Maala / مالا

by Nemrah Ahmed

The world of Kashmala, Mahi, Ziyad, Kaif, Mahir and Hoor-e-Jehan!

Genres: Romantic, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook

2507 pages, Unknown Binding

Published December 5, 2021

About the author

Nimra Ahmed Khan is a writer. Nemrah ahmed (also known as nimra ahmed or nemrah niazi) is a young pakistani novelist۔ She is the CEO of "Zanjabeel". Her first novel was published in Khwateen Digest.

Reviews

[moiza ໒꒰ྀིᵔ ᵕ ᵔ ꒱ྀི১ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 f stars
Reasons:
•The male lead is my fav f all Urdu books I have read his nickname given by his staff is
'psychopath with dollars' isn't the nickname is hot for him too
•I relate with female lead here cause it is the first Urdu novel I read which break the standards of beautiful perfect girl and the girl have acne anxiety issues and struggles going in life with her marriage life
• The tropes of this novel is my fav ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND when I say it's enemies to lovers(maybe💀 far from lovers now cause it's ongoing and idk the direction this will go )
• Another trope maybe second marriage ughhhh I know it's not the best trope but the chemistry between the main leads are 💗💗🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 ughhh
• Her nickname is green eyes
• He's a billionaire and smart aF I have never read anyone smart yet obv cause he's a business man not to say just he just think like a business which is chefs kisssss
He's kinda rude with everyone also her cause it's giving Enemies DUH but it's giving banterrrrr
• I can say so much but it's in my language not in English it should be IT SHOULD BE CAUSE HE CAN BE THE NEWWW BF FOR ALL OF U
•I love when the writer shows us different countries with this great writing cause now I feel like I have seen them WEIRD RIGHT
The countries they go are TURKEY, SAUDI ARABIA🤌🏻 , cities also VANCOVER and CANADA ,LAHOREEEE from Pakistan ughhhhhh
• keywords of this novel :
Deaths, black magic,JINN(DEMON) ,ACTION,LOVEEEEEE(👁️👁️MAYBE IN THE FUTURE) ,BANTERR,KENJI KISHIMOTO CHARACTER -LIKE , BILLIONAIRES ,BETRAYAL ,SECOND CHANCE, and so much more

[Unni · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.9 Stars.

And with Malaa's death, another Mahir is born, in the form of Badr!

My Thoughts on last episodes of Malaa.
Everything below is a Spoiler, so I am not adding a spoiler tag, proceed at your own risk.

So, shuruaat se shuru karte hai....Basically, inshort, kahani yeh thi ke.. malaa ke aaspas kuch ajeeb si chize horahi thi (I am not elaborating on magic thing - but that reminds me since beginning we saw she heard happy birthday tune, which later knew was to warn her, but then it didn't helped her, then what was it's point?), so apni safety k ly usne bodyguard hire kiya, kaif jamal (jo mahir tha obv). Malaa's mother, and she herself wasn't keen on the rishta with Ziyad, but eventually she does. And there begins the downfall. Ziyaad obv. was a Manipulative, narcissist, liar husband (even before we knew he also was a serial killer and son of a jadugarni) then the makkah episode happens, all the abuse part, then she flies to canada... and when we thought we were over with ziyad, he again came back chasing malaa, n whole lot of things happens ...original Kaif, Mahi n fam, yasmeen, sabrina, mahir's back story, mysterious badr, malaa ki coffee shop, nagina's death, malaa getting kidnapped, finding Hilal finally, malaa and mahir getting on good terms and then as quickly getting bitter, our fear of malaa aborting the baby, ... then 4 years leap and we go to Istanbul (where she came to mahir's office to ask for help - btw it was the first scene which NA wrote for novel - acc. to her) and from there, slowly slowly I started not liking malaa's character, that scene sounded very nice n turkish drama types that your old lover is barging in your office meeting, getting everybody out n asking for favor.. but her convo there didn't made sense ("tum nikah padhwao ya fatiha" smth like that) Malaa's character was shown somewhat healed at that point after 4 yrs, agreed that she was mom who was desperate for her son, but her exaggerated badassness didn't made sense, all felt too forceful after that. Mahi, moeed, malaa ki saari family gayab hogayi thi yaha (and we didn't see mueed on mala's funeral either), malaa and mahir ke clashes, (I stopped shipping 'em at this point) the motives of characters felt underwhelming, like ziyad kidnapped badr, just so that he can help malaa find him nd they'll get together as a family? Aaliyan getting himself in this kidnapping thing just for fun? (ngl I liked his character while reading, but in the hindsight what was even the need?) all the birbal-suzi fiasco (what did it prove, which wasn't proved before abt birbal?), zara-aaliyan and then zara-ziyad... Hilal and her predictions (what was the significance of her upside-down tapestry?) Maalik's illness (mahir even manipulating study, lol.. we never knew if he was cured or not in the end) and then ammar-maalik-ziyad thing... and after allll that, ladies and gentleman, what do we get? Our female lead, who escapes an abusive relationship with her husband, with so much hurt and pain, runs to another country, where again the ex-husband and his mother troubles her, 4 years later she again moves to an another country to search for his child who is again kidnapped by that same ex-husband, she finds that child, tries to move on, plans marriage, and two days before that, gets murdered by the same ex-husband, just because she was getting married, and he did that out of jealousy? like all that..her getting dar-badar, continent by continent, just to get murdered by them same mann, this easily? What difference would it have made had he murdered in vancouver only, when she first escaped?

I get the point that malaa's happy ending (as NA mentioned in the ep, literally justifying her death) was when she got out of the abusive relationship, but wait n think, was that really a happy end? no... Getting out was the first step (commendable one, sure) but it wasn't end, we saw her dealing with traumas, with what came after for her...it was a survivor story, so we wanted to see how she survives, not how she dies.

And with Malaa's death, another Mahir is born, in the form of Badr. Mahir's mother under the effect of magic married another man, and he lost his mother; Badr's mother under the effect of magic married his father, and he lost his mother too; just the way Maalik became father figure for Mahir, the same way mahir became Father figure for Badr; But as we know, Maalik could not protect Mahir from everything—will Mahir be able to protect Badr?

claims / ya writer ki jaanib se jo hume kaha gaya tha...
- Yeh ek love story hai. She said it was diff. types of love so 1st part - Love of Mother (Hoor-e-jahan), 2nd - Toxic love (Ziyad), 3rd- Self Love (Malaa), 4th - ? (child's love, Badr?)
- Yeh inki kisi dost ki real story se somewhat inspired hai. (whose name was kashmala, but alhumdulillah she's alive bro! so malaa could've been too! )
- Yeh love triangle hoga. (I hated ziyad since first time we saw him, not really a triangle we were invested in)
- This novel is supposed to be 12-13 eps long. (this didn't aged well, lol)

bas ab aur kehne ko kuch bacha nahi hai... Soch rahi hu, real Villain is kahani ka ziyad hai, ya Nemrah khud? I hope she takes a nice long break, gets her writing charm back, which clearly was lost in this year, and give us something good again. Cause having said all, padhna toh mene hai Nemrah ki books, itne masterpieces ke baad ek aadh aisi bok maaf hai unhe! Moving on now from Malaa...
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Previous updates below:

Download all the available eps from here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Discussion about Malaa:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Random views while reading, more refined review once the novel ends and I re-read it again!

Ep 14: Ep was short, with very less developments compared to all other eps that came before. The twists this ep weren't jaw dropping at all, lots of space were taken for past info. I hope we'll see more developments later in the ep!
Writing down the happenings in 14 th ep, so that later I can skim through before starting the new ep! Let's goo

⚠️Bunch of spoilers, so avoid if you haven't read yet! 💣

Malaa meets Kaif (safura's cousin) not mahir!🙃 Why he wants to meet is still a mystery, what is he guilty of?
Mahir meets Sabrina! (Hein?? wasn't she dead? Or ziyad didn't kill her after all) it was a subtle shock tbh, coz we never met Sabrina so closely to feel happy bout her being alive. Btw it could be the past too.

Past:
The magic nageena did on mahir turned back on her self, that's why she has some cancer! (yasmeen helped her here)
Yasmeen was hired by Malik, on sabrina's suggestion.
Shams got to know about Nagina. Raided her house, got the album, which then sabrina took from his locker...😶
Shams wanted sabrina dead, coz she was going to bring back mahir.

Back to present:
Malaa first wanted divorce... Now after she got to know she's pregnant, she doesn't want... Weird, her convo with mahi was vague.
Malaa's mistake of not putting caution board lands her in trouble with a case n money to be paid. Malaa getting into trouble one after another.🙁
Nagina knows abt malaa's pregnancy- it's a girl, she's hiding that fact from ziyad tho, also started her magic on Mahir. Btw the budhiya is going to die soon, she's in critical condition but kaam saare tedhe karne hai aunty ko.
Mahir sees 2 men, one women, and one kid at airport with him, all effected by smth, going to London, in his dream. Magic.

We now know who badar is. (Could be kabira tais beta)
Badr comes in malaa's shop, smiles at her, probably knows her somehow!
Hilal is sure that somebody will come to save her... she never even tried to esape. She's talking abt badar... who already escaped. Poor hilal.

Ziyad again meets Malaa, does his usual nautanki, he's a namoona beta of Nagina mom! 🙄
Mueed has gone mad, and his wife is so cringe.
Nagina meets mala, malaa feels weird around her, Nagina has come to canada after escaping the raid at her madrasa, leaving all children except hilal.
The place where hilal was kept, had many sketches of hilal n badr, moon phases. (They're there at yasmins place too ntf)




12th ep done!! (total spoilers ahead, proceed with caution)
Ziyad is being too much now, getting on my nerves, I fear for malaa! He's not only an egoistic man, but now a psychopath who kills people in the most brutal way! (not to mention sabrina)
I still don't understand why Mahir didn't told any of them abt ziyad, he could've spoken to Mahi, she trusts him and would've paid heed to his words if not anybody else.
Malaa, even after happening so much still chose to trust ziyad, pfft, only based on his lousy story, gurl whatyadoin?? anyways, I still have hopes in her, how she tackles everything from now on would be interesting, given that she has all the proofs in the world that ziyad is behind this all! (also also, one thing which we didnt got to see in this ep was, did Mahir called malaa after his therapist said that you can call her now?... cause we see that while looking through maps, she got a call which got her attention, I bet it was Mahir's call)
I liked the point Nemrah raised in this ep abt A girl's part in parents property however small/less valuable it was. Good one there nemrah!
Now Mahir being taken into custody for the murder which ziyad did, and malaa fully knowing real identity of ziyad, who's apparently just at door's distance with her, how will we go forward is going to be superrr interesting! I think these would be last few 5 6 eps, as nemrah has said it would finish in 1.5yrs or so, so lets see!
Next ep in 12 days, can't wait!!!

