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

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 20%

There is so much about this book that I should love. Inuyasha was my introduction to anime, and its one of the comp titles for this book. There are Unicorns, jinn, fire powers, other dimensions, and other cool powers. But it didn't work for me.

The story was all over the place. I could never keep up with what was happening because it never slowed down to explain. The writing also wasn't something I liked. It felt like I was reading a really early draft. There was so much telling instead of showing, and many awkward places. The pacing was very rushed. It just wasn't working for me.

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

Received a digital review copy off of NetGalley.

I was extremely excited for this book, especially based off the summary and cover. The cover especially is gorgeous and eye-catching, but unfortunately that’s not enough bff or me

Overall, I spent much of the book confused. I had a hard time connecting with Nezha and understanding the dynamics of her powers and her background. Every time I felt like I was getting a good grip on things, a new problem or villain or element to the fantasy world would get introduced that made me feel like I was back at square one. On top of that the writing itself was clunky and unpolished, making it hard to follow at times. I noticed in another review someone mentioned the book seems like it would benefit from another round of edits, and I completely agree with that sentiment. The ideas are there, the execution is just not great.

However, there are a couple things I did enjoy. First off, I always enjoy seeing stories using elements of Islamic folklore and I think there’s parts of this novel that did that well. Also I enjoyed the immersion into the different aspects of Nezha’s culture as well as just simply seeing a hijabi as a main character and on the cover of the book.

Overall, I think this rounds out at a 2.5/5 with lots of potential but poor execution.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52952619-crowning-soul

Crowning Soul already ticked a number of boxes for me before I picked it up, it's an own voices fantasy book with a female Muslim lead, with an alternate world filled with magic and amazing creatures inspired by cultures not always given a spotlight in the genre, and the cover is just gorgeous. I was set to really enjoy this book, and was so excited to read it; so I'm so disappointed that I just couldn't enjoy it at all.

The story starts by introducing readers to our main hero, Nezah, a young woman working in her parents flower shop in Morocco, but hiding her special abilities to control fire, turning it into a weapon. These early chapters were a little difficult to get used to, as it felt a little like I'd perhaps missed something, and I even had to check that this wasn't a sequel novel. But no, this is the first in a planned series. I think part of the problem is that Nezah is introduced already with powers, already knowing about Jinni's, and we have to piece together later on that this is something that she has been dealing with for years and has been getting used to. Unfortunately, as this isn't made clear early on I started of feeling a bit lost.

Once the main story actually begins to kick in Nezah finds herself transported to another world, one filled with magic and monsters, where her family are royalty. Here she's given a quest to recover the pieces of an angel's soul, and is joined on her mission by a pair of unicorns, Sapphire and Thunder. However, this is where the book really began to fall apart for me too.

As soon as Nezah is sent on this mission things begin to happen at a break-neck speed, and it became hard to keep track of everything that was happening, or even why. Instead of one adventure to retrieve this broken soul there's dozens of pieces, with each one having its own little adventure. It felt more like reading summaries of ten minute long episodes of an animated series than actually reading a book. Nezah and her friends arrive at a new place, they meet a local inhabitant who's either good and immediately hands over the piece of soul because they can tell Nezah is good; or they're a villain, so they get in a fight, beat them, and get the soul fragment.

These confrontations happen at such a pace that I found myself forgetting where the characters had been and who they'd met almost immediately after. They jump from location to location, seemingly getting to remote places within a day, meeting magical creatures without batting an eyelid, spend ten minutes getting a soul fragment, and then going home. It became so repetitive that it became boring, and started to be a slog to read.

There also seemed to be little internal logic to some of the events too, such as Nezah being crowned queen of an entire kingdom in one chapter, then learning that she has a relative in this new dimension in another, and that she will stay at her house whenever she's in this world. But, why isn't she staying at a palace or some kind of estate if shes queen? And why does she never have queenly duties to perform, or have anyone from the royal court interact with her? She just gets given a crown and then goes off to do whatever she wants without anyone caring. And this is something that seems to happen often, with people having little to no interest in things, or blindly accepting things at face value and moving on. Nezah's parents learn that she's travelling to a magical kingdom to fight monsters and they react with 'okay, well be safe, see you later'. There just didn't seem to be much internal consistency to the world or characters, and things just happened to serve the story rather than being organic. None of the characters seemed to have a personality or their own drives, immediately doing or saying whatever was needed, even if it made no sense or kept internal logic to things that had come before.

