I'd give Spice Road between 3 and 4 stars.

I did enjoy the fast-paced plot, the writing style, and how atmospheric the book was, but I found the whole story a bit too long.

Spice Road is set in an Arabian inspired world with vivid imagery and mythical creatures including djinn, ghosts and giants!

In the book, characters are able to access their magical affinity by drinking tea and take part in a tea drinking ritual. The spices are a valuable commodity and a closely guarded secret but have clear limitations on their use which makes for an interesting magic system.

I like that the main character, Imani, is written as a strong and capable young woman in her own right although I would have liked this reflected more in the events of the plot rather than being told this was the case. Imani does go through some good character development though and demonstrates an awareness of her flaws and actively strives to work on them to mixed results. It’s this part of Imani that feels the most the real.

The other characters are a bit of a mixed bag, I enjoyed Qaid and the sibling relationship between Imani and her brother and sister but her travel companions are far from likeable. Taha, a rival and love interest of Imani, is particularly perplexing. He continually blows hot and cold in how he treats Imani, you get glimpses into his background and complexity but you never quite understand his motives. I really couldn’t understand what Imani was supposed to see in him.

This book does a good job of touching on important topics, including class systems, privilege and colonialism. I was glad to see these themes included and they made sense given the setting.

Overall I enjoyed Spice Road but it didn’t blow me away. I think it would appeal more to the younger end of young adult, the character’s dialogue didn’t always seem to match their ages. Having listened to this as an audiobook, it may have been how it was narrated that made me feel this way. That said, I did enjoy listening to the narrator and think they did a great job of distinguishing between characters.

Spice Road is a pretty strong debut though and I’m still invested enough that I want to see how the story develops so I probably will be reading the sequel!

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe this is the first book of this author! The world she created is both magical and exotic, and the story is full of adventures. The writing is so mature and beautiful, and listening to it read by narrator Krupa Pattani is an absolute pleasure. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for an Advance Review Copy.

Firstly thank you to netgalley for providing me both the E-arc and the audiobook for this novel! This was an amazing debut book from Maiya Ibrahim. The story follow Imani who uncovers that her missing brother may still be alive and must travel to bring him back home, she is accompanied by Qayn, a devilishly handsome djinn and Taha, a powerful and rather arrogant beastseer. This book was exceptional and has all the ingredients of an well executed fantasy; the world building is both intriguing and not overwhelming, the characters have a depth that is sustained throughout the story and the plot is incredibly interesting too! Imani was such a brilliant main character, I found myself empathising with her, her beliefs, her thoughts. She really embodied what it means to be a sister, especially bc of how important family is to her clearly. Qayn was also such a brilliant character, and I really grew to love him by the end of the book but the character that really tore at my heart was Taha. He was amazing, the juxtaposition of his personality, his strength, his beliefs. I was blown away honestly because he kept surprising me throughout the book. I’m so excited for book 2 which I most definitely will be buying because this has to be one of my favourite books this year! Furthermore, the audiobook was such a brilliant experience! The narrator was exceptional, using different voices for all the characters. Overall a very enjoyable read!

Thank you so much for letting listen to this audiobook early. I very much enjoyed the story. Even though I struggled a little in the beginning, by the time the protagonists started their journey I was with them for the adventure.

This book is outstandingly beautiful, the building of an Arabian inspired land is breathtaking.

Im a huge fan of a traveling trope and this book does traveling fantasy beautifully, mixed with a politically driven plot and rebel elements. The character arcs are complex, all relationships and friendships go through every emotion possible, they grow, develop and flourish within the story.
The epic journey to find Imani's brother is filled with adventure and excitement and I found it really well balanced.
The emotional turmoil these characters put me through is second to none, Taha is such a complex character to unravel, one who has an internal struggle with a turbulent past, conflicting emotions and loyalties, I enjoyed trying to suss him out the most.

This was a stunning narration, the pacing was perfect, each character voice was distinguishable. The voice acting adds to the suspense and emotion of the story and is well articulated.

If you love a romance that will take you from distain to resistance and beyond, narration that is soothing and easy to follow, adventure and rich world building, political driven plot, glorious characters that will put you through an emotional roller coster, travelling tropes, well thought out magic systems and a satisfying start to a series, you really need to pick up Spice Road.

I got a free copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own.

So I received both an e-arc and the audiobook arc.

I most likely wouldn't have finished this book if I didn't have the audiobook.
I liked the narrator, but that's also the only thing I liked about this book.
I didn't mind having this book in the background whilst doing daily things like cooking or cleaning.
But it didn't really pull me in, or make me want to continue with it.
The story was pretty meh to me.

Imani annoyed me with her naivety.
And we're told of how good and amazing she is, but we're never actually shown what she can do.

Taha was so annoying with his being all cold and mean towards Imani, then suddenly being all nice and flirting only to turn around and being a douchebag.

Her sister was annoying lol.

And I didn't really mind Kane.

The magic system, is not something I really understood. I felt like it wasn't fully explained, they just drink tea and suddenly have magic powers?
Or what did I miss lol
I didn't care for any of the characters, and I didn't care for the story at all.