[Ifrah Tahir · Rating 3 out of 5]

مالا


نمرہ احمد کے اب تک کے تمام ناولز کو پسندیدگی کے مطابق اگر ترتیب دی جائے تو یقیناً یہ فہرست میں سب سے نیچے ہوگا۔

ایک سطر میں اس ناول کو اگر بیان کروں تو یوں کہوں گی کہ مالا کی دنیا میں منفی رنگ رنگ مثبت رنگوں پہ غالب رہے۔

کچھ چیزیں جتنی سادہ ہوں اتنی پر اثر رہتی۔ حد سے زیادہ complexity بدذائقہ کردیتی- جذبات کو بھی اور شخصیات کو بھی۔ ناول کا موضوع (کالا جادو) بہترین اور انتہائی دلچسپ تھا، پلاٹ بھی جنینئیس تھا لیکن execution میں انصاف نہیں ہوسکا۔

مجموعی طور پہ کردار نگاری میرے لیے سب سے زیادہ problematic تھی۔ ایک مالک فرید کے علاوہ کسی کا کردار متاثر کن نا رہا۔ مالک فرید مالا کی دنیا کی واحد اچھی چیز تھی۔
ہاں ٹھیک ہے دنیا materialism کی طرف جارہی ہے اور مفاد رشتوں سے بڑھ کے عزیز ہونا عام ہے لیکن جس casual طریقے سے رشتوں کو سیڑھی بنا کے مالا کی دنیا میں کردار اپنے کام نکلواتے تھے، مجھ سے تو ہضم نہی ہو پایا۔ اب چاہے وہ رشتہ دوستی کا ہو، خون کا، یا محبت کا۔ حالم میں میرا کرداروں سے یہ اختلاف تھا لیکن مدھم تھا، اب مالا تک آتے تو اخیر ہی ہوگئی۔
اور یہ بھی کہ شاید میں اتنی ایلیٹ نہی کہ ان (بیشتر) مسائل کے ساتھ relate کر سکوں جو مالا کی دنیا میں کرداروں کو لاحق تھے۔
مسئلہ یہ ہے کہ منفی دیکھانے کی کوشش کیے گئے کرداروں میں اور اچھے مثبت کرداروں دونوں میں ہی گرے کا شیڈ ایسا تھا کہ سیاہی غالب رہی۔
ماہی، معید، بیربل، مالا، ماہر، چنگیز ان سب سے تو اچھا زیادہ اور برا کم کم متوقع تھا! اب کوئی کہے کے مارجن دینا چاہیے اور ہر انسان گرے ہوتا تو زیاد، زارینہ اور عالیان کو مارجن دینے کے لیے میں زیادہ تیار ہو جاؤں گی۔

خودداری ایک اچھی چیز ہے لیکن ہمارے مرکزی کردار اسے خودپسندی سے مخلوط کر کے خاصہ ناقابل برداشت بنا دیتے تھے۔

کہانی کا تھیم اور پلاٹ بہترین تھا لیکن loopholes میں پھنس کے ایک disaster نظر آنے لگا۔ بڑی بڑی گتھیاں جو سالوں کی investigations اور research نا سلجھا سکی وہ عین موقعے پہ بند کمروں میں وحی کی طرح اترنے والے ماہر کے ذہنی فلسفے نے ��لجھا دی جس کا سر اور پیر مشکل سے سمجھ آتا۔ ایک دو دفعہ ایسا ہونا شاید ہضم ہوجاتا لیکن اس قدر تکرار۔۔۔
ان کرداروں (خصوصا ماہر فرید) کے پاس وہ کبھی نا دریافت ہونے والا آلہ تھا جو حال، ماضی، مستقبل اور انسان کے اندر چھپے خیالات جو اسے خود نہی پتہ ان سب کا ادراک مقابل کو لمحوں میں کروا سکتا۔

شروع کی ۵ اور آخر کی ۳ اقساط نکال کے ناول جس دائرے میں گھومتا رہا ہے اور ماضی اور حال کے پینڈولم میں اصل کہانی کا جو سفوف بنا ہے وہ الگ دکھتی رگ ہے۔

وہ کردار اور پلاٹ جنہیں پڑھنا چاہا انہیں عید کے چاند کی طرح شاذ و نادر ہی پڑھنا نصیب ہوا (مثلا کبیرہ تائی کا ٹریک شروع سے بہت curious کر رہا تھا لیکن الله الله کر کے آخری کی چند اقساط میں اسکا ذکر ہوا وہ بھی تشنگی چھوڑ گیا)
اور اچانک سے کچھ ایسے تذکروں سے صفحات پہ صفحات بھر دیے گئے جنہیں پڑھنا طبیعت کو مکدور کردیتے (مثلا کہانی کے انتہائی اہم موڑ پہ بلا کی طرح اچانک نازل ہونے والی سوزین اور اسکے پورے ٹریک نے جو کرواہٹ گھولی اسکی منطق سمجھنے کی کوشش میں حلق تک کڑوا ہوجاتا)
اور پھر یہ بھی کہ جو باتیں اور مسئلے بطور قاری میرے لیے بڑے تھے انہیں بہت سہولت سے برتا گیا جیسے رشتوں کو manipulate کر کے اپنے لیے استعمال کرنا (اور ایسا ہر ایک نے کیا) اور جو باتیں بہت سیدھی اور سہل تھی ان پہ صفحات پہ صفحات یوں لکھے گئے کہ سب melodrama لگنے لگا.
ایک اہم مسئلہ جو اول تا آخر پیش رہا وہ یہ کشمکش تھی کہ یہ کردار اور واقعات نمرہ کے دیگر ناولز کی طرح حقیقت سے تعلق رکھتے ہیں یا حالم کی طرح غیر ماورائی ہیں۔

To sum it up, in order to enjoy Maala you've to suspend your logic and submit your senses to this relame of Maala.

رہ گئی کہانی میں سے اخذ کرنے والی سیکھنے کی باتیں تو بے شک نمرہ جی نے ہمیشہ جس subtlety اور موثر طریقے سے یہ کام کیا ہے وہ قابل تعریف ہے لیکن اس ناول پہ تو میں (ہاتھ جوڑ کے) استدعا کروں گی عمل کی نیت سے نا ہی پڑھا جائے کیونکہ پھر وہی بات negative energy overshadowed the positivity۔ سیلف کئیر اور سیلف لو اچھی بات ہے لیکن اسے سیلف آبسیشن اور انا کے ساتھ جیسے کرداروں نے خلط ملط کیا سبق سیکھنے والے قارئین نے بھی کردیا تو خاصے toxic ہو سکتے۔ کم از کم میں تو اپنی زندگی میں ایسے دوست یا رشتے دار بالکل نا چاہوں گی۔
مالا اور ماہر دونوں کے افعال سے سوا کڑوڑ اختلافات کا ذکر اب کیا ہی کروں۔ ٹریجڈی کے مارے لوگوں کو کچھ بھی کہنے کا دل نہیں کرتا۔ پہلے اور بات تھی لیکن آخری قسط کے بعد صرف ہمدردی۔

مالا اور ماہر کی تکلیف کا رنگ پرپل اور براون تھا اور مجھ سے کوئی پوچھے تو کہوں گی اس پورے ناول کا مجموعی رنگ سیاہ تھا۔ toxicity, disappointment, obsession اور tragedy کی سیاہی۔ ناول کے اختتام تک امید کا کوئی خوبصورت دھاگہ ہاتھ نا آیا جسے جلا کے روشنی کرلی جائے۔
بقول مصنفہ کے یہ ان کا پہلا ناول ہے جو لو اسٹوری پہ مبنی ہے لیکن میں اس ضخیم کاغذوں کے پلندے سے مالا اور ماہر کے صرف ۵ ایسے سینز بتا سکتی ہوں جن میں محبت سانس لیتی محسوس ہوئی اور جو خوبصورت تھے۔ باقی پورے ناول میں یہ ڈھونڈنے کے لیے دیکھنے والی آنکھ اور عقل سے پُر دماغ شاید میرے پاس نہیں۔

اتنا منفی رویو؟
یہ غالب اثرات تھے نا تو اس لیے اچھی باتیں overshadow ہوگئیں۔ اگر isolation میں دیکھا جائے تو کئی سینز میں imagery اور emotions بہت بہت خوبصورت لکھے گئے تھے کہ رک کے محسوس کرنے اور جذب کرنے کا دل کرے لیکن سیاق و سباق میں اتنی دھند تھی کہ خوبصورتی داغدار ہوگئی (حور جہاں کی بیماری اور موت، کعبے پہ وہ پہلی نظر، مالک کی بیماری، مالا اور ماہر کے confessions وغیرہ)

پسندیدہ سین؟
ماہر مالا کے پانچ سینز کے علاوہ زیاد کا سیریل کلر ہونا جب مالا پہ کھلتا ہے۔ I found it very astonishing and intelligent.

اس کہانی سے آپ سب بھی یہی سبق لیں کہ خواہ مخواہ آسان سلجھی زندگی کو اپنی حرکتوں سے الجھا کے مشکل نہیں بنانا۔

۳ سال تک مالا کے ساتھ جیا ہے اب جو محسوس ہوا وہ بولنا تو حق تھا نا؟


پی-ایس: اب تو ناول ختم ہوگیا کوئی مجھے بتا دے کے وہ taboo topic کہاں تھا جسے آج سے پہلے کبھی لکھا نہی گیا؟ معذرت میں نا سمجھ سکی۔

[Aamna Junaid · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book of loopholes, to be concise.

Misguided narratives, major character arc disfiguration and extremely forced chemistry between leads. Maala's character started out as a strong, feeling woman hustling to make her space in the male driven world, but the writer soon lost track of the entire narrative and made her just another huffy puffy 'bossy' woman who is hated by everyone simply for being a victim.

Madam Kashmala Mubeen had a victim complex, even before it was a thing. Domestic abuse awareness is a topic I have much, much respect for, but the portrayal of it in this book is so flimsy, so meaningless and utterly dislodged from reality that it left me feeling anger for the FMC instead, much aside sympathy. I have not disliked a female lead as much as I do to Kashmala Mubeen, and the reason is absolutely not that she's an abuse survivor (I actually would respect her for this if it was conveyed so) but rather, the lack of respect the author has for her.

