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The Scorched Throne #2
The Jasad Crown
In the thrilling conclusion to the Egyptian-inspired Scorched Throne duology, a fugitive queen may be the key to restoring her lost kingdom of Jasad, but it could cost her everything and everyone she loves.
Held deep in a mountain refuge, Sylvia has been captured by the Urabi, who believe she can return their homeland to its former power. But after years of denying her legacy and a forbidden alliance with Jasad's greatest enemy, Sylvia must win the group's trust while struggling to keep control of both her magic and her mind.
In the rival kingdom, Arin is caught between his father's desire to put down the brewing rebellion and the sacred edicts he's sworn to uphold. Arin must find Sylvia before his father's army, but his search will call into question the very core of Arin's beliefs about his family and the destruction of Jasad.
War is inevitable and Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she's fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life Sylvia doesn't just want to survive. She wants to win.
The fugitive queen is ready to come home.
Held deep in a mountain refuge, Sylvia has been captured by the Urabi, who believe she can return their homeland to its former power. But after years of denying her legacy and a forbidden alliance with Jasad's greatest enemy, Sylvia must win the group's trust while struggling to keep control of both her magic and her mind.
In the rival kingdom, Arin is caught between his father's desire to put down the brewing rebellion and the sacred edicts he's sworn to uphold. Arin must find Sylvia before his father's army, but his search will call into question the very core of Arin's beliefs about his family and the destruction of Jasad.
War is inevitable and Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she's fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life Sylvia doesn't just want to survive. She wants to win.
The fugitive queen is ready to come home.
688 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2025
1751 people are currently reading
32346 people want to read
About the author
Sara Hashem
3 books2,375 followersSara Hashem is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Jasad Heir. An American-Egyptian writer from Southern California, she spent many sunny days holed up indoors with a book. Sara’s love for fantasy and magical realms emerged during the two years her family lived in Egypt. When she isn’t busy naming stray cats in her neighborhood after her favorite authors, Sara can be found buried under coffee-ringed notebooks.
You can find Sara on Instagram and TikTok under @shashemwrites!
You can find Sara on Instagram and TikTok under @shashemwrites!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,192 reviews
October 12, 2025
I fear this one just wasn’t for me… book 1 though… ATEEEEEEE
July 23, 2025
this should be classified as cruel and unusual punishment
May 7, 2025
that epilogue changed me as a person. im on the floor and i may never get back up again
me when characters reach rock bottom: oh yeah i’ve been waiting for this
Sara Hashem’s Scorched Throne duology takes its final bow with The Jasad Crown, a finale that prompts a long awaited homecoming and deepens the distinct political landscape of four entangled kingdoms vying for power and one fighting to reemerge from the ashes. This Egyptian inspired high fantasy duology involving decimated kingdoms, ill-placed bargains, trials, and an enemies to lovers romance quickly solidified itself as an unrivaled fantasy series from a true talent. Stories of lost heirs reclaiming their thrones are a niche I have always adored and god if this isn't one of the best I’ve read in recent years. The byronic heroes who lose themselves in exile before finally coming in from the cold have met their match in Sylvia, a guarded young woman and heir to a broken throne—with a proclivity towards sesame candies, daggers, and telling the Nizahlan heir what is. Sara Hashem picks up her sequel on the outset of Sylvia having revealed her identity, initiating a journey of renewal and fate. The political machinations of Nizahl and the corruption at the heart of these kingdoms are unleashed, fueling the tragedy of Jasad’s past and its uncertain future. The Jasad Crown stomped all over my heart without remorse, yet I would gladly give Sara Hashem the ability to do it all over again.
Read my Review
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.
Bookstagram | Blog
me when characters reach rock bottom: oh yeah i’ve been waiting for this
Sara Hashem’s Scorched Throne duology takes its final bow with The Jasad Crown, a finale that prompts a long awaited homecoming and deepens the distinct political landscape of four entangled kingdoms vying for power and one fighting to reemerge from the ashes. This Egyptian inspired high fantasy duology involving decimated kingdoms, ill-placed bargains, trials, and an enemies to lovers romance quickly solidified itself as an unrivaled fantasy series from a true talent. Stories of lost heirs reclaiming their thrones are a niche I have always adored and god if this isn't one of the best I’ve read in recent years. The byronic heroes who lose themselves in exile before finally coming in from the cold have met their match in Sylvia, a guarded young woman and heir to a broken throne—with a proclivity towards sesame candies, daggers, and telling the Nizahlan heir what is. Sara Hashem picks up her sequel on the outset of Sylvia having revealed her identity, initiating a journey of renewal and fate. The political machinations of Nizahl and the corruption at the heart of these kingdoms are unleashed, fueling the tragedy of Jasad’s past and its uncertain future. The Jasad Crown stomped all over my heart without remorse, yet I would gladly give Sara Hashem the ability to do it all over again.
Read my Review
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing the advance review copy.
Bookstagram | Blog
September 20, 2025
Idk this one just didn’t do it for me, I got bored
September 20, 2025
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ✦ . ⁺ . a perfect 5 ☆ read . ⁺ . ✦
ㅤ ㅤ ˋ°•*⁀➷ㅤmight contain spoilers ❗
ㅤ I don’t usually give books 5 stars without hesitating, but this? This one earned every glittering, tear-streaked, heart-wrenching point. The Jasad Crown is cultural opulence turned into emotional devastation, and I’m not even being dramatic when I say it left me staring into space like someone had unplugged my soul.
ㅤ This duology is what happens when patience meets payoff. It’s heavy, it’s slow, and it’s culturally rich to the point of overwhelming; but it’s also one of the most rewarding, gutting, and gorgeous series I’ve read in years.
ㅤ ㅤ “I didn't say that those things reminded me of safety and comfort. Two things that, in a painfully ironic twist of fate, I had come to associate with him.”
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ short summary
ㅤ This sequel drops you right back into a world of blades, secrets, and shadows—only this time the masks are off. Our reluctant queen, Sylvia (Essiya), must now choose, act, lead, and bleed for her people instead of just surviving. They are entangled in a slow unravelling of loyalty, treachery, and a love so subtle it almost whispers, and Arin remains the razor-sharp strategist with his own ghosts nagging at his heels.
ㅤ This book feels like the board has been kicked over, the pieces are all over the place, and every move pierces deeper than the first one, which felt like a protracted chess game played by candlelight.
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ honest thoughts
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Okay, let’s be real: the duology’s world-building will test your patience. Book one had me googling stuff like crazys. But oh, when those cultural layers finally unfold? It’s not just rewarding; it’s breathtakingly beautiful and so incredibly well built that you forget all the previous struggles.
ㅤ Furthermore, the payoff is instantaneous this time. I could hear the chants of the ceremonies, taste the dust of the roadways, and feel the pulse of its myths and stories because the Jasad Crown paints its countries with such richness. Where The Jasad Heir made me work (and cry because of how much I had to struggle with its cultural elements), this book gave me everything: clear, lush, and devastatingly immersive. I love authors who manage to create such vivid worlds for their books, and Sarah Hashem definitely aced this. May I also remind you that this is a debut duology? This makes everything even more insane.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Honestly, I didn’t expect the leap in prose between the two books. I liked the writing in The Jasad Heir; it was pretty much suitable for the book, nothing too fancy. But I loved it here. Every sentence is sharper, more lyrical, and so much more alive. There’s this confidence to the storytelling now, a rhythm that complements the characters and the world instead of weighing them down. Hashem’s growth as a writer is almost audible.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ The plot? Here’s where my heart got stolen. While the first book drowned me in history and cultural weight, this one pours its soul into the plot. Yes, it’s still slow. Yes, the action simmers rather than explodes. But oh my god, I was devouring page after page, hungrier with every turn. Each revelation landed like a gut-punch, and even the quiet moments carried this insane, powerful, stormy emotional weight.
ㅤ If you’re the type who needs constant sword-fighting chaos and insanely developed fighting scenes and action that keeps you engaged, this might test you. But if you live for tension, politics, and slow, devastating stakes? Please pick this up RIGHT NOW!
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Please get ready because I've been writing this particular part for the past 3 days, so I am going TO TALK about the romance here.
ㅤ This book holds one of the most beautiful portrayals of love I have ever read. It is not loud, not glittered with flowery words or swooning poetry written in dialogues; instead, it is subtle, steady, and devastatingly profound. The romance here is definitely not the story’s main focus but its beating heart instead.
ㅤ You won't find traditional romanticism here, with fiery kisses, grand declarations, and fully poetical love confessions. You'll discover something far more potent: it feels like fate when love is shown in action, sacrifice, and unwavering loyalty. It is in their choices that shout devotion louder than words could ever express, in the silences laden with understanding, and in the way they stand by each other when the world would tear them apart.
ㅤ The weight of the relationship between Arin and Essiya is present in every look, every hesitancy, and every impossible choice. Their love isn't about fancy words; it's about devotion made flesh, about putting everything on the other without thinking twice.And it was this silent, steadfast devotion that caused me to crumble.
ㅤ By the end, I wasn't just crying; I was literally sobbing and holding on to the book like it was my lifeline. It takes a lot for a story to break me like that, but this one did so in the most exquisite way. I felt, experienced, and lost parts of myself to Essiya and Arin's love; I didn't just believe in it, I was literally living every experience with them.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Yeah, so…I don’t really want to talk about the ending because I’m still in recovery. It ripped my heart out, stomped on it, and then handed it back to me with a little bow. I finished and sat in silence for hours, not knowing what to do with myself. Just brace yourself...you are entirely not ready for what is to come, but you might still end up loving it as much as I did, so I would say it is definitely worth it!
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ characters
ㅤ These characters don’t just exist on the page, but they consume you. Their loyalties, flaws, and choices cut deep, and I couldn’t look away for a single second.
ㅤ 𓇼 Sylvia/Essiya – In this book, Sylvia is no longer only the hunted heir; she’s the reluctant crown-bearer, and you feel every ounce of the weight that role puts on her shoulders. She is still sharp, secretive, and scarred, but here her vulnerability is allowed to bleed through the cracks of her steel, especially when she finds herself wanting to lay her soul bare under the watchful eyes of a particular hot Commander.
ㅤ Watching her grapple with both her past and the terrifying future ahead of her is utterly devastating and endlessly compelling. I was crying and laughing with her, and I was feeling every single bit of the desperation she was experiencing. Truly one of the most beautiful characters I've ever encountered.
ㅤ 𓇼 Arin – I don’t even know where to begin....if I thought I was addicted to him in the first book, this one ruined me. He is still brooding, strategic, and endlessly calculating, but here, his loyalty sharpens into something raw and emotional that simply makes you want to only hug him for a bit. The way he looks at Essiya, the way his choices bend in her direction, is nothing short of devastating. He is literally the storm that should have destroyed her long ago, and yet he becomes her anchor. Arin definitely became one of the most unforgettable characters for me.
ㅤ 𓇼 Marek & Sefa – My beloveds!!!!!! They continue to be the heart Essiya refuses to admit she has. Marek’s steadfast warmth and Sefa’s fierce protectiveness balance the book’s colder, political edges. Every time they appeared, I felt steadied, like they were quietly holding everything in this book (and me tbh) together when everything else threatened to fracture....I am still not over THAT scene and I probably never will 🥲
ㅤ 𓇼 Wes & Jeru – Finally, more page time...but at what cost??? Their bond with Arin blooms more richly here, and it adds such a necessary layer of loyalty and tenderness on his side of the story. They are the shadows who guard him, the ones who remind you he’s not all frost and fury, and I adored them for it. Don't even get me started on their loyalty because I have no words to describe the beauty of it all....
ㅤ 𓇼 The Jasadi Rebels – Here, they are a reckoning rather than anonymous ghosts. Did I like them in particular? Maybe only a little, but because of them I finally felt the weight of what Essiya is supposed to bear when they changed from background noise to Jasad's very own living pulse.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Namsa and Maia - literally my favourite girls. Namsa's strategical thinking and devotion and Maia's compassion definitely completed each other perfectly in creating the duo Essiya needed in her life.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Lateef - He’s the pulse beneath every plan, anchoring the group with the quiet rhythm of loyalty and care. He is basically the father of everyone in this story, and his chapter where he was scolding both Essiya and Arin like they were literally children was EVERYTHING to me.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Efra - Skeptical, sharp-tongued, occasionally downright infuriating. You might hate him at first, but there is definitely a charm to him and there is nothing that could make you doubt his true loyalty.
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ should you read this?
ㅤ Yes, without a doubt. READ THIS NOW!! The Jasad Crown is the book where all those threads come together, all the secrets come to light, and all the emotions hit like a blade. If The Jasad Heir was a gradual cultural immersion, then The Jasad Crown is its spectacular payoff.
ㅤ If you're looking for slow-burning fantasy that thrives on atmosphere, impossible choices, and romance so subtly revealed that it tears your heart out when it does, PICK THIS UP. This is a story that requires patience and then repays it tenfold with beauty, destruction, and awe; don't expect frequent explosions or easy answers.
ㅤ I am broken, moved, and in love with every aspect of the Jasad Crown and now I might continue to stare at the wall despite it being days since I finished this....
⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍendㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ📖‧ ˚ ₊⊹ The Scorched Throne duology reviews:
⋆˚࿔ The Jasad Heir (4.2 - 4.4 ⭐)
⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍㆍ✿ㆍㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹
ㅤ ᯓ ✿ ���pre-reading ⪼ ㅤ started ┆13-August-2025┆
ㅤ ㅤ ⤿ I really wanted to start this after finishing the review for the first book in the duology, BUT I JUST CANNOT HELP MYSELF!! I needed to start this book already like I needed air!!! 🫠 i have no self-control
ㅤ ㅤ ˋ°•*⁀➷ㅤmight contain spoilers ❗
ㅤ I don’t usually give books 5 stars without hesitating, but this? This one earned every glittering, tear-streaked, heart-wrenching point. The Jasad Crown is cultural opulence turned into emotional devastation, and I’m not even being dramatic when I say it left me staring into space like someone had unplugged my soul.
ㅤ This duology is what happens when patience meets payoff. It’s heavy, it’s slow, and it’s culturally rich to the point of overwhelming; but it’s also one of the most rewarding, gutting, and gorgeous series I’ve read in years.
ㅤ ㅤ “I didn't say that those things reminded me of safety and comfort. Two things that, in a painfully ironic twist of fate, I had come to associate with him.”
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ short summary
ㅤ This sequel drops you right back into a world of blades, secrets, and shadows—only this time the masks are off. Our reluctant queen, Sylvia (Essiya), must now choose, act, lead, and bleed for her people instead of just surviving. They are entangled in a slow unravelling of loyalty, treachery, and a love so subtle it almost whispers, and Arin remains the razor-sharp strategist with his own ghosts nagging at his heels.
ㅤ This book feels like the board has been kicked over, the pieces are all over the place, and every move pierces deeper than the first one, which felt like a protracted chess game played by candlelight.
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ honest thoughts
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Okay, let’s be real: the duology’s world-building will test your patience. Book one had me googling stuff like crazys. But oh, when those cultural layers finally unfold? It’s not just rewarding; it’s breathtakingly beautiful and so incredibly well built that you forget all the previous struggles.
ㅤ Furthermore, the payoff is instantaneous this time. I could hear the chants of the ceremonies, taste the dust of the roadways, and feel the pulse of its myths and stories because the Jasad Crown paints its countries with such richness. Where The Jasad Heir made me work (and cry because of how much I had to struggle with its cultural elements), this book gave me everything: clear, lush, and devastatingly immersive. I love authors who manage to create such vivid worlds for their books, and Sarah Hashem definitely aced this. May I also remind you that this is a debut duology? This makes everything even more insane.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Honestly, I didn’t expect the leap in prose between the two books. I liked the writing in The Jasad Heir; it was pretty much suitable for the book, nothing too fancy. But I loved it here. Every sentence is sharper, more lyrical, and so much more alive. There’s this confidence to the storytelling now, a rhythm that complements the characters and the world instead of weighing them down. Hashem’s growth as a writer is almost audible.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ The plot? Here’s where my heart got stolen. While the first book drowned me in history and cultural weight, this one pours its soul into the plot. Yes, it’s still slow. Yes, the action simmers rather than explodes. But oh my god, I was devouring page after page, hungrier with every turn. Each revelation landed like a gut-punch, and even the quiet moments carried this insane, powerful, stormy emotional weight.
