IN SUMMARY: COURT OF LIONS' intricate court politics, machinations and manoeuvres slow the pace of what is otherwise a heady, decadent, sweeping read.

MY THOUGHTS:

For all the books I was looking forward to, I wasn't expecting to be underwhelmed by this one.

Usually I love all the political movements and subterfuge that make novels (like in the prequel to this, MIRAGE), but this time I found it so slooooow. I could never find myself wanting to read. We're introduced to a whole host of houses and new characters that I ended up confusing with one another even as they were shown for the first time on page.

The only new one to stand out was the falconer Aghraas, and wow, I loved her. Small as a part she played, her appearance was tantalising from the start, and I found myself really rooting for her by the end. She balanced off Maram well; she, who hides her vulnerability behind a veneer of strength to the pure radiance that is Aghraas. They worked brilliantly well together. This is not to forget my favourite Maram, whom I loved in MIRAGE and continued to love here, and I particularly enjoyed the direction of her development in COURT OF LIONS and her sisterly relationship with Amani.

The villain is also another let-down of COURT OF LIONS, because frankly, he never appears in person until the end, and the resolution to the entire story's conflict is over without much sacrifice. It was pretty underwhelming considering the supposed might of the Vathek empire; you'd think they'd have put up more of a fight.

That said, this is a wonderful soft sci-fi, beautifully steeped in Moroccan culture, with a focus on the strength of friendship, empathy, and a righteous heart.

(And also, an AMAZING cover!)

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? Yes!

Straight up didn't realize this was a sequel! Whoops. After reading a bunch of shaky summaries of the first book I dove cautiously into this and ended up enjoying it! Dynamic women and court intrigue are story elements that consistently grow on me.

Court of Lions is the second book in the Mirage duology. I read Mirage back in January, and for the most part I enjoyed it! My only real complaint was that both core relationships in the book, those being the romance between Amani and Idris and the friendship between Amani and Maram, needed more fleshing out and more time to grow. They both went from A to B without showing enough of the journey for them to be convincing. That book could’ve easily had a couple more chapters, and I think it would’ve been a lot better for it.

Court of Lions has a related problem, except this time around it’s not the core relationships that needed more time, but the plot. I think that this duology should’ve been a trilogy.

I liked the bulk of this book! It was slow paced and character driven, with a focus on political maneuvering and the slow formation of a rebel plot, and I enjoyed my time reading it immensely. And something that I really liked was that the book didn’t end immediately after the climax, instead continuing on to show how things had changed and tying up some loose ends. I also especially enjoyed Maram’s development. Her struggle between her responsibilities, her cultures, her family, and her sexuality, was really interesting to me, and by the end of the book I was saying out loud that I loved her as I read. I’m probably going to be thinking about her for a long time.

Also, I really love it when characters who are friends fake date and stay friends. For all intents and purposes, Maram and Idris are fake dating for most of this book and through the first book. They do not fall in love with each other. Maram is a lesbian, and Idris likes Amani. This spin on the fake dating trope doesn’t get used very much and I really really enjoy it when I see it!

My main issue is with the climax itself. I hadn’t checked before reading whether this was a duology or a trilogy, but all of this book up to the climax had set things up to be a trilogy. I was convinced there was going to be another book after this one. But no, everything gets wrapped up here, and all a little too easily if you ask me. It honestly feels like Daud had planned a trilogy but had then been told that she needed to wrap things up in this one at the last minute. It’s a shame, because the rest of it is brilliant!

So, basically, my only issues with this series is that I think there should be more of it. As far as possible issues go, that’s one of the best ones to have. This series is definitely worth picking up!

Court of Lions takes place a few weeks after the events of the first book and revolves around Amani and various different characters setting up for a rebellion.

Similar to the first book I liked the main characters and their relationship and also the additional side characters that get introduced in the book. The book also includes chapters from Maram’s perspective which primarily focused on her relationship, the romance was instant love which I do not like and even though we have these chapters, I wanted to know more about the relationship and her feelings. Although from the perspective of Amani there was a focus on Maram's feelings towards becoming Queen but what is the point of having POV chapters from Maram and telling us very little about her. I did enjoy the basic plotline which included various journeys and new settings with the characters trying to form alliances for the rebellion.

However, I did not like the structure of the plot, everything happens so easily and there is no big conflict in the book. There is so much time spent building up the rebellion and all these meetings/interactions between characters but when it happens there is hardly anything to it and it is over quickly. This was something I saw a lot of throughout the book, most of the issues that arise are solved quickly and so there is no sense of conflict in the book. This was also why I did not really like the ending, everything was just too perfect.

2/5

A fantastic ending to a story, I loved the way it concluded and very much how it was women looking after women. There was a lovely human aspect entwined with mythology and folklore. I would love to see more in this world, maybe a prequel!

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a wholesome story.

I liked Mirage well enough but it didn't work amazingly for me. I liked it enough to want to read the sequel though. And I feel pretty much the same reading this.

I could go into what didn't work for me but it's really just a matter of personal preference. And this duology (at least I'm pretty sure it's a duology) does have some really great things going for it. So please don't let me stop you from reading it if it sounds good to you!

This second book revolved a lot around Maram, and very honestly, she wasn't that interesting of a character to me. So that's probably why I didn't love this book.

I pretty much felt like I was zoning in and out because some passages were really engaging to me, and then others were less so. The beginning and ending were both really strong, but I felt like it fizzled a little in the middle.