As for Mahir Ali Fareed (Not Kaif, I cannot imagine these two being the same. I cannot.) His character, too, started out beautifully as our very own guddu pie Kaif Jamal, the hopeful entrepreneur with a big heart and bigger dreams. How can I ever let go of the magic this book was still Episode 4? And even after that. Mahir's arc continued to blossom till episode 7 when we came to know his past about black magic, Rabail marrying Shams, his first meeting with Hilal and when he felt her kiss his cheek. I melted there and still do whenever I remember it. But after episode 9, it was as if a lightbulb just went off in Nemrah Ahmed's mind.

She did not care anymore. Neither about the book nor about its characters. Mahi, Birbal, Malik, Moeed— literally everyone suffered at her hands. Everyone lost their presence in the story. Why? Because Nemrah Ahmed at this point had realised that there was no salvaging for the loopholes she's left a trail of in the form of Maala's character. Kashmala makes mistakes and instead of owning them, she finds someone to blame. First, she pretended that Mahir had been the villain of her life for God knows how many episodes while revenge-marrying Ziyad to show her 'zidd' ke oh, look 'Kaif' I will get married. You watch. And then she found black magic to blame (somewhat understandable) then she found Ziyad, then Moeed (by the way, Moeed's character taking a negative turn was totally unneeded. Like half the things in this book.) then Mahi and finally Ebad, when she's hyper focused on the fact that 'oh everyone hates me cause I'm a victim.' girl, they don't hate you cause you're a victim. They hate you cause you just are. Joking not joking.

Anyways, I don't even think it's the characters' fault at this point. It's on the author solely for creating a plot so interwoven and filled with unnecessary additions that she, herself, couldn't wrap it up. End, as expected, couldn't salvage the absolutely hideous mess this book was. Maala dying made no sense, except for the fact that it comforted my soul to see this book end. Mahir had turned into a pathetic loser by the end, what a waste of character potential. Imo, he should've never existed. Kaif Jamal should've.

A joke of an ending, a joke of a book.

Moral of the story: Be the abuser because that's the only way you're getting a happy ending. You'll get to marry your favourite person, have a kid with them and then end their life to your liking. Yay.

[Alishah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 and that's me being generous.
Suing NA bcs what the HELL was that ending??? I'm so glad I didn't invest 3 years in this novel, and I'm never starting an ongoing novel ever again. I think the writer herself was sick of the story, hence the pathetic ending.

Spoilers ahead!
Let's start with the characters. I think most of them if not all, were quite interesting and had a lot of potential, even the villains (Ziyad, Sarkar, Aaliyan, and Zara) but I wish the writer had invested her time in character development instead of wasting her time thinking of the shitty "plot twist" at the end (that is if she even spent a couple minutes thinking of the ending).

Maala: contrary to what most people think, I liked her character. Did she have some flaws? Sure, but that's what made her "human," and I enjoyed reading her (though I did wanna roll my eyes at some scenes because girlie could be dumb sometimes). I liked how independent and fearless she was, but that sometimes also made her too gullible because what do you mean you're meeting a man alone who's tried to kill you once already?? Pagal ho?? Overall, I liked her character.

Maahir: Do I even have to say anything about this man? Human embodiment of the word perfection 🤭 I loved how he was SO sure of himself and his decisions and how he was always right, lol. One of the things I really liked about him was his self-respect and his intelligence. I liked how he always gave Maala space whenever she needed it. How he was SUCH a nice brother to both of his siblings and wasn't overly sweet and gentle with them (esp Birbal lmao). 10/10 best MMC written by NA.

Birbal: I wish he had gotten a bit of character development at the end, especially after Maala's advice, but nope, he's a lover boy through and through, lmao, the jokester of the family.

Hilal: man idk what to say about her except that she legit had no role in the novel which is absurd considering most of the plot in the first half revolves around her. She wasn't unnecessary per se but didn't contribute to the story much. Bas tapestry karti rehti thi

Maalik: legit the best character of this novel.

Ziyaad, Zara, and Sarkar: they can eat shit

Aaliyan: he was honestly really fun to read. A villain but he's low-key just a chill guy lol

The novel was dragged unnecessarily, but I think that's pretty consistent with all of NA's novels. I mean, the story could be perfectly finished when Sarkar was caught, and the story could have an open ending, but the writer, as always, decided to drag the story for no reason and make it insufferable. The ending was horseshit and SO unnecessary to the plot, it just doesn't make sense. You can't have a tragic ending just for the sake of it!!!!! This isn't gonna make the story memorable. Rather, it leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
If Maala and Mahir hadn't gotten together in the end and instead went their separate ways, I think even that would've made sense. The story went downhill after the second half.

Ziyad got such an easy ending and i wish he had suffered more bcs wdym he was just shot???? And what about Zara?? Aaliyan is happy too?? Matlab saare villains are at peace now?? I feel so bad for Badar and Mahir :((

The story was supposed to be about healing, but the unnecessary ending just to create some hype for the book was the total opposite of that, and this tactic failed imo. I was actually looking forward to a sensible ending but...
Killing off Mahir would've made a lot more sense as that was always Ziyad's intention for coming to Turkey (or as it was intended in the book).

As always, the writer tries to tackle so many issues at the same time and in doing so, ends up confusing the readers. The ending, again, was just bad writing and I'm disappointed! Really liked reading the black magic parts and that's what attracted me to this novel in the first place.

[GUL · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could save mahir before this episode!

[Shumillamukhtar · Rating 5 out of 5]

KASH HUM MUKHATALIF HALAT MEIN MILE HOTE😭😭😭

[Ravs · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is a classic example of a writer ruining her own story just for the sake of views and likes. I loved Mahir Maala but the end wasn’t justified. The author needs to go and google what is meant by healing. Mahir maala deserve 5 stars but what they didn’t deserve was a wannabe woke writer who messed up really bad at the end.

[E.]

Summing up:
"ہیلنگ ہُولنگ(healing hooling) میں کچھ نہیں رکھا، نشے کرو سب۔"

On a very serious note, I don't know what the writer wanted to convey. Why did she introduce a "hero" as "backup plan" if she wanted to break "taboos/ societies norm"? She could have shown Mala as a single woman/single mother. Plus the way she is apparently "laughing and enjoying memes" after writing on such a "sensitive" topic, is beyond understanding.

[Warda · Rating 4 out of 5]

If someone ever asked me about my review for Maala,
- First 20 Episodes: 3.75/5 for me
- Last Episode 1/5
(can't ruin the whole rating because of a senseless end)

One thing I observed and analyzed is that Nemrah didn't write Maala for the millions of women who read digests and face issues like domestic violence/ toxic relationships or black magic. Nemrah wrote it for Instagram reels, trends, and "Nibhay Nibhiyan." She wanted to set a trademark to prove that yes, she can write something like this too. Nemrah has never written like this before.

She always did justice to her characters, but this book has so many loopholes that it leaves you questioning whether it's even a healing story.

Nemrah gave a message to all women stuck in toxic relationships, victims of abuse, or mothers of autistic children that they CAN'T survive in this world. She didn't even offer a single ray of hope or positivity to them. Fine, if you couldn't unite Maala and Mahir, you could have separated them on a more meaningful note, not in such an abrupt and dismissive way.

There's another topic I want to talk about critically after reading the book, and that is autism! the condition Badr had. Nimra focused heavily on healing and therapy but not on autism.

Autism is a condition that is becoming increasingly common among children. What was Nemrah trying to prove by killing Maala? I didn't understand. And I won't agree with or accept any justification Nemrah provides, nor do I think she can give one that makes sense.

Nemrah achieved exactly what she wanted - reels, edits, debates, controversies.

So, I want to give you all a message: never involve yourself so deeply in something that its consequences start to take over you.

To all women in toxic relationships, experiencing domestic violence, facing black magic, or raising a differently-abled child, this story is not for you. Healing does not look like this. You are the one who holds the power to heal yourself. You are not powerless, and your child will not be deprived of love or care. You have the strength to break free and rewrite your own story.

This was never just a fictional story. For those people, teenagers, and immature minds who are saying, "Why are you all so angry or upset? It was just a fictional story," let me tell you: no, this was not just a fictional story. It was a beacon of hope, a story of healing, a reflection of the harsh realities of society, and stories like these usually end the way Nemrah showed. But when you have given people hope from the beginning that you are the "Maala," that this is your story, then the writer should have done justice to it. This is not a love story. It is your story, my story.

If the writer gave hope, she should have fulfilled it. What she proved is that if someone hands you a thread of hope, don't trust it completely because the one holding that thread has control over it. They can pull it or break it at any moment. For those who lived with hope for three years, that thread was broken in an instant. Some people say, "Why did you read the novel when the Quran is there for healing?" We are human, aren't we? It's human nature to see others as well-wishers after Allah almighty. Human words become a balm for them. That's how Nemrah Ahmed's readers are. They felt that Nemrah had shown them a path and that she must have thought of something good.

The chapter might end here, but your story isn't over yet. Every page you turn holds a new beginning, a chance to rewrite, to rise and to shine. Life's battles may knock you down, but they're just plot twists, not the finale. Take a deep breath, gather your strength, and step forward. You're the author of your journey.

Make it a masterpiece worth reading.

(Review credits go to @fictional_booktique)

[Monie ❀ مؤمنه]

Please bear with me, I gave 3 years of my life to this book.

🌷 Maala’s significance for me:
It's not a review, it's a cathartic way for me to collect my all-over-the-place thoughts on this book, so you already know it's going to be subjective. Like many of you, I completed this book over 3 whole years because of its episodic publication. This book isn't just a book for me, it became a part of my journey. If this book was a song lyric it'd be "Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time / You and I drink the poison from the same vine" because isn't that what it was? I have read almost all works of Nemrah Ahmed even the ones that never got any publicity and as a reader, I've seen her grow in her writing style and subject matters, no matter what people say she is talented in what she does. She has this way of making you live through every high and low with her characters.

🌷 At a crossroads about Maala being a good or bad influence?
Maala, for me, is one of those books that is either a 1-star or a 5-star and I only say this when I'm extremely conflicted and at a crossroads about a book's ending. Maala was so perfectly penned down from episode one to probably the very end. For me everything went down the hill in the last episode of the book, that episode could have given us closure but it didn't, and now that closure is replaced by an eternal longing and emptiness. I can't explain well but this book will mend and break you at the same time but the breaking and trauma got all the spotlight instead of mending and healing and I've got a huge problem with it. I understand and respect Nemrah's way of wrapping it up but who is going to respect my wish as a reader? Certainly not Nemrah! Khair, moving on...

