The Jasad Heir: A Book Review

My feelings after finishing this book can be boiled down to confusion and indifference. I was originally excited for this one—I love the hidden identity and enemies-to-lovers tropes, and I love fantasy worlds inspired by the Middle East/North Africa. However, there was so much confusing world building and info dumping in the first half that I struggled to really connect to the world and the plot. I couldn't distinguish the kingdoms from each other, and the politics were complicated and hard to understand. 

I do love Sylvia as a character though. She is crazy competent in fighting and staying secret, and I liked how her relationship with Arin unfolds. It's a huge slow burn with them learning to trust each other even though they should be sworn enemies. If I do decide to read the sequel, it will be for these characters.

I think if the plot moved quickly and was more exciting, I would have liked this book a lot more. But it was just too slow. The tension didn't build quickