by Somaiya Daud
rating: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 28th August 2018
spoilers? a couple
Goodreads
"It means she— you are not defined by the men in your life, no matter how powerful. You lived before them and you shall live after them. You can't let them determine your path.
Galley provided by publisher
Mirage is one of those books where you finish it and go to review it and think how the hell do I review this book, because it is just that good. So that's pretty much where I'm at right now, in between incoherently flailing over this book, so if this review stops making sense at some point, I apologise.
If you like books that have a mix of fantasy and sci-fi, this will be for you. I say fantasy, but it's more fantasy-esque - court intrigue, rebels and rulers, but all set in a system of planets. For a book that was set in space, there's actually less science in the science fiction aspect than I expected - but for a couple of mentions of spaceships and communication devices, it's very sparse. I kind of feel like I wanted more of it, but also, it's not like a huge thing that disrupts my reading of the book, so.
Central to the plot of this book is a relationship between two girls. It starts out as the blurb says: Amani is kidnapped in order to become the body double for the cruel princess Maram. On the basis of other books with similar kinds of plots, I assumed that that would be that, the story would progress with Maram remaining cruel and Amani joining the rebels behind her back. The reality is somewhat different. I won't spoil anything, but this book contains some of the best character and relationship development I've read in a while. Also, "Older siblings protect their younger siblings," I said. "Remember?". Just wreck me why don't you.
That being said, I expected to like the romance between Idris and Amani more than I did. Part of the reason was that it felt a little rushed and instalove-y - they only really know each other for a few days and then they're suddenly kissing and a few weeks later declaring love. If you have a series, you might as well take as much time to develop the relationship as much as possible, get them pining after one another maybe. Just. Make me feel desperate for them to get together. In this case, I almost felt like the interactions between Amani and Arinaas held more promise than Amani and Idris (give me rebel girlfriends!). The instalove is why I'd probably rate this 4.5 stars, though I'm rounding up to 5 stars because of the ending.
Sometimes I find that, with books like this, where you're setting up someone in a new place, where they have to learn to navigate a new society, the story can drag a little in the middle section, after they arrive, but before Shit Goes Down. (I'm thinking like how I found the pacing in The Belles.) In this book, everything happens, if not rapidly, then at a good pace. Sure, there were some things that might have been dwelt on more, but overall the pacing being like it was kept me from even the possibility of losing interest in the book at any point. And then the ending!
The ending of this book broke my heart, honestly. Like properly ripped it to shreds. And then gave me the tiniest slither of hope for the second book. Like that could make up for what happened in the last 20 pages.
So, in summary: thanks for the heartbreak, Somaiya Daud.
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