🌷 The tragedy of this supposed love story:
Honestly, Maala’s death felt like a punch to the gut. It was so unnecessary! I get that Nemrah Ahmed loves her poetic justice and tragic endings, but seriously, Maala deserved better. Her journey was already so heartbreaking and overly traumatizing why not let her have a moment of peace and closure? And ugh Mahir, my poor baby, he was just left in this eternal state of misery and longing for Maala. If Maala was killed, Mahir didn't live either. It's a lifelong misery for him now since his "زندگی " i.e. Maala was taken from him.
We as readers are mourning two deaths, not one. It’s like she wanted us to feel that life doesn’t always give happy endings, okay we get it but it hurts.

🌷 Author's blatant cynicism and reader's hopeless romanticism:
It’s as if Nemrah wanted to drive home the idea that some people’s journeys remain incomplete, no matter how much they deserve happiness. The way Maala kept striving, only to meet such a tragic end, it’s gut-wrenching. You keep hoping she’ll find a moment of peace and happiness, but then bam, reality strikes. It’s a raw reminder of how unfair life can be, but it still leaves you wondering… did it have to end like that? Was it so necessary to kill such a character who has already suffered so much both at the hand of fate and free will? Makes me want to rewrite the last chapter just for my peace of mind.

🌷 The gaping holes in characters' endings:
The ending for each character was either undeserved or incomplete along with so many other plot holes. Zarina? Deserved worse than what she got. Ziyad? Seriously that death felt like a mercy killing for such a psycho and cold-blooded man, I needed better punishment than death. Nemrah is talented enough to come up with worse punishments I don't care I needed his end to be worse. Birbal? I understand some people never change no matter how much you help or protect them, the baggage of their choices will always fall on them sooner or later because of their inability to accept and learn new ways. [Birbal was a red flag but many of you aren't ready to talk about this because he was a comedic relief to us in a whirlpool of heartbreaking scenes so naturally it went unnoticed by many readers.] Kabira? Bankruptcy, wow that's what all she got for destroying multiple lives and wrecking so many homes. Aliyan? I think he should have been given a redemption arc but wasn't, he could have been saved but wasn't. I can write an entire book on the last episode only but frankly, I don't have the money for therapy.

🌷 The art is what the artist wants it to be:
Nemrah’s choice to focus on trauma over closure seems intentional, almost like she wanted us to feel the weight of incomplete stories, but it doesn’t make it easier to accept. As readers, we invest so much emotionally that it feels unfair when the narrative doesn’t give back the peace we crave. It’s like Nemrah respects her art more than her audience’s emotional recovery. If only she’d given us that one sliver of hope or redemption to hold onto, the ending could’ve been transformative instead of devastating. I get if you’re torn about the ending like me, Nemrah Ahmed’s storytelling pulls you in so deeply, that you start rooting for these characters like they’re real people. The ending felt like a betrayal of everything Maala and Mahir had endured. That eternal “only if” haunts you, making it impossible to move on, and it’s frustrating when the healing doesn’t balance out the heartbreak.

🌷 How it should have ended in my opinion:
I think Maala would’ve benefited from an ending that honoured her sense of growth, redemption, and sacrifice without being eternally sacrificed, or shattering the reader. Imagine Maala and Mahir don’t necessarily end up together in the traditional sense maybe their paths diverge due to fate or personal growth but at least Maala lives. She finds peace and maybe dedicates herself to something she passionately loves like her son and art, symbolizing her resilience and purpose beyond the pain. Now her whole personality might be remembered as just another girl who was in cyclical abuse.

As for Mahir, his longing could remain, but with the comfort of knowing Maala is alive and thriving. That way, both characters could carry their scars without being completely defined by just the scars, and readers could find solace in knowing that healing, even if incomplete, is still possible. The story would've remained bittersweet even sad for some readers but at least the purpose of it would've been offering a glimmer of hope, making the journey feel more meaningful instead of leaving us with this unbearable emptiness. I guess Nemrah had to say یہاں سب کو سب نہیں ملتا in 2.5k pages and we were here for it.

🌷 Endnote:
Though there was a lot of foreshadowing to the possibility of such an ending, we ignored it willfully and got carried away by our fancy imagination. کاش ہم مختلف حالات میں ملے ہوتے This one line repeated all over the novel holds the essence of Maala and Mahir’s relationship perfectly. It captured all the unspoken regret, longing, and the weight of everything that kept them apart. Even in stories of loss and longing, the love and growth we witness remain eternal, reminding us that some hearts endure beyond endings. Such love stories transcend beyond time, space, and circumstances, even when they don’t end in an imagined ending.

🌷 “Maybe in another life, under kinder skies, we will meet again, and all that’s left unfinished will find its way to completion." 🪞✨️💌🕊

[Fatima Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review after reading 16 chapters:

This was good, like GOOD! The plot? Amazing! Characters!? Behtareen! Thrill? Beautiful done!
Plot twists!? You’ll not see them coming!!

Now that I’ve made my self clear ki I loved it so ab negative pe aate hein,
This shit is looooooooooOoOOOoong!!! And at the end ; I just wanted to end it! Mahir is absolute perfection his pov kept me intrigued but maala? I found her quite stupid in second half, you might say it’s because of her trauma or the things that she was going through, but still I found her stiff. And it’s not because I want “positive” seedhi FMC, I LOVED zumar in namal and i don’t think any FMC can be more bereham and frustrating than her. But acchi cheezon ki bhi ek limit hoti h, you love gulabjamun but you can’t have it in breakfast and lunch and dinner and in between day after day, it looses it’s charm. 16th chapter k end m- climax was done. Culprit was dead. Villain was in jail. Mystery was solved. Mahir’s sister have been found. Maala and Mahir had their cute little “mein tumne msg Krunga to kya tum jawab dogi?” Scene. THAT should have been the open ending. But NOPE
Nemrah put another unnecessary mystery to get solve, I mean WHAT WAS THE REASON!?!?!?
Quite frankly IDC if that shit gets solved or not.
Maybe I’m being harsh cause I read 16 chapter in one go I didn’t had to wait for each chapter. But from now on every new reader is going to read it like that🤷‍♀️
Ofc I’m going to read the 17 and the next upcoming chapters, and maybe I’ll love it cause nemrah is writing them. But 16 chapters were more than sufficient.
(Ps. Mahir and Maala had AAG 🔥 🔥 🔥 chemistry in “lahor” but in and after the “makka” part so many things have happened with maala and the way that her character have developed, I don’t find them compatible anymore😬)


Edit: as it turned out, I read 17th chapter. And it was completely magnificent. I LOVED it. So many thing happened. Maala and mahir rekindled after 5(?) years. There was some sparks. A new villain was introduced whom I find really intriguing, and hope he’d be harami like Hashim 😭 .
Well, I’m back to the square one. Nemrah is an exceptional writer, she knows how to trap her audience through the magic of her books. But- this have become “Alif Laila” , a good story after story after story. By writing this chapter she have set a strong foundation for at least 10 more chapters🥲

25 July 2024(technically 26 July 3:57 AM)
⚠️spoilers ahead!⚠️
Just completed 19th chapter. (Nemrah announced it’s 3rd last- finally!🤡)
and if I have to rate this particular chapter I would rate it 5 ⭐️!
It came after waiting for almost three months, and damn! It’s worth every day that I’ve been waiting for!
Mahir? Uff! I WAS PUDDLE FOR MAHIR BEY! He delivered bang after bang in this episode! Every line that came outta his mouth had me floating in the air😭😭🎀🎀So charismatic! So badass! So intelligent! And uff, this chapter was enough to remind my goldfish brain that why I fell in love with his character in the first place.

Maala pissed me off in this episode tbh. I do want to understand her situation but after the way mahir bey ripped his heart open and poured the content inside out for her? And yet still when she rejected him? My romantic heart just COULD NOT TAKE IT! Nope!
Mtlb baji ka mujhe smjh nh aa rha, unko “hamare raste alag hein, aur rahenge” wali bullshit bhi karni hai lekin agar banda ignore kar raha h, attention nh de raha, aur kisi aur se shadi kar raha hai to saamp bhi laut rahe hain baji ki chhati pe!💀mtlb I understand that she’s in the difficult situation and she’s been through some shit, but that does not give her right to string him along ffs! He’s been through some major trauma as well, esi hi ladkiyaan hoti hain jinki wajah se “situation ship” term started in the first place 🥲
And the last part? Where she told aaliyan about his mother? I can’t decide if it was a badass move or a stupid one😭

And and and… AALIYAN! I think I fell in love with the villain. Again! He’s so fucking fun! I love intelligent self assured and witty villains so so much! I wish he’d been the original Sarkar from the start😭

— LAST EPISODE——

I was so ready to recite kaseede of this chapter and how dreamy entertaining it was. but-
WHAT WAS THE FUCKING REASON!?!? LIKE GENUINELY!??? WAS THIS JUST FOR MAKING THE STATEMENT!? FU NEMRAH. SOOOOOOO UNNECESSARY! It’s not like I can’t take death of my characters, I’m one of the most supporting reader of umer jahangir’s death in amerbail. Because it was for the plot. It was justified. It made powerful impact. They weren’t meant for each other.umer was not a good person. He got what he sowed. THIS? Fucking horseshit.( hence- I’m not gonna rate this more than 3 stars. Wayyyyy to downgrade your work nemrah.)

[emeown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 1: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thes best part of the book. It was a bit dragged in my opinion so that's why I gave it 4 stars but it's still the most memorable part of the book for me.

Part 2: ⭐⭐⭐✨

This one had good plot twists but still I didn't enjoy as much as first part and that's definitely not because of the marriage.

Part 3: ⭐⭐

Honestly, there were so many scenes from the past already in the book that I was just annoyed by part 3. This one didn't have the most important scenes I was looking forward too but had all the pointless scenes. Maala became a photographer out of nowhere literally. The plot about property her brother sold also wasn't solved. The whole adventure was actually just dumb when she could have texted Mahir and the author just gave a very dumb reason so they could have the argument.

Part 4: ⭐

I would give it more stars if there weren't so many Mahir and Mala scenes copied from her old books, I would understand one but half of their scenes were just her old couple's scene. The chemistry felt so forced.

*SPOILERS*


AND Finally let's talk about end.

What even was that? The worst ending she ever wrote! She wanted to write about femicide she said, but what about the other people Ziyad murdererd? She could have killed Sabreena and make it about femicide since Ziyad already tried to kill her and her character disappeared anyways.

Ziyad trying to murder Maala doesn't even make sense because why is he jealous of Mala and Mahir? The writer never even gave us his pov properly just because audience hates him I guess. We don't know alot about his emotions but he killed his mother for lying about Sabreena's death so, he should be going after Sabreena only now. This is a big plothole.

Author kept talking about the riddle in the colours but it was never mentioned in last chapter.

