Play Book Tag discussion

This is a tale of two young girls - one a refugee with her sisters and mother in modern-day Syria, the other a girl in 12th century Syria who disguises herself as a boy and sets off on an adventure with a map-maker who is determined to create the most accurate map of the world. The parallel timelines don't intersect in the end, so the back-and-forth switching seems a little gimmicky, but the writing is well done.

Unfortunately my biggest problem with this book was that I was not in the mood for it. The horrors that the girls go through as refugees trying to escape a war-torn Syria, while not graphic, made the atmosphere dark and difficult for me to read without taking long breaks. I've read much worse, but it's the kind of book you have to be prepared to wade through, and I just wasn't - if I hadn't been reading this for the Horizons challenge I would probably have dropped it and waited till I was more in the mood for it down the line.

While I never had a problem with any of the characters, for some reason I never really connected with them either. The protagonist Nour was fascinating with her synesthesia, and her sister Zahra grew from an annoying older sister to a caretaker determined to survive and protect young Nour. In the timeline of the past I enjoyed Rawiya's character very much, she is plucky and intelligent, and even her companions develop nicely in the end. But I wasn't too keen on the magical aspects of the roc and the snakes. They may have added some action to the story, but I would have preferred a more realistic and plausible plot.

Overall a well written story with beautiful language throughout which gets a solid 4 stars from me.