I was hesitant to write this review since it has taken me so long to complete this book and was not sure if I was going to make it.

At first I was really excited to follow Nezha's mystical quest, see her elemental powers develop, learn more about the Muslim fantasy background, travel to a magical land filled with unicorns, angels and jinnis and in general, just have a blast. Still... that did not happen.

Although the basic idea of the book was great and would have lead to an amazing novel (maybe a series) its execution crash and burn it all.

The story started with an interesting atmospheric vibe but was soon rushed to the point that it became unbelievable and, regarding the antagonist, too repetitive.

A myriad of characters are introduced, one after another with no clear purpose or reason (or maybe it was there, well hidden behind tons of babble).

The author also tries a brave mix of magic and technology which, sadly doesn't come out so well ( I'm talking about unicorn's magical mobile phones that go accross dimensions and get calls from the human world...).

Finally the ending also let down as it just "end without a real ending".

Even though the experience was not the best, I would like to give the author a second chance in the future since this was her first nobel.

An ARC if this book was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author/publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to be honest with you, the second star was for the cover which is stunning.
I could not finish this book like I really struggled to arrive at the 10th chapter then I gave up.
I do respect the efforts of the author for trying to create a new muslim fantasy genre story but it wasn't a success. I didn't like this book mainly for the plot and the main character . I've got confused so many times during my reading and sometimes I could not follow for the life of me where the author was going with all that nonsense. I don't want to diminish her efforts but that's how I felt to the point that I could no more continue reading another page, it was impossible and I hate to put a book in the DNF section.

The cover and the description got me at first and I was so eager to read something so fresh with a muslim female main character in a fantasy world but after the first chapters I knew I've made a mistake. The plot, for me, was going on and on to nowhere. We jump from one place to another and we meet some secondary characters talking about some nonsense about fire jawehar or the angels or how Nezha has light or fire in her blah, blah, blah. I think the main problem was that the author was trying so hard to achieve too much in this book. the writing style was good but the dialogues which were exaggerated and likely to be forced. Some characters were like trying so hard to be funny.
There was this crazy mix of oriental with occidental fantasy elements that didn't work well together or the author didn't know how to make it work and these Unicorns switching to angels and then to whatever, Every faery being is a Jinn in disguise and Nezha has to fight... I really could not keep going with this. Sorry!
I haven't finished this book and I really don't care to know what is going to happen at the end.

I hoped that the author could have made it much more simpler and clearer than this because she had something really good to start with and it was something new and hasn't be done before.
I wish her good luck for her next books and I hope that she will create something this new and much better.

Unfortunately I struggled to finish this one. The cover is absolutely stunning, and I was sold on the premise, but it was the execution that let it down. I think the main problem was that the book was trying to achieve far too much, which meant that I never felt as though I was able to get a proper grasp of what was happening or the characters, but at the same time there were places that felt incredibly repetitive. I did enjoy the writing style itself, but the plot could have done with being refined and the world-building needed to be fleshed out in a less confusing manner to really live up to the promise of the premise.

I am so sad to say that this book was disappointing for me and not what I was expecting, based on the synopsis and hype I was so eager to read this, but I found it so hard going , it was just an effort to get through this. It felt just unrealistic, in a not relatable way, overly far fetched ! Dialogue didn’t feel natural and was actually cheesy at times. It just wasn’t for me at all.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I love the book and yet the execution was so poor that I will only give it two stars. I will take it from the top.

I loved the world but it needed more building into before the characters are thrown into a frenzy of missions.
I actually picked up the book for the female protagonist but there were so many more characters to look forward to. I loved the many characters but as I got used to someone new, they would either go away or new ones were added.
I love the prospect of evil jinns as antagonists but they were always and ever introduced and dismissed with a few repetitive lines.

My personal opinion: The book would have faired better had it either been through a few more rounds of editing. or shrunk on the expanse of the new world. It felt like the world of Noorenia was expansive to the point of being out of control and unmanageable.

Who do I recommend it to?
Middle Graders and Early Teens even though it is listed as a Young Adult.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Nezha, your young protagonist as she goes on an adventure in an alternate world and must save the day.

This book sounded so good in theory but I did not dig the execution what so ever. I had a hard time following what was going on due to some of the choices in timeline. There wasn’t enough clear distinction in the breaks in plots tor me to be able to keep straight when in the narrative things were occurring. I didn’t really enjoy the writing style because at times it was beautiful and fit the story but other times it was overly complicated to the point of distraction.
I will definitely be giving this author another shot in the future but this book simply wasn’t for me.