What was Hilal se Badar and Badar se Hilal about?

Why kids were being kidnapped?

Why did she write a side lovestory if she just wanted to make it about femicide and then make fun of her audience by saying get out of fairytales it's realistic, no girl the ending that you gave is more unrealistic than mala getting married. Mahir raising his lover's child is the only fairytale here. Don't try to justify your poor writing by saying it's REALISTIC. You had the right to say it if the book itself was realistic. A rich man following a woman to different countries isn't realistic. A man lying about his personality because of his past infront of a woman who doesn't even know him isn't realistic and Malik already knew Mala so he could have just asked him to ask her about this. Your books aren't realistic so you can't say ending was realistic.

What was the role of Mahir in the whole novel, I hated him throughout the book. He was just an egoistic, manipulator red flag. He was clearly copied from Serkan Bolat (Sen çal kapimi, Serkan was an architect and the fl calls him Robot) He barely did anything other than flexing his money (the most annoying thing about a character) and treating women like shit. Zara might have done kala jadu on him but he wasn't loyal to her in the first place and we all know this. The way he talked to Suzain was literally so disrespectful, yeah she was a golddigger but no one knew that at their first meeting. He taunted mala "Tumne aik karayi ke katil se shaadi ki hai" as if it was her fault. He knew everything about Ziyad before she got married to him so he should have just kept his mouth closed.

The ending ruined the book successfully with countless plotholes. The ending wasn't even the writer's usual style so I don't know what to expect from her now.

[Palwasha Here · Rating 5 out of 5]

ہر شخص کی قسمت کا پرندہ اس کی گردن میں بندھا ہوتا ہے۔
(یعنی جو ہونا ہے وہ ہو کر رہے گا۔)

(سپوائلر فری)

اس کہانی میں مرکزی کردار بھی ہیں (کشمالہ مبین، ماہر فرید)، ولن ، سپورٹنگ کریکٹرز اور آتے جاتے لوگ، لیکن سبھی دلچسپ رہے۔ یہ ایک بڑے سکوپ پہ لکھا گیا ناول ہے۔ رائٹر کی تین سال کی انتھک محنت اور لگاوٹ واقعی پڑھتے ہوئے کئی بار محسوس ہوئی۔ نظموں اور پر اثر اقتسابات کا چناؤ بھی لاجواب رہا۔
کہانی شروع ہوتی ہے ایک فون کال سے۔ کیف جمال جو کہ آجکل بیروزگار ہے اسے ایک نوکری کے متعلق کال آتی ہے۔ دوسری طرف ہمیں کشمالہ مبین سے متعارف کرایا جاتا ہے جو ایک نیا گارڈ (بظاہر ڈرائیور) رکھنا چاہتی ہے۔ کیونکہ اسے اکثر یوں محسوس ہوتا ہے جیسے کوئی اس کا تعاقب کر رہا ہے، اس کی ہر حرکت پہ نظر رکھے ہوئے ہے اور اس کی غیر موجودگی میں اس کی گھر کی اشیاء تک کے ساتھ چھیڑ چھاڑ کر جاتا ہے۔
کیف جمال اس کے آفس میں آتا ہے اور وہ اسے اس کام کے لیے منتخب بھی کر لیتی ہے۔
ساتھ ہی ہمیں رفتہ رفتہ کشمالہ کے باقی فیملی ممبران سے متعارف کرایا جاتا ہے جن میں اس کی والدہ، شادی شدہ بہن ماہی، اور بھائی شامل ہیں۔
قابل ذکر بات یہ ہے کہ اس ناول کا مرکزی کردار اور رائٹر کا فوکس صرف ایک ہی انسان ہے اور وہ ہے کشمالہ مبین، جس کا نک نیم مالا ہے۔ اس بات کو ذہن میں رکھنا بہت ضروری ہے جیسا کہ نمرہ احمد نے متعدد بار کہا کہ یہ کوئی رومینس ناول ہرگز نہیں۔ یہ دراصل عورت ذات کے لیے ایک عورت نے لکھا ہے۔ اسے زندگی میں کیسے ٹاکسک لوگوں اور حالات کا سامنا کرنا پڑتا ہے، کیسے اپنے ارد گرد موجود لوگوں کے دہرے معیار اور حسد کا نشانہ بنتی ہے، اور یہ معاشرہ مشکل صورتحال سے نکلنا اس کے لیے کیسے مشکل تر بنا دیتا ہے۔ لیکن یہ سب بہت ہی دلچسپ انداز میں لکھا گیا ہے پڑھتے ہوئے نہ بوریت ہو گی نہ ہی یہ احساس کہ اوہ کتنا ڈیپریسنگ ہے ایسا بالکل بھی نہیں۔ یہ آپ کو ترکی کی عمارتوں کی سیر کرائے گا اور جادو جنات سے بھی ملوائے گا۔
اس میں منفی کرداروں کا اپنے مقاصد حاصل کرنے کے لیے جادو اور اوچھے ہتھکنڈوں کا استعمال دکھایا گیا ہے۔
پر لطف ڈائلاگ، سنسنی خیز انکشافات، دلچسپ صورتحال، بہت کچھ ہے اس کہانی میں۔
کشمالہ کی ناصرف ذاتی زندگی بلکہ اس کے کیریئر کا اتار چڑھاؤ اور اس میں آنے والی ناگزیر تبدیلیاں بھی اس کہانی کا ہی حصہ ہیں۔ اس کا اپنی ماں سے رشتہ اور محبت، بہن سے دوستی اور رابطہ، تینوں بہن بھائیوں کا اپنی ماں کے ساتھ ایک فیملی یونٹ کے طور پہ چلنا، سبھی رائٹر نے لکھتے ہوئے اس میں اپنائیت کے رنگ بھرے۔ کسی اجنبی کی محبت کیسے رفتہ رفتہ دل میں جگہ بناتی ہے، اس سے بڑھتے شکوے کیسے رشتے کو متاثر کرنے لگتے ہیں اور کیسے محبوب کو منانا دنیا کا مشکل ترین کام لگتا ہے سبھی کچھ ہے۔
دوسری جانب ماہر فرید کا کردار ہے جو کہ ایک کمپنی کا مالک کامیاب آرکیٹیکٹ ہے اور اپنی کھوئی ہوئی بہن کو تلاش کر رہا ہے۔ اس کا بھائی بیربل ایک بہت دلچسپ، تھوڑا مزاحیہ، تھوڑا لا ابالی اپنی موج میں جینے والا کردار ہے۔ کوئی بھی اس کردار کو تو ناپسند نہیں کر سکتا۔ ماہر فرید کے چچا مالک صاحب بھی ایک محنتی اور کام سے کام رکھنے والے روبوٹک انسان کے طور پہ متعارف کروائے گئے۔ ان کی بیٹی زارا جو کہ ماہر کی فرسٹ کزن ہے شروع سے ماہر کو پسند کرتی ہے۔ زارا سے یاد آیا پلاسٹک سرجری سے کرائی جانے والی چہرے کی تبدیلیاں بھی اس ناول میں ناصرف ڈسکس ہوئیں بلکہ کافی حد تک سبق آموز بھی رہیں۔
بے چینی، ڈیپریشن، رشک، جنون، حسد، محبت، دشمنی، انتقام، مالا میں موجود کردار ان سب سے گزرتے ہیں اور ان کے منصوبے اور ردعمل دونوں ہی پڑھنے والے کو بہت کچھ سوچنے پہ مجبور کرتے ہیں۔ میں ہر چیز کا احاطہ اپنے ریویو میں نہیں کر سکتی یہ نا ممکن ہے اور میں نے کوئی سپوائلر بھی نہیں دینا لیکن یہ ضرور کہوں گی کہ کئی باتوں سے میں پرسنلی بھی ریلیٹ کر سکتی ہوں۔ جب شروع کے صفحات میں مالا سوچتی ہے کہ ایک وقت تھا جب اسے لگتا تھا خوشی کا تعلق شادی سے ہے اور پھر اس کی سوچ بدل جاتی ہے تو بات سیدھی دل پہ جا کے لگی۔ نمرہ احمد کی ویسے تو زیادہ تر باتیں ہی بہت گہری ہوتی ہیں لیکن یہ بات تو کم ہی لوگ سمجھ پائیں گے۔
میری خواہش ہے کہ لوگ اسے دوسروں کے لیے سپوائل کرنا چھوڑ دیں۔ آپ کو مالا اچھا لگا یا نہیں، آپ نے جتنی تنقید کرنی ہے کریں، اس کے اختتام پہ جو اعتراضات اٹھانے ہیں اٹھائیں لیکن پلیز اس کے اینڈ کے متعلق سب کو مت بتائیں۔ رائٹر کی محنت کو یوں ضائع نہ کریں۔ اور جنہیں اینڈ معلوم پڑ بھی جائے وہ اسے ایک بار پڑھیں ضرور۔ عین ممکن ہے میری طرح آپ کو بھی اس کا اینڈ اچھا لگے اس ناول میں کچھ بھی بےمقصد نہیں تھا۔ اینڈ بھی نہیں۔

[Tuba Mohammed Irfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is straight connected to my heart. I will never move on from this book and my most favourite male lead till forever. Mahir fareed k liye mere dil mai hamesha ek jagah reserve rahegi wo mai kisi aur character ko nahi de paungi. I'm attached to this book emotionally I've waited months for episodes to come out. I will never move on from you maala. The journey has been beautiful with you and your ending was nothing less than a disappointment. But thank you for teaching me that people can never move on from certain things in their lifetime like I'm never going to move on from maala. Giving one extra star only for Malik fareed (wisdom wali baatein krte the lekin inke marne ka kam dukh hota compare to Mahir's dukh coming from death of kashmala) and Aliyaan (bada hi kamaal ka negative character tha) and ofc Birble (dheet na ho toh lekin bada hasaya tha shuru mai)

[Nimra Karim · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star is for Mahir Fareed only because even though the author treated him badly all through the novel and did total injustice to his potentially great character. Despite all of this, I still LOVED him.

I never thought I'll DNF a Nemrah Ahmed novel, not in my wildest dreams. But here we are; stopped reading it after episode 15 because things were so messed up that I couldn't handle the suspense of waiting for each episode for a few months.
After seeing the spoiler of the last episode. I decided to DNF it. I expected a better ending from Nemrah Ahmed, considering how much she made the characters and the readers suffer. It was a traumatic experience.🙃

[asma · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK!! SO I M BAFFLED TBH, I ended ep 20 last night which is the second last ep & i have sm to say, mind you i read this entire novel within this past one week so i have gone through boht zyada emotions !!!