ㅤ If you’re the type who needs constant sword-fighting chaos and insanely developed fighting scenes and action that keeps you engaged, this might test you. But if you live for tension, politics, and slow, devastating stakes? Please pick this up RIGHT NOW!
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Please get ready because I've been writing this particular part for the past 3 days, so I am going TO TALK about the romance here.
ㅤ This book holds one of the most beautiful portrayals of love I have ever read. It is not loud, not glittered with flowery words or swooning poetry written in dialogues; instead, it is subtle, steady, and devastatingly profound. The romance here is definitely not the story’s main focus but its beating heart instead.
ㅤ You won't find traditional romanticism here, with fiery kisses, grand declarations, and fully poetical love confessions. You'll discover something far more potent: it feels like fate when love is shown in action, sacrifice, and unwavering loyalty. It is in their choices that shout devotion louder than words could ever express, in the silences laden with understanding, and in the way they stand by each other when the world would tear them apart.
ㅤ The weight of the relationship between Arin and Essiya is present in every look, every hesitancy, and every impossible choice. Their love isn't about fancy words; it's about devotion made flesh, about putting everything on the other without thinking twice.And it was this silent, steadfast devotion that caused me to crumble.
ㅤ By the end, I wasn't just crying; I was literally sobbing and holding on to the book like it was my lifeline. It takes a lot for a story to break me like that, but this one did so in the most exquisite way. I felt, experienced, and lost parts of myself to Essiya and Arin's love; I didn't just believe in it, I was literally living every experience with them.
ㅤ ⋅ ☾ Yeah, so…I don’t really want to talk about the ending because I’m still in recovery. It ripped my heart out, stomped on it, and then handed it back to me with a little bow. I finished and sat in silence for hours, not knowing what to do with myself. Just brace yourself...you are entirely not ready for what is to come, but you might still end up loving it as much as I did, so I would say it is definitely worth it!
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ characters
ㅤ These characters don’t just exist on the page, but they consume you. Their loyalties, flaws, and choices cut deep, and I couldn’t look away for a single second.
ㅤ 𓇼 Sylvia/Essiya – In this book, Sylvia is no longer only the hunted heir; she’s the reluctant crown-bearer, and you feel every ounce of the weight that role puts on her shoulders. She is still sharp, secretive, and scarred, but here her vulnerability is allowed to bleed through the cracks of her steel, especially when she finds herself wanting to lay her soul bare under the watchful eyes of a particular hot Commander.
ㅤ Watching her grapple with both her past and the terrifying future ahead of her is utterly devastating and endlessly compelling. I was crying and laughing with her, and I was feeling every single bit of the desperation she was experiencing. Truly one of the most beautiful characters I've ever encountered.
ㅤ 𓇼 Arin – I don’t even know where to begin....if I thought I was addicted to him in the first book, this one ruined me. He is still brooding, strategic, and endlessly calculating, but here, his loyalty sharpens into something raw and emotional that simply makes you want to only hug him for a bit. The way he looks at Essiya, the way his choices bend in her direction, is nothing short of devastating. He is literally the storm that should have destroyed her long ago, and yet he becomes her anchor. Arin definitely became one of the most unforgettable characters for me.
ㅤ 𓇼 Marek & Sefa – My beloveds!!!!!! They continue to be the heart Essiya refuses to admit she has. Marek’s steadfast warmth and Sefa’s fierce protectiveness balance the book’s colder, political edges. Every time they appeared, I felt steadied, like they were quietly holding everything in this book (and me tbh) together when everything else threatened to fracture....I am still not over THAT scene and I probably never will 🥲
ㅤ 𓇼 Wes & Jeru – Finally, more page time...but at what cost??? Their bond with Arin blooms more richly here, and it adds such a necessary layer of loyalty and tenderness on his side of the story. They are the shadows who guard him, the ones who remind you he’s not all frost and fury, and I adored them for it. Don't even get me started on their loyalty because I have no words to describe the beauty of it all....
ㅤ 𓇼 The Jasadi Rebels – Here, they are a reckoning rather than anonymous ghosts. Did I like them in particular? Maybe only a little, but because of them I finally felt the weight of what Essiya is supposed to bear when they changed from background noise to Jasad's very own living pulse.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Namsa and Maia - literally my favourite girls. Namsa's strategical thinking and devotion and Maia's compassion definitely completed each other perfectly in creating the duo Essiya needed in her life.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Lateef - He’s the pulse beneath every plan, anchoring the group with the quiet rhythm of loyalty and care. He is basically the father of everyone in this story, and his chapter where he was scolding both Essiya and Arin like they were literally children was EVERYTHING to me.
ㅤ ㅤ ⭑ Efra - Skeptical, sharp-tongued, occasionally downright infuriating. You might hate him at first, but there is definitely a charm to him and there is nothing that could make you doubt his true loyalty.
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ should you read this?
ㅤ Yes, without a doubt. READ THIS NOW!! The Jasad Crown is the book where all those threads come together, all the secrets come to light, and all the emotions hit like a blade. If The Jasad Heir was a gradual cultural immersion, then The Jasad Crown is its spectacular payoff.
ㅤ If you're looking for slow-burning fantasy that thrives on atmosphere, impossible choices, and romance so subtly revealed that it tears your heart out when it does, PICK THIS UP. This is a story that requires patience and then repays it tenfold with beauty, destruction, and awe; don't expect frequent explosions or easy answers.
ㅤ I am broken, moved, and in love with every aspect of the Jasad Crown and now I might continue to stare at the wall despite it being days since I finished this....
⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍendㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹
ㅤ ˗ˏˋ📖‧ ˚ ₊⊹ The Scorched Throne duology reviews:
⋆˚࿔ The Jasad Heir (4.2 - 4.4 ⭐)
⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍㆍ✿ㆍㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹
ㅤ ᯓ ✿ ���pre-reading ⪼ ㅤ started ┆13-August-2025┆
ㅤ ㅤ ⤿ I really wanted to start this after finishing the review for the first book in the duology, BUT I JUST CANNOT HELP MYSELF!! I needed to start this book already like I needed air!!! 🫠 i have no self-control
June 25, 2025
"You, Essiya of Jasad, will not be known for burning. You will always be known for surviving."
I feel hollow. I will never be the same again. This book has simultaneously destroyed me and filled my heart with so much love. Thank you Sara for ripping my heart out of my chest🥰 I will be sending over my therapy bills to you!!!
It's the way I'm just speechless. I genuinely do not even know what to say. How can any words I put down ever express how much of a soul series The Scorched Throne duology is to me now??? If you had told me over a year ago that a woman with the temperament of a deranged goose and a man whom everyone knew to be cold & emotionless would have buried their way into my heart, I would've never believed you. Two souls that believed they would always be alone, finding love with one another and those around them. Essiya and Arin had already become one of my favourite couples when I read The Jasad Heir but now they are definitely in my top 3 favourite couples ever.
To start, ESSIYA MY BELOVED!!!🥹 Guys, when I tell you The Jasad Crown made me fall in love with her even more than I thought possible?? Her growth throughout this journey was AMAZING, the love I have for this girl???!!! The life Essiya has had crushes me and every single time I wanted to give her the biggest hug. She has suffered so much and been alone for so long, always on the run, guarding her heart... it started with Sefa & Marek barging into her life, immediately loving her and refusing for her to hide away, then Arin whom she found her equal in, the one person in the world she could call her home and safe place, where she could be her savage, beautiful self, and now she fights for Jasad, her land and people. There are so many aspects of this series I love, but I absolutely adore how Essiya starts off with wanting nothing to do with Jasad and the responsibility she was born with, terrified of it all and especially getting killed, and slowly you see her fight through that fear and become the leader she never thought she could be. She's in no way a perfect leader but when it came down to fighting for them all, she really pulled through, even with the fear of magic-madness. Her love and loyalty to those she cares for is literally the sweetest thing ever, especially towards Sefa, Marek, and Arin???
AND THEN ARIN OF NIZHAL HELLO?? Sara really said "let me make you guys fall even more in love with him while *I* torture him even more!!!😀" JAIL. Not only did we get SO many more POV chapters of Arin but we got a much, much deeper understanding of him and his past. Anytime Arin was in pain, I was in pain. Anytime he was happy, I was happy. His growth??? Oh if it wasn't handled beautifully, I love how realistic Sara wrote it. And genuinely the way he is so in love with Essiya??? THE YEARNING KILLED ME AND GAVE ME LIFE.
I could literally spend forever talking about the romance between Arin and Essiya. How even separated, they couldn't stop thinking about one another. During their darkest moments, in their decisions, even to the point where Arin believes he's seeing hallucinations of Essiya?? How even surrounded by other Jasadis and believing Arin was preparing to kill her, the one person she trusted most was still Arin. How Arin's first instinct when hallucinating Essiya in the Citadel was to shout at her to run. How even in a room full of beautiful things, a bloodied Arin still outshined them all. How they love pinning each other against walls (Arin more so🤭). How Essiya really thought she could play a game of seduction against THE Arin of Nizhal... and then realized her mistake very fast (please I could not stop laughing). How Arin could watch her fight until weeds grew around his boots and never tire. How Arin could read every emotion in her eyes like it was written in a language he was born to speak. How he found himself grinning and laughing, his eyes softening when it came to Essiya. How Essiya would get nervous and Arin would joke around asking if he should put a knife in her hand to calm her down. How when they couldn't touch one another, they found intimacy in their violence that almost sufficed. How Essiya's destination would always be Arin. How there was no life where Arin could live without Essiya. How even when Arin moved to the floor to sleep, a sleeping Essiya followed him to the floor?? (That was so cute oh my god). How they would always choose one another?? . Yeah!! As you can tell I'm not normal about these two and never will be.
And then getting Sefa and Marek's POV chapters as well??? I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOUR. Sefa's kindness is like no other, she has the most beautiful heart in this series and I loved her subplot SO much. Marek was hilarious and sweet as always, and his subplot was just as engaging. Sefa and Marek's platonic love for one another will genuinely be one of the best I've ever seen in all the books I've read in my life. Like it's up there with Will and Jem's bond (from The Infernal Devices). Just like there's no Will without Jem (and vice versa), there is no Sefa without Marek (and vice versa). Their relationship was written beautifully and you can really feel how much they mean to one another. The amount of lines I highlighted?? I wanted to cry so much throughout this book. And even the love Sefa and Marek have for Essiya?? Oh my god. Seriously, Sara really wrote such heart-wrenching relationships in this series.
And we got more Jeru!!!! JERU MY LOVE. He had so many amazing scenes, especially this one scene with Marek and Sefa individually!!!! Like excuse me Jeru I didn't ask for you to hurt me as well?? There were also some new characters whom I didn't expect to like so much! Namsa and Maia!! Lateef!! BUT EFRA CAN GO TO HELL. Except for one scene that I liked from him, this guy pissed me off to no end.
Also can I just talk about how much I adore worldbuilding? I love that we not only got to understand more of Essiya's magic, but the lore behind the Awaleen and the so many questions we had in book 1 regarding the other kingdoms!! Literally all the plot twists shocked me and it could be another case of me being bad at guessing plot twists but seriously did not see them coming omg??? Also I have such a special love for this world because of the amount of Arabic words & food I recognized that I eat regularly?? The Scorched Throne duology has been the closest I've ever felt to my culture in reading and I adore it so much like I've never been able to experience this before and I didn't realize how beautiful of a feeling it is?? Petition for more Egyptian-inspired fantasy books!!
One more thing before I end this review, but below will be major spoilers as I go crazy with some of my favourite quotes, I'm sorry I can't resist!!
I'm heartbroken that it's over but I will never forget the journey this series took me on. I love the magic in this world and the way everything was wrapped felt perfect to me. The ending broke me in every way possible, and while I would kill for just ONE MORE CHAPTER (please on my knees begging), I'm satisfied. I will forever be recommending this duology to everyone I know and be so annoying about it!!! Arin & Essiya you will always be remembered.
Eternal thanks to Orbit for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!!
_____________
HELLO?? THAT SYNOPSIS??? omg stop july 2025 is too far away i need to be reunited with lomls arinsylvia right now asap i NEED that angst and murderous, lovable moments <3
November 17, 2025
Supplies Needed for reading The Jasad Crown…
- plenty of H2O: to cool down after all that scorching tension
- snacks: it's too good to break for full meals
- stress ball/asthma inhaler/beta-blockers/or similar: heart-pounding action & suspense may have health effects
- pillow: for screaming into, but also to protect feet from all the kicking you'll be doing (likely to be accompanied by giggles)
- ice packs: see cooling down, but also to manage cheek soreness, from smiling so much
- tissues, LOTS AND LOTS OF TISSUES: prepare to have your heart ripped out
- emotional support friend: please see previous bullet points
please note: this list may not be exhausted
This was such a perfect ending to an epic duology!
Whats to love...
- TRUE enemies to lovers
- the ANGST
- the BANTER
- SLOW BURN
- EPIC FOUND FAMILY
- reluctant hero / secret heir
- rich, well-developed world with magic, monsters, gods, and political intrigue
- TALL STRONG AND GENERALLY BADASS FMC
- stoic and uber controlled MMC (those are my favorite)
- multiple POVs that feels so well placed and intentional!
What’s not to love…
- I think this would have been a fabulous trilogy. It definitely works as a duology but it may have felt a tiny bit more satisfying as a three book series.
- I’ve seen a few reviews that said the world building in book 1 was a little lacking, and book 2 certainly rectifies any gaps in the world that book 1 left… BUT, personally I don’t want to spend quite as much time world building in a second book and it made the narrative a bit slower than I would have preferred at times.
5⭐️| IG | TikTok |
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit US for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
- plenty of H2O: to cool down after all that scorching tension
- snacks: it's too good to break for full meals
- stress ball/asthma inhaler/beta-blockers/or similar: heart-pounding action & suspense may have health effects
- pillow: for screaming into, but also to protect feet from all the kicking you'll be doing (likely to be accompanied by giggles)
- ice packs: see cooling down, but also to manage cheek soreness, from smiling so much
- tissues, LOTS AND LOTS OF TISSUES: prepare to have your heart ripped out
- emotional support friend: please see previous bullet points
please note: this list may not be exhausted
This was such a perfect ending to an epic duology!
Whats to love...
- TRUE enemies to lovers
- the ANGST
- the BANTER
- SLOW BURN
- EPIC FOUND FAMILY
- reluctant hero / secret heir
- rich, well-developed world with magic, monsters, gods, and political intrigue
- TALL STRONG AND GENERALLY BADASS FMC
- stoic and uber controlled MMC (those are my favorite)
- multiple POVs that feels so well placed and intentional!
What’s not to love…
- I think this would have been a fabulous trilogy. It definitely works as a duology but it may have felt a tiny bit more satisfying as a three book series.
- I’ve seen a few reviews that said the world building in book 1 was a little lacking, and book 2 certainly rectifies any gaps in the world that book 1 left… BUT, personally I don’t want to spend quite as much time world building in a second book and it made the narrative a bit slower than I would have preferred at times.
5⭐️| IG | TikTok |
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit US for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
July 20, 2025
best book of 2025 i don’t make the rules
October 30, 2025
5 STARS. NO DOUBT ABT IT
BUT EXCUSE ME!?
WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?!?!?
I NEEDED MORE😭😭😭😭😭
BUT EXCUSE ME!?
WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?!?!?
I NEEDED MORE😭😭😭😭😭
July 15, 2025
“There is no if you survive. There is no future where it is my hand that ends your life.” This close, I could make out the austere lines of anguish twining around his rage. “If your magic takes you, I will drag you back. It cannot have you.”
I'M CRYINGGGG, I'M CRYING AND I CAN'T STOP, SOMEONE GET ME ANOTHER PACK OF TISSUES RIGHT NOW!!! I really thought I could hold it together, but that epilogue got the water works going and now I'm just a mess, send help.
