Mirage by Somaiya Daud Review
Hello lovelies!
Hope you're having a good week so far. I finally finished this ARC last night after some laziness on my part. It was definitely an interesting read and I hope you enjoy my thoughts below! Also, have a good weekend!
Mirage by Somaiya Daud
Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: August 28, 2018
Genre: YA Sci- Fi
Story Development: Underdeveloped
Romance: Underdeveloped
Protagonist Strength: Average
Re-readable? Yes
Received From: NetGalley
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon. But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place. As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death.
If you look at my shelves, you'll see that I'm not a huge fan of sci- fi. I tend to prefer fantasy but I do try to broaden my horizons from time to time and have actually fallen in love with a few sci- fi novels. That being said, I was drawn to this novel because of its synopsis and its reputation. It's had fairly good reviews and I like the idea of new technology and old traditions meeting in a story. I did enjoy this book more than I thought I would but had a couple grievances.
One of the biggest issues I had with this book were the issues with the plot development. Although the story starts out fine, it quickly becomes one dimensional and never really takes off. This is not helped by the size of the main and secondary cast which comprises of about 7 people, most of whom never receive any character development. All this causes the plot to be pretty predictable (there's only one male character in this book therefore he's the love interest, etc.) which was pretty disappointing.
Despite the small cast of characters, I was surprised by my almost constant confusion at who was who and where they were. It may have been the complexity of the names, but I think it was in part due to the underdevelopment of the plot. Alot of information is thrown at the reader and not explained very well. I felt like I needed a cheat sheet or at least a map.
Finally, I found that due to everything mentioned above, the romance was also underdeveloped. As I said above, there is only one male character under 30 years of age, and to my disappointment, he becomes the main character's love interest. What really disappoints me is the lack of originality. This romance seems so cookie cutter and predictable, I honestly think the story would have done fine without a romance at all.
Despite the weaknesses in the plot, the premise of the story was unique. I can only remember one book I read that had a similar plot. This is something pretty rare it seems lately in the YA fantasy realm. I do commend the author for her originality. I also think she did a good job of creating lore for her story's universe.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the basic premise of this book but it wasn't executed very well. I wish we had a bit more development to the plot, characters, and romance. Hopefully, there will be an improvement in the second novel which I assume will happen, due to the way things end. If you enjoy sci- fi that plays out more like fantasy, and middle eastern influences, give this book a try!
