⭐⭐4.75⭐⭐

What an absolutely perfect way to wrap up this duology. The characters I grew to love in the first book only made their places deeper into my soul during this book. Despite having my heart basically ripped out of my chest twice while reading this, Hadeer still managed to put me almost entirely back together again, despite still having to dry my eyes every now and then, not totally able to fill the empty spot in my soul 😭

I cannot wait for The Weavers of Almaxa to be released so I can convince all my other friends to sob right along with me.

Thank you to Harper Voyager, Hadeer Elsbai, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this arc of The Weavers of Alamaxa.

I was very lucky to have been chosen and approved to read the conclusion of the Alamaxa Duology shortly after receiving the Kindle version of Book 1 - The Daughters of Izdihar. So, I of course I had to read both back to back, and as quickly as possible.

Let’s address Daughters first. I am not going to lie, I really did love book 1. It seemed like a fresh concept and idea. The writing did seem a bit young/immature (not saying this because it could be categorized as YA). But it created the world of women and women with magic, fighting for their civil rights and place in society that was not in the shadow of men.

Weavers of Alamaxa was definitely full of greater dangers, adventure and really expanded on the magical landscape and its characters. Book 2 built upon book 1 without really going off without crazy sub plots or issues that were not already presented previously.

I personally was biased wanting a certain character to be blessed in a certain way versus the other main character, but alas, I am not the writer.

This book hits a lot of topics and includes: politics, women’s rights, queer romances/relationships, feminism, and dual POV. It was a nice break from the “heavier” books that I typically read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read this advanced version for a review. An overall 4 out of 5 stars, and a book I will recommend. Looking forward to see what Hadeer Elsbai writes.

I really enjoyed this followup to the Daughters of Izdihar and it lived up to the hype I had for this sequel. It was exciting to see where our characters ended up after the ending and to continue to develop further as adults and the expansion on weaving we learned. There was a main character death in the book that had me stunned but the emotional impact on at least one of our characters was great, I would have expected more grief to be displayed from the other POV character.

The politics of the book were more apparent and I wish there was a bit more of them and more dimension. I found the villainous leaders of the opposing country were a bit flat - just cruel and evil for the sake of being cruel and evil to our main characters. I would have enjoyed more about how the regimes were changing and the roles that women would play in these societies given how heavy that was featured in the first book.

I will happily read what this author writes next, the character work and action scenes are great,

I really wanted to love this book but every time I thought I was about to get into it I was let down. The last book ended on a cliffhanger and I was hoping that meant this book would pick up the pacing. It did not. The obstacles that were created in the first book were quickly overcome offering no form of suspense. To be honest a good portion of it was predictable. The characters did not get any better and stayed one dimensional. Nehal in my opinion was one of the characters that lacked the most depth. All her character amounted to was "rich girl who does what she wants". She was supposed to be a strong female character fighting for women's rights but all she did was fight for her selfish desires. She honestly makes feminists seem unhinged and narcissistic. A lot of the scenes in this book in my opinion were over the top and cringe. The characters always reacted in extremes never in a way that was believable. The character deaths that happened really served no purpose to the plot other than to kill a character off. The ending is what really bothered me. It was beyond anticlimactic and seemed more like an epilogue that should've taken place 5 years in the future. The only thing I truly enjoyed was the lgbtq+ representation. In my opinion I was definitely not the target audience for this book and I'm saddened I couldn't enjoy it more.

Flew through this! A very satisfying conclusion to the duology, highly recommend if you enjoyed the first book!

The thing I enjoyed most with the first book was the relationships between all the women, and while book two has a lot more action in it (and thus less quiet moments with The Gals), their connections to each other were even deeper, so I was having a great time. Big fan of angry women, especially when the angry women have elemental powers and are all friends with each other.

There were some plot beats that happened due to just, colossally dumb decisions by non-POV characters, and I didn’t love having to sit through those consequences, but the ending was exactly what I wanted.

Book 2 of The Alamaxa Duology delivered everything needed for an excellent sequel! Just wow, I loved this book, and I could not put it down! It picks up right where book one leaves off and takes us on a wild ride to the very end. Every moment I felt on the edge of my seat, the stakes were so high for all of our beloved characters.

I loved Nehal and Giorgina's character growth throughout the book. Their relationship with each other, as well as their friends, warmed my heart. Female empowerment, deep connections, and friendships are at the core of these books, and I loved them so much!

Honestly, I could read a whole other book just based on these women living their lives and how they adapt and move forward in the future.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

Much like with the first book in this series, I could not put this down and basically read it all in one sitting. Loved this world and these characters and this particular system of magic. This was a really well done and satisfying ending to the story. I look forward to reading more from this author and I hope to see something else set in this world!

