Fire Wish by Amber Lough [Review]

3.5 out of 5 Robots!

  

The Fire Wish by Amber Lough
Series: The Jinni Wars #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release: July 22, 2014
Hardcover:  320 Pages
Publisher: Random House Children's
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:

A jinni. A princess. And the wish that changes everything. . . . 

Najwa is a jinni, training to be a spy in the war against the humans. Zayele is a human on her way to marry a prince of Baghdad—which she’ll do anything to avoid. So she captures Najwa and makes a wish. With a rush of smoke and fire, they fall apart and re-form—as each other. A jinni and a human, trading lives. Both girls must play their parts among enemies who would kill them if the deception were ever discovered—enemies including the young men Najwa and Zayele are just discovering they might love.

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

First of all, I was super excited to read a book about Jinnis that takes place in Iraq.  Yay for non-Eurocentric fantasy!  And I'd say Fire Wish mostly delivered for me.  I do wish there had been more character development.  I couldn't really tell Najwa and Zayele apart.  It gets even more confusing when they switch places.  Because they basically switched places in my mind too.  And depending on your tolerance for insta-love, you might find the love interests (particular the Jinni one) to feel a little forced.  I also wish there was just a little more sense of place.  It is set in Iraq, but I never really felt transported there.  But I will say that it was definitely a fun and quick read.  It was just fast paced enough that I didn't really have time to think about the plot too much.  This is probably a good thing because there was something a little lacking from really taking it to the next level.  Probably a combination of too predictable, too little character development and too much insta-love. But at the same time, I pretty much tore through the book in an afternoon.  There is something kind of compelling about the story.  Overall, I think it was fun, fluffy read.  I do wish it was a little stronger, but seeing as this is the author's debut novel, I will be interested to see her grow more into her writing.