The Jasad Heir is one of my favourite books, its characters have been living in my head for two straight years, and after The Jasad Crown they are never leaving, never ever.
The first book broke me, this one fixed me only to break me again, and again...there's already a Jasad shaped hole in my heart, two books aren't enough!!!
Honestly, with the amount of worldbuilding we got, it could've been a trilogy. I loved getting to know this world better. I had no complaints about it the first time around (it was perfect), but you can see that the author really worked hard on it.
I feel like I understand the magic system better too, it's so much clearer. And!! I love all the Egyptian culture woven into every single aspect of this book, that's how it's done!!
We also got an expansion in the form of character PoVs. Not only did Arin get a bunch more PoVs, but Marek and Sefa did too. All of those, along with Sylvia's, made the story even stronger.
It was a lot easier to see each of their growths that way, and made the times they were in pain even more impactful.
This brings me to an event at the end of the book which I can't talk about, but it makes me want to scream, and keep screaming until my throat is raw because what the what. No. Why??? When you get to it, you'll feel the same way, trust me.
To circle back to a lighter topic, more Arin PoVs also means more pining!! He was pining for Sylvia and she was pining for him whenever they were apart and it made my little heart sooo happy.
Their romance is one of the best I've read, and I've read loads, okay, but so few times has it been this effective.
They're TRUE enemies to lovers, they didn't suddenly drop the enemies act oh no, they kept it up until the very end, as they should.
I'd like to mention Marek and Sefa's relationship again too, because I love it just as much as I do Arin and Sylvia's. Sara Hashem captured the beauty of platonic love so accurately, I felt in in my bones.
The ending...I will never recover, I fear. But I do want to say that it was completely unexpected, I was hoping for something a lil different, but I'm okay with how it ended (and the pain it caused me). It reminded me of a C-Drama, in a good way.
Hopefully we can get another book set in this world, or a little novella maybe? PLEASE GIVE US SOMETHING TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE PAIN!!
If you haven't read this duology yet, what are you doing with your life?? This is your sign to pick it up, it's absolutely amazing and worth your time (and tears).
*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
I'M CRYINGGGG, I'M CRYING AND I CAN'T STOP, SOMEONE GET ME ANOTHER PACK OF TISSUES RIGHT NOW!!! I really thought I could hold it together, but that epilogue got the water works going and now I'm just a mess, send help.
The Jasad Heir is one of my favourite books, its characters have been living in my head for two straight years, and after The Jasad Crown they are never leaving, never ever.
The first book broke me, this one fixed me only to break me again, and again...there's already a Jasad shaped hole in my heart, two books aren't enough!!!
Honestly, with the amount of worldbuilding we got, it could've been a trilogy. I loved getting to know this world better. I had no complaints about it the first time around (it was perfect), but you can see that the author really worked hard on it.
I feel like I understand the magic system better too, it's so much clearer. And!! I love all the Egyptian culture woven into every single aspect of this book, that's how it's done!!
We also got an expansion in the form of character PoVs. Not only did Arin get a bunch more PoVs, but Marek and Sefa did too. All of those, along with Sylvia's, made the story even stronger.
It was a lot easier to see each of their growths that way, and made the times they were in pain even more impactful.
This brings me to an event at the end of the book which I can't talk about, but it makes me want to scream, and keep screaming until my throat is raw because what the what. No. Why??? When you get to it, you'll feel the same way, trust me.
To circle back to a lighter topic, more Arin PoVs also means more pining!! He was pining for Sylvia and she was pining for him whenever they were apart and it made my little heart sooo happy.
Their romance is one of the best I've read, and I've read loads, okay, but so few times has it been this effective.
They're TRUE enemies to lovers, they didn't suddenly drop the enemies act oh no, they kept it up until the very end, as they should.
I'd like to mention Marek and Sefa's relationship again too, because I love it just as much as I do Arin and Sylvia's. Sara Hashem captured the beauty of platonic love so accurately, I felt in in my bones.
The ending...I will never recover, I fear. But I do want to say that it was completely unexpected, I was hoping for something a lil different, but I'm okay with how it ended (and the pain it caused me). It reminded me of a C-Drama, in a good way.
Hopefully we can get another book set in this world, or a little novella maybe? PLEASE GIVE US SOMETHING TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE PAIN!!
If you haven't read this duology yet, what are you doing with your life?? This is your sign to pick it up, it's absolutely amazing and worth your time (and tears).
*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
July 12, 2025
A man who yearns is a man who earns WHATS THAT?? ARIN GET BEHIND ME (into my bed)
How dare he yearn that badly!!! how dare he call her his wife to others when THEY ARENT EVEN MARRIED!!!! INSANE behaviour this WHOLE book was basically yearning 101 arin was TORTURED by his love 10/10 NO NOTES
An actual review:
This was a big step up from the first book, which I thought suffered from some classic debut vibes of poor pacing and odd narrative development toward the end. This book flowed soooo much better, but potentially lacks a smidge of seamless world building to really sell it to me. Some things are explained/introduced without much detail - and the magic of the world I do get but could’ve been more detailed and fleshed out.
HOWEVER that improvement in pacing really made this a VERY gripping read - I was thinking about when I’d next be able to pick it back up for DAYS. Good character development, admittedly bit of a rushed end. Enjoyed the additional POVs. Felt slightly YA but characters are clearly adult with more brutality than you’d find in YA.
Overall a really good read, i think this author will only improve her storytelling in future books. Really really solid foundation. The characters remain the strongest part of this duology - very fleshed out, clear voices, well realised. Thanku sara hashem for writing arin i need him biblically
How dare he yearn that badly!!! how dare he call her his wife to others when THEY ARENT EVEN MARRIED!!!! INSANE behaviour this WHOLE book was basically yearning 101 arin was TORTURED by his love 10/10 NO NOTES
An actual review:
This was a big step up from the first book, which I thought suffered from some classic debut vibes of poor pacing and odd narrative development toward the end. This book flowed soooo much better, but potentially lacks a smidge of seamless world building to really sell it to me. Some things are explained/introduced without much detail - and the magic of the world I do get but could’ve been more detailed and fleshed out.
HOWEVER that improvement in pacing really made this a VERY gripping read - I was thinking about when I’d next be able to pick it back up for DAYS. Good character development, admittedly bit of a rushed end. Enjoyed the additional POVs. Felt slightly YA but characters are clearly adult with more brutality than you’d find in YA.
Overall a really good read, i think this author will only improve her storytelling in future books. Really really solid foundation. The characters remain the strongest part of this duology - very fleshed out, clear voices, well realised. Thanku sara hashem for writing arin i need him biblically
June 11, 2025
5.0 ★ (infinite stars, tbh) —
I feel so empty right now. This reading experience took everything from me. Everything. I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I fucking squealed and shouted.
Man. Man. This was so good. I feel like death - but this was so good.
I loved that this book dove deeper into characters we didn’t get POVs from before. That we finally got to know more of Arin - his childhood, his relationships, what shaped him into the controlled and cunning man he is. I loved the yearning and the tension and the deep fascination that seeped through every one of his pores whenever he thought of Essiya. I just— this was the most heartbreaking and gorgeously written yearning I’ve read in a long time.
And the fact that Essiya and Arin, even resigned as enemies, still can’t keep themselves from thinking of each other, from reaching out, from interacting? AHHH. MAN. I wish I could be more eloquent, but I can’t. I’m barely able to type right now.
This love story was the definition of a slow burn - it burned. It burned so good.
And every other character was given such beautifully written depth and insight. The layers! I have to commend Sara Hashem for the sheer range of incredible characters, female characters especially - each so distinct, so richly motivated by love, power, revenge, kindness, greed, hatred. I loved seeing the variety in how they operated, how they carried themselves.
It made me so happy (and a little unwell) to see how each of them ended up and how some fates were left ambiguous. Just… I’m floored. I really am.
The ending wrecked me. It was so fitting - so right - but it tore at me in a dozen different ways. God. God. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I yelled. I cried.
This entire duology is a stunning exploration of trauma, family, the cost of power, the weight of inequality, and what happens when those in charge fall to greed and corruption and fail their people.
And of course, at its heart, it’s about love. About two people who were never taught how to love, who were never meant to love - and how they try, so desperately, to let each other in.
Ugh. I’m shattered. I don’t even know what else to say.
I am delusional and in love with this series, and I want to put Essiya and Arin in a soft, fluffy alternate universe where I can just watch them frolick together and be happy, just so I can see more of them. I love them so much.
I love this duology. I (selfishly) want more.
_______________________________
Thank you to Orbit and Edelweiss for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
I feel so empty right now. This reading experience took everything from me. Everything. I smiled, I laughed, I cried, I fucking squealed and shouted.
Man. Man. This was so good. I feel like death - but this was so good.
I loved that this book dove deeper into characters we didn’t get POVs from before. That we finally got to know more of Arin - his childhood, his relationships, what shaped him into the controlled and cunning man he is. I loved the yearning and the tension and the deep fascination that seeped through every one of his pores whenever he thought of Essiya. I just— this was the most heartbreaking and gorgeously written yearning I’ve read in a long time.
And the fact that Essiya and Arin, even resigned as enemies, still can’t keep themselves from thinking of each other, from reaching out, from interacting? AHHH. MAN. I wish I could be more eloquent, but I can’t. I’m barely able to type right now.
This love story was the definition of a slow burn - it burned. It burned so good.
And every other character was given such beautifully written depth and insight. The layers! I have to commend Sara Hashem for the sheer range of incredible characters, female characters especially - each so distinct, so richly motivated by love, power, revenge, kindness, greed, hatred. I loved seeing the variety in how they operated, how they carried themselves.
It made me so happy (and a little unwell) to see how each of them ended up and how some fates were left ambiguous. Just… I’m floored. I really am.
The ending wrecked me. It was so fitting - so right - but it tore at me in a dozen different ways. God. God. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I yelled. I cried.
This entire duology is a stunning exploration of trauma, family, the cost of power, the weight of inequality, and what happens when those in charge fall to greed and corruption and fail their people.
And of course, at its heart, it’s about love. About two people who were never taught how to love, who were never meant to love - and how they try, so desperately, to let each other in.
Ugh. I’m shattered. I don’t even know what else to say.
I am delusional and in love with this series, and I want to put Essiya and Arin in a soft, fluffy alternate universe where I can just watch them frolick together and be happy, just so I can see more of them. I love them so much.
I love this duology. I (selfishly) want more.
_______________________________
Thank you to Orbit and Edelweiss for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
December 10, 2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐+
“If your magic takes you, I will drag you back. It cannot have you.”
Vaida’s voice found me, Arin is consumed by what he loves. If asked, he would get on his knees and let it kill him.
A rush of guilt tightened my fingers around Arin’s sleeve. My entire life had been measured by the places I fled. I had never settled long enough to wonder about the people I left behind; the lives I destroyed.
I’m so sorry, I wanted to whisper. I am so sorry I did this to you. I never meant to drag you into my wreckage. I never expected you to stay.
I gently withdrew Arin’s hand from my mouth, my gaze steady. “Then have me yourself.”
[...]
I could go anywhere I wanted, but my destination would always be him. He had made himself the threshold to a world where it might finally be safe to land. To stay.
Perfect, this book is perfect, a freaking masterpiece. I enjoyed the first book, it was great, but this one is something else, absolutely incredible, loved it from start to finish; in the top 2 books of the year. I know I could never give it justice, but there are so many moments and elements worth mentioning, so this is gonna be VERY long (sorry) and a mix of review and gushing.
Somehow, I wasn’t surprised he had heard me. That across mountains and hills and trees, my voice reached him.
The story is incredibly compelling, layered and captivating, I loved diving into politics and machinations, tensions and twists, power and corruption, all done in such an amazing way. This book made me think, theorize, it brims with scenes that destroyed me in the best way and had me going back to reread every paragraph and underline so many beautiful lines, because I was so into it.
There are so many moving pieces and revelations and twists, some completely unexpected, I loved seeing the characters put the truth together! Everything ties up, little details come back, all things that make it clear this duology was well planned from the beginning.
The writing is beautiful, rich and engaging, it flows even better than the first book. Still think there should have been a glossary, at least for the names of the creatures, but the author’s way with words is a wonder.
And if the plot is compelling, the characters even more so, they’re complex, real, their journey, their struggles and emotions, are central; I care and root for them, and if in the first one is mainly Essiya I got to really know and understand and feel for, here Arin shines along with her, and the two amazing main secondary characters, Sefa and Marek, are more deeply explored as well and their povs and bond enrich the story even more. The two of them are true soulmates and the best friends for Essiya.
I was Essiya and I was Sylvia. I was both and none, the perfect Heir and the brutal orphan, the living and the dead. I was two imperfect wholes melding into one.
I adore Essiya, she’s a menace, badass, strong, funny but also flawed, seeing her grow from the girl she was at the start was moving; she spent so much time running, scared, she didn’t want to be a leader, but it was time to step up, to take charge, it was not easy for her, the weight of the crown, the responsibilities, the fear of losing her mind and failing are heavy, she had to fight her instinct to run and figure out who she is. She allows herself to be vulnerable with those few who matter most, she has to make peace with her past and her guilt. It was heartbreaking but meaningful that at first she did whatever she had to survive, but she was not actually living, then she accepted the responsibility and expected to die for it, but that acceptance was a sort of running as well; then there’s that one scene with Arin, where she allows herself to dream of the future and at the end her sacrifice is so meaningful because it’s not a running away, she is making a choice to save the people she loves.
Honorable mention for her savage badassery with Felix and her cunning badassery in Mahair and with Sorn.
For Arin, control was a cliff.
One step too far, and everything that made him who he was shattered on the rocks below. One step too far, and a beast would rise from his remains.
I admit, I enjoyed Arin in book 1, but I needed to know him more, and man this book delivered. I’m completely in awe and in love with him, this man left me speechless but also ready to write an essay about him. His journey was necessary but hard: he realized everything he had been taught, everything he stood for, everything he built his life on, had been a lie, his world crumbled under his feet, it would be horrible for everyone, but for Arin, so put together, unshakable, so devoted to uphold the rules of his life and his position, he almost crumbled with it; he had to rebuilt and it was so touching that the one thing he grounded himself on was Essiya. His devotion to her is a thing to behold (more on them later).
The scenes between Arin and his father were tough: their confrontation after Arin has figured out the truth is so intense, one of the moments that hit me the most was when Arin stops his father strike, “I could have stopped you at any time. I could have stopped you a decade ago, I should have known you would never stop yourself.”, he’s the best fighter alive, he’s not a child anymore, of course he could have stopped his father abuse, but deep down there was still a bit of the kid who strived for his father’s love; and the final confrontation, so satisfying, Arin really beat him on all fronts.
He handled people like lines on his maps. Shifting them subtly, strategically, without giving them the chance to feel the ground moving beneath their feet. His father’s charm was natural; Arin’s was carefully cultivated. Logic led his life, leaving emotion to fester at the sidelines. Even to his own people, he was an enigma. A dangerous one. Supreme Rawain could tear apart kingdoms, but Arin could destroy worlds.
I have a weakness for the ones that leave me in awe of their genius, playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers, Kaz Brekker is probably my favorite mc ever, I had never found another one whose mind came close, until Arin who measured each move he made. He bided his time. He gathered information. And when he struck, he struck to kill. He’s controlled, dangerous, rational, calculating, precise, strategic. You cannot outsmart him because he’ll have predicted your moves, planned his next twelve and prepared for all eventuality before you even knew you were playing. Fucking mastermind genius. All his moves in the conflict with Lukub and how he secured power in Nizahl, ART 🤯. And ALL of that not for himself, but to help Essiya. He cares about his people, about his country, but everything is for her, done thinking about her.
He had forgotten this feeling, this reckless abandon only she engendered—as though the rest of the world was nothing more than noise at the back of his head and true reality began and ended in the space she occupied.
This brings me to the romance: the relationship between Essiya and Arin is heart wrenching, beautiful and one of the most impactful I have read in a long time. Their deep love and devotion to one another is felt in every single page, it’s the heart of the story ❤️; this isn't a romance brimmed with love declarations or spice, it’s expressed with actions, it’s in every choice and thought. And it’s tragic, because the whole world and circumstances work against them. They’re two people so different, but also so capable of seeing, understanding, accepting and loving the other completely. They are in awe of the other. In the middle of hard decisions and chaos, they are each other safe place, they bring each other peace.