An excellent follow up to the first book, The Weavers of Alamaxa further delves into the ethics of revolution and it's impact on all types of people. The growth of all the characters was impressive and natural. The magic system was really fun and well thought out.

Thanks to Harper Voyager, Avon, and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Hadeer Elsbai blew me away with her debut novel, The Daughters of Izdihar. It was a gorgeous expression of feminist rage through magic. I had high expectations for the sequel, The Weavers of Alamaxa, and am glad to say it exceeded them.

Early on I was concerned because the author set up many new conflicts and I wasn't sure how things would resolve. The scale of the conflict and the scope of magical powers is much greater in the sequel while feeling authentic to the characters.

The book moves along with a fast pace thanks to short chapters and excellent plotting. I was impressed with how much plot was packed into the book without ballooning to double the size. There are multiple large climactic battles that are executed well. The ending is well earned and satisfying.

What an ending! Thanks Netgalley and Harper Voyager for letting me review an ARC of this Book!

The Daughters of Izdihar are in trouble- after a disasterous protest at parliament turns deadly, Georgina and Malak are behind bars, and Nehal has been kidnapped by the neighboring country of Ziriana- an oppressive monarachy that hates Ramsawa and Weavers, and has a plan to destroy both, if the Daughters cannot stop them.

I liked the first book of this duology, but I found myself enjoying this one SO MUCH more than the first- with the world building/character background complete, the reader is able to jump right into the story. I love the decisions the author made about how these cahracters evolved, getting stronger and softer in ways, and how the Daughters leaned on each other to get through their hardships and meet their goals. We lost some key characters in this book and that hurt but I think it was worth it in the end.

Fun read, recommend.

The Weavers of Alamaxa by Hadeer Elsbai is the second in a fantasy novel duology (after The Daughters of Izdihar) following two women, Nehal–a noble waterweaver–and Giorgina–a working class earthweaver. The two women were bound together by their connection to one man and their involvement with the Daughters of Izdihar, fighting for the women’s right to vote in Alamaxa and their right to exist as weavers, or elemental magic users.

This was a book I was highly anticipating and wow, did it deliver! I had a fear of a second book slump, but that did not happen at all. Elsbai picked up right where she left off in the first book and brought us right into the action. Seeing the greater world was intriguing and I still think the elemental Tetrad of power is interesting, especially with what gets introduced in this book.

For the characters, I liked both Nehal and Giorgina’s growth, particularly how they both changed to overcome their unique failings. There was a certain point towards the end that it clicked for me how the characters were perfect for their roles, because they were so wrong for them–that overcoming their shortcomings is why they work so well. Sisterhood is a strong theme in the book and I love that it took precedence over the romance angle for the characters.

I also love that the author wasn’t afraid to shy away from hard themes and having difficult things happen. The only thing that bothered me was that the author felt the need to state the social justice themes at certain times, such as a character stating out loud “All police are bad” right after the POV character came to that conclusion. Great message, but I felt that it was clearly articulated by the author throughout the book and the duology, and to me it seemed that stating it like that took away from some of the effect. Luckily, the instances I can think of happened early on and luckily the author moved away from being so hamfisted and instead wove her themes into the story as a whole.

Overall, I absolutely adore this duology and thought it was wrapped up beautifully, without any issue. I don’t know what Elsbai has in the works, but I am so excited to find out.

Favorite quote:
“But she suspected that she would, for the rest of her life, have grief as her unwanted companion, no matter how much time passed.”

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC so I could give an honest review.

A truly satisfying conclusion to an excellent duology, The Weavers of Alamaxa fulfilled all expectations set by The Daughters of Izdihar and then some, broadening the world and complicating the characters in ways I didn't see coming. The ending was spectacular.

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

Broadly speaking, this succeeds as the second half of a duology; the stakes, which were already high in the previous book are raised and executed on, there's a fantastic wrapping to the series that I wasn't quite expecting and came a bit suddenly for my personal taste, but still manages to wrap incredibly well, and we get to see more of Nehal and Giorgina developing as characters and as foils to each other through their experiences and solidarity. (I do feel like Nico being fridged is a bit ultimately amusing but honestly, go Ms. Elsabi, that's a wonderfully ironic inversion of the fridging trope as its usually used!) I do feel like the pacing could've used another book to breathe, but unfortunately in today's market and with Daughters of Izdihar getting hyped but not sales, she likely wasn't given the room of an extra book to let it fully breathe, and it still manages to wrap well, even if it feels a bit cramped and slightly deux ex machina-ish towards the end.) If you loved the first book, definitely pick this up to see how it all ends.

I really enjoyed reading the conclusion of this duology! The character development was very intentionally and gracefully executed, and the plot was exciting and easy to follow.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.25/5

A solid conclusion to the duology, at the same level the first book was in my opinion.

This book had a decent amount to like about it, but also a few major flaws.