Crowning Soul is marketed as Young Adult, but I can't help but feel that it's being aimed at the wrong audience, and should be a young middle grade book instead. A younger audience, reading a chapter or two before bed each night with their parents might get along better with this book, and will treat it like a cartoon series, where they can did in and out and not really worry about things outside those immediate chapters or an over arching narrative. Older readers might struggle with it where younger children wouldn't.

There's some great stuff in this book, some brilliant ideas, but it all feels bogged down behind things that don't really work, or haven't been given enough time to breath. I feel that perhaps the book could have probably benefited from another draft or two, where some of these issues could have been worked out and some of the excess could have been cut away. As it is, it's a 600 page novel that feels about three times as long, that I couldn't connect with; and I'm so sad that it wasn't the book I was hoping it would be.

First I would like to thank the publisher for the eARC copy of Crowning Soul. I received the digital copy via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this book. While the premise seemed like it would be right up my alley the execution was a bit lackluster. You don't find many YA novels where the main character is not only female but Muslim as well. That was one of the selling points for me however, the text was just so hard to follow that I only made it a few chapters in before I gave up. The author uses a lot of phrases in what I assume is Arabic and/or Punjabi and it is relatively easy to figure out what is being said but they are used so close together that on occasion it takes away from the ease of reading. I was spending more time trying to decipher what was being said than actually following the story line. It is refreshing that an author has chosen to include these as it is a huge part of the culture being portrayed however, the execution could have been much better. I may not have gotten to the more exciting parts of the story but having to trudge my way through the beginning set up chapters just made me not want to continue. 

I may give this another shot in a few months and revise this review but for right now I am going to have to shelve this title.

Review will be available on my blog, The Reading Fairy, September 11th, 2020

Disclaimer: I received an eARC for the blog tour via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion. 

TW: Blood, Fantasy Violence, mention of mental and physical abuse, car accident, death (mentioned and on page), death of loved ones, earthquake, fire, possible eating disorder, poisoning, mention of slave
Rep: Moroccan, Pakistani Muslim MC, Middle East (Moroccan, Pakistani, Lebanese, Armenian, Egyptian, Pashtun of Pakistan) cast

“It is a reminder to keep hope and not forget who you are.”

I had this book on my radar for a while because it’s an Ownvoices Muslim story that’s Fantasy! And we all know, ow much I love fantasy especially with Muslim as the MC?! But seriously, can we talk about that cover though?

It’s so beautiful. I love the colors, but most of all it has a hijabi woman on the front and center! It just warms my heart to seeing BIPOC and Muslims with a hijabi on the cover! I really hope more book covers have hijabis on the cover.

Unfortunately, I am just really conflicted about this book and rating. As much as I wanted to love it, there were a lot of problems I had with it. Mainly because I had a hard time connecting with this book. I kinda felt really underwhelmed with this book, but honestly I did like it.

I felt very meh and couldn’t connect to anything. It was built to be almost like Neverland in a way which is really awesome! I love magical lands, especially ones like this! with it’s similarities, but as much as I tried, I wanted to like it. There was nothing too much that I really couldn’t love, but honestly I love the promise! There was so much promise to this book, that I can’t wait to see the changes made in the final version and what the series would bring!

First books in a series are rough, but there is so much promise! I do want to see what else the series delivers because I am really curious after the ending!

This book is really slow. Not much happens, and there kinda seems to be like a sluggish pace. It’s basically an endless journey, but there was really no end in sight which kinda sucked because they’re just looking for magical oracles which is I guess the heart to the island.

I loved the ending because there was a lot of action! It made it really worth it, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out in the next book.

The characters, was something I never really connected. I tried connecting with them, but it kinda didn’t really think they were developed too well. They kinda felt a little one-dimensional to me, but honestly they had interesting personalities!

I requested this book based on the synopsis and had high expectations which was probably a bad move. Although it had all the elements that I am drawn to I found that it was too confusing and that there was too much going on. At times it was almost like there was multiple books being merged into one and not quite fitting. I did love the strong female lead and this is probably why I ended up finishing the book but it was a struggle to be honest. It was just not a book for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review 
2.75*

I know this is small and shouldn’t really matter but a unicorn is a mythical horse with only a magical horn, it also may or may not have magical powers. An alicorn is a combination between a pegasus and a unicorn, having both a horn and wings. The entire book describes Thunderbolt and Sapphire as unicorns when they’re really alicorns. *sorry this really bothered the horse lover in me*

When I saw the cover of this book I was in love, then I read the synopsis and knew I had to read this book. A Pakistani hijabi who can wield magic? Give it to me now!!!!