Ok, overall my review about this magnificent piece is that by far it is the most realistic love story (or whatever story) i have read !!! Unlike other novels, where the male lead is some very unrealistically smart, intelligent, handsome dude, like in JANNAT K PATTY, Jahan was disguising himself as ARP, DOLLY, Major Ahmed & whatnot only to test & protect his wife & in Peer e Kamil, Salar is this elite genuis with pata nahi kitna high IQ, an Ivy League graduate & sucha successful career- which irl can rarely happen, so it set a very far from reality, a fantasy based standard, cos real life mei aesa kb hota hai? 😭
But in Maala, the male lead MAHIR isnt some dude who is born smart or anything unrealistic, he is a businessman and he grew up learning THE tactics, & so his expertise is dealing with people in a very smart way & he has a good brain, so its not some RICH CEO with pedaishi genius mind who falls for this girl out of nowhere!
KASHMALA has a very realistic & relatable character as well, she isnt some brat who was born with a luxurious life, she built that life for herself, she worked hard for it & she also had minor everyday problems in her life which me and so many people can relate to , i.e her acne problems, her wish to prove herself, her habit of not confronting people & just running away from them, her sensitivity towards her mother & how she didn’t want to put burden on her mother as to ask her for money to invest in business, SHE WANTED TO BUILD THAT LIFE HERSELF. Unlike other female leads, who once successful are very happy in their lives, Maala had many big regrets in her life like not being there for her mother when she was working, & then deciding to be there for her mother throughout her illness, not seeing the red flags in Ziyad etc
The chemistry of both MALA & MAHIR is also very beautiful & realistic (ik i have used this word a ton already but this book is very realistic to me)
How MAHIR falls for Maala slowly, and not bcos she is pretty or anything but bcos of who she is as a person. Unlike in other novels, where last minute the relationship or shaadi of a lead with someone else is broken miraculously by the other lead or some khuda kee bheji madad, here MALA does get married to ZIYAD which i wasnt expecting cos it is not like the literature we have been reading for years, jahan hero entry maar kr heroine ke bacha leta hai. No, Maala marries Ziyad, she has a kid with him and Mahir couldn’t do much about it. And then later, their relationship doesn’t just show a spark instantly when they meet years later, but it takes time, test and tribulations for them to become like old times or maybe better :))
I m just rooting for MAALA & MAHIR 😭♥️

- really loved how some of the characters were somewhat connected in the past & had overlapped eachother , like MHAIR & MAHI’s encounters, how NAGEENA had met MAHIR & Mala has met Maalik and sm more - the flashbacks amid the plot are really engaging & they solve so much of the confusion.

The other characters like Beerbal, Malik Farid, Changez, Shabnam, Yasmine, MahBeena & Hilal are also so precious, they all have a beautiful character & charm of their own without which the book would have been less mazydaar!
Love how Mahir is always out there for the people close to him, be it his family or friends. & also lowkey his relationship with his employees is so cute, not the HARD MACHO BOSS which we have been reading all our lives.

- You will find everything in ONE PACKAGE in the form of this book - MYSTERY, ROMANCE, HUMOUR, REVENGES !!! Its a treat to read such books & unfortunately we rarely get to read them :(

The plot twists of this book were like mind boggling for me in the true aspect, I really had to get up & take deep breaths when i’d read something like that, cos it was too much to ingest, & only Lord knows how we came out of those shocks !!
The revelation of Sarkar was mind boggling & my brain was soo exhausted atp, lol.

- then comes the educational aspect of the story, so many beautiful lessons and stuff to grasp on. I cannot share one cos there are so many - so much about black magic, the way you can get affected, how you could avoid it, having TAWAQUL in Allah that whatever happens, happens only by HIS will so as it have faith in HIM.
I loved the lesson about forgiveness & moving on, not bcos you feel bad for the person who hurt you but bcos you want to heal yourself! FOR YOUR OWN HEALING, YOU FORGIVE PEOPLE SO AS TO NOT CARRY THEIR BURDEN WITH YOURSELF, YOU FREE THEM FROM YOUR LIVES & THEY BECOME UNIMPORTANT, which is so much more strong than just hating someone.

- THE VILLIANS of this story were something else, matlb the people you least expect to be evil were far from worse 😭
Aaliyan sure has got a charisma, he isn’t the conventional jadoogar , & he has got a good amount of wit which makes him kinda charismatic, lmao but i hope he gets redemption tbh, bcos he has gone through stuff by being kidnapped and raised by a black magician - he didn’t have much of a choice there so i hope he turns towards being a better person.

Your mouth would be shut open k bhai yh kia hai.
It was a full fledge journey for us readers as well to discover the culprit, unlike in other books where the readers know the culprit since beginning but the suspense is all about the main characters figuring out who is evil by the end.
- Also, you feel angry at Maala through the book alot for her stupid decisions like - ignoring the red flags of Ziyad, roaming freely after escaping Ziyad’s abuse in Jeddah when she should have left the country (knowing he is a psychopath murderer & he will track her down anytime), not forgiving Mahir despite his repetitive apologies, trusting Ziyad by going with him to apparently protect Hilal as part of deal in Vancouver ( stupid af , couldn’t stop smh) & also by not trusting Mahir by hiding so much important stuff from him - but the thing is THIS IS WHO MAALA WAS !!! In preface, Nemrah Ahmed wrote clearly that Maala is the kind of character which will make mistakes and you guys will just shake your head, but that is also how it is in real life i guess, not everyone is born knowing how to trust their instincts, people are like that, people make mistakes - & Maala was like one of US. Life isnt all glamorous & easy after all.

I have sm more but i guess the words wouldn’t help me put it out here.
Pls share your favt parts or stuff you generally wanna talk about from ✨MAALA✨with me, i would love to know & converse.

25/12/24
after reading last ep of MAALA and staying baffled for good 24 hrs.
such an immature, pathetic unresolved ending. so unsettling. is this how an experienced writer ends such a well developed plot, such well developed characters are shown as the most undermined humans with zero character growth. if you had to end this novel in such a way, there was no need to show mala as an independent woman. there was no need to add black magic & domestic violence as a theme then, bcos by this pathetic ep you just showed how abused women are killed ultimately by their exes. The writer is trying to depict that people in a toxic relationship are shown to be in a dead end. they have no hope and no room for happiness in this mortal world, bcos their ex will murder them eventually, whether they leave them or live with them, right?

SINCE WHEN WAS THIS BOOK ABOUT FEMICIDE?? Please show me one proof?? why would you destroy the theme of this book which was apparently about healing & black magic?? And then cowardly , the writer adds femicide in the last 100 pgs of the last ep saying no one would’ve read the book otherwise?? The hell was that explanation??
the male lead is shown as the most unstable cold person back to square one??? I still dont get why was Mahir given such an unfair end??? & then why would you not give a closure to readers about the antagonists of this book, be it ZARA or AALIYAN?? why does Ziyad get to have such an easy end, after being the most despicable animal through the story!! Was this book about the supremacy and win of EVIL over GOOD?? is this what literature is about now, to discourage your youth and show them a dead end in life? i am so disappointed in NEMRAH AHMED, i have been raving about her books since i read them first time long long ago and now i have zero respect for her bcos she is extremely insensitive and inconsiderate towards her readers, so disappointed.
& wasnt Mahir a major part of this book as well!?? Like did the writer forget that, bcos we got no closure for him. He literally suffered all his life only to be guardian of Mala’s kid, the heck is that??? Like uska kia kasoor tha iss sb mei, if this book was all about femicide & Mala getting killed, then she could have killed her easily in Vancouver when Ziyad traps her in the freezer, what was the point of dragging it to another whole chapter !! Why was Mahir not mentioned in the harfe aakhir???? This makes no sense to me! Such a rushed ending, felt no emotions on Mahir’s side, & got no closure for other characters, be it Malik or Sabrina.

So many loopholes are left unsettled and so many theories which were talked about previously were not solved!!! Flet like writer just wanted to get it over with!
there was no logic behind such a senseless end and I guess the writer just totally ruined this book for everyone and it’s fandom by writing such a fazool end, I just cannot recommend this book to anyone anymore. I am just so unhinged. Just a waste of my time & energy

Also, if this book was about Femicide, why did the writer feel the urge to educate us readers about it? Because it’s not like we are not aware of the issue of femicide and all the cases that are going around in our surroundings? We are well aware of it because this is not 90s where people are unaware of their country’s affairs. We know stuff too well because of social media and we can’t do much about it except just condemning it & protesting about it, right?? The power is in the hands of authorities and therefore it is in their hands to do something about femicide!!! it’s not in the hands of readers!! And then tge writer didn’t even give some logic , some solution to the problem! Was just writing a story about it enough?? And why did the writer had to write some 2000+ pages long novel to educate us about a last minute theme of this book!!!???
She could have just wrote a small novel about this theme and that’d been fine. But this is just maddening

[مومنہ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading the last episode, and I am not sure, but my thoughts may change after processing it completely; as of now, these are my thoughts for this novel.

نمرہ نے ایپیسوڈ اتنا گیپ کر کر کے دیے اس لئے یا پتا نہیں کسی اور وجہ سے مجھے کسی بھی کردار سے کوئی اٹیچمینٹ فیل نہیں ہوئی، سچ میں۔آخر میں ہر کردار کے ساتھ جو کچھ بھی ہو رہا تھا مجھے کچھ محسوس ہی نہیں ہوا یہاں تک کہ مجھے
مالا کے مرنے کا
بھی کوئی دکھ نہیں ہوا۔
اگر نمرہ اس ناول کی کوئی اور اینڈنگ کرتی تب بھی شاید میں اسے اتنے ہی ستارے دیتی یا اسکے بارے میں ایسا ہی فیل کرتی کیوں کہ مجھے ایسا لگ رہا کہ میں نمرہ کا ناول نا تو کسی سبق کے لئے پڑھ رہی تھی اور نا ہی کیریکٹرس کی ہیپی اینڈنگ کے لئے۔ مجھے کوئی فرق نا پڑتا اگر
مالا زیاد کو معاف کر کے اس کے پاس چلی جاتی یا کوئی تیسرا انسان آجاتا۔
میں بس اس لئے پڑھ رہی تھی کہ یہ نمرہ کا ناول تھا اور ان کے ناولز کی ایک زمانے میں بہت بڑی فین ہوا کرتی تھی (وہی زمانہ جب میں نی ان کی ایک کے بعد ایک تحاریر پڑھ ڈالی تھیں)۔
یہ تین ستارے نمرہ کی سگنیچر اسٹائل کے لئے دئے ہیں جس طرح وہ پہیلیوں میں اپنی کہانیاں لکھتی ہیں مزہ آتا ہے پڑھ کے۔ خاص کر شروع کے ایپیسوڈس اچھے تھے، ٹوسٹس سے بھرپور۔