Starting with the good, the world and setting remain quite unique in the current fantasy landscape, though some aspects were... simplified to suit the needs of the plot in this book(will get into this later).

Nehal's character continues to be a highlight, her journey in this book is quite compelling and she faces a lot of consequences for her actions in that journey. Some of her character realisations felt more tell rather than show on occasion, but I ended up liking them nonetheless. I also liked the general arc of Giorgina's character, even if the execution fell flat for me in some aspects. There was also more of Malak in this book, who is probably my favourite character in the series and I really liked the very understanding relationship that developed between her and Giorgina. Honourable mention to Etedal who also shone in this book despite her limited page time.

There's a major character death, which while plot necessary, really took me by surprise. Elsbai continues to impress me with how brutal she can get despite the overall tone of the series not being quite that dark.

I also really liked the ending. A lot of fantasy books or series tend to end quite abruptly nowadays, but this took its time to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

As I've mentioned, however, the book had some major flaws. The politics in this book was vastly simplified, which while made sense for the plot, resulted in some of the goals being achieved a bit too easily. The stakes in this book, despite being higher somehow felt less significant than some of the the personal stakes of the last book.

The new characters introduced were not explored as well as they could have been. Hali and Rasida came off as fairly one-dimensional antagonists, partially due to the limited page time. Even the Zirani rebels were not that well explored, outside of Athar who was a rather frustrating character. There is a certain scene, where everyone just goes with her plan, even Malak, despite being against it and having no reason to really do so. It leads to about as a bad result as Malak could expect. That felt like that happened just because it was needed for the plot instead of a logical conclusion the characters arrived at.

There were also a few scenes in the book that really led nowhere, so it was not really clear why they were in the book in the first place. The mythology and the lore of the book were also not quite well foreshadowed for what it turned out to be, which was not that interesting. I expected more from the Edua story in particular.

All in all, The Alamaxa Duology is a solid but flawed story with some interesting characters and very timely themes. The Weavers of Alamaxa, like the first book, is fast-paced and easy to read. If you liked the first book, I think you will enjoy the second.

If you are new to this book, these books feature an Egyptian-inspired republic, with suffragettes and a magic system similar to the one in the Avatar series. If any of that sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend picking this up.

I read the first book earlier this year and fell in love with the characters and the setting. This is a good follow up, the characters actively grow throughout and that was wonderful to see. There was a little emotional rollercoaster in this, which was well done. As a sequel, I enjoyed it, but I thought it wasn’t as tight as the first. Still a great read with a great message!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5/5 stars

Same as with The Daughters of Izdihar, there were aspects of this book that I really liked and there were parts I wish Elsbai had done more with.

Things I really liked:
The worldbuilding and the conflict - the war between the 2 nations was really interesting and added a good level of conflict and tension throughout the book. The rivaling governments were interesting, as were the different rebel groups.
Some of the character development - I really appreciated that we saw actual growth and critical thinking here from Nehal, especially. She was still a bit spoiled by the end (my biggest gripe about her in book one is she never stopped being a spoiled Noble) but she had definitely grown a good bit because of what happened to her. Giorgina had some good growth too, but I'll talk about her more in a moment.
A death at the end I wasn't expecting, but was needed - I won't spoil, but there is a character death I didn't expect her to follow through with but I agree was necessary for the plot and I love that she didn't pull the punch.
Other stuff, these were just the stand outs - for any complaints, this is a really good duology!

Stuff I didn't love:
Missed opportunities - there is a big reveal at the end that just felt like it had a lot of missed opportunities for foreshadowing. Meaning, it isn't that it doesn't fit or make sense, but nothing happened in either book that really laid a good groundwork for it to come about. There were tons of places that really good hints could have been given without being obvious, but they weren't taken advantage of.
Giorgina's character development toward the end - there was a lot I loved that happened with Giorgina in this book, but there is a critical point at the end where she just....she hesitates and goes against the plan she made and it causes havoc and it leads to the a big development but it still was super frustrating.

So final thoughts: I think Elsbai has a really solid start here and handled a lot of hard topics well; however, I think she has some maturing to do in the depth with which she handles some topics (granted, this is YA) and with her character development and foreshadowing. I did really enjoy the story and her writing is good, I just didn't love it as much as I had hoped.

I still highly recommend this duology to any YA Fantasy reader!

The cover was what drew me in and I’m so glad I got to read this, it had everything that was promised from the description. The characters felt like they were meant to be in this world. I enjoyed getting to go on this world and it had a great overall concept and look forward to reading more from them.

A fantastic conclusion to a duology that is definitely on my list of favourites now. There was just so much about this book, and especially reading it right now, it hit hard. I cannot recommend enough.

A fantastic conclusion to a duology that is definitely on my list of favourites now. There was just so much about this book, and especially reading it right now, it hit hard. I cannot recommend enough.