“When the world stops making sense, you cling to the only thing that does.”
“And you think he—you think how he feels about me makes sense? Even if we set aside our titles and our histories, it wouldn’t make it any more sensible. Someone as precise and calculating as Arin—who despises a loose thread on his vest and loses sleep if he has an inefficient day—would despair of me by week’s end. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked out of my room in stained clothes or brought someone to tears because I was in a bad mood and they were in my way. I thrive in chaos; Arin suffocates in it.”
“Not if you help him breathe,” Sefa said. “Not if you are his air in the chaos.”
---
“I love a woman whose choices are not so perfect.” Who found her peace in Arin even when Arin found nothing peaceful in himself.
And just because they can’t touch doesn’t mean that there are no charged scenes, with tension, flirting, with the “I wish we could” vibe, and one time they can… Also this Arin line: ‘If she dies for them, they will die with her’ HOT! 🥵
At the start of the book they are in a complicated situation, on opposite sides, he feels betrayed by her and she expects he’ll hunt her, and yet, they love each other and those feelings are always there, they influence everything.
“I wish I had a good reason for saving you. I wish it was logical or rational, informed by any semblance of reason. I wish more than anything my first thought when I emerged from the water was not of you, that I hadn’t been prepared to tear through every grain of sand and burn every tree in this damned place until I found you.”
All of their moments are perfection and worth mentioning.
“This—this is the last piece of my heart I have left, do you understand? I don’t know how to protect it once it is outside my body. If I trust you and then you cast it into the dirt, it will be the death of both of us. What is left of me will kill what is left of you.”
“I am becoming oddly partial to your death threats,” Arin mused. “I seem to hear in them different words entirely.”
That first time he sees her and his first instinct is to tell her to run, all the times she projects herself to him when she is distressed, when she watches him fight monsters with her heart in her throat, his anguish and rage when he sees a flash of her past.
The whole part where they actually reunite for the first time, oh my god! They see each other from afar in the middle of a battle and everything disappears! And their fight (flirting really), it was gold, they were literally using physical fight as next best thing since they can’t touch skin to skin 🤣, and Arin eviscerating the soldier who threw a knife at her?!!🫠 I was dying already and then they also gave me the whole part in the Mirayah, with his confession, the necklace (OMG🥹) and their night together. ❤️
The necklace I’d bought off the Omalian merchant during the second trial. The necklace I had gifted Arin the night of the Victor’s Ball. He kept it.
Arin of Nizahl, who did not tolerate a loose stitch or a crooked collar, who inspected every grain of dust that dared settle over him, had been wearing a cheap piece of Omalian jewelry under his punishing layers of clothes. No eloquent words or theories or complex pieces of strategy could explain it.
I never stood a chance.
And when Arin’s word crumbles, she is the only thing that makes sense for him, the only thing that makes it worth it, that matters, every single thing he does is for her and he refuses to accept her fate, does everything he can and more to stop it.
It took one lie for you to lose faith in me. Tell me, Your Highness: How many will it take until you lose faith in your father?
She had asked the wrong question.
She should have asked him how many lies it would take for Arin to lose faith in himself.
[...]
He could only see as far as the first step before it plunged into millions of possibilities. It terrified Arin to his core, the depth of the unknown waiting behind that first step.
But on this path waits a girl, and maybe a man who deserves her.
The whole part in the mountains, gold again. Him being so detached from life, until he sees her… hitting Efra for grabbing her, and Essiya doing everything to keep him safe, seeing him upset and thinking “who did this to you and where can I find them” and “I’ll bury this mountain if they touch him” and going feral when someone does 🥹. The sweetness of Essiya trying to show Arin that magic can be good, him swearing fealty to her, the moment where he gets her to think about what she wants from life, “In the evening, I would come home to you”. And I also have to mention something that might seem small, but hit me so hard: when he leaves the bed to sleep on the floor and wakes up later and finds she left the bed too and followed him in the rug… he is in a very dark place in that moment and that little thing is so symbolic.
He watched the world he’d built—the world he’d believed—burn to ashes, and a new one rise to take its place. One that began with a girl sleeping at his side and ended with her alive. It was the only world he cared to participate in. The only world he would die to secure.
The last section of the book in Jasad, that’s when the book destroys you… Sometimes I get teary eyes reading, but I don’t usually really cry, I did here.
Marek’s death was already hard by itself, but Sefa reaction with Jeru, that was heartbreaking, there I cried.
“No! I won’t leave him. Don’t you understand, I’ve never left him? I’ve never left him!”
“You never left. I know you never left, and so does he. But Marek isn’t here anymore, Sefa.”
[...]
“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “What life is left? I can’t mourn him longer than I loved him. I am not strong enough for this.”
“Nobody is,” Jeru said. “You do it anyway.”
And Essiya and Arin final moments on the battlefield and the bridge, heart wrenching. The dept of Essiya bravery when she sacrifices herself, giving up the future with him she wanted so much, telling Jeru “When he comes after me, stop him” and Arin begging her, “If you will not stay, take me with you.” Pain.
“You would choose her over your own kingdom? Over your own family?”
“Yes,” Arin said. “I choose her.”
---
I drank in the sight of Arin one last time.
I chose you, I thought. Even if it might not seem like it now.
This brings me to the epilogue, wonderful, perfect, emotional and trampled my heart.
Why hadn’t they told him that love was not a soft and gentle wind, but a storm determined to rip you apart and build its home in the wreckage?
How in those early days, before he knew what was happening, he would lose his breath at the thought of a future without her. A future where his new home would be gone. The home she had carved inside him, where the air smelled like her hair and the bells sounded like her laugh. A place where he could rest until he was old and weary, where he could only sleep with his hand settled over her heart, because even so many years later, that steady pulse was the only pillar Arin would ever lean on.
Death, he learned, did not change anything. It didn’t destroy their home; it simply barred Arin from entering. It meant years waiting on the steps.
This whole part, oh Lord, Arin might not have been physically entombed with her, but in any way that mattered he was, yet he kept hoping, he kept waiting; and even if the last line is, like I said, perfect, I do wish for one more paragraph, how can you end it like that?! I know part of the beauty is we can imagine the after, but I wish I could see it because I love them so much.
I cannot express how happy I am knowing they’ll be together and their life will be whatever they want it to be, they fought and suffered for it, they deserve it.
The first time Arin kissed me, I had lost myself. I had wanted nothing more than to abandon my mind, to cast aside my worries and fears and find peace against him.
The last time he kissed me, I found myself.
“If your magic takes you, I will drag you back. It cannot have you.”
Vaida’s voice found me, Arin is consumed by what he loves. If asked, he would get on his knees and let it kill him.
A rush of guilt tightened my fingers around Arin’s sleeve. My entire life had been measured by the places I fled. I had never settled long enough to wonder about the people I left behind; the lives I destroyed.
I’m so sorry, I wanted to whisper. I am so sorry I did this to you. I never meant to drag you into my wreckage. I never expected you to stay.
I gently withdrew Arin’s hand from my mouth, my gaze steady. “Then have me yourself.”
[...]
I could go anywhere I wanted, but my destination would always be him. He had made himself the threshold to a world where it might finally be safe to land. To stay.
Perfect, this book is perfect, a freaking masterpiece. I enjoyed the first book, it was great, but this one is something else, absolutely incredible, loved it from start to finish; in the top 2 books of the year. I know I could never give it justice, but there are so many moments and elements worth mentioning, so this is gonna be VERY long (sorry) and a mix of review and gushing.
Somehow, I wasn’t surprised he had heard me. That across mountains and hills and trees, my voice reached him.
The story is incredibly compelling, layered and captivating, I loved diving into politics and machinations, tensions and twists, power and corruption, all done in such an amazing way. This book made me think, theorize, it brims with scenes that destroyed me in the best way and had me going back to reread every paragraph and underline so many beautiful lines, because I was so into it.
There are so many moving pieces and revelations and twists, some completely unexpected, I loved seeing the characters put the truth together! Everything ties up, little details come back, all things that make it clear this duology was well planned from the beginning.
The writing is beautiful, rich and engaging, it flows even better than the first book. Still think there should have been a glossary, at least for the names of the creatures, but the author’s way with words is a wonder.
And if the plot is compelling, the characters even more so, they’re complex, real, their journey, their struggles and emotions, are central; I care and root for them, and if in the first one is mainly Essiya I got to really know and understand and feel for, here Arin shines along with her, and the two amazing main secondary characters, Sefa and Marek, are more deeply explored as well and their povs and bond enrich the story even more. The two of them are true soulmates and the best friends for Essiya.
I was Essiya and I was Sylvia. I was both and none, the perfect Heir and the brutal orphan, the living and the dead. I was two imperfect wholes melding into one.
I adore Essiya, she’s a menace, badass, strong, funny but also flawed, seeing her grow from the girl she was at the start was moving; she spent so much time running, scared, she didn’t want to be a leader, but it was time to step up, to take charge, it was not easy for her, the weight of the crown, the responsibilities, the fear of losing her mind and failing are heavy, she had to fight her instinct to run and figure out who she is. She allows herself to be vulnerable with those few who matter most, she has to make peace with her past and her guilt. It was heartbreaking but meaningful that at first she did whatever she had to survive, but she was not actually living, then she accepted the responsibility and expected to die for it, but that acceptance was a sort of running as well; then there’s that one scene with Arin, where she allows herself to dream of the future and at the end her sacrifice is so meaningful because it’s not a running away, she is making a choice to save the people she loves.
Honorable mention for her savage badassery with Felix and her cunning badassery in Mahair and with Sorn.
For Arin, control was a cliff.
One step too far, and everything that made him who he was shattered on the rocks below. One step too far, and a beast would rise from his remains.
I admit, I enjoyed Arin in book 1, but I needed to know him more, and man this book delivered. I’m completely in awe and in love with him, this man left me speechless but also ready to write an essay about him. His journey was necessary but hard: he realized everything he had been taught, everything he stood for, everything he built his life on, had been a lie, his world crumbled under his feet, it would be horrible for everyone, but for Arin, so put together, unshakable, so devoted to uphold the rules of his life and his position, he almost crumbled with it; he had to rebuilt and it was so touching that the one thing he grounded himself on was Essiya. His devotion to her is a thing to behold (more on them later).
The scenes between Arin and his father were tough: their confrontation after Arin has figured out the truth is so intense, one of the moments that hit me the most was when Arin stops his father strike, “I could have stopped you at any time. I could have stopped you a decade ago, I should have known you would never stop yourself.”, he’s the best fighter alive, he’s not a child anymore, of course he could have stopped his father abuse, but deep down there was still a bit of the kid who strived for his father’s love; and the final confrontation, so satisfying, Arin really beat him on all fronts.
He handled people like lines on his maps. Shifting them subtly, strategically, without giving them the chance to feel the ground moving beneath their feet. His father’s charm was natural; Arin’s was carefully cultivated. Logic led his life, leaving emotion to fester at the sidelines. Even to his own people, he was an enigma. A dangerous one. Supreme Rawain could tear apart kingdoms, but Arin could destroy worlds.
I have a weakness for the ones that leave me in awe of their genius, playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers, Kaz Brekker is probably my favorite mc ever, I had never found another one whose mind came close, until Arin who measured each move he made. He bided his time. He gathered information. And when he struck, he struck to kill. He’s controlled, dangerous, rational, calculating, precise, strategic. You cannot outsmart him because he’ll have predicted your moves, planned his next twelve and prepared for all eventuality before you even knew you were playing. Fucking mastermind genius. All his moves in the conflict with Lukub and how he secured power in Nizahl, ART 🤯. And ALL of that not for himself, but to help Essiya. He cares about his people, about his country, but everything is for her, done thinking about her.
He had forgotten this feeling, this reckless abandon only she engendered—as though the rest of the world was nothing more than noise at the back of his head and true reality began and ended in the space she occupied.
This brings me to the romance: the relationship between Essiya and Arin is heart wrenching, beautiful and one of the most impactful I have read in a long time. Their deep love and devotion to one another is felt in every single page, it’s the heart of the story ❤️; this isn't a romance brimmed with love declarations or spice, it’s expressed with actions, it’s in every choice and thought. And it’s tragic, because the whole world and circumstances work against them. They’re two people so different, but also so capable of seeing, understanding, accepting and loving the other completely. They are in awe of the other. In the middle of hard decisions and chaos, they are each other safe place, they bring each other peace.
“When the world stops making sense, you cling to the only thing that does.”
“And you think he—you think how he feels about me makes sense? Even if we set aside our titles and our histories, it wouldn’t make it any more sensible. Someone as precise and calculating as Arin—who despises a loose thread on his vest and loses sleep if he has an inefficient day—would despair of me by week’s end. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked out of my room in stained clothes or brought someone to tears because I was in a bad mood and they were in my way. I thrive in chaos; Arin suffocates in it.”
“Not if you help him breathe,” Sefa said. “Not if you are his air in the chaos.”
---
“I love a woman whose choices are not so perfect.” Who found her peace in Arin even when Arin found nothing peaceful in himself.
And just because they can’t touch doesn’t mean that there are no charged scenes, with tension, flirting, with the “I wish we could” vibe, and one time they can… Also this Arin line: ‘If she dies for them, they will die with her’ HOT! 🥵
At the start of the book they are in a complicated situation, on opposite sides, he feels betrayed by her and she expects he’ll hunt her, and yet, they love each other and those feelings are always there, they influence everything.
“I wish I had a good reason for saving you. I wish it was logical or rational, informed by any semblance of reason. I wish more than anything my first thought when I emerged from the water was not of you, that I hadn’t been prepared to tear through every grain of sand and burn every tree in this damned place until I found you.”
All of their moments are perfection and worth mentioning.
“This—this is the last piece of my heart I have left, do you understand? I don’t know how to protect it once it is outside my body. If I trust you and then you cast it into the dirt, it will be the death of both of us. What is left of me will kill what is left of you.”
“I am becoming oddly partial to your death threats,” Arin mused. “I seem to hear in them different words entirely.”
That first time he sees her and his first instinct is to tell her to run, all the times she projects herself to him when she is distressed, when she watches him fight monsters with her heart in her throat, his anguish and rage when he sees a flash of her past.
The whole part where they actually reunite for the first time, oh my god! They see each other from afar in the middle of a battle and everything disappears! And their fight (flirting really), it was gold, they were literally using physical fight as next best thing since they can’t touch skin to skin 🤣, and Arin eviscerating the soldier who threw a knife at her?!!🫠 I was dying already and then they also gave me the whole part in the Mirayah, with his confession, the necklace (OMG🥹) and their night together. ❤️
The necklace I’d bought off the Omalian merchant during the second trial. The necklace I had gifted Arin the night of the Victor’s Ball. He kept it.
Arin of Nizahl, who did not tolerate a loose stitch or a crooked collar, who inspected every grain of dust that dared settle over him, had been wearing a cheap piece of Omalian jewelry under his punishing layers of clothes. No eloquent words or theories or complex pieces of strategy could explain it.
I never stood a chance.
And when Arin’s word crumbles, she is the only thing that makes sense for him, the only thing that makes it worth it, that matters, every single thing he does is for her and he refuses to accept her fate, does everything he can and more to stop it.
It took one lie for you to lose faith in me. Tell me, Your Highness: How many will it take until you lose faith in your father?
She had asked the wrong question.
She should have asked him how many lies it would take for Arin to lose faith in himself.
[...]
He could only see as far as the first step before it plunged into millions of possibilities. It terrified Arin to his core, the depth of the unknown waiting behind that first step.
But on this path waits a girl, and maybe a man who deserves her.
The whole part in the mountains, gold again. Him being so detached from life, until he sees her… hitting Efra for grabbing her, and Essiya doing everything to keep him safe, seeing him upset and thinking “who did this to you and where can I find them” and “I’ll bury this mountain if they touch him” and going feral when someone does 🥹. The sweetness of Essiya trying to show Arin that magic can be good, him swearing fealty to her, the moment where he gets her to think about what she wants from life, “In the evening, I would come home to you”. And I also have to mention something that might seem small, but hit me so hard: when he leaves the bed to sleep on the floor and wakes up later and finds she left the bed too and followed him in the rug… he is in a very dark place in that moment and that little thing is so symbolic.
