Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. Sometimes heroes are the most unassuming people and that violence doesn’t solve everything. This book turns the story of Aladdin on its head.I can’t wait for the next book in this series!

Thank you to #NetGalley, George Jreije, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bashir is shy and is dreading going back to America after spending a wonderful summer in Lebanon. Back home he has no friends and feels like no one understands them. Then, Bashir finds a long-lost ring containing a jinn whose magical aura brings power to those who have the ring.

There is a problem. The ring’s power now makes Bashir a target for monsters, specifically the world’s most dangerous monster, Ali Adin. Soon, Ali Adin takes Bashir’s parents. Bashir joins with an ancient society in hopes of rescuing his parents. Will Bashir be able to save his parents with the powerful ring?

I loved this book! It reminded me of Percy Jackson. I also appreciated the aspects of Arab culture. I will definitely have this book on my classroom bookshelf!

A rip-roaring adventure in mythology and magic, your eyes will be glued to the page until you reach the end.

An exciting adventure weaving together history and mythology. You never know what is going to happen in this book as characters that have traditionally been heroes might not be in this story. It's a fun ride that fantasy fans will enjoy. This book is perfect for fans of the Rick Riordan Presents books.

This book was kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the constant harping over what a forgettable loser Bashir was—frequently done in his presence—really began to grate on me. I get it. No one likes him. Everyone overlooks him. He’s completely ordinary. On the other hand, his insistence on doing as little harm as possible was a refreshing change. Despite having a great deal of power at his disposal (once he figured out how to use it), he managed not to let it go to his head.

Another drawback is the frequent reliance on “instincts” and “gut feelings.” A little bit is fine. But it becomes a crutch for allowing Bashir to take actions he couldn’t otherwise explain.

There are some typical tropes here: kidnapped parents, a surprise betrayal. There’s a pretty equal balance of female and male characters, which is commendable.

The adventure of overcoming obstacles, finding pieces of the Jewel of the Nile, and defeating the bad guy is all fine. My problems lie more in the execution.

Possible Objectionable Material:
Mythological creatures, including demons. Battles. Kids running around unsupervised. No swearing, nothing too gory.

Who Would Like This Book:
Those who like stories based in mythology. If you like seeing the “little guy” gain confidence, you’ll enjoy Bashir.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2025/05/may-27-2025-releases.html

There’s a lot I liked about this book, but unfortunately the overall story was a miss for me.

The good: Bashir Boutros is a sweet character who, like a lot of middle schoolers, struggles with self-esteem and self-worth. The other characters round out the story in interesting ways and Jreije pulls from Lebanese stories in fun ways.

The not so good: The pacing was both too fast and repetitive. Every chapter seemed to flip from danger/fight to planning without real character development or clear understanding of the stakes. There’s a lot of telling and not showing. At times, it is also felt reductive with parallels to a lot of other fantasy books.

For some readers, the not so good elements won’t be enough of an issue to outweigh the good. For me, I think it would have worked a lot better as a duology or a series where the characters could really be fleshed out and we could be shown more of the world and realms we’re encountering in the story and see more moments of Ali Adin being bad as opposed to just being told that he’ll destroy everything. There was also so much backstory that would have been cool to delve into through flashbacks but the current format doesn’t have the space for it.

So, as much as I wanted to like this book, I sadly wanted more.

There's things to enjoy here, but you have to wade through some clunky prose and awkward characterization. Bashir Boutros is a shy Lebanese-American boy lacking confidence who becomes the world's least likely hero when he becomes the accidental owner of a long lost ring with a djinn inside. Ownership of the ring (which he cannot remove) unexpected makes Bashir a target of the demon Ali Adin (Aladdin) and a person of interest to the largely decimated order of secret magi. Bashir is more or less dragged from adventure to adventure, managing to survive and to continue to accumulate power through luck all while refusing to fight and endless bemoaning his lack of friends in middle school. I wanted to like the woke, but it kept falling into long periods of tedious slog.

If you’re looking for something to scratch the itch of Percy Jackson, and steeped in Arab culture, look no further!