An epic non-european fantasy where the djinn are dying and its all up to Roshan to find the seal. But will her powers save the djinn or destroy them?

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

This is a good fantasy with some wonderful characters and good world building.

Unfortunately it is spoilt with an abrupt ending leaving you in limbo.

Unfortunately this book did not grip me at the time of reading. I would be willing to go back and try it again, because, in the books defense, I could have been in a bad headspace for it but, this review is for my first go through. There were definitely elements to be admired, I quite liked the descriptions of magic, however I was not drawn to much of anything character wise, crafting wise or overall plot wise. Those first few chapters are important for a reason and I unfortunately did not go into things with my head held high.

Action packed, vengeful spirits, and my favorite element of muti-pov, but I still could not get through this book. Page 100 and that was it.

The Seal was an interesting YA fantasy book about Djinn and magic. I read a lot of fantasy in general so I found this very entertaining.

For such a short book, I thought it wrapped everything up pretty well. It was fast-paced but didn't feel rushed. I also appreciated the mention of religion within the novel.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read with a strong plot and good characters.

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Actual rating of 2.5

This book was pretty short, the paperback version comes in at around 180 pages according to Goodreads, so this is partly the reason behind my lower rating. For a relatively short book, it felt like it took way too long for me to get through it. I found that I would pick it up, and after a chapter or two put it back down because I just couldn't be bothered, which for me isn't the greatest. I feel this had a lot to do with the pacing and how convoluted the story came across. In this instance, I feel that a shorter page length only ended up hurting what could have been an absolutely fantastic story.

There was a lot of info-dumping for a good while in the beginning of this story, which is where I think it would have been more beneficial had the book been longer as this would have allowed the author to delve into the world building properly, even after finishing it, I'm still a bit confused on the meaning behind a lot of terms used. I realise now, after seeing another reader's review on Netgalley, that there was apparently a glossary which explained a lot of the more ambiguous terms, however, I never came across this in my kindle version of the book; so if you do read this story and find you're having a bit of trouble, please try and find this glossary as I think it will help a great deal.

The premise of this story was fantastic, and I feel that it could have been so much more than what this first instalment turned out to be. As I said above, having a longer page count would have helped a great deal as the story was very convoluted and I found that I wasn't so much taking in or focusing on what was going on in the plot because I was still trying to wrap my head around the terms and the small amount we knew about the world. The author wrote as though we knew exactly what was going on, where I felt that I was dropped in the middle of something and left to fend for myself.

The characters showed great promise, but once again, due to such a small page count, they didn't have a lot of chance to gain their own voice and endear themselves to me. I was interested in their stories and I'm hoping that these are explored more through the coming instalments, but I'm not feeling super keen to pick them up at this point, but who knows what can happen in the future.

The story had great promise, but just fell a little short in it's execution, I am interested to see what happens to Roshan and everyone, and I have a soft spot for Zana, I'm just a bit torn because I feel like if the story had have been longer, it would have been SO much better.

Persian mythology introduced the djinn or genies, being know for using supernatural ways to grant wishes or perform magical feats. In ancient times King Solomon had a heavenly ring used to subdue the djinn and they are trying to find it to free themselves from bondage. Will Roshan be able to find the ring in time or are the djinn doomed forever? This is the first book in a trilogy and a good introduction to the storyline. There are characters to love and many who are not so endearing. Roshan and her brother must work to find the seal before it is too late but what are the consequences even if she does find it?

Unfortunately, I will not be leaving a review for this book, because it didn't touch me enough to finish it. I read half of the 142 pages story until I realized that I couldn't care for any of the characters. They all sound the same, they all think the same. They have no distinct personalities. Heck, but mid-story, I still couldn't get most of their names straight because none of them stood out. Well, maybe the protagonist, but only because she is the typical Mary Sue Chosen one.

Sorry, I'll pass on this book.

I really enjoyed the world that was built in this book, it was really well done. The characters were interesting and the story was very well written.

YA fantasy about Djinn, magic and religion. A short book featuring many characters with interweaving storylines.

Considering how short this book is, there were a lot of characters and interweaving storylines. Somehow it all worked. The author clearly has a strong knowledge of this world, or possibly just had access to a good reference book as the descriptions weren’t very in-depth. As I read this on Kindle, I was able to make use of the inbuilt dictionary feature to look up some of the terms I wasn’t familiar with.

At first when each chapter introduced a new set of characters, I thought this would get confusing but I soon got to grips with who they were and their relation to each other.

I thought this book has a strong plot and set of characters. It did lack some of the rich descriptions that other fantasy books have but this world and characters could potentially be developed more in sequels.

This is a well written book, but it’s definitely most suited for a particular ethno-religious group. I had to do a fair amount of googling to understand what was going on. It’s a good book, but it’s not going to appeal to the mainstream population- and that’s totally ok!

A good start for a new series. I appreciated the cast of characters, the world building and the engrossing plot.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

JF Mehentee begins this proposed trilogy on strong footing. Mehentee has created a strong central character and begins establishing a fantasy universe in this book. I enjoyed the author’s voice and found much to love in this fantasy adventure. Looking forward to what is next in the series.