This book was meh for me. The setting was beautiful, but I found that the author described mostly the food and sometimes the outfits too much for my taste. It took me almost halfway through the book to grow attached to Fatima, as for Zulfikar... I did not like him, but didn't hate him either. Fatima's sister I don't like, and I only beginning to like Bhavya towards the end.
The romance was nothing special, my main complaint about it is that I did not got the impression from Fatima, that he was actually in love with Zulfikar through her actions that much. 
It didn't needed this much POV, Zulfikar, and Fatima would have been enough, and we could have seen the things through their eyes, which could have strenghten their bond.

Zulfakir bonds with Fatima's fire to save her life before they know each other at all. This means Fatima's attraction, while eventually genuine, lags behind Zulfikar's bond to her, and the trajectory of their relationship resembles a political or otherwise arranged marriage where the couple become close after they're already linked. I like this and adjacent tropes, so I enjoyed their romance immensely. Because it's not actually an arranged marriage, there are some associated secondary tropes that play out less predictably in enjoyable ways. 

The female characters are complex and vibrant, even (or perhaps especially) when at pursuing contradictory aims. The Alif sisters appear often as a unit, but each of them get brief moments as distinct people outside of their connection. I was treated as a part of a similar unit as a child, and so I'm grateful that the narrative clearly does not think of them as interchangeable. There's a strong emphasis on women's rights and female empowerment, with women claiming control of their own bodies and asserting their right to take up space. These themes take into account misogynist efforts to stop them, but they are independent of what the male characters think about it. It's handled as a theme throughout with a few pointed scenes, making it obvious as a societal value with specific impacts, even if some misogynist characters think their repulsive actions will win out instead. 

Most of the male characters are less distinct, having far less space in the narrative. By the end, I got a sense of who Zulfakir and Anwar are as people, but no real sense of the rest of the men. To me, this feels like the right emphasis for this story and I'm not bothered by it, but I did want to note it (especially in contrast to how well we get to know most of the women). 

The worldbuilding is detailed, taking seriously that the various characters are part of that world. There are at least two scenes where characters who spent time living on the street give a walking tour to one of the nobility. These moments double as opportunities to show the reader even more of the city, and from a more intimate perspective. There are descriptions of clothes and food from a variety of religions and cultures, humans and djinn, making the city feel alive and vibrant. The audiobook narrator did a wonderful job, the audiobook is excellent.

The plot builds slowly, focusing on conversations between people as they go about their lives. It means that long stretches feel almost like a slice-of-life story, leaving me with no idea what the overall direction was, nor which scenes were important to the main plot. Much of the tension in the middle of the story is between Fatima and her adoptive sister, Sunaina, as Fatima has been suddenly and irrevocably changed but is unable to fully explain to her sister what happened. Even when the political intrigue plotline begins to surface, it's important but doesn't take over the narrative because no one thing is given primacy. 

I'll definitely be checking out more by this author, this is an excellent story.

Every one of you needs to go read this book now 

The magic system…loved it 
The characters…love them 
Romance…love it 
Politics…damn
Betrayal…ouch

Ok first off the world building in this book is one of my favorites ever. It was so interesting and I loved the magic system.

I don’t know why this books is not more popular. Like I’ve never even seen it on TikTok. It’s so good. 

I love the main character Fatima Ghazala, and she is Muslim. Something I really enjoyed about this book is that get actually see her practicing her faith which I loved because I don’t feel like that is really common in books especially fantasy. Like we see her getting up for prayers and celebrating Deepavali. I just loved seeing it all in a fantasy book. 

They’re all bad bitches. Amazing relationships between all the women. Every one of them are amazing. Also found family. I love the dynamic of these characters. The Alif sisters are iconic. 

You know Padme’s handmaidens in star wars that are secret body guards? Did you love that? Well…maybe you should read this book. 

I love Zulfikar. I’m convinced that man has anxiety. You can’t convince me otherwise. And he’s a simp. Even before he realizes he’s a simp.

Nafiza Azad did an amazing job with this book

<b>TWs: Death, Murder, Violence, Grief, sexual harassment </b>

I’m definitely going to add to this review later but I needed to go ahead and say something about how amazing this book is.

I was very impressed by the complexity of this world, in its structure and in its magic system, but I must admit that I did not manage to connect more than that with the characters. They seemed distant to me, especially the main character, Fatima Ghazala (I'm not going to lie to you, I was a little fed up after hearing her full name all the time but, anyway...). So, apart from Fatima Ghazala and Zulfikar, I don't remember the other names (and besides, while listening to this audiobook, I had trouble distinguishing the characters and spotting which storyline we were following). By the way, at the end of the audiobook (and I think this is also the case in the physical book), there was a list of all the characters. In my opinion, this shows that there is a little muddle in the very desire/necessity (?) to join this list. But this point is caught up by the strong messages of this book, especially the power of women, who are strong and proud, or the matriarchal system of the Ifrit. There is also a great place for family, friends, these other forms of love that are sometimes neglected. The descriptions were sumptuous, always accompanied by small details that are important. Another positive point, the romance, which did not take up too much space, which did not lock Fatima Ghazala away during the relationship, with a man at her side who did not try to control her. A very beautiful standalone, but also intense and dense. I had sometimes a little trouble getting into it at the beginning.