Summary: Fifteen-year-old Ashira just received the worst coming-of-age prophecy imaginable. After years dreaming of oceans, princes, and fairies, she expected to hear the words that would finally whisk her away from her ordinary desert village. Instead she hears, “you will live a life of no renown." Ready to choose her own fate, she discovers a djinni’s bottle and starts making wishes. When the djinni proves uncooperative and annoying, Ashira sets out to the great city of magicians to learn magic and free herself from an uneventful life as a potter's daughter. But there is another prophecy being whispered in the shadows. It is said that among the great magicians, there is a demon on the rise with the power to destroy the world. The djinni might be Ashira’s only chance to become someone important, or he just might be the very demon that triggered the dark prophecy. With the world on the brink of destruction, can Ashira fight her fate and stop the forces that threaten to upset the balance of the universe?
*minor spoilers*
Thoughts: I liked the lore of this book. The author took bits and pieces of different mythologies and created a new one. It was interesting and intriguing reading about the stone bearers, their gods they followed, and the traditions they had. It pushed me forward to find out more and more about the lore. The issue with combining different mythologies is that it got confusing or it didn't make any sense. Several times, I had to re-read to make sure I was understanding what was going on because I was lost. Also, the elves were strangely place. They didn't fit well with the story and the fact that they were this powerful source of magic and air-headed didn't make any sense whatsoever like how do you have all of this power but you're stupid? Just, how? Another thing I liked about this book was that every twist and every turn I didn't see coming. It was a fresh breath of air reading an unpredictable YA novel.
Now, I liked the story, I enjoyed the story but I didn't like the characters. Our main protagonist Ashira is your stereotypical "country bumpkin." She's gullible, dumb and a damsel in distress. She has no power of her own and rely's heavily on others. She swoons over princes and boys but she doesn't have the back-bone to say anything to them. She doesn't have the backbone to say anything period. For most of the book, I couldn't stand her. I was frustrated when people were clearly using her but she didn't say anything because she was too focused on keeping her new friends. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make new friends but when your new friend is dragging you into dangerous situations all the time, maybe you should question your friendship and maybe you should end it. When I'm reading a story with a female protagonist, the main thing I'm looking for is a strong lead. She wasn't a strong lead and it really bothered me. She couldn't stand up for herself and she couldn't save herself. She needed saving frequently and it was annoying.
The second female lead, Raven, wasn't any better. I guess she was supposed to come off as this headstrong character when in fact she was whiny, bitchy and selfish. She used people, manipulated their feelings and was overall disrespectful. She was so blinded by her infatuation with the prince that she couldn't see his faults and deception even though she was presented as street smart. At one point in the book, I think I was supposed to feel sympathetic yet she did all of these horrible things. Why should I feel sympathetic when she's no better than the villain?
The only character I was okay with was Jin because he had a tremendous amount of character development and the love between him and Ashira slowly developed over time. The very last thing I wanted to say is that the ending wasn't satisfying and nothing was really tied up nice and neat. I was actually looking for a second book because there were so many loose ends but sadly found out this is a stand alone. Ultimately, I gave this book a 3 out 5 stars because I enjoyed the story and it was a quick read but I despise the fact that there weren't any strong female leads.
Ratings: 3/5 stars
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