دو باتیں میں (خود سے) کہوں گی ایک تو یہ کہ جو ہر ایپیسوڈ کے بعد سوچتی تھی کہ جیسے ہی یہ ناول مکمل ہوگا میں فوراً سے یا کچھ وقت کے بعد دوبارہ ضرور پڑھوں گی مجھے نہیں لگتا میرا ایسا خیال باقی رہ گیا ہے۔

دوسری بات یہ کہ پلیز مومنہ کوشش کرنا کہ کسی بھی آنگوئنگ ناول سے کمٹ نا کرو اور اگر وہ نمرہ کا ہو تو بلکل بھی نہیں کیوں وہ اپنے موڈ کے مطابق لکھتی ہیں پستے ہم ریڈرز ہیں۔


سب باتوں کی ایک بات، میں بس خوش ہوں کہ یہ ناول مکمل ہو گیا ہے

[Minalreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's just not focus on the last episode. Other than that it's a good 4 star book. Resided in this book for a year. So close to my heart

[Shabana Mukhtar]

I'm still reading it, as this is another episodic novel by Nemrah. So far, eight episodes have been released. You can read my reviews on these links:

0 Maala | Meet the Characters

1 Maala Episode 1 Review

2 Maala Episode 2 Review

3 Maala Episode 3 Review

4 Maala Episode 4 Review

5 Maala Episode 5 Review

6 Maala Episode 6 Review

7 Maala Episode 7 Review

8 Maala Episode 8 Review

[Areeqa Noor · Rating 2 out of 5]

"مالا میری نظر میں "

ناول "مالا" کی ابتدا بہت متاثر کن تھی۔ نمرہ احمد نے وہ موضوعات چنے جن پر ہمارے معاشرے میں بات کرنے کی اشد ضرورت ہے، جیسے بچپن کے ٹراما، جادو ٹونہ، ٹاکسک تعلقات، اور سب سے اہم طلاق کے مسائل۔

ناول کا پہلا حصہ بے حد عمدہ تھا، لیکن دوسرے حصے میں کہانی اپنے اصل راستے سے بھٹک گئی، اور یہ سماجی شعور پیدا کرنے والے ناول سے محبت کی یک طرفہ کہانی بن کر رہ گئی۔

کہانی میں تمام جذبات اور کوششیں ماہر کے کردار سے جڑی تھیں، جو آخر میں بھی یک طرفہ ہی رہیں۔ نگیندہ بیگم کی زندگی تک کہانی میں تھرل موجود تھا، لیکن اس کے بعد کہانی کی شدت کم ہوتی چلی گئی۔

عالیان کا کردار ایک بچگانہ سا کردار معلوم ہوتا ہے۔ اس نے جادو ٹونے کا استعمال ایک مضحکہ خیز اور غیرسنجیدہ انداز میں کیا، صرف ملک کو بیمار کرنے کے لیے۔ یہاں تک کہ اپنی ماں کو دھوکہ دے کر لوٹا۔ ایسا معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ وہ جادوگر بھی کسی غریب طبقے سے تھا، جس کی طاقتیں بھی محدود تھیں۔

کہانی کے آخری حصے کی بات کریں تو وہ جذبات سے خالی محسوس ہوتا ہے۔ مالا کی موت کا منظر دل کو چھونے میں ناکام رہا، اور ماہر کا رویہ بھی جذباتی گہرائی سے عاری اور میکانیکی تھا۔ کہانی میں ان لمحات کے دوران کوئی جذباتی پہلو یا ربط پیدا نہیں ہوا، جو قاری کو متاثر کرتا۔

اگر نمرہ، ماہر کے کردار کو مالا کی موت کے بعد اس کے بیٹے "بدار" کے ساتھ جذباتی رشتے کو اجاگر کرتیں، تو کہانی میں مزید گہرائی پیدا ہو سکتی تھی۔

اریقہ نور

[Khadija · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was that ending no like seriously? We didnot read it for 3 years for an ending like that but anyways it was nemrah ahmeds baby so her choiceee for time being im gonna rely on fan made endings to stop going insane. Best novel (not the endin) in regards to so many senstive topics it touched. Black magic heart break love family therapy healing tawakkal when it comes to magic, abusive marriage, single motherhood and everything was soo so beautifully covered. The absolute queen mala turned out to be after every tragedy. I love love the family dynamics in her novels they literally hit home. Except the ending i will forever gonna cherish this novel every episode left us on cliffhanger. I am so furious how bad and abrupt the ending was but NA has all my respect. Her novels are a breath of fresh air in urdu fiction with a totally new topic everytime which leaves you in awe while other novels i try to read are cringe ah. The novel had to end in some way and her novels specially are never in the way we want.

[Esha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was supposed to be a healing one(according to NA on the introductory page)lekin Bhai kider Hai healing?choona Hai Sara trauma pay trauma Diya ja raha Hai. maala nay Jo b face Kiya apni choices Ki wajha sy kiya lekin mahir Kay sath ghalat hua Hai Khair mere khayal sy mala Ki death justified Hai(hate me) par agar maala na Marti Tu yahi show hota zyad badal Gaya us nay Usay maaf Kar Diya Hai phir tu woh Sara main storyline kay khilaf ho Jata .Overall story bohat achi thi, par nemrah Ahmed ka koi b ongoing novel nai Shuru Karna chahiye bohat khawari bardash karni parrti Hai aur end pay milta Kya Hai is tarha Ki gandi ending

[. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ep 1-16 3/5
But as a whole 2/5
دیکھیے رائیٹر کی کوئی غلطی نہیں ہے
When she said it was a healing novel she meant you'll need healing AFTER reading the novel.
What kind of sadism prompts writers to write characters only to make them suffer throughout the entirety of the book?
And what kind of healing requires the villains to always get their way? Until the very end all of the villains kept winning. Sure, if you go into depths of matters you can say they were punished in their own way but were they really? Now, before the writer claims it to be "realistic", Ziyad wasn't even mildly punished for his crimes- and he died on his own terms (he literally achieved everything he wanted with little to no consequences). Zara? What was her repercussion? None. Similar theme with all the other antagonists. There was no true justice
The repetition of tropes was really off-putting, the whole book could have been concluded within 16-18 episodes at most. She really lost track of it after disclosing the main plot.
The characters? I don't even know where to start. Every single character tried their best to be as annoying as possible. Mala is literally the epitome of a narcissistic and egoistic person. She has the mindset that she's rarely wrong, and even if she sometimes agrees upon her mistakes she still stubbornly stands by them. "مجھے افسوس ہے لیکن مجھے کوئی پچھتاوا نہیں"
Really? Are you so proud and stubborn that you cannot accept that your own choices led to your downfall? You agree that it was wrong but you still stick by them because you cannot accept that outcome could've been different if you'd listened to anyone around you. Sure, the circumstances shaped you to be the person you are today but you can just accept the fact that you could've avoided so much misery if only you hadn't been so stuck in your own perspectives. She's literally so toxic for mahir and everyone around her "سب کو ان کے حصے کا سچ جاننے کا حق ہے" and the proceeds to continuously lie and hide truth from mahir that could've helped solving the problems sooner instead of stretching it across hundreds of pages (but someone's gotta make bank eh?)
She's literally so self centered. She's so rigid in her perspectives, is continually using and manipulating mahir's feelings and then self righteously has the audacity to call him a manipulator (at least he did not lie and deny like miss oh so righteous). I can write essays about how flawed her character was but she's not worth my time smh (any more time I mean)
Mahir's whole personality was to suffer and suffer and then suffer some more. He spent the whole novel cleaning up after other people's shit and what did he get in the end? Oh yes! HEALING- which is basically him now having to live with the loss of the love of his life and still cleaning up after her shit and dedicating the rest of his miserable existence looking after her clearly autistic son (which again, miss perfectionist mala couldn't accept because well how could her son be autistic right? AJEEB)
No really, what healing? Till the very last page he got zero closure for any of the tragedies he faced. Idk what exactly Nimrah wanted to portray by putting him through so much misery.
All the characters became so infuriating by the end that I just wanted to be done with the book. Normally characters go through character development but it was the opposite in this case, all the characters started losing the plot (just like the writer herself). Even mahir, who was painted as the fearless and brave and strong character literally turned into a meek kitten by the last episode.
If I spent 3 years reading this book and it ended like this I would literally sue the writer for scamming me in the name of healing but oh well I'm glad I didn't waste my years on this.
Writing tragic characters is one thing but then painting the whole tragedy as a "healing journey" is very duplicitous of the writer.
I have so much more to say but I'd rather end this "healing" (choona) journey on the note that the book had so much potential and could've been one of the best in my list but it failed to reach its potential. But all in all, even with its flaws I had fun reading it (well most of it really). There were some things that really touched my heart, especially mala's relationship with her mother and how she coped with her loss. The black magic factor was also very intriguing.
If I had to pick a favourite character it would be mahir, even with all his flaws, he was real with his people. No matter how many times he was let down he never gave up on people. He tried till the very end to fix everything for everyone but in the end he could not fix himself (I'd like to pretend that he does eventually learn to live with all his grief and there is indeed some "healing" and peace written for him not too long after this (horrendous) ending. I'd like to think that he slowly learns how to live for himself. He grows to love himself in the mirror as he did in those green eyes. His purple gets lighter with time and eventually lavender stops being a symbol of pain for him. Because he deserves it. He deserves his healing. The healing the writer failed to give him. One can hope right?)
Adiós (not so) dear characters, we shall never meet again but you'll always have a (teeny tiny) piece of my heart.

[fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was one of my favorite books before the last chapter came out.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

ONever thought I'd be writing it, but here we are.... maala was a hooking book despite being dragged and sometimes abrupt, but it kept me going. Compared to the prior works of the author, this book wasn't something out of the blue or extraordinary as we were expecting, but she had casted the usual gripping spell, so I had to... often, the book would take turns that visibly disappointed me, but it was bound to happen since it was a different work of the author with numerous themes being run together, each with its own significance.

I am looking forward to a satisfactory end, but the effervescence of the storyline has significantly died down, so the hopes ain't soaring high.

Author had already highlighted how we will be disappointed and may not be even happy with many parts of the story since it is synonymous to the real life and real life IS disappointing, it is hurtful and miseriful, it wounds you and leaves you desperate and alone with struggles which push you in a hollow pit, sometimes leaving you gasping for breath in the hopes of navigating through the unending abyss and sometimes you aren't able to get out of that pit at all, but it is because perhaps fate isn't lucky or you simply refuse to weave that fate.