Crowning Soul is a epic fantasy set in the magical world of Nooreina filled with magical creatures, evil jinn and danger and wonder around every corner. The world is very unique with the story taking place across several very different locations and with their own culture, history and environment.
The story and format is very reminiscent of shonen manga with an episodic almost monster-of-the-week sort of format. There is a greater focus on friendship and family rather than romance (though there is some in there) so it will be ideal for people who don't like lots of romance or are trying to transition from Middle Grade to Young Adult. Crowning Soul has great Middle Grade crossover appeal with a fast pace and lots of action.
The characters were lovely, diverse with a lot of heart and depth. Each had their own personality and struggles. I especially liked the villains, they were so interesting and entertaining. The action was epic but I got a bit lost sometimes through the whirlwind of spells and attacks. It would be amazing to see visually and I kept thinking how great it would be if it was a graphic novel.
I beta read an earlier version of this novel and it was nice to see how the story changed and how the writing improved. Javaid has detailed and deeply emotive writing while using simple accessible language which was neither unnecessarily complex or dense.
The writer seamlessly integrates Islamic culture and beliefs into the magic and world of the story. It was interesting to learn about the cultural practices and how it impacts the characters in the story. This would be great for a reader who is looking for a own-voice fantasy novel with Islamic cultural influences.
Crowning Soul is a self-published novel so the writing and structure is a bit rough around the edges. I think it could have used more polishing but it was still a fun read and the writers love for the story and characters can be gleaned from every word.
Overall Crowning Soul was an absolute joy to read! It would make a great graphic novel and I can't wait to see how the story evolves in the sequels. I recommend it to fans of Inu Yasha who want a fun and heart warming fantasy adventure.

Crowning Soul follows Nezra after she is transported into another dimension and tasked with finding orbs that contain the soul of an angel.

I liked the concept of the story and the start of the story however as soon as Nezra goes to the other dimension the book goes downhill. The dialogue was weird and cringe and did not suit the characters, the plot moved way too quickly and was repetitive with the same thing happening over and over again with the characters jumping from new settings/new characters too often. The writing style fell flat for me, it made it hard for me to read and I got bored really quickly and ended up skim reading most of the book. Too much is going on and there is not enough focus/time on one thing, there is too much action and less plot development, the book also jumps from perspectives in a weird way making the book a confusing and long read which I do not remember much of.

I did not mind the characters, I think the book focuses too much on the action, so much so that I could not connect to them or the relationships between them.

1/5

I was really looking forward to this debut novel by Sahira Javaid. Crowning Soul was pitched as a perfect for fans of Inuyasha and Children of Blood and Bone. I love InuYasha as a tv show and COBAB is one of my favorite books but Crowning Soul felt like it was just trying to do so much and deliver so little. Nezha has the gift to control fire but is a huge secret. One day, the secret unravels due to an encounter with a Jinni. She is then thrown out of her world into another dimension to find the truth about her and her family.

I think the most that I was confused about was how there were too many time skips that didn't make sense. I felt like there were things lost along the way and as someone who likes a concrete plot timeline, I don't really like timeskips that don't bridge gaps. There was also the matter of Nezha's purpose. I felt like there was a lack of establishing her as the main character. I wished there was just more to her.

Although I did enjoy some parts of the story, I just wished there was more editing, more of the plot, more cohesiveness to the story.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of Crowning Soul be Sahira Javaid. I give this book 2/5 stars. The summary of this book was very exciting and I was so excited to read this book, but it just fell flat. The world building seemed very weak to me and the characters seemed very 1 dimensional. The other issue I had was that the writing just seemed choppy. This book had a very promising concept but lacked the elements needed to follow through on the concept. I think I would try a book by Shaira Javaid again if it was more character driven rather than plot driven, because there were some truly magical aspects about this book. I loved the whimsy and magic Javaid infused into the story with the plethora of mythical creatures, which is why this book earned its 2 stars.

The description of this book was enticing. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to its promise.

I loved the idea that the main character is a 17 year old girl in today's Morocco.

I just could not get into the plot. Magical creatures abound but there are too many and it becomes confusing.

