Early Review – The Fire Wish (Jinni Wars, Book 1) by Amber Lough (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 22, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0385369763
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Jinni Wars series
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book from NetGalley to review. This book was a decent read with an interesting premise. At times the dialogue between characters was a bit awkward, but I found the story intriguing.

Najwa is a jinni training to fight in the endless war between jinni and humans. Zayele is a human Princess on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad, something she is determined not to follow through on. When Najwa comes to spy on Zayele, Zayele grabs her and makes a wish on her. Zayele wishes for Najwa to take her place in Baghdad while Zayele goes home. However things do not turn out how Zayele expects…Najwa is forced to take her place, but Zayele ends up being forced to take Najwa’s place as well. Both must play their parts well or else they will bring a lot of danger and trouble to those they love.

The book alternates every other chapter between Najwa’s and Zayele’s point of view.

There were some things I liked about the story. I really enjoyed the middle eastern setting and all of the middle eastern mythology woven into the story. I also enjoyed how the magic behind wishes worked. The premise is interesting and was fun to read about.

However, the story started out a bit slow and awkward. Lough did find her stride in the second half of the story and the book became much more engaging. I also thought a lot of the dialogue between characters came off as sounding kind of childish and awkward. Switching back and forth that frequently between characters also jarred me out of the story a bit.

I wasn’t a huge fan of either character either. They both did things that were outright stupid without really thinking them through. So, they mostly got what they deserved. I couldn’t help shaking my head thinking “stupid, stupid, stupid” throughout many parts of this book. The book ends at a decent spot and wrapped up the main part of the story for the book, while leaving a larger story thread to be wrapped up in future books.

Overall this was a quick read with an interesting premise. I enjoyed the middle eastern mythology. I did not enjoy the awkward dialogue and the characters who constantly made stupid decisions. I guess I would tentatively recommend if you like middle eastern settings. However, I probably won’t be reading future books in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge