An Arabian-inspired adventure that stresses the importance of family.

Imani is the middle child who is good at what she does and always meticulously follows the rules. Her affinity for iron has served her well as a Shield, one of the warriors who protects the cities from the dangers outside in the sandy wastes. Her little sister Amira is great at not following those rules and getting herself in trouble ever since their big brother Atheer disappeared. One dat Amira gets into trouble when she was out and Atheer's old horse goes running off. Imani has to jump in to help her sister once again, but this time, they find some hidden secrets out in the sands and a djinni, Qayn, who knew of their brother. This little escapade leads to some interesting developments and sets them on a whole new adventure with her biggest rival, Taha, accompanying her.

Maiya Ibrahim creates a great immersive world where the Arabian mythology really comes to live with its ghouls, djinn and other mythological creatures. There are glorious cities, ancient and abandoned cities and cities under siege by external forces and a whole lot of sand and danger to get through. The magic in this novel comes from drinking tea from a very special tree's bark. It has a lot to give as everyone who uses it has their own unique ability and within these different abilities there is also a lot of depth that will probably be explored even more throughout the next books.

It starts of feeling like a YA that is aimed towards the younger audience, but as the story progresses it becomes obvious that the world and the people in it can be very cruel and commit gruesome acts against one another. The main character, who initially comes across as naive, undergoes quite a bit of growth because of her being exposed to these new people and new surroundings which I thought was very well done. Also the growth that she goes through as a sister was beautiful to see, especially the way Imani's relationship evolved with her sister Amira and also how she gets to know the djinni during their journey.

As for Taha, there is still a lot to unpack I'm sure. His upbringing was everything but conventional and all for the sake of his family name getting more recognition. He still carries all of this around but it looks like there is more going on than just a tyrannical father. Who knows what this will bring for the rest of the trilogy and his place in it.

This book was engaging from start to finish with its fast pace and ever-evolving characters that keep exploring new settings. I'm looking forward to see where the story will take me next.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley.

<i>I received this ARC thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.</i>

<b><i>"We will fight, but first we will have tea."</i></b>
Approaching Spice Road, I was ready for just another 'life changing adventure with a desert setting', but I was pleasantly surprised on the original twist to it. I'm more of a coffee person myself, but I did appreciate innovative tea magic, chase after lost but not gone brother reminded me a lot of genshin impact plotline (which was good! Also the names were quite similar, so my mind kept making them appear as Aether and Lumine in my head xD). The tiny bit of romance we got gave me a lot of Rin&Nezha vibes from Poppy War, which is "I'll kill you daily but saying sorry so please forgive me" -- another great addition to the story. If I'd have to say, fans of which books would enjoy this story the most, I'd choose Prison Healer and Blood of Stars duology! So if you're fan of them, or any trope I've mentioned please do add Spice Road to your TBR! My only reason not giving this 5 star is that sometimes my brain would shut down, and I'd follow the story, knowing it's moving forward, but not understanding a bit what was happening at the moment. Considering this I'd shelf this "to reread after the official release" so I could dive into story more thoroughly, and enjoy it even more. All I can say is that it was really good opening to the further installments in this series, and I'll patiently wait to see what Maiya Ibrahim has more in store for us!
<b>"If the world is dark, and you are the only one with a flame, what do you do?"
"Share it."I answered."</b>

I first heard about Spice Road on Twitter, and was excited when I saw that Hodder & Stoughton would be publishing it in the UK.

Set in an Arabian inspired world, the magic system in Spice Road is interesting and unique. Imani is a stubborn main character, frustratingly so at times. However, it's a realistic portrayal of a teen, so this is more of an observation than a criticism. I loved her fierce loyalty to her siblings, and thought her sister was a well developed secondary character.

The romance between Imani and Taha is an enemies-to-maybe-more-to-enemies type situation. I didn't find it to be compelling and am more interested in the potential second love interest, Qayn. Imani is forced to bind Qayn -who is a djinni with a mysterious past- in order to find her brother.

The first in a planned trilogy there is a lot of travelling and set up in Spice Road. For me, this is a 3.5 leaning towards a 4 star read, I think that I will enjoy the sequel more now that the foundation has been set.

I liked the concept and was overjoyed when I received the ARC, but it didn't turn out as I expected; the writing is good, but I'm having trouble connecting with the characters. The Djinni serves no purpose, and their search for the main character's brother reveals more than it shows. When faced with monsters, the action scenes were cut short.

The MC is annoying, and her Djinni slayer title has nothing to do with her character development. She appears brave at first, but in the middle she is a girl who whines inexplicably. However, if you enjoy the 1001 Nights retelling, this book is not to be missed. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

With lush worldbuilding, lyrical prose, an intriguing magic-system and a compelling, Spice Road is probably one of the books I’m most excited to get a physical copy of, when it releases early next year. It contains themes of privilege, class, colonialism, the crushing weight of expectations and the things we do for those we love.

The thing that drew my attention towards this book at first has to be the magic-system. It’s probably one of my favorite aspects of the genre and definitely one of this book’s strongest aspects. The magic comes from tea, which gives the drinker certain abilities, but what kind of abilities differs. While I have seen a book or two doing something vaguely similar with the tea, I still found it to be unique and refreshing, and overall a nice fresh addition to the fantasy genre.

The pacing was a bit slow at first, but once the character’s reach a certain destination, I could definitely feel the pacing picking up and the simmering tension between certain characters reaches it’s peak and the ending certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’m eager to see where the story goes.

Overall a very solid debut and I’m very excited to see what else Maiya Ibrahim has in store for us.

This review will be up on my Instagram, @Kratist0, before the end of the month.

At first, this book really reminded me of Rebel of the Sands. Same kind of deserty world, the main character is called Imani instead of Amani, and she has an affinity for iron while Amani has been surrounded by iron her entire life and is an amazing shot. But to be fair, names can be similar and the iron theme is also present in many mythologies.
That's also were the similarities end. Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that Spice Road didn't compare to RotS.
The magic system wasn't very imaginative and the characters were quite cliché. The romance barely had any chemistry (even though I'm pretty sure that will change in the next part, considering the ending). Most parts of the book were quite predictable. The ending did have a couple of nice twists, but nothing really surprising.
The title Spice Road had let me think about a mysterious adventure in desert lands. I wanted to be swept away by hot winds, colourful silk shalws and oriental spices. Instead, I got a pretty run-of-the-mill standard fantasy with a bit of sand splattered in between.
Books like this one live of world building. Travelling through the desert? The characters could've just as well stayed at home. They talked. They got into trouble once or twice. But where were the gruelling descriptions of endless dunes, burning sun, freezing nights with jewelled skies and lush oases? Where are the descriptions? I barely had any oriental feeling. The only thing offering that were the djinni and we didn't get much of them. In fact, you could've exchanged Qayn with a snarky map for the longest part of the book. That's actually one thing that really disappointed me, that we didn't get more Qayn. He could've easily been the most interesting character out there. I'm sure he'll get more screen time over the next books, but I would've enjoyed this one more if he had showed up more.
Don't get me wrong - it was a nice book with a couple of pretty nice scenes, but considering my expectations, I was disappointed. And nice is only that - nothing special, nothing breathtaking, not even something especially memorable. Just nice.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder&Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

loved this book, great read. Arabian-inspired fantasy, perfect for fans of Saba Tahir. perfect worldbuilding, good plot, and the story kept me hooked throughout. it did start a bit slow though.

Lyrical writing meets a compelling storyline and a breath-taking world in this wonderful debut fantasy. SPICE ROAD is a lush meditation on colonialism, the weight of expectations, and the lengths we go for the people we love.

Mostly I requested it by its interesting premise: like the Arabian equivalent of A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON, magic can be ground down and brewed into tea, giving the drinker access to special abilities. I'm a big sucker for unique magic systems, after all! But what really shines from Ibrahim's debut is without a doubt the lyrical, lush writing style that glides seamlessly off the page. Not once is the prose too heavy or purple, as can be the case with writing styles like this one; here it beautifully balances with the story's dialogue and action.

