Oh this was so so so beautiful!!! I fell in love with this story, and I had tears running down my face in the final pages. I do think the ending felt a bit rushed, and it didn’t really feel believable that after all that she was no longer bothered by the townspeople and they just left her alone??? But I adored this overall!!!

Books have a taste. Some taste like cigar smoke or chocolate, maybe lavender, or soil, or peppermint.
But when I read the words, I can taste them - like an aftertaste on my tongue.

The Jinn Daughter tastes like spicy chai, fireplace smoke, and sour pomegranate juice. It is warm and cozy, but sharp and bitter too. It feels like a safe home, and a dangerous knife-edge all at the same time.

Rania Hanna is a goddess when it comes to storycraft.
Her love for storytelling - not just this story, but the telling of stories as an act, practice, and art - is beautifully obvious in this book.

You have Nadine, forced to tell the stories of the dead; Layala, eager to create her own story in the world; and a whole other cast of characters telling, making, and destroying stories.

By the end, I felt at peace. I understood Nadine in a way I have rarely understood other characters in other books.

This book touches on the difficult lines of mother-daughter relationships, the magic of everyday moments, the way our actions alter the future, the dedication of a mother to her child, the timeless expanse of true love, the sacrifice love demands from us, and the irresistible pull to our destiny.

This book is magic, just like a perfectly brewed cup of tea is magic. Not because it is unusual or divine...but because it just is.

Very eager to see what Rania Hanna writes next!

The Jinn Daughter is fantasy and mythology, with the age old story of a parent trying their best to hold onto their child in different ways. Nadine is a jinn, but also a mother. I feel this story was as much about magic rooted in Middle-Eastern mythology, as much as it was about what it means to be a parent.

Nadine wants to hold her daughter close and protect her, and there are so many layers to that as the story progresses. We also get to see parenthood from different perspectives - a parent who views their child as something they own, but not something they need to care for; a parent who is far from their child and wishes to see them again; a parent who has and is grieving their child; and a parent who is afraid to let their child be their own person and let go of the idea of their child. The way these perspectives are shared is so unique and interesting and I loved how stories and parenthood were depicted throughout. It was definitely a heavier book as a result of how steeped it was in the concept of parenthood, but I am honestly amazed by how these complex relationships were relayed and depicted.

Beyond that main theme of parenthood, we have the mythological and fantastical side of the story. Nadine tells the story of the dead which helps them to pass through the gates to the afterlife. I found the magic of the underworld fascinating, with the storytelling of the life seed and Nadine's ability to cross to the Waiting Place. Nadine's magic is a larger part of the story at the beginning and at the end, with a lot of focus on world building and mythology. I enjoyed these part immensely and I'm so curious to learn more now. I liked seeing the layers of the underworld and the different beings that are part of it. I'm also so curious about Death and her story. The stories were also a highlight - I will probably reread them in the future to better digest them, as I feel like those had hidden meanings and parallels to them that I missed.

For such a short novel, The Jinn Daughter is intricate, emotional, and full of magic. This really has been the year for debut novels, and I'm exceedingly impressed that this is the first (of hopefully many) by Rania Hanna. It's always interesting to see how different cultures have built mythology around the universal concept of death and beyond. Definitely recommend if you love mythology and the underworld.

TW: racism (against jinns), sexism, death, blood, death of a child, violence, grief; mentions death of a parent, suicide, pregnancy, abortion, murder