Best YA Fantasy’ category of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
[Fulfilled ‘Book with a castle’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]

“She dreamed of unleashing her mind, of freeing her hands to create without hesitation— but the roar of Alizeh’s imagination was quieted, always, by an unfortunate need for self-preservation.”

“Fire was her soul, but water was her life; it was all she needed to survive.”

This book has been on my shelf for a year now and I finally got around to reading it. I’m glad I did! I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one.

I feel like fantasy books are always better when they’re part of a series!

‘This Woven Kingdom’ is a version of Cinderella: orphaned girl heir to a throne, forced to serve, treated poorly, falls in love with a prince, attends a ball in a magical gown where said prince is looking for a bride, must leave by midnight, etc. with a bonus magic carpet ride and a touch of Rumpelstiltskin where magic comes at a price.

The difference is that Alizeh (our Cinderella character) is a bit more complicated and the overlying plot more dark.

It is supposedly also interposed with Persian lore. However, I didn’t really feel immersed in Persian culture as I read it— perhaps that’s my lack of knowledge, but this part of it seemed underwhelming.

Plot Summary

Alizeh is a Jinn which means she was “forged from the essence of fire.” The alternative was to be a human “established in dirt and water” which was to be Clay. Jinn is part of Persian lore and through which we are introduced to the character Iblees (Iblis)— the devil— who is also a Jinn.

But Alizeh is more than just a Jinn. She is a Jinn with ice in her veins, destined to rule her people.

“Alizeh had been brought up to lead, to unify, to free her people from the half-lives they’d been forced to live.”

The devil has been haunting Alizeh to this end.

“Alizeh’s parents had tried, desperately, to banish such a beast from their home, but he had returned again and again, forever embroidering the tapestry of her life with ominous forebodings, in what seems a promise of destruction she could not outmaneuver.”

So how is she now a servant in the lowest class of citizens? Because her parents were killed and her life is in danger. It was prophesied that a “a creature with ice in its veins would be the demise of Zaal,” King Zaal is thus determined to get rid of her.

Even though the kingdom is supposedly ruled with equality at the forefront, an attempt to finally cease the warring between Jinn and Clay, the Jinn had to give up more. It is illegal for them to use their special abilities (like speed, strength, invisibility) unless they were in war. It is not always beneficial to be known as a Jinn.

Things start to unravel for Alizeh when she is discovered by the Prince Kamran. At first suspicious that she is a spy, he draws attention and investigation into who she is. Shortly after they obviously have a love at first sight moment and Kamran regrets his actions that have led to her running for her life.

He is now stuck between his loyalty to his soon-to-be-his-kingdom slash his mentor-grandfather (Zaal) and his obsession with Alizeh and wanting to keep her safe.

“To kill her now, innocent as she was, seemed to him as senseless as shooting arrows at the moon. That kind of light was not so easily extinguished, and what was there to celebrate in a success that would only leave the earth dimmer as a result?”

Can Alizeh escape the wrath of King Zaal? If she can, where can she go? How will the prophecy come to be? And how does the devil’s schemes play into all of it?

“‘One day,’ her father had said, ‘This world will bow to you.’”

Plus some other plot threads:
- two warring kingdoms: Ardunia and Tulan
- Ardunia (Zaal’s kingdom) running out of water
- possible love triangle?
- fireflies being “comrades in arms”
- the mining of magic as a mineral

Comments

I really liked the Alizeh character, however I still feel like she’s a bit of an enigma. She is intelligent and strong-willed, but shows both timidity and confidence. You’re not quite sure what she’s capable of.

I’m not a fan of Kamran who is ruled by his anger: “Anger had kept him alive more than his heart ever could.” I’m assuming that’s foreshadowing of something changing in him by the end of the series.

But because of his moodiness and anger, it was hard to see what was between him and Alizeh as a romantic love. It felt more like an obsession or lust for him, something he wants to selfishly satiate. For Alizeh, it feels like naivete because of how she has been treated by other people— she will be pulled into something that feels good that she has never felt before.

But personally, I’m not sure if I trust Kamran. This book is such that I’m not entirely sure who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Is Alizeh even good if she is of the same essence as the devil? So my prediction is that maybe Kamran will choose himself in the end. But we shall see.

There are hints of a love triangle, but nothing overt yet. Perhaps that will develop in the next book, especially considering the cliffhanger ending of this one.

What’s interesting about this book so far is that Iblees is a prominent character and is portrayed as evil. Yet in Islam (is Persian lore Islamic?), he has been thrown out of heaven and God (not sure if this should be capitalized?) is part of this story. In ‘This Woven Kingdom’ there has been no introduction of a god, or a good supernatural being. I think that’s rather curious and wonder if one will enter the story later. If not, it feels hard to reconcile a good vs evil plotline. I’ll definitely have some theological ponderings by book three if this doesn’t pan out in a satisfactory way.

As quoted above, water is necessary for Alizeh’s survival. It is a vital resource and the kingdom is running low. I was expecting this information to play a bigger role in this book in terms of her survival and the choices she is forced to make. But it seemed very much in the background.

Another aspect that seemed underplayed was the role of Kamran’s mother. What’s her deal? It was a little bit like in the Pink Panther where Clouseau is constantly trying to keep his partner, Ponton, ‘ready for anything’ by trying to surprise him at random times with throwing objects or trying to hit him, etc. It’s not quite the comedic element in this story, but since we don’t get much else of his mom except these interactions it’s hard to have a serious perspective of who she is and what her role is to be. Because her husband (Kamran’s father) died, she is no longer to be queen. Is she somehow scheming to find a way to throne or is she just a support to Kamran? We don’t know yet.

As per all YA fiction, the hero or heroine is a teenager of some kind. In this story Alizeh and Kamran are 18. Whether or not the events are realistic, I understand that the age of the characters is intentional to engage the target audience. At some points in Mafi’s Shatter Me trilogy, it seemed more dissonant. So far in this story, I haven’t rolled my eyes about it yet.

And last comment: there was overuse of the word impertinent and preternatural. But on the plus side, I now know what they mean.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book. It’s got the fantastical world-building, mysterious characters, unfulfilled prophecy, a touch of romance, and a character you can root for! Oh yeah, and there’s a dragon.

I think my overall recommendation of this series will depend how the other two books go. As I mentioned in this review, there were some aspects that felt undeveloped in this book but I know it’s a series and you can’t do everything in the first book, some of it has to just be set-up for what’s to come.

But so far, I’m on board, and I think you should be too!

[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content]

You can purchase a copy of this book via my affiliate link below.