The book starts slow as we are introduced to its cast, world and magic system. For the first half certainly, it begins like any other typical YA fantasy adventure. However, it really picks up about 75% in and subverted many of my expectations, touching upon colonialism, parental expectations, and privilege, so much so that I read the rest in one go.

I was pleasantly surprised and compelled by the ending especially, and the implications of how the story will progress from the crossroads Imani and co. find themselves in. However, I wasn't madly attached to anything: not the characters, not the world, not even the idea of impending sequels. This isn't a fault of the book, and I know other people will connect more with it than I did, but this wasn't my personal, excuse the pun, cup of tea.

If you enjoyed WE HUNT THE FLAME, A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON, or DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS, you'll like this high fantasy very much.

WILL I READ ON? Maybe.

Really fantastic worldbuilding, for starters - expansive and rich and magical, the author's lyrical writing style really lends itself to this beautiful world of Swallowing Sands and hidden kingdoms. It was very fascinating and I'm very excited to spend more time in this world as the series goes on. The characters also all felt very complex and real, even the side characters, which is unusual for a story where there are a lot of side characters! I enjoyed how our main character, Imani, had to face up to the fact that reality is not what she thought it was whilst going on this quest to find her missing brother. However, despite the characters feeling quite complex and real, I did not particularly like many of them, and I didn't like Imani especially. She is a stubborn, strong-willed, independent person, and while those are great traits for a main character, at times it just went too far and she was too unbending and too stubborn, to the point where it was a detriment to herself every other chapter. I am really excited to see where the story goes though, because there were so many storylines and plot points that I was desperate to find out where they were going!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Spice Road' by Maya Ibrahim.

'Spice Road' is a perfect book and I was clinging onto it for dear life. I'd say fans of Hafsah Faizal and Sabaa Tahir would adore this trilogy and get hooked instantly. Perfect pacing, perfect storytelling. My only qualm is that I was so ready for more but it finished. Well, I guess I gotta wait for book two.

DNF.
The immature prose and rushing into foolish adventures by dumb characters without a proper set up was too much to handle. However, do not let my review to deter you into giving it a chance :)

A vivid and imaginatively crafted story framed by themes of class, privilege and imperialism, although almost didactic in its content.

3.0/5

This book was an exciting, innovative and refreshing take on the YA magical/adventure fantasy. Spice Road is set in a beautifully imagined, Arabian-inspired world. As someone who has grown up reading largely Western-set fantasy, I found the rich desert setting of this book to be a breath of fresh air. The characters are all complex and wonderfully written, and I found myself rooting for Imani (the protagonist) from practically page one.

Spice Road will take you on an expansive journey across forgotten cities and ancient desert sands. With the help of mira, a tea that imbues its drinker with magical abilities, and a crafty djinni who will ultimately capture the reader's heart, our main character Imani undertakes the most spectacular expedition in search of her lost & presumed-dead brother. I hesitate to talk much more about the plot for fear of giving anything away, but just know that I found this book a difficult one to put down. If you love adventure-driven fantasy and long for a fresh take on magic, you'll love Spice Road.

Genuinely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. The character arcs were executed wonderfully, and my heart swelled when I came across terms I grew up hearing. I will never ever grow tired of reading west/south Asian books with Islamic undertones; it always reduces me to tears. 10/10 would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good story!

Spice Road doesn't come out till next year, but I finished it already lol. Going into this, I had no idea of how things would go, but on reading this I really enjoyed the story. Maiya Ibrahim's writing flows really well and the world she has created seems really fascinating. In the beginning of the book, the pacing is a little bit slow, but it really picks up pace and the second half of the book till the climax is full of action. The story just goes on and on and I love that. I also really loved all the characters in the book, from Imani to her sister Amira, to Taha. They were all equally complex. I felt Ibrahim has done a really fantastic job at building the side characters as well; like they're not flat, but well-rounded characters in their own way.

Of course, there's not much I can say about Spice Road because there's still a lot of time till it's release, but I am really excited for people to read it. It's such a good book, so definitely preorder this!