He watched the world he’d built—the world he’d believed—burn to ashes, and a new one rise to take its place. One that began with a girl sleeping at his side and ended with her alive. It was the only world he cared to participate in. The only world he would die to secure.
The last section of the book in Jasad, that’s when the book destroys you… Sometimes I get teary eyes reading, but I don’t usually really cry, I did here.
Marek’s death was already hard by itself, but Sefa reaction with Jeru, that was heartbreaking, there I cried.
“No! I won’t leave him. Don’t you understand, I’ve never left him? I’ve never left him!”
“You never left. I know you never left, and so does he. But Marek isn’t here anymore, Sefa.”
[...]
“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “What life is left? I can’t mourn him longer than I loved him. I am not strong enough for this.”
“Nobody is,” Jeru said. “You do it anyway.”
And Essiya and Arin final moments on the battlefield and the bridge, heart wrenching. The dept of Essiya bravery when she sacrifices herself, giving up the future with him she wanted so much, telling Jeru “When he comes after me, stop him” and Arin begging her, “If you will not stay, take me with you.” Pain.
“You would choose her over your own kingdom? Over your own family?”
“Yes,” Arin said. “I choose her.”
---
I drank in the sight of Arin one last time.
I chose you, I thought. Even if it might not seem like it now.
This brings me to the epilogue, wonderful, perfect, emotional and trampled my heart.
Why hadn’t they told him that love was not a soft and gentle wind, but a storm determined to rip you apart and build its home in the wreckage?
How in those early days, before he knew what was happening, he would lose his breath at the thought of a future without her. A future where his new home would be gone. The home she had carved inside him, where the air smelled like her hair and the bells sounded like her laugh. A place where he could rest until he was old and weary, where he could only sleep with his hand settled over her heart, because even so many years later, that steady pulse was the only pillar Arin would ever lean on.
Death, he learned, did not change anything. It didn’t destroy their home; it simply barred Arin from entering. It meant years waiting on the steps.
This whole part, oh Lord, Arin might not have been physically entombed with her, but in any way that mattered he was, yet he kept hoping, he kept waiting; and even if the last line is, like I said, perfect, I do wish for one more paragraph, how can you end it like that?! I know part of the beauty is we can imagine the after, but I wish I could see it because I love them so much.
I cannot express how happy I am knowing they’ll be together and their life will be whatever they want it to be, they fought and suffered for it, they deserve it.
The first time Arin kissed me, I had lost myself. I had wanted nothing more than to abandon my mind, to cast aside my worries and fears and find peace against him.
The last time he kissed me, I found myself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 26, 2025
Heartbroken to say this was a dud for me. I would almost rate it 2 stars.
⭐⭐ Read more of my reviews and get tips on the best Enemies to Lovers books by checking out my Blog, Enemies to Lovers Source ⭐⭐
🖤🖤 Follow me On Bluesky for more book ranting 🖤🖤
Jasad heir was one of the best enemies to lovers books I’ve ever read. I had high expectations for book 2 to deliver. Since this is a sequel and I’m bummed, let’s just list it all out
- conflict between primary characters is resolved too easily and conveniently. A lot of little plot points are moved around to make the romance work and redeem certain characters.
- the plot outside the romance dragged. I am someone who prefers real plot with my romance, so having one take the vast majority of the book is usually AMAZING- however the plot to this final book was so damn…middling. It felt like a series of random moments being thrown against a wall. About half of those things were people saying the main character can’t be trusted or otherwise doubting her and her attempting to prove them wrong. The politics felt un compelling and there was an overall lack of stakes, like we spent the whole book fucking around
- infinite deus ex machinas. Like so many. Any time anything needs to move along, there’s a magical vision that makes it so. And those visions are frequently boring
Which gets me to my last point- I was just bored. Non stop wishing I was doing anything else. The plot bored me, the romance bored me, the characters felt like not a single one except the main Arin grew at all, and all of Arins growth felt forced and artificial.
⭐⭐ Read more of my reviews and get tips on the best Enemies to Lovers books by checking out my Blog, Enemies to Lovers Source ⭐⭐
🖤🖤 Follow me On Bluesky for more book ranting 🖤🖤
Jasad heir was one of the best enemies to lovers books I’ve ever read. I had high expectations for book 2 to deliver. Since this is a sequel and I’m bummed, let’s just list it all out
- conflict between primary characters is resolved too easily and conveniently. A lot of little plot points are moved around to make the romance work and redeem certain characters.
- the plot outside the romance dragged. I am someone who prefers real plot with my romance, so having one take the vast majority of the book is usually AMAZING- however the plot to this final book was so damn…middling. It felt like a series of random moments being thrown against a wall. About half of those things were people saying the main character can’t be trusted or otherwise doubting her and her attempting to prove them wrong. The politics felt un compelling and there was an overall lack of stakes, like we spent the whole book fucking around
- infinite deus ex machinas. Like so many. Any time anything needs to move along, there’s a magical vision that makes it so. And those visions are frequently boring
Which gets me to my last point- I was just bored. Non stop wishing I was doing anything else. The plot bored me, the romance bored me, the characters felt like not a single one except the main Arin grew at all, and all of Arins growth felt forced and artificial.
August 9, 2025
4.5⭐️ ”In the measure of monster or man, what tips the scales?”
——sara hashem, when I catch you.
this book was strikingly and beautifully well written. i loved going deeper into arin’s life & childhood and watching him deconstruct his entire world view was very interesting and intense to read.
sylvia/essyia was just as likable in this one, i swear her humor is entirely unmatched. i enjoyed seeing how tough AND kind she was. i feel like many fantasy female protagonists are too tough and emotionally closed off but she displays the perfect in between. i loved seeing her character arc and watching her decide to do things she would HAVE NEVER DONE at the beginning of book one. it showed how much she evolved as a character.
and of course, the ending. wow. i didn’t expect it, i’m not going to lie. was i sad? yes. reading those epilogue chapters threw me for a loop. but i understand why. i appreciate sara hashem for doing something different. because boy oh boy, she DEFINITELY made it different.
this was such an interesting fantasy to read, it has its flaws but i had a great time!
——sara hashem, when I catch you.
this book was strikingly and beautifully well written. i loved going deeper into arin’s life & childhood and watching him deconstruct his entire world view was very interesting and intense to read.
sylvia/essyia was just as likable in this one, i swear her humor is entirely unmatched. i enjoyed seeing how tough AND kind she was. i feel like many fantasy female protagonists are too tough and emotionally closed off but she displays the perfect in between. i loved seeing her character arc and watching her decide to do things she would HAVE NEVER DONE at the beginning of book one. it showed how much she evolved as a character.
and of course, the ending. wow. i didn’t expect it, i’m not going to lie. was i sad? yes. reading those epilogue chapters threw me for a loop. but i understand why. i appreciate sara hashem for doing something different. because boy oh boy, she DEFINITELY made it different.
this was such an interesting fantasy to read, it has its flaws but i had a great time!
November 2, 2025
i am SO conflicted on how to rate this. because wtf???
plainly put: brilliant in moments, average in execution
—★★✯☆☆ · 2.5 stars = definition of mid tbf (and i so badly wanted to give it a 3.5 but alas).
review to come.
thoughts while reading:
➛ why is this even longer than the first one??
pre-read
i'm hoping for it to get better 🥲
plainly put: brilliant in moments, average in execution
—★★✯☆☆ · 2.5 stars = definition of mid tbf (and i so badly wanted to give it a 3.5 but alas).
review to come.
thoughts while reading:
➛ why is this even longer than the first one??
pre-read
i'm hoping for it to get better 🥲
August 20, 2025
As a reader, you never know when you’ll find the next series that’s going to take over your life, that makes you feel physically nauseous all day, that has a character dynamic with so much tension that you want to literally puke. You also never know when you’re going to get food poisoning. And so, I have to admit I don’t know if this book hit me so hard because it was so good, or because I actually had food poisoning. I think it was a bit of both!
Book 2s are hard to review without spoilers so I’ll say some general things. There is something about the way Sara Hashem writes that will make you FEEL things (food poisoning aside, I reread my annotations and can confirm the dialogue is devastatingly good). She just knows how to pull emotion out of you and The Jasad Crown did this even more than book 1. So if you read the first and felt the author emotionally gut punching you, know that Hashem puts on brass knuckles for her duology’s finale!! I’m warning you. <3
TJC generally steps it up a notch in every regard with the world and personal stakes being even higher. We get more politics, more mythical creatures, more violence, more magic, more POVs and most importantly, more yearning.
I mean that on yearning. If you finished The Jasad Hier you know that our little love birds have been separated. TRUST the wait is worth it because chapters 32 to 37 were so astronomically good, so ridiculously worth the wait that I had to leave my apartment and touch grass I was in such an emotional state.
Again, this series isn’t perfect, and TJC still has some lumps and bumps. But me? My eyes are closed! I am hopping right on over them because of the way this book made me feel. (side note: “brain off” reading advocates please do NOT claim me for this). There were definitely scenes that needed some more fleshing out and I know the ending of this book is a tad divisive. Rip hair iykyk and I won’t lie I could have used an another epilogue… but I also could have used another 500 pages, so.
At the end of the day, this duology haunts me and I really do recommend having food poisoning when you read The Jasad Crown for maximum impact. :)
P.S. - a tropey romantic structure spoiler for you:
Forget enemies to lovers, give me more Toxic Enemies to Antagonistic Yearning to Almost Lovers to Maybe Mortal Enemies again to Violent Pining to Lovers (??? maybe ??)
xoxo
Book 2s are hard to review without spoilers so I’ll say some general things. There is something about the way Sara Hashem writes that will make you FEEL things (food poisoning aside, I reread my annotations and can confirm the dialogue is devastatingly good). She just knows how to pull emotion out of you and The Jasad Crown did this even more than book 1. So if you read the first and felt the author emotionally gut punching you, know that Hashem puts on brass knuckles for her duology’s finale!! I’m warning you. <3
TJC generally steps it up a notch in every regard with the world and personal stakes being even higher. We get more politics, more mythical creatures, more violence, more magic, more POVs and most importantly, more yearning.
I mean that on yearning. If you finished The Jasad Hier you know that our little love birds have been separated. TRUST the wait is worth it because chapters 32 to 37 were so astronomically good, so ridiculously worth the wait that I had to leave my apartment and touch grass I was in such an emotional state.
Again, this series isn’t perfect, and TJC still has some lumps and bumps. But me? My eyes are closed! I am hopping right on over them because of the way this book made me feel. (side note: “brain off” reading advocates please do NOT claim me for this). There were definitely scenes that needed some more fleshing out and I know the ending of this book is a tad divisive. Rip hair iykyk and I won’t lie I could have used an another epilogue… but I also could have used another 500 pages, so.
At the end of the day, this duology haunts me and I really do recommend having food poisoning when you read The Jasad Crown for maximum impact. :)
P.S. - a tropey romantic structure spoiler for you:
Forget enemies to lovers, give me more Toxic Enemies to Antagonistic Yearning to Almost Lovers to Maybe Mortal Enemies again to Violent Pining to Lovers (??? maybe ??)
xoxo
November 24, 2025
UTTER PERFECTION❤️🔥I don't even know how to describe this🫡
October 15, 2025
Why hadn't they told him that love was not a soft and gentle wind, but a storm determined to rip you apart and build its home in the wreckage?
4.5 stars
Everything in this book was so much better then the first. Way more pace, way more action, way more Arin being an absolute savage 💀
Wasn't so much a fan of the ending, but maybe some spin offs can come from all this.
Definitely recommend for romantasy readers. I would love to see this duology get more attention than it has so far 🔥
4.5 stars
Everything in this book was so much better then the first. Way more pace, way more action, way more Arin being an absolute savage 💀
Wasn't so much a fan of the ending, but maybe some spin offs can come from all this.
Definitely recommend for romantasy readers. I would love to see this duology get more attention than it has so far 🔥
May 20, 2025
Shut up I’m miserable
Okay, It's been a month and a day since I finished this book and I finally feel prepared and composed enough to attempt to write my eulogy- I mean review. Please bear with while I break this down in a way that is way too serious for a GR review and yet is not serious enough for what this book did to me.
Without further ado, and this is your warning for spoilers, I begin my essay of seven (oh look a biblical number for the biblical-scale devastation to my inner world).
Because it's customary I start with a quote: "My wife" yeuhhhhhHH
Part 1, Essiya
I love this woman so!! Much!! There aren't words for how deeply burrowed into my head and heart she is or how much she means to me because oh my god. There is so much about her that I identify with, so many moments where something she did or said taught me something about myself, moments of being *seen* that are imo the most valuable part of the reading experience. Unfortunately, I'm not half as funny as she is because some of these jokes- I was laughing out loud long before I was bawling and begging for mercy. She's a vicious thing with too many teeth and blood on both her hands (and feet) but she's still just a girl who wants to crawl into her safe person's chest and rest a little while, away from the noise of the world (this passage made me bawl- genuinely did not know how to articulate that feeling but here we are). Her journey in this book was an absolute JOY to read (I say this holding back tears)- seeing who she was in book 1, even at the end, it was survival above all else "feel guilty about the means later", to someone who, despite being terrifying and not wanting to die, still did not what she thought she had to but what she came to realise she wanted to do for her people. The way she owned her identity, stopped running from it, the way she didn't suddenly have an epiphany and become duty-bound but met the people she only thought of abstractly in book 1, and she learned more of her power and her home etc. until that duty became something she was proud to bear and actively chose to walk towards. It wasn't easy not even after the fact, it hurt and it was painful and she never- because of course she wouldn't- not once, stopped fighting it, and found a way to get back to where she belonged. I love that she was allowed to mourn the life she only just realised she wanted (the conversation they have where Arin tells her she can do better- to come up with a better imagined future- I bawled), she was allowed to hate what she was doing and still do it because it meant her family would be okay, it meant she would not hurt them nor force them to hurt her and therefore in turn hurt them despite them raging against it- "you are done," and "take me with you," and "I swore myself to you."
I could continue to wax poetic about her arc but if I'm being honest, it's the small, personal moments that endear her to me the most. The moments where she (almost comically) talks to herself and realises what she's been avoiding admitting all along. Where she's never in a situation too dire to hold back a bad joke or a quip (the your mum joke SENT ME); the moments where she wonders about sharing her inner burden, allowing Arin to hold some of it for her, with her. The goofy time she tried to use her charms to frazzle him while conveniently forgetting how down bad she also is for him and getting flustered herself (ur doing great sweetie). Her giving the sareekh a headache, needling Arin because she knew he couldn't help but correct her on his special interest.
I'm forever in awe of Sara's ability to empower her characters without ever erasing all that they've been through. Essiya will probably never fully shake what Hanim did to her, those years in Essam, but like hell is she going to let that hold her back. The line "she only had her monster" turning into "Essam's favourite monster" like- the way that same experience is flipped to be something that makes her better rather than a derogatory reiteration of her worst fears about her worth- DELICIOUS! GENIUS!!! The parallels in this book are sick and twisted. Also the scenes with Felix and Sorn- she ate those UP!!! ESP FELIX like yesss MAAM tell him!!! And when she goes full murder right before punching Arin's lights out, yeah, love my murderous fave!!
There's nothing I love more than finding a character that feels like home and honestly, Essiya in all her horror and messiness and randomness feels like the warmest of hugs.
Part 2, Arin
This sick freak!!!! I knew he was into her crazy and I WAS CORRECT!! I love this lil neurospicy man I really really do- I'm not usually one for wanting characters to be real but I would love me an Arin I really would, I'm just a girl. AnYWAYS!!