Coming towards the story, it revolves around black magic and how devastating it is, the lasting effects and how it tears you limb to limb until it blinds you and leaves you bleeding to the sorrowful gashes which will forever scar your soul, however it also guides you through how you can prevent it or overcome it, the power of faith and how regression of fear rekindles the spell, fear is the root and that abyss stems from it.

To shed light on the main leads, they meet first with fake identity (the male lead) while the girl remains unaware of his identity and to be fair author played well into us thinking that his identity was real, atleast in my case since I'm a pretty short sighted person who will remain insanely blind until the plot twist and stats say not even guess in the first place lol, obviously contrary to public opinion as many of you are smart and saw it coming :) for the female lead--- blind, she was blind, she reeked of entitlement and prejudice over a man who allowed her because he loved her. She was under the black magic spell and so wasn't able to spot the clear red flags or adhere to the warnings of people around her regarding her potential spouse, who was an assassin, narcissist and a manipulator.... but how can anyone be so blind to everything, I mean everything but I guess I sometimes found myself in her and I clearly wasn't in her place so wasnt really able to understand her fears, to find out your selected bodyguard turned out to be with an entirely fake persona who breached your trust, fear of living alone as you near to 30, your mother passed away due to a growing tumor (a result of black magic), you married a man who was borderline physcotic, got physically and mentally abused, had to leave him and live with the mongering almost deathly fear of your ex husband coming behind you, to be his victim any minute, the fear of succumbing to his words, his actions AGAIN, finding you have to now raise your autistic child all alone, drown in the inferiority complex, fear of now going through the unending darkness all alone or maybe even lose yourself or your child during that, it claws you and blankets you and tries to smothers you, every other person feels unreliable who is coming after you....

but the male lead didn't suffer any less... he survived graphic the most terrifying effects of direct black magic, you live through fits, you don't even know who you are, you lose yourself, you plunge into the abyss of paranormal voices and faces who have completely clawed you and control you, manipulate you into hurting others while you don't even know what you did, your actions aren't done by you yet they are, you a successful man is now tethered to a dark pit, you scream and are submitted to a mental asylum, before that you find your mother leaving your father for a clearly devilish man, and your father who is surviving a deadly tumor passes away, you are lost and completely shattered, during those times your half sister is abducted, you attend therapy your life halts... but you eventually heal yourself with the help of others.... he healed himself by the input of yasmin, sabrina, hilal, and malik farid he didn't refuse their help or hesitated to take himself out of that dark alley while the female lead.....

I felt sorry for her to be honest, she was so wounded she thought taking help from others was weak, it was insulting to her which is clearly wrong, but what irked me more than ever that before all this despite being the strong independent lady she couldn't stand up for herself when zaheer betrayed her, she couldn't confront him, and she tread with the idea that every other person is unreliable---- this I understand... but still, you have absolutely no right to call another person a manipulator when he just tried to help you no matter how hurt you are.... her behaviour with mahir when she last met him was insufferable and humiliating to that man.... her traumas do not excuse her insulting behaviour to him.

And I detested at that point.... she never really loved him but somewhere she liked him.... halfway through the story I had lost all hope for both the main characters to be together, mahir deserves a well stable supporting woman who won't hurt him but somewhere I still want him to end up with maala... **guilty as charged** meanwhile maala **tsks** **tsks**

She should've excused for her previous behaviour to mahir, she wasn't completely healed even after four years and THE audacity to enter the door of the man whom you literally humiliated and rejected to the core to ask for help with pathetic entitlement just threw me off... mtlb??? Inspite of maala's blatant humiliation and entitlement i understood where she was coming from, how her past traumas made her the way she is, her strength is different to what we perceive as "strength" leaving an abusive relationship is not easy even if it was your choice, raising your child who cannot speak is also tough but she is doing it through and through and how hurt you have to be to scream at a man who loves you and humiliate him for the help he gave, she shouldve said sorry or compensated after those four years, yet some of her behaviour still remains inexcusable.

However, I liked their parts under the crimsy building. It was so vulnerable and just wholesome lol even after EVERYTHING, another thing.... she literally invited danger and plunged herself knowingly with ziyad to rescue hilal... like girl bffr!?? **crying** How can she even expect mahir to do everything while she just races with her ex-husband with the confidence that he won't kill you... I mean INSANITYY, I do not know what her mental state was, but she should've at least given slight hints to mahir bro like?? **deep breaths**...

nonetheless I still empathise with her, she should've killed the child (I'm not cruel I'm just stating the obvious since bringing him into the world was already with a risk) and she lost him, her fears were significantly lessend but they were there, I just hope that if the author decides for them to be together she atleast heals maala, I liked how some crucial themes were highlighted and I applaud maala for escaping her husband by throwing a shelf on him and all, kudos... there were plotholes and questions that were still unanswered...

precisely what kept me going was the miscommunication, which was so evident it frustrated me at some points. But moreover, looking forward to mahir and maala's story unfolding left me quite literally **hooked** and at times gasping because of an unexpected turn!

okay, for the male lead, I LOVEDDD him, third on my book boyfriends list... he is such a green flag and the DIMPLES?? EXCUSE MEEE he is an amalgamation of faris, çihan and a sprinkle of hashim, he loved the wrong girl but will continue to live up to it until his last breath. His nonchalancy and coldness blankets a deeper emotion and love and care for his brother, his uncle, hilal, and maala. I adored his banter with his brother and birbals frequent cues towards marriage while coping with humour. He just made everything better with his presence. Not to mention the moments of mahir with hilal, they were freakin adorable and wholesome when she first met him at his father's funeral dinner and tried to console him as a little six or seven year old... adorable! She was the sister he never had but also did, lol. Everything about him was chefs kiss, loved him, and the way he loved people closest to him. Plot twists definitely were shocking as I mentioned I'm a dumb girll wdym :,)

Aliyan being the next sarkar was something I may have expected or may not but it was a bit shocking lol, when he says "mala mahir fareed ki sab se khas mohabbat h" just sent me GAGGING and BLUSHINGG eeks!! I devoured the whole idea of **LOVERS TO ENEMIES** I do not particularly like the idea of mahir being badars stepfather but well maybe because I'm not used to it and the world is not seen with the rose coloured lens... overall was a gripping read but didn't feel like home the way I felt with namal, namal just took out the emotions and lay them side by side eheh...

I am definitely looking forward to the remaining episodes and, at least, if possible, want it to be an open ending if not a happy one since it is more on the practical side... but I **want** mahir and maala to end up together despite everything like EVER-Y THlNG!! but fingers crossed, yikes.

edit- (why did l yap so much GOSH lmao) nontheless l finished it and l loved it, the end was absurd and l hated it and my heart bleeds for mahir :( mala deserved so much better, end was slightly dissapointing but I guess because of the journey it is now so deeply engraved in my memory therefore l cannot get over them despite all the drawbacks

[Ibby Ham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about Maala was that it was written in Urdu. There were so many words and so little action. I read each page in anticipation but eventually got bored and did not finish. Maybe if it had been a weekly chapter release, the suspense would have been worth it. I loved that it was written in Urdu and felt a sense of connection to the language while reading some parts out loud and looking up words in the dictionary. Thanks, Nemrah

[Abdul Karim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Its official now, people who thinks that Nemrah Ahmed novels are mediocre, have high intelligence. Nemrah fans are the most stupid people. This is what happens when yo give hype to risala-magzine authors and they think they have become a writer!

[Zahra Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely awesome . Shock I got at Kaif identity Oh My God. Obsessed. Beerbal is fav coz He is humorous.

[Mazia Qadri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not have the patience to finish part 2 of maala. I had my reservations with the novel and therefore, i decided to call my cousin and ask him to tell me everything about the book (i made him tell me EVERYTHING at freaking 2 am). Do I regret it? Not necessarily. This book made sense towards the end. Maala’s death signifies the bleak reality of violence against women. In most cases, this is how it ends especially if your ex is a ‘psychopathic assassin’.

why i liked this book
- Maala’s character was unique. She wasn’t a damsel in distress who needed to be rescued.
- Despite being educated and independent she made the very realistic choice of choosing the wrong man (which btw is the man’s fault. why tf are so many terrible men living among us??????!!!!!!! 🙄 )
- She is courageous enough to leave the toxic relationship behind.
- This book shifts blame by offering a new perspective. It is a commonly held view that if a woman is educated, independent and has support but finds herself in a toxic relationship, it is HER fault for being abused in the first place. This book offers a different perspective, a perspective that (maybe) only victims can understand but it is a good attempt nonetheless to try conveying it to the society which finds it easy to point fingers at the woman. ‘Why didn’t she leave?’ START ASKING WHY COULDNT HE TREAT HER LIKE A HUMAN (ajeeb i hate men)

why i lost patience with this book
- The characters all downgraded. Their image was built completely different in the first part and it somehow changed completely (in a v bad way). I always found Mahi insufferable but she was even more annoying in this book. And how did moeed go from being a protective caring brother to selling his sisters’ shares to pay for his destination wedding (an extravagant affair carefully planned over the years but his family never got to know until a few days before the wedding?)
- Overall I found this magic a little too annoying and at times nonsensical. Why are these characters so easily susceptible to magic? Because they feel scared, depressed or anxious. So should we all stop being human? But idk thats a really long discussion and i am going off a tangent here.
- All the other ‘plot twists’ were extremely unnecessary. How did zyad NEVER get caught despite being a professional assassin for his mother (who btw pretended to be shareef but was actually a cult leader who would destroy and ruin people’s lives). How are these characters so easily living in the society and not once being suspected?!?!? Desi society main aesi cheezain nahi chup saktin we are all too nosey 😭🙏
- How can someone ‘forgive’ the other person for killing tons of people in cold blood and let them meet their child and stay in proximity goes beyond me. How is that realistic????


Maybe Part 2 should not have been that long. A lot of details were unnecessary and a lot of good characters went to waste. This book held so much potential and so much promise but could offer nothing more than repetition and regurgitation of some points that could have been written in an essay format. I read Nimrah Ahmed’s letter and I understand what message she wanted to convey. It is a commendable effort from her part, I just wish the story did not feel dragged on and characters wasted.

I really liked Part 1 and I was invested in the story maybe thats why i am so disappointed with it. However, it wasn’t a ‘bad book’ just something that could have been way more interesting and less thick. I don’t regret asking for spoilers for this book. And I don’t plan on reading the rest of the part.

P.S: i am too generous with the rating, it deserves 2 stars but i hate men so giving an extra star 🤭🥰