The world building and characterizations need some work in order to become a cohesive and truly enjoyable fantasy.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley. I am leaving my honest review

I was excited for this book after this exciting synopsis, ofcourse, the muslim representation and the cover with a hijabie grabbed my attention. The representation of a muslim hijabie MC in fantasy genre is not something we see often. I had high expectations from this book (Hear me, this doesn't end well)
The story focuses on Nezha, a biracial girl hailing from Morocco. She is a Fire Jawhar/Fire Elemental,since, her childhood her parents had shut away her superpowers and her lineage with the Fire Kingdom, because they assumed that's the best for her. But all hells break loose when, Nezha encounters a shadow Jinni who hurts her family and thus she is determined to get to the end of this. On the other hand, in Noorenia (Parallel realm to the mortal world) the Angel of Mercy is cursed. Nezha's greatuncle realises she is the "Chosen One". So, he transports Nezha to Noorenia, where Nezha must find orbs which will lead to break the curse and mend the Angel's soul.

Let's start with the parts which impressed me-
The premise and storyline has a lot to offer and was really interesting at the start. This book is filled with full of mythical creatures like Jinns,Unicorns, Ogres, Angels, Mermaids, Dragons etc. The concept is fresh out of a writer's den. Love, Family values and devotion to family are widely presented in this book, both Nezha and Kayan were family oriented. One of the best part about this book and I absolutely loved is the overwhelming little descriptions representing muslim culture. I don't really see such representations in YA books and as a Muslim myself, this created a soft place in my heart. I liked Nezha and Kayan's characters wish they had a better approach and a nice depth around them. Other characters like Sapphire and Thunderbolt, were nice as well. I enjoyed their conversations.

Moving on to the things which made me disappointed and frustrated-
Everything kept happening at the same time, I found myself jeopardized with all the subplots. Everytime I tried to get hold of Nezha's superpwers,a new subplot is pushed in.Various things are left unexplained, I still don't know exactly how Nezha's superpowers works or what her role is in the quest or even what the actual quest and destination is. Like, I said, the premise of the book is interesting and well-done, we had enough descriptions and the characters were introduced well. But as the book proceeded the descriptions narrowed down, the conversations became more bland. The character development was done in a passive and desultory manner.
Generally, It takes a time to get hold of the fantasy world, but in this book it was extremely difficult for me to comprehend, the descriptions and detaling are not perfectly done and it takes away so much from the readers. Too much dramas happend in a short amount of time, and with the sudden unexplained POV changing. , I found myself lost and couldn't understand why and how the intense scenes were happening. I was clueless while reading this. I am left with so many unexplained plotholes, especially after that zero-climax ending. I am sorry but this thing really narrowed down my initial response to the book.

Overall, I think the plot and story was amazing and has a great potential to be one of the finest genuine fantasy books but the writing and presentation need a bit of work. I hope the things get cleared up before the publication date, or else the readers will fail to embrace such an outstanding story.

Even though I'm giving this book two stars I have nothing negative to say. This was a solid idea, just not as a YA. At least, not the way it was executed.

The book itself was about Nezha finding orbs and restoring the Angel's soul. The way it was written was almost each chapter was discovering an orb and securing it without much trouble really. It felt more episodic than an actual book.

Now, I think if this was marketed towards a younger audience it would do better. Take the concept, simplify it and break it down over the course of six small books. A lesson could be learned in each one, and an orb retrieved.

I also imagined this would do really well as a cartoon.

And to further my reasoning why I think this would be amazing as a children's series is because there needs to be more young characters that aren't stuck up. Now, this is based off of the few middle grade reads I've picked up. But, it would be good to have a main character like Nezha who genuinely cares for others and is selfless.

I can tell the author put a lot of love into this book. It flows out with how the characters interact with each other and lift each other up through the trials. I truly hate to give it such a low rating. But I want to encourage the author to keep writing and not to let this discourage her. It's clear she has a great imagination and I look forward to seeing how she grows from here.

<i>I was given an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

There was a lot of potential in this book and a lot to love, but overall it fell short for me earning 2 stars. I’m going to start with what I loved about this book, then I’ll hit on a few of the aspects that I found frustrating.

What most excited me most about this book is that it was an #ownvoices fantasy adventure featuring a young Muslim woman as the heroine. And I loved Nezha. She was fiery (pun intended), sweet, and on a journey of self discovery. We got to see a lot of Nezha’s culture in this book as well, which was great.

Another thing that I loved about this book was the magic — and there was a lot of it! Unicorns, angels, people with the ability to control wind or fire. Elves, ogres, and iron mages. The list goes on and on, and it was cool to see such a diversity of magic in one universe. This does however bring me to my first complaint.