Sara clearly hates this man (something about the white haired dudes because this is giving Gege and Gojo) because his pain and suffering are PUNCTUAL! From the first chapter to the last, if his hair wasn't already white it would've all turned white by the last page. My God. I love him, I think his character arc is PHENOMENAL! The differences are so delicious because where she came to want to do her duty as heir, he forsook his- when his world came crashing down around him, the one thing he held onto was her. I'll never get over "I choose her," the way he wanted to sink into the nothingness but stayed afloat with tunnel vision of getting to her. That the moment he saw her, made sure she was okay, that he completely deflated. That she was the thing that dragged him out of that. When Vaida said he loved to obsession in book 1 she may have been understating it bc what is this?!!!
"When I'm done they'll call it succession," I was GAGGED!! The opening scene of his journey being him telling a creep in painful detail all the ways he will prolong his life just to allow him to torture him for longer??? Sir?! That the mercy was him "having a grave for her to spit on," okay King, whatever you say! The flashbacks to his mum gave me stomach aches no joke, "Forgive me for not visiting sooner," and "I'm still away, I think," stfu. Thinking of little Arin being forced to realise that his mother's love had to be shoved aside in favour of seeking out the unattainable from his dad for his survival makes me SICK (there was a lot of trauma dumping in the margins of this book lemme just say- like so much). The image of his mum pushing his hair into his hat and waiting patiently while his lil curious George ass disposition was doing its thing like oh my GOD.
I was with everyone else wanting to see him let go, to snap, and I immediately regretted it because that was so painful. Seeing HIM of all people, allow what happened in the cell to happen, the scene where he goes back and they put him in the like? Solitary confinement place and the fACT THAT HE WAS PUT THERE AS A CHILD STFUUUUUU no- this man had been through ENOUGH!
Anyways, seeing him allow himself to doubt and to work his way through such a huge life altering shift in perspective was incredible and it was worth every second of pain and suffering (and suffer I did). The line "The day I stop doubting, the moment I submit myself to convenience over clarity, I pray my crown rusts in my hands.” HE ATE THAT UPPPPPPP LIKE YES GOD BOOM SHAKALAKA
As much as I identified with Essiya, I also found myself in Arin and that's not great news because we both need intense trauma therapy but that's okay because it made for a great reading experience. At his core, he's just a boy trying his best. That's all he's every done, try his bloody best and it was never enough and then he was being told how incredible he was but he couldn't believe it and so he did all sorts to try and prove himself and still. His only father figure? Dead. Matter fact, he had to do a cavity search on his head. Just his head. I almost threw up. His trusted guard? WElp, also dead because he killed aforementioned father figure. Must I go on?
Being in his head was something I didn't deserve (because of the angst but also because it was literary GOLD) but I am so so so forever grateful that she chose to make it multi-POV because the stuff we get in these scenes, some of the things, my GOD.
Part 3, Sefa & Marek
These two idiots I love them so much and I will never ever forgive Sara for what she did to him. Never. Can't stop thinking about the sick and twisted parallels of him saying he was the one Lazur that survived and then died right on the freaking battlefield same as the rest of his siblings. The fact that they have NEVER not once EVER been apart and now she has to live the rest of her life without him? The line about tell marek and essiya that I fought,, like- they're her only family and both were doomed. The way no other woman would want to be second because Sefa was always his first. I think maybe even more than Arin's POV, being in Marek's head when he thought of how he felt for Sefa was the true joy of this book. I don't think there has ever been a more painfully tender, breathtakingly sweet relationship than these two. The way Sefa draws on both Marek and Essiya's strength but never loses the essence of her kindness??? sobbing! The way Marek is all sarcasm and lazy smiles but the moment Sefa is on the line he locks IN! But is also still unbelievably goofy- the way he realises he can't win in a fight with Jeru and makes a mad dash for the door- I LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Their reunion- him calling her his family, Sefa asking her if she can touch her- the way they fall straight back into their old dynamic even though WORLDS of change has happened to all of them. The small passage in the mountain where Essiya worries about Marek and his inability to accept kindness without offering up his body in return- the way Sefa will never have that conversation with him. The way he tried to say something to her but died too fast, mouth full of blood. Shut the hell up I am actually DISTRAUGHT. I knew one of them would die, I knew it I felt it in my bones- we were learning too much about them, they loved each other too much for them to be afforded happily ever afters. That we saw Essiya save someone with her magic, the possibility, just to be robbed of that option when it really mattered (not that it didn't matter before but lemme be fr I'd rather Marek have made it). It's cruel for no reason but my GOD a book that can make me feel even a fraction of what this one made me feel is already a stellar read but this!! When Essiya describes Sefa as the other wayward piece of her heart- like, she lost a piece of her heart there and I'm sick. My doomed faves, I will reread in the future and promise myself that I'll stop before he goes but I won't be able to and that's the real tragedy- that this had to happen. He was always going to protect her with his life and he did. It's actually too much to deal with so I'm cutting myself off for sanity's sake.
Part 4, The horror
Speaking of horrors previously unknown to man, I need her to jump on the horror-fantasy train because the horror was horror-ing and I ate it up! The small part with the nisnas in book 1 kept me going for two years and it was so worth the wait because the gore in this book! is so good!! The brutality is at an all time high and at the risk of sounding completely unhinged, it was fantastic and I ate it up. The scene with her grandmother on the throne?! sick to my stomach. The nisnas again?! Rawain's hand?! OH! Again, at the risk of sounding deranged, the scene in the cell is one of my favourites, the way she goes full magic-crazy-lady and is like oooooo,, part of me kind of wanted to see her go fully insane but I know I would be devastated if it actually happened because we aren't allowed nice things unless Arin is suffering for them and he would of course suffer :(( Anyways, need her to lean into this with her next project please and thank you! THE SCENE WITH THE FISH!!
Part 5, The romance
This is a doozy. I have no coherent thoughts, just loose threads of half-formed thoughts. Teeth marks and "go to sleep" x3, fig necklace and him screaming her name first thing when he woke up, him gently touching her cheek knowing the risk, not knowing pain until seeing a scene from Essam in the vision, him going to buy all the sesame candies each year without fail, her full of childlike wonder showing him the beauty of magic, them being so painfully down bad for each other that the scales never fully tip one way or the other (he's deffo down worse). Her knowing him just from his back, him knowing his mind could not conjure up the reality of her, thinking he had gone mad before allowing himself to hope. The violence at the start being more proof of the magnitude of their love. The scene where she goofy smiles at him with the "hi" and he looks concerned for a sec before relaxing into a "hi" - I think about this scene I'm not exaggerating, at least every couple of days I'll be minding my business and it just pops into my head and I'm left BEREFT by the softness of it. Freaky-ass freaks aside, the way they are so soft with each other- that they probably did not have the capacity for it until they met, the way he fly kicks Cinnamon blindfolded after hearing her make the tiniest noise, the way he stopped her in the cell not for him but for her, his guilt about Hanim, her guilt about Hanim, both for the other's sake. The way she slept next to him, knowing the risk, SHE FOLLOWED HIM ONTO THE FLOOR!!! THE FLOOR!!! The way she followed his warmth when he got up. When he kneels and swears fealty to her and her alone, sword at his heart, the way when he cuts off Rawain's hand he thinks about how Essiya would find it funny- the way he picks up on her mannerisms- thinking that his screaming is a lil dramatic (she would 100% vocalise that thought). A man who has never been out of control in his life, completely willing to follow her into the mist because there is no him without her, no life worth living. The fact that he heard her through SPACE AND TIME!!!! through that portal, and the way she knew just from his face that he had a plan, that she couldn't hold back her triumphant giggle when he pulled it off- my GOD, the way he said nuh uh no one is taking you away from me, hE SAID AINT NO WAY THAT MAN TRIED TO OFF YOU WHILE YOURE LITERALLY IN MY ARMS!!! GAGGING!! From wanting to paint the walls with her blood to saying there is no reality no world where her life ended by his hands like yes king, we love self-development.
I could go on but alas- this duet is going to be mandatory reading for my future husband before I sign anything because if you can't fully know me without knowing them, and if you don't get it, womp womp.
I think beyond the violence and intense obsession etc. they are both each other's safe person- they know each other better than anyone in the world, the intimacy of being *seen* so completely. I'm currently listening to All About Love by Bell Hooks and she's gone and written a whole book trying to define love and all I can think about is these two and how they *are* love. At the detriment of XYZ including his own wellbeing, he is proud of her cleverness, happy for her achievements, willing to watch her eat up a battlefield till weeds grow around his boots! The way this extends to him pushing her to imagine a future for herself. Her saying coming home to him is part of her slow soft-girl dream, babe I GET ITTTT. They really make me emo because neither of them knew love, not in the slightest, and they still managed to fumble and tumble their way into loving each other in a way that was so healing and beautiful and excuse me while I bawl. I can never give up on love, not when it exists enough to be written about so agonisingly- their relationship is so profound, for all Sara's genius, aint no way she pulled that out of thin air it HAS to be real. And if it's not, that's gonna be a real brutal wake-up call lmao MOVING ON!!
I keep coming back to add things- the image of her moth-eaten cloak against his pristine closet like- the way this man has always made room for her chaos in his order, that he always accounts for her brand of nonsense in his plan- bawling. The way he wondered if his mum would like Essiya and realising that no she would be scared of her bc once again, he's sick (I get it bro).
Part 6, The plot
Fantastic, no notes. Did I understand what Jeru's subplot was about? at all? nope. but that's probably on me I'm gonna reread. I didn't for a second think I would squeeze all the juice out of this book on the first read lmao a reread is happening the moment book 2 is out and I get my HB to transfer my annotations. Genius the way she tied in all the stuff from book 1, there was no stone left unturned.
Part 7, The parallels
Speaking of stones, and I'm running out of characters so let me keep this short, the parallels are sick and twisted. The moth-eaten cloak being in his closet, Dawoud being buried where the grass still grows, Sefa holding Marek's sleeping head in her lap and then doing the same when he- yep. The fig necklace. The way when they meet in the middle he always gives up control (when they fought in book 1 and his eyes turned black (we honestly deserved more of that) and then in the mirayah), the way "I choose you" took on a new meaning in book 2 than 1. Him wanting to tell her to run, be free after the trials and then his first urge being to tell her to run when he first sees her in book 2- violently sick.
Finale, The ending
A decade, really?! Because 27 odd years of pain wasn't enough we had to tag on another DECADE of loneliness but we got the line about nobody warning him and for that I thank Arin for his service. I was crashing out over the fact that I only have a few years until I'm older than Arin but tbh that decade means I've also got a decade more before I have to mourn that passage of time, so a small mercy I guess.
Final thoughts: I pray that Sara never stops writing, and what an honour it has been to not only read these books as they're being published, but to champion them and force them down other peoples' throats, to see other people go on this same journey, to have these characters in my heart. Truly, a privilege. Fave books ever confirmed- never have I loved characters so deeply as I do these 4 (and Jeru), and not to get mushy but it's a bit late for that anyways,
P.S. I will beg and plead and pay for a small, few thousand word novella with them happily married with kids and a garden PLEASE!
P.P.S. I only had enough characters for tiny quotes that I remembered off the top of my head, but trust that I was crashing out the whole book. Those first two pages of the epilogue sent me into a SPIRAL!! All Essiya's jokes and threats!! ATE DOWNNN!!
thank u orbit & NetGalley for the proof ilyyy xx
Okay, It's been a month and a day since I finished this book and I finally feel prepared and composed enough to attempt to write my eulogy- I mean review. Please bear with while I break this down in a way that is way too serious for a GR review and yet is not serious enough for what this book did to me.
Without further ado, and this is your warning for spoilers, I begin my essay of seven (oh look a biblical number for the biblical-scale devastation to my inner world).
Because it's customary I start with a quote: "My wife" yeuhhhhhHH
Part 1, Essiya
I love this woman so!! Much!! There aren't words for how deeply burrowed into my head and heart she is or how much she means to me because oh my god. There is so much about her that I identify with, so many moments where something she did or said taught me something about myself, moments of being *seen* that are imo the most valuable part of the reading experience. Unfortunately, I'm not half as funny as she is because some of these jokes- I was laughing out loud long before I was bawling and begging for mercy. She's a vicious thing with too many teeth and blood on both her hands (and feet) but she's still just a girl who wants to crawl into her safe person's chest and rest a little while, away from the noise of the world (this passage made me bawl- genuinely did not know how to articulate that feeling but here we are). Her journey in this book was an absolute JOY to read (I say this holding back tears)- seeing who she was in book 1, even at the end, it was survival above all else "feel guilty about the means later", to someone who, despite being terrifying and not wanting to die, still did not what she thought she had to but what she came to realise she wanted to do for her people. The way she owned her identity, stopped running from it, the way she didn't suddenly have an epiphany and become duty-bound but met the people she only thought of abstractly in book 1, and she learned more of her power and her home etc. until that duty became something she was proud to bear and actively chose to walk towards. It wasn't easy not even after the fact, it hurt and it was painful and she never- because of course she wouldn't- not once, stopped fighting it, and found a way to get back to where she belonged. I love that she was allowed to mourn the life she only just realised she wanted (the conversation they have where Arin tells her she can do better- to come up with a better imagined future- I bawled), she was allowed to hate what she was doing and still do it because it meant her family would be okay, it meant she would not hurt them nor force them to hurt her and therefore in turn hurt them despite them raging against it- "you are done," and "take me with you," and "I swore myself to you."
I could continue to wax poetic about her arc but if I'm being honest, it's the small, personal moments that endear her to me the most. The moments where she (almost comically) talks to herself and realises what she's been avoiding admitting all along. Where she's never in a situation too dire to hold back a bad joke or a quip (the your mum joke SENT ME); the moments where she wonders about sharing her inner burden, allowing Arin to hold some of it for her, with her. The goofy time she tried to use her charms to frazzle him while conveniently forgetting how down bad she also is for him and getting flustered herself (ur doing great sweetie). Her giving the sareekh a headache, needling Arin because she knew he couldn't help but correct her on his special interest.
I'm forever in awe of Sara's ability to empower her characters without ever erasing all that they've been through. Essiya will probably never fully shake what Hanim did to her, those years in Essam, but like hell is she going to let that hold her back. The line "she only had her monster" turning into "Essam's favourite monster" like- the way that same experience is flipped to be something that makes her better rather than a derogatory reiteration of her worst fears about her worth- DELICIOUS! GENIUS!!! The parallels in this book are sick and twisted. Also the scenes with Felix and Sorn- she ate those UP!!! ESP FELIX like yesss MAAM tell him!!! And when she goes full murder right before punching Arin's lights out, yeah, love my murderous fave!!
There's nothing I love more than finding a character that feels like home and honestly, Essiya in all her horror and messiness and randomness feels like the warmest of hugs.
Part 2, Arin
This sick freak!!!! I knew he was into her crazy and I WAS CORRECT!! I love this lil neurospicy man I really really do- I'm not usually one for wanting characters to be real but I would love me an Arin I really would, I'm just a girl. AnYWAYS!!
Sara clearly hates this man (something about the white haired dudes because this is giving Gege and Gojo) because his pain and suffering are PUNCTUAL! From the first chapter to the last, if his hair wasn't already white it would've all turned white by the last page. My God. I love him, I think his character arc is PHENOMENAL! The differences are so delicious because where she came to want to do her duty as heir, he forsook his- when his world came crashing down around him, the one thing he held onto was her. I'll never get over "I choose her," the way he wanted to sink into the nothingness but stayed afloat with tunnel vision of getting to her. That the moment he saw her, made sure she was okay, that he completely deflated. That she was the thing that dragged him out of that. When Vaida said he loved to obsession in book 1 she may have been understating it bc what is this?!!!
"When I'm done they'll call it succession," I was GAGGED!! The opening scene of his journey being him telling a creep in painful detail all the ways he will prolong his life just to allow him to torture him for longer??? Sir?! That the mercy was him "having a grave for her to spit on," okay King, whatever you say! The flashbacks to his mum gave me stomach aches no joke, "Forgive me for not visiting sooner," and "I'm still away, I think," stfu. Thinking of little Arin being forced to realise that his mother's love had to be shoved aside in favour of seeking out the unattainable from his dad for his survival makes me SICK (there was a lot of trauma dumping in the margins of this book lemme just say- like so much). The image of his mum pushing his hair into his hat and waiting patiently while his lil curious George ass disposition was doing its thing like oh my GOD.