The main story is of Nezha Zaman, a hijabi growing up in Morocco who has a very special secret, she has magical fire powers. She encounters a demonic jinni at a garden when she was supposed to be celebrating with her family and eventually it caused tragedy. Weeks later she is sent into a different universe where she encounters two unicorns(it’s supposed to be alicorns), who work with her to try and save this dimension from an iron prince gone mad with grief.

What I loved more than anything was the references to faith and food. Nezha stayed truthful to herself and what she believed in throughout the book. This book showed how a muslim can be used as a character without having them be the token character. The references to food and culture were my favorite part. I really felt like I was eating the ladu or barfi as she described them. There were a few words that I didn’t understand but that could have been punjabi or the way transliteration works. Also the halal romance worked really well. Although I don’t really agree with the love at first sight idea, the relationship was really cute! It could work out really well as it went on.

Unfortunately the execution of the story is really where it fell short.The writing style just wasn’t that great for me, it constantly switched between characters without any sort of noticeable break (this may have been because I read digitally but I’m not too sure about that). Overall I felt I was grasping for details like where Nezha’s powers, and the powers of her family, came from. We were thrust so quickly into the story that the parallel world felt underdeveloped and we constantly moved without explanation. I couldn’t connect with the characters either; I started to like them, but it didn’t feel like I could truly understand them. My biggest problem was the plot. There were so many constant fights that they just easily defeated made it so there were was no rise and fall in action, it felt like a straight line. It seemed confusing and dense. Many of the villains and characters just immediately accepted Nezha without question and I don’t know if that was from the other characters who were with her or just her being helped along.

Overall this book had so much potential, I just feel it needed more work on deciding what the characters faced. The references to religion and culture were wonderful but the storytelling needed some work.

Sadly I had to DNF this. 
I was very hyped by the synopsis and the cover. I really enjoyed the first few chapters, with the cultural aspects and the family description. 
But then everything started to get very confusing and I couldn't follow anymore. I would've needed more world building, better character introductions, and overall a slower plot pace to understand what's happening. Everything just seemed to go way too fast and it seemed to me like I was thrust into this world/story while being expected to already know everything about it. 
I liked the rich, very flowery writing of the beginning but, around 15 percent into the book, it just got so confusing and it sometimes seemed more like a draft. 
I think this book just wasn't for me.

Sadly, I couldn’t get into this book. The language didn’t suck me in, the plot felt too fragmented to fully enjoy. There was little world-building, I felt thrust into a world that I should’ve already known. The representation was great! Glad to see Pakistani voices being highlighted, I just which the writing and world-building were of a higher standard.

Based on the summary I read for this books I had very high expectations/hopes for this book which may have been why I didn't enjoy it as much as I was anticipating. I unfortunately DNF'd this book after 31%. I had difficulty following the storyline and relating to the main character Nezah. There are a lot of terms in a language that I am unfamiliar with, that I kept having to look up and try to decipher what they meant and this took me out of the story quite a lot.  I couldn't tell if the language was Punjabi and I was unable to figure out what most of the words were. I do think someone of a similar race/ethnicity might enjoy this more as they will be able to connect to the story and character more. I did enjoy the writing style and description over all and think this could have been at least a 3 star for me. Unfortunately I just have very limited reading time.

I picked up this title because it seemed like a portal fantasy mixed with a similar setting to City of Brass. The main character is drawn into another world and finds out she's special...and that because of this, a powerful enemy wants to hunt her down. There's a lot that you can do with this basic plot, and I was interested to see where the author went with it. Javaid clearly worked hard on building her world and the system of magic it uses, and it's always wonderful to see fantasy stories that aren't based in Europe. 

The writing leaves something to be desired, however. The way the book is written makes it hard to follow what's going on, and while I could see what Javaid was trying to do in order to help the reader connect to the characters, it didn't work for me. I'd encourage Javaid to keep working on her craft and finding original stories to tell, but this work isn't one I can recommend to others.

Unfortunately, I made it about 20% of the way through this book before deciding to DNF it. I was very excited about the Muslim representation and for a fantasy journey, but I did not end up enjoying what I was reading. 
The writing style felt a bit choppy at places (which is understandable to a degree as this is an ARC) and some of the dialogue felt cheesy rather than natural. 

I believe this is the author's first fantasy novel so I am not going to judge too harshly. The concept of this book was incredible and I would definitely give some of her future work a read.