While I adored all the different magical elements of this story it was very overwhelming at times. Just when I thought I understood the world someone would shapeshift or gain a new power and I would lost my bearings in the story.

Another critique was the lack of detail throughout the book. A LOT happens in this book, to the extent that it almost feels episodic. But with shifting POVs happening mid chapter and not a lot of description to help the reader understand those jumps it was very easy to feel lost in the middle of some of the more dramatic and intense scenes.

So, overall I think that Crowning Soul has a lot of potential. The characters and the world are great, I just feel like they needed more time to develop, space to breathe. I think splitting this book up into shorter stories would’ve allowed more room for details that really would’ve made this story pop.

Thank you to the author/publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

~Quick Statistics~
Overall: 2.5/5 Stars
Plot: 2/5 Stars
Setting: 1/5 Stars
Characters: 1/5 Stars
Writing: 1.5/5 Stars
Memorability: 2/5 Stars

~Quick Review~
I’ll start off by saying that I really wanted to like this novel. It looked so good, and I could not wait to read it. Unfortunately, I had to DNF the novel before I even reached the halfway marker; I just could not get myself to read it. While the story seems like it could be really good, the actual writing and descriptions need some work. I’ve heard that the author is planning to fix this however, before the release.

~Other Information~
Publisher: Sahira Javaid
Page Count: 635 pages
Release Date: September 8, 2020

As I mentioned before, I believe the author is planning to further edit her novel before the publication date, so the release date could potentially change (just don’t take my word for it).

~Book Description (via Goodreads)~
Nezha Zaman considers her gift to control fire a dangerous secret. A secret that unravels when she encounters a vengeful shadow jinni in a maze garden that has been stalking her family, and knows about her power. Weeks after seeing the demonic being, Nezha is torn from her world through her backyard pond and transported to another dimension which sought out the light inside her heart.

Nezha learns from two unicorns that the dimension is her family’s roots, and the light is a fragment of an angel’s shattered soul. The three must work together to find the soul’s shards in a land teeming with shape-shifting jinn. If Nezha fails to stop the corrupted Iron Prince, the malevolent jinn at his side will shatter her soul next.

~Characters~
One of my biggest issues with Crowning Soul was that the characters seemed to have little to no development. I couldn’t connect with any of them, because none of the characters had a personality. I appreciated that Nezha, the main character, was connected to her family and that their culture was (lightly) described. However, this added nothing to their personalities or their interactions with each other.

~Writing and Setting~
While I read Crowning Soul, I noticed that many things were not described very well. I have no idea how the magic that Nezha holds works, none of the cultural aspects of Crowning Soul are explained, etc. I found this very frustrating and hope that these issues are fixed before the release.

Similar to the writing, nothing about where Nezha is, is described. I have no idea whether it’s a magical world, Earth, 1956, 2067… There’s nothing to point me towards what timeline Nezha is in, which was also equally frustrating as other issues.

~Plot~
The plot of Crowning Soul seemed very promising and exciting, and I feel that if the author works on the other aspects, Crowning Soul can be much more enjoyable for a large spectrum of readers.

~Overall Review~
Crowning Soul was not necessarily a bad book, it just had some issues that need to be resolved and it was not for me. Hopefully, some of these, if not all, of the issues I mentioned will be worked on during the authors editing period.

In a contemporary Morocco described with heightened immersive sensory details, seventeen-year-old Nezha Zaman suffers a devastating loss that propels her into an unexpected journey of self-discovery. Answers to questions she's had about her unusual powers are revealed along the dangerous path she feels compelled to follow. Sinister jinnis [sic], a compromised prince, a devoted son, angels, magical beasts, curses, enchantments, and more challenge and support Nezha as she moves forward on her quest.

Themes of duality, grief, despair, hope, faith, and mercy make Crowning Soul a deeply spiritual tale that isn't explicitly religious despite its references to Muslim symbols and philosophies. Lots of physical confrontations and moral quandaries combined with vibrant portrayals of distinctive characters and fanciful places make it an entertaining read for fantasy fans from teens to adults. There's innocent flirtation, no sex, and maybe five or six total inclusions of the words damn and hell. Many portions of this inspired fantasy adventure are of four- or five-star quality. It's the lack of a prologue and other essential backstory details that undercut the clarity of the strong story fundamentals. Some clunky transitions and mid-scene switches in point of view also distract from the overall storytelling strengths of Nezha's personal trials, tribulations, and epiphanies. This impressive debut novel generates anticipation for another trip into the universe of Crowning Soul with its fascinating inhabitants and dilemmas.

dnf at ~40%

I am really sorry. I am sure this is a great book, I am sure the author had the best intentions but I am just so confused. I don't understand a thing and at 40% I have to admit that I understand it as well as I did on page one.

The premise is amazing. I love the summary, the characters, the representation, all of it. A lot of the dialogue seems really random to me and I have NO idea whats happening and whenever flowers are involved the word flower is all I read. That is true for more than that one word but I thought it was especially overpowering with flower.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited for this one, but what I thought I was getting and what I got were two very different things. While I still did generally enjoy this story, it was way too long and wandering for my taste.

Crowning Soul revolves around Nezha Zaman who is a fire jawhar (elemental). When a shadow jinni threatens Nezha and hurts her family, her life begins to unravel. Simultaneously, in Noorenia (a parallel realm to the mortal one) the angel who is the heart of land is attacked and his soul shatters. Nezha's great uncle realizes she is the key and sends her to Noorenia with one part of the soul to find all the others and save the land.

Throughout the first 50% of the book I was still trying to get my bearings. The way the information is given to us about why Nezha is important and what she needs to do was haphazard and confusing. I know this was an unedited arc, but there was so much repetition and weird scenes that didn't make any sense in the overarching plot line. I spent a majority of this confused and annoyed.

When Nezha enters Noorenia, she finds two unicorns who become her guides and dearest friends. The addition of unicorns seemed random but it was kind of fun. However, the way this group went about their quest was so strange. They would go out to find pieces of the soul and then come back to the same house. Even though there's a bad guy and jinni who want to hurt/kill Nezha (was unclear). I've never seen a fantasy adventure like this where they consistently come back to the same place while traversing the whole country for objects.

Another thing that was very strange was the timing throughout the story. Not only did the timeline feel weird, but there were several scenes where I felt like I missed part of the information that should have been there even though it was completely missing. Something that didn't help was the inter-chapter POV changes. We'd skip between several characters at any given moment and it gave me some whiplash.

Lastly, the big bad is constantly built up over the course of the story. Nezha and her friends battle him at least 3 times if not more before the story climax. And every time it seemed like she almost sways him to her side of things. But then the actual ending came and it seemed like nothing really happened. It was the most anti-climactic climax I've read recently.

Overall, very interesting premise. I wanted to love it. The world was cool and the characters were fine but the execution of the story in general was confusing and a tad off-putting.

The cover is what initially drew me in. I saw it floating on Twitter and I had to know more. The synopsis intrigued me further and to my utter delight I found it on Netgalley to read now.

Unicorns and Jinn and Fire, oh my! A fantasy story helmed by a fire welding hijabi, more inclusive fantasy we love to see it!

This reads on the very young side of YA/ Middle Grade. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that in fact much of those ages get skipped but the protagonist is 17 so this is classified as upper YA.
This felt like reading a board game. My point being that we jumped from point A to point B and so on so rapidly that nothing ever stuck. We need to go seek this person boom we’re there okay pass this test and immediately pass the test. This occurred too frequent and the tasks were too easily accomplished. This makes for an un-fun reading adventure. Where are the stakes??

So many kinds of creatures and characters are thrust at us and then we’re quickly off on the next thing. I wanted to experience this world and we do but in a whirlwind kind of way.

Too much info dump bad no info also not good.

The idea of this story is amazing. The wonderful different kinds of creatures we encounter seem incredible but because we don’t fully invest in them for long that we can’t invest in the story.

I’m always for quick paced drop you in the middle of story gal, but if you don’t start threading those strings at some point it won’t hold up.

Nezha is a sweet girl who is thrust into another dimension to find pieces of a missing soul. There’s a lack of main characters like Nezha for the obvious but also for strength in conviction. She stays firm with herself and beliefs which is a nice theme.

I’m super bummed that this wasn’t a favorite for me. I still think its important for anyone interested to check this out and experience this story for yourself.

I adored both worlds and meeting so many kinds of creatures.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley

Dnf

I tried so hard to like this book, the story sounded like it had a lot of potential but the writing was very bland and jumpy. It read like a bad first draft that no one had bothered to try and edit but when I googled some of the Punjabi and Arabic phrases I found it on Wattpad and it clearly has been edited a little bit but ironically the Wattpad edition was actually slightly better