I was with everyone else wanting to see him let go, to snap, and I immediately regretted it because that was so painful. Seeing HIM of all people, allow what happened in the cell to happen, the scene where he goes back and they put him in the like? Solitary confinement place and the fACT THAT HE WAS PUT THERE AS A CHILD STFUUUUUU no- this man had been through ENOUGH!
Anyways, seeing him allow himself to doubt and to work his way through such a huge life altering shift in perspective was incredible and it was worth every second of pain and suffering (and suffer I did). The line "The day I stop doubting, the moment I submit myself to convenience over clarity, I pray my crown rusts in my hands.” HE ATE THAT UPPPPPPP LIKE YES GOD BOOM SHAKALAKA
As much as I identified with Essiya, I also found myself in Arin and that's not great news because we both need intense trauma therapy but that's okay because it made for a great reading experience. At his core, he's just a boy trying his best. That's all he's every done, try his bloody best and it was never enough and then he was being told how incredible he was but he couldn't believe it and so he did all sorts to try and prove himself and still. His only father figure? Dead. Matter fact, he had to do a cavity search on his head. Just his head. I almost threw up. His trusted guard? WElp, also dead because he killed aforementioned father figure. Must I go on?
Being in his head was something I didn't deserve (because of the angst but also because it was literary GOLD) but I am so so so forever grateful that she chose to make it multi-POV because the stuff we get in these scenes, some of the things, my GOD.
Part 3, Sefa & Marek
These two idiots I love them so much and I will never ever forgive Sara for what she did to him. Never. Can't stop thinking about the sick and twisted parallels of him saying he was the one Lazur that survived and then died right on the freaking battlefield same as the rest of his siblings. The fact that they have NEVER not once EVER been apart and now she has to live the rest of her life without him? The line about tell marek and essiya that I fought,, like- they're her only family and both were doomed. The way no other woman would want to be second because Sefa was always his first. I think maybe even more than Arin's POV, being in Marek's head when he thought of how he felt for Sefa was the true joy of this book. I don't think there has ever been a more painfully tender, breathtakingly sweet relationship than these two. The way Sefa draws on both Marek and Essiya's strength but never loses the essence of her kindness??? sobbing! The way Marek is all sarcasm and lazy smiles but the moment Sefa is on the line he locks IN! But is also still unbelievably goofy- the way he realises he can't win in a fight with Jeru and makes a mad dash for the door- I LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Their reunion- him calling her his family, Sefa asking her if she can touch her- the way they fall straight back into their old dynamic even though WORLDS of change has happened to all of them. The small passage in the mountain where Essiya worries about Marek and his inability to accept kindness without offering up his body in return- the way Sefa will never have that conversation with him. The way he tried to say something to her but died too fast, mouth full of blood. Shut the hell up I am actually DISTRAUGHT. I knew one of them would die, I knew it I felt it in my bones- we were learning too much about them, they loved each other too much for them to be afforded happily ever afters. That we saw Essiya save someone with her magic, the possibility, just to be robbed of that option when it really mattered (not that it didn't matter before but lemme be fr I'd rather Marek have made it). It's cruel for no reason but my GOD a book that can make me feel even a fraction of what this one made me feel is already a stellar read but this!! When Essiya describes Sefa as the other wayward piece of her heart- like, she lost a piece of her heart there and I'm sick. My doomed faves, I will reread in the future and promise myself that I'll stop before he goes but I won't be able to and that's the real tragedy- that this had to happen. He was always going to protect her with his life and he did. It's actually too much to deal with so I'm cutting myself off for sanity's sake.
Part 4, The horror
Speaking of horrors previously unknown to man, I need her to jump on the horror-fantasy train because the horror was horror-ing and I ate it up! The small part with the nisnas in book 1 kept me going for two years and it was so worth the wait because the gore in this book! is so good!! The brutality is at an all time high and at the risk of sounding completely unhinged, it was fantastic and I ate it up. The scene with her grandmother on the throne?! sick to my stomach. The nisnas again?! Rawain's hand?! OH! Again, at the risk of sounding deranged, the scene in the cell is one of my favourites, the way she goes full magic-crazy-lady and is like oooooo,, part of me kind of wanted to see her go fully insane but I know I would be devastated if it actually happened because we aren't allowed nice things unless Arin is suffering for them and he would of course suffer :(( Anyways, need her to lean into this with her next project please and thank you! THE SCENE WITH THE FISH!!
Part 5, The romance
This is a doozy. I have no coherent thoughts, just loose threads of half-formed thoughts. Teeth marks and "go to sleep" x3, fig necklace and him screaming her name first thing when he woke up, him gently touching her cheek knowing the risk, not knowing pain until seeing a scene from Essam in the vision, him going to buy all the sesame candies each year without fail, her full of childlike wonder showing him the beauty of magic, them being so painfully down bad for each other that the scales never fully tip one way or the other (he's deffo down worse). Her knowing him just from his back, him knowing his mind could not conjure up the reality of her, thinking he had gone mad before allowing himself to hope. The violence at the start being more proof of the magnitude of their love. The scene where she goofy smiles at him with the "hi" and he looks concerned for a sec before relaxing into a "hi" - I think about this scene I'm not exaggerating, at least every couple of days I'll be minding my business and it just pops into my head and I'm left BEREFT by the softness of it. Freaky-ass freaks aside, the way they are so soft with each other- that they probably did not have the capacity for it until they met, the way he fly kicks Cinnamon blindfolded after hearing her make the tiniest noise, the way he stopped her in the cell not for him but for her, his guilt about Hanim, her guilt about Hanim, both for the other's sake. The way she slept next to him, knowing the risk, SHE FOLLOWED HIM ONTO THE FLOOR!!! THE FLOOR!!! The way she followed his warmth when he got up. When he kneels and swears fealty to her and her alone, sword at his heart, the way when he cuts off Rawain's hand he thinks about how Essiya would find it funny- the way he picks up on her mannerisms- thinking that his screaming is a lil dramatic (she would 100% vocalise that thought). A man who has never been out of control in his life, completely willing to follow her into the mist because there is no him without her, no life worth living. The fact that he heard her through SPACE AND TIME!!!! through that portal, and the way she knew just from his face that he had a plan, that she couldn't hold back her triumphant giggle when he pulled it off- my GOD, the way he said nuh uh no one is taking you away from me, hE SAID AINT NO WAY THAT MAN TRIED TO OFF YOU WHILE YOURE LITERALLY IN MY ARMS!!! GAGGING!! From wanting to paint the walls with her blood to saying there is no reality no world where her life ended by his hands like yes king, we love self-development.
I could go on but alas- this duet is going to be mandatory reading for my future husband before I sign anything because if you can't fully know me without knowing them, and if you don't get it, womp womp.
I think beyond the violence and intense obsession etc. they are both each other's safe person- they know each other better than anyone in the world, the intimacy of being *seen* so completely. I'm currently listening to All About Love by Bell Hooks and she's gone and written a whole book trying to define love and all I can think about is these two and how they *are* love. At the detriment of XYZ including his own wellbeing, he is proud of her cleverness, happy for her achievements, willing to watch her eat up a battlefield till weeds grow around his boots! The way this extends to him pushing her to imagine a future for herself. Her saying coming home to him is part of her slow soft-girl dream, babe I GET ITTTT. They really make me emo because neither of them knew love, not in the slightest, and they still managed to fumble and tumble their way into loving each other in a way that was so healing and beautiful and excuse me while I bawl. I can never give up on love, not when it exists enough to be written about so agonisingly- their relationship is so profound, for all Sara's genius, aint no way she pulled that out of thin air it HAS to be real. And if it's not, that's gonna be a real brutal wake-up call lmao MOVING ON!!
I keep coming back to add things- the image of her moth-eaten cloak against his pristine closet like- the way this man has always made room for her chaos in his order, that he always accounts for her brand of nonsense in his plan- bawling. The way he wondered if his mum would like Essiya and realising that no she would be scared of her bc once again, he's sick (I get it bro).
Part 6, The plot
Fantastic, no notes. Did I understand what Jeru's subplot was about? at all? nope. but that's probably on me I'm gonna reread. I didn't for a second think I would squeeze all the juice out of this book on the first read lmao a reread is happening the moment book 2 is out and I get my HB to transfer my annotations. Genius the way she tied in all the stuff from book 1, there was no stone left unturned.
Part 7, The parallels
Speaking of stones, and I'm running out of characters so let me keep this short, the parallels are sick and twisted. The moth-eaten cloak being in his closet, Dawoud being buried where the grass still grows, Sefa holding Marek's sleeping head in her lap and then doing the same when he- yep. The fig necklace. The way when they meet in the middle he always gives up control (when they fought in book 1 and his eyes turned black (we honestly deserved more of that) and then in the mirayah), the way "I choose you" took on a new meaning in book 2 than 1. Him wanting to tell her to run, be free after the trials and then his first urge being to tell her to run when he first sees her in book 2- violently sick.
Finale, The ending
A decade, really?! Because 27 odd years of pain wasn't enough we had to tag on another DECADE of loneliness but we got the line about nobody warning him and for that I thank Arin for his service. I was crashing out over the fact that I only have a few years until I'm older than Arin but tbh that decade means I've also got a decade more before I have to mourn that passage of time, so a small mercy I guess.
Final thoughts: I pray that Sara never stops writing, and what an honour it has been to not only read these books as they're being published, but to champion them and force them down other peoples' throats, to see other people go on this same journey, to have these characters in my heart. Truly, a privilege. Fave books ever confirmed- never have I loved characters so deeply as I do these 4 (and Jeru), and not to get mushy but it's a bit late for that anyways,
P.S. I will beg and plead and pay for a small, few thousand word novella with them happily married with kids and a garden PLEASE!
P.P.S. I only had enough characters for tiny quotes that I remembered off the top of my head, but trust that I was crashing out the whole book. Those first two pages of the epilogue sent me into a SPIRAL!! All Essiya's jokes and threats!! ATE DOWNNN!!
thank u orbit & NetGalley for the proof ilyyy xx
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2025
4.0 Stars
This was a great conclusion to a solid fantasy series. I appreciated that this sequel was the completion of a duology so the series did not suffer from middle-book-syndrome. Instead we received a tightly written story that managed to become even better in the second half of this duology. I found the worldbuilding and characters to be richly drawn and developed.
I would recommend this series for fantasy readers looking for a deep story to become engrossed within. You will want to start back at the beginning with The Jasad Heir.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This was a great conclusion to a solid fantasy series. I appreciated that this sequel was the completion of a duology so the series did not suffer from middle-book-syndrome. Instead we received a tightly written story that managed to become even better in the second half of this duology. I found the worldbuilding and characters to be richly drawn and developed.
I would recommend this series for fantasy readers looking for a deep story to become engrossed within. You will want to start back at the beginning with The Jasad Heir.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
October 13, 2025
4.5 ⭐️
DIABOLICAL ending however it was also so bittersweet and perfect for them.
UGH I LOVE THIS DUOLOGY, SARA HASHEM ABSOLUTELY KILLED HER DEBUT
only qualm i had was at times the information given didnt make sense given what we knew so i did find a few plot holes and just certain things that could’ve been thought over a bit longer HOWEVER as i mentioned INSANE debut considering how detailed and beautifully crafted it was and i applaud sara hashem for it so so much.
we are genuinely blessed to have such a talented piece of middle eastern artwork and each reference to things I DO OR EAT MYSELF was so so sweet and ugh yall please just read this series its amazing
DIABOLICAL ending however it was also so bittersweet and perfect for them.
UGH I LOVE THIS DUOLOGY, SARA HASHEM ABSOLUTELY KILLED HER DEBUT
only qualm i had was at times the information given didnt make sense given what we knew so i did find a few plot holes and just certain things that could’ve been thought over a bit longer HOWEVER as i mentioned INSANE debut considering how detailed and beautifully crafted it was and i applaud sara hashem for it so so much.
we are genuinely blessed to have such a talented piece of middle eastern artwork and each reference to things I DO OR EAT MYSELF was so so sweet and ugh yall please just read this series its amazing
November 22, 2025
“I can’t promise to always stay, I said to his skin. But I can promise to never stop trying to come back.”
STOP IT, the fig necklace?😭
“All of me is written in your name”
“The tide would always return”
“The best parts of his life existed in the almost. They existed here—beyond the reach of certainty, on the outskirts of doubt, swaying over the cliff of catastrophe.”
“Each death pierced me through, an embroidery of agony with me as its needle.”
“Thank you for making the present worth fearing the future.”
“I could go anywhere I wanted, but my destination would always be him.”
STOP IT, the fig necklace?😭
“All of me is written in your name”
“The tide would always return”
“The best parts of his life existed in the almost. They existed here—beyond the reach of certainty, on the outskirts of doubt, swaying over the cliff of catastrophe.”
“Each death pierced me through, an embroidery of agony with me as its needle.”
“Thank you for making the present worth fearing the future.”
“I could go anywhere I wanted, but my destination would always be him.”
September 1, 2025
This read like a burned Um Ali😭, overly sweet, dry, scorched taste that leaves you unsatisfied
I wanted to love this book
I was mentally and physically prepared to love this book
And maybe I am the problem for setting such high expectations after book 1
This is going to be a harsh review, and No way to write it without spoilers so here is your warning
Let's begin with the storyline - or rather the lack of it.
There were a lot of things happening, yet at the same time, nothing was related.
It was jumping from one event to another without much connection.
The last 50 pages of the book were the best part. And I promise you, If you read those 50 pages, the story will be enough.
If you ask me, those last 50 pages should have been the center of the entire book rather than the "BIG REVEAL" at the end.
The characters
I can always tell when an author is in love with her Male lead. They give him everything. He is strong, smart, cunning, resourceful, extremely handsome, and always always 10 steps ahead of everyone
while the female lead is just.....there. All bark and no bite
To be honest, this is Arin's book and not Sylvia/Essiya's.
Arin is always to the rescue
Arin is always the one figuring things out
Arin is the one who defeated Rowin and Vida
Arin is the one who united the Kingdoms
Arin devised the plans
Arin saved Silvay's sorry ass over and over
Arin had the shocking reveal
Arin held the keys to salvation
Oh don't worry, Essiya is important too. She is after all the chosen one! The sacrifice at the end!
She keeps saying "her magic" is so strong she can wipe everyone out, but the couple of times we see her using it was to torture some guards.
The amount of times I said in my mind "what an idiot!" was alarming!
I was expecting her to shine! to show some cleverness! but I guess all that went to Arin
I did not understand the need to have 2 side characters' POV!!! why were Sefa and Marek's chapters important?
Most of of Merik's were him flirting and fornicating
and Sefa's were her failed mission
and for Vida to name her Queen after she dies!!! whattttttttttt???????
Cultural Oversaturation
I can't believe I am saying this, but the amount of Egyptian/Arabic names used her is too much!
It's like this book was written for Egyptians who read English!
I can just imagine non-Arabic readers and those who do not know all those Egyptian food and desserts spending more time googling the name and how to pronounce them than reading.
Representation is very important in fantasy books, but is it just about the names? because believe me, the storyline has nothing to do with Egyptian or Arabian folklore.
no purpose
Book 1 set the mood for an amazing message of oppression and supremacy
Book 2 sidelined all that for the cute romance and daddy issues
I started reading the book physically and got so bored I switched to audio! nope, no improvement
the stuffed stories and unlikable characters just did not do it for me
Sylvia kept saying she had to raise a fortress after she takes the blessings from Queen Hannan. She makes this so imperative, so life and death...but she kept sidetracked by Arin's eyes and his silver hair and the kisses he gave her!!!!
She never meets Queen Hanna
and the fortress becomes a rope bridge with swirling mists for some reason.
The last 50 pages
Even though they were the best part of the book, I promised myself I will never fall for that trap again
Writing a mediocre story only to give us the "last 100/50 pages" syndrome is irredeemable.
The Romance
Wasn't important in book 1
front and center in book 2 and the WHOLE storyline revolved around it...and I just couldn't feel it
That piece
I was tending towards 2 maybe 3 stars up untill I reached p: 324 if you are reading the hardback
As if reading his mind, she said, "You may be immune to magic". Pebbles knocked against Arin's boot as the ground trembled. Gold and silver whirled faster. "But the world-building around you is not"
what!!!!!
This is so like Throne of Glass
"One thought from me, and your city will burn." Maeve replies, "It is stone," and Aelin retorts, "Your people aren't".
and I didn't know how to feel about that at first! but it's too close to be a coincidence
aaaaand the story just went downhill from there
I wanted to love this book
I was mentally and physically prepared to love this book
And maybe I am the problem for setting such high expectations after book 1
This is going to be a harsh review, and No way to write it without spoilers so here is your warning
Let's begin with the storyline - or rather the lack of it.
There were a lot of things happening, yet at the same time, nothing was related.
It was jumping from one event to another without much connection.
The last 50 pages of the book were the best part. And I promise you, If you read those 50 pages, the story will be enough.
If you ask me, those last 50 pages should have been the center of the entire book rather than the "BIG REVEAL" at the end.
The characters
I can always tell when an author is in love with her Male lead. They give him everything. He is strong, smart, cunning, resourceful, extremely handsome, and always always 10 steps ahead of everyone
while the female lead is just.....there. All bark and no bite
To be honest, this is Arin's book and not Sylvia/Essiya's.
Arin is always to the rescue
Arin is always the one figuring things out
Arin is the one who defeated Rowin and Vida
Arin is the one who united the Kingdoms
Arin devised the plans
Arin saved Silvay's sorry ass over and over
Arin had the shocking reveal
Arin held the keys to salvation
Oh don't worry, Essiya is important too. She is after all the chosen one! The sacrifice at the end!
She keeps saying "her magic" is so strong she can wipe everyone out, but the couple of times we see her using it was to torture some guards.
The amount of times I said in my mind "what an idiot!" was alarming!
I was expecting her to shine! to show some cleverness! but I guess all that went to Arin
I did not understand the need to have 2 side characters' POV!!! why were Sefa and Marek's chapters important?
Most of of Merik's were him flirting and fornicating
and Sefa's were her failed mission
and for Vida to name her Queen after she dies!!! whattttttttttt???????
Cultural Oversaturation
I can't believe I am saying this, but the amount of Egyptian/Arabic names used her is too much!
It's like this book was written for Egyptians who read English!
I can just imagine non-Arabic readers and those who do not know all those Egyptian food and desserts spending more time googling the name and how to pronounce them than reading.
Representation is very important in fantasy books, but is it just about the names? because believe me, the storyline has nothing to do with Egyptian or Arabian folklore.
no purpose
Book 1 set the mood for an amazing message of oppression and supremacy
Book 2 sidelined all that for the cute romance and daddy issues
I started reading the book physically and got so bored I switched to audio! nope, no improvement
the stuffed stories and unlikable characters just did not do it for me
Sylvia kept saying she had to raise a fortress after she takes the blessings from Queen Hannan. She makes this so imperative, so life and death...but she kept sidetracked by Arin's eyes and his silver hair and the kisses he gave her!!!!
She never meets Queen Hanna
and the fortress becomes a rope bridge with swirling mists for some reason.
The last 50 pages
Even though they were the best part of the book, I promised myself I will never fall for that trap again
Writing a mediocre story only to give us the "last 100/50 pages" syndrome is irredeemable.
The Romance
Wasn't important in book 1
front and center in book 2 and the WHOLE storyline revolved around it...and I just couldn't feel it
That piece
I was tending towards 2 maybe 3 stars up untill I reached p: 324 if you are reading the hardback
As if reading his mind, she said, "You may be immune to magic". Pebbles knocked against Arin's boot as the ground trembled. Gold and silver whirled faster. "But the world-building around you is not"
what!!!!!
This is so like Throne of Glass
"One thought from me, and your city will burn." Maeve replies, "It is stone," and Aelin retorts, "Your people aren't".
and I didn't know how to feel about that at first! but it's too close to be a coincidence
aaaaand the story just went downhill from there
August 30, 2025
6 STAR READ OKAY (prepare yourself for the epilogue)
September 10, 2025
4.75 stars rounded up.
This book took me on such a roller coaster and I can't believe it's over and I have to let go of the wonderful characters and the beautiful world described in this duology. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and a truly chaotic journey that I'm so glad I got to experience.
The only flaw was that I felt the ending left less of an impact on me, it was a bit anticlimactic imo and abrupt, a contrast to the rest of the book leading up to it which was fast paced and riveting all throughout.
Pre review:
I am so ready for this
Correction, I am so not ready for this😭
Quotes:
"Think through what you say next. I offer you one chance, and one chance only."
"Sylvia had the power to make the most careful man in the kingdoms reckless."
"...but what good plan didn't include at least some risk of beheading?"
"And if he kills you knowing how it would destroy Sylvia, we may lose him altogether."
"Half of Arin was fixed in the future, the other half in the past. It left nothing to spare for the present."
"Rawain is cruel by nature, but you? You are cruel by choice."
"I wished I could look away, but in a room full of beautiful things, Arin of Nizahl outshined them all."
"Time is the enemy of knowledge."
"If she dies for them, they will die with her."
"I kissed the edge of the sword, feather-light, as gold and silver gleamed in my eyes. The second most dangerous thing I had ever kissed. The first tightened his hold behind me."
"Murder is only treason if left unfinished," Arin said. He tucked his hands into his pockets and turned to the door. "When I am done, they will call it succession."
This book took me on such a roller coaster and I can't believe it's over and I have to let go of the wonderful characters and the beautiful world described in this duology. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and a truly chaotic journey that I'm so glad I got to experience.
The only flaw was that I felt the ending left less of an impact on me, it was a bit anticlimactic imo and abrupt, a contrast to the rest of the book leading up to it which was fast paced and riveting all throughout.
Pre review:
I am so ready for this
Correction, I am so not ready for this😭
Quotes:
"Think through what you say next. I offer you one chance, and one chance only."
"Sylvia had the power to make the most careful man in the kingdoms reckless."
"...but what good plan didn't include at least some risk of beheading?"
"And if he kills you knowing how it would destroy Sylvia, we may lose him altogether."
"Half of Arin was fixed in the future, the other half in the past. It left nothing to spare for the present."
"Rawain is cruel by nature, but you? You are cruel by choice."
"I wished I could look away, but in a room full of beautiful things, Arin of Nizahl outshined them all."
"Time is the enemy of knowledge."
"If she dies for them, they will die with her."
"I kissed the edge of the sword, feather-light, as gold and silver gleamed in my eyes. The second most dangerous thing I had ever kissed. The first tightened his hold behind me."
"Murder is only treason if left unfinished," Arin said. He tucked his hands into his pockets and turned to the door. "When I am done, they will call it succession."
July 22, 2025
duck smoking gif this was Cinema
November 3, 2025
FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GIMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a beautiful ending to the duology. The authors gives you so much in terms of plot, world building, character growth, and love. The pacing was perfect and there wasn't a moment where I felt bored while reading this series.
It took me a while to finish but I knew that I wanted to drag out this book out because I never wanted to finish it.
First, I'll start out with Essiya. OMG, if anyone ask what a morally gray FMC is I'll always point to her. Her complicated feelings between leadership and her "humble and flighty" attitude really solidified her new experience with leading a country/people. Not to mention, the added element of the inner conflict with her magic??? UGHHHHHH I was reading a masterpiece of a fucking charcter. I loved all of her choices, flaws, and mistakes in this book and I loved seeing her journey from distrusted winner of the Alcalah to full on Jasad Queen who restored her land and gained her peoples trust..... ESPECIALLY WITH THE GRANDPARENTS THAT SHE HAD...... yeesh... It's like seeing a Dictator's grandchild take power and seeing them do better which is great... but you're always wondering if they're gonna do a complete 180 turn and end up just as bad, if not worse, than their dictator grandparent.
Next is Arin, I already loved him in the past book but he was SO MUCH BETTER IN THIS BOOK.
AND YUHHH IM SORRY FOR THE SPOILER BUT I LOVE ME A MAN IN POWER WHO KNOWS WHEN TO KNEEL YUHHHHH.
Arin had so much more to give in this book in terms of his emotions, power, and mental state and I love his curious nature. Even when faced upon PLOT TWIST WORTHY NEWS man didn't waver in his ideals or his feelings towards Essiya and their relationship became so much stronger because of it. I'm also glad he finally woke up in this book and began to question his countries ideals/propaganda because all that shit his father was spouting was some bullshit. I love when a character from a tyrannical government finally wakes up and understands/realizes they have the power to change the future of their country and people beliefs. Overall Arin was a 10/10 and WE NEED MORE DARK/MYSTERIOUS MEN LIKE HIM!!!!! I usually don't like that type of man but a MAN WHO YEARNS IS A MAN WHO EARNS. Bro is masquerading as a broody/dark/mysterious man when in reality bro is BEGGING and in loveeeee... he a lover boy at heart ong.
Now going into Arin and Essiya's love story.... ugh how do I explain this? Their love story was so beautiful it's honestly rare to find in other stories. It's a quiet type of love that's expressed in thoughts and longing glances. It's expressed in the way each character moves and within their actions. With their choices and sacrifices each of them make... ugh even in their banter.... I don't know how else to word it other than saying I just loved the way they loved each other. I'm glad the author went this route in their love story as it shows that not all love needs to be yelled in loud phrases or expressions... she showed it can be subtle but impactful.
Lastly moving onto the plot. I honestly don't know what else I can say other than it was amazing. Each kingdom had their own stakes within this war, especially when it came to Jasad and the Jasadi people, so seeing how each kingdom navigate the political climate was so interesting to read. Especially when it came down to Essiya's and Arin's countries, considering their countries are the equivalent to Batman and Joker or Superman and Lex Luthor status. I will say... It's still slow but I feel like fantasy books that have a slow and steady plot that explodes during the climax makes it so much better. (Not this doesn't mean I dislike action packeted fantasy but slow and steady are a guilty pleasure because of world building elements)
Overall, this was a beautifully written duology and I lowkey hope that Sara writes more stories within this universe... ESPECIALLY WITH THAT FUCKING EPILOGUE HELLLOOOO I NEED MOREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! She's 100% become and auto-buy author and I can't wait to read more of her books!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a beautiful ending to the duology. The authors gives you so much in terms of plot, world building, character growth, and love. The pacing was perfect and there wasn't a moment where I felt bored while reading this series.
It took me a while to finish but I knew that I wanted to drag out this book out because I never wanted to finish it.
First, I'll start out with Essiya. OMG, if anyone ask what a morally gray FMC is I'll always point to her. Her complicated feelings between leadership and her "humble and flighty" attitude really solidified her new experience with leading a country/people. Not to mention, the added element of the inner conflict with her magic??? UGHHHHHH I was reading a masterpiece of a fucking charcter. I loved all of her choices, flaws, and mistakes in this book and I loved seeing her journey from distrusted winner of the Alcalah to full on Jasad Queen who restored her land and gained her peoples trust..... ESPECIALLY WITH THE GRANDPARENTS THAT SHE HAD...... yeesh... It's like seeing a Dictator's grandchild take power and seeing them do better which is great... but you're always wondering if they're gonna do a complete 180 turn and end up just as bad, if not worse, than their dictator grandparent.
Next is Arin, I already loved him in the past book but he was SO MUCH BETTER IN THIS BOOK.
AND YUHHH IM SORRY FOR THE SPOILER BUT I LOVE ME A MAN IN POWER WHO KNOWS WHEN TO KNEEL YUHHHHH.
Arin had so much more to give in this book in terms of his emotions, power, and mental state and I love his curious nature. Even when faced upon PLOT TWIST WORTHY NEWS man didn't waver in his ideals or his feelings towards Essiya and their relationship became so much stronger because of it. I'm also glad he finally woke up in this book and began to question his countries ideals/propaganda because all that shit his father was spouting was some bullshit. I love when a character from a tyrannical government finally wakes up and understands/realizes they have the power to change the future of their country and people beliefs. Overall Arin was a 10/10 and WE NEED MORE DARK/MYSTERIOUS MEN LIKE HIM!!!!! I usually don't like that type of man but a MAN WHO YEARNS IS A MAN WHO EARNS. Bro is masquerading as a broody/dark/mysterious man when in reality bro is BEGGING and in loveeeee... he a lover boy at heart ong.
Now going into Arin and Essiya's love story.... ugh how do I explain this? Their love story was so beautiful it's honestly rare to find in other stories. It's a quiet type of love that's expressed in thoughts and longing glances. It's expressed in the way each character moves and within their actions. With their choices and sacrifices each of them make... ugh even in their banter.... I don't know how else to word it other than saying I just loved the way they loved each other. I'm glad the author went this route in their love story as it shows that not all love needs to be yelled in loud phrases or expressions... she showed it can be subtle but impactful.
Lastly moving onto the plot. I honestly don't know what else I can say other than it was amazing. Each kingdom had their own stakes within this war, especially when it came to Jasad and the Jasadi people, so seeing how each kingdom navigate the political climate was so interesting to read. Especially when it came down to Essiya's and Arin's countries, considering their countries are the equivalent to Batman and Joker or Superman and Lex Luthor status. I will say... It's still slow but I feel like fantasy books that have a slow and steady plot that explodes during the climax makes it so much better. (Not this doesn't mean I dislike action packeted fantasy but slow and steady are a guilty pleasure because of world building elements)
Overall, this was a beautifully written duology and I lowkey hope that Sara writes more stories within this universe... ESPECIALLY WITH THAT FUCKING EPILOGUE HELLLOOOO I NEED MOREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! She's 100% become and auto-buy author and I can't wait to read more of her books!
July 25, 2025
A hundred stars. Read this duo now. This was glorious. Once again I was enchanted and could not put it down. The push and pull between Essiya and Arin. Twists and turns. The journey to the conclusion was perfect. EXCEPT FOR THEM MURDERING MAREK 😭😭😭 real fucking tears. Poor darling Sefa… ugh my heart. The absolute only other negative thought I have is the fact that Essiya and Arin’s epilogue was way too fucking short. ALL WE GET IS A SMILE ON THE CURSED BRIDGE? Pls 💔
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2025
4.5✨
« You are not to blame for being planted in poisonous soil. Our choices come when we realize what we have grown into ; when we look at the world around us and recognize our role in it. Only then, when you decide wether you will grow roots or tear yourself free, can you be truly held to account. »
Heartbreaking. Bittersweet. Unputdownable. The last 100 pages had me in a chokehold.
« I had been fighting alone since I was ten years old, and the thought of trusting someone else to fight for me, to fight alongside me… the force of my wanting pulled me apart, exposed every crack and scar where the world had taken a swing. »
It’s one of those duologies that I know I’ll reread. The character building, the romance, the longing, the tension…
« Much as you seem to despise it, sometimes violence is the answer. Sometimes, it is the only way you can save yourself. »
Nobody is one thing… the characters have so many layers. The twists and turns had me clenching my heart.
« I wish more than anything that my first thought when I emerged from the water was not of you, that I hadn’t been prepared to tear through every grain of sand and burn every tree in this damned place until I found you. »
—-•preread
688 pages 🤯 this is the year of big books for me. I wonder how this one will end!
« You are not to blame for being planted in poisonous soil. Our choices come when we realize what we have grown into ; when we look at the world around us and recognize our role in it. Only then, when you decide wether you will grow roots or tear yourself free, can you be truly held to account. »
Heartbreaking. Bittersweet. Unputdownable. The last 100 pages had me in a chokehold.
« I had been fighting alone since I was ten years old, and the thought of trusting someone else to fight for me, to fight alongside me… the force of my wanting pulled me apart, exposed every crack and scar where the world had taken a swing. »
It’s one of those duologies that I know I’ll reread. The character building, the romance, the longing, the tension…
« Much as you seem to despise it, sometimes violence is the answer. Sometimes, it is the only way you can save yourself. »
Nobody is one thing… the characters have so many layers. The twists and turns had me clenching my heart.
« I wish more than anything that my first thought when I emerged from the water was not of you, that I hadn’t been prepared to tear through every grain of sand and burn every tree in this damned place until I found you. »
—-•preread
688 pages 🤯 this is the year of big books for me. I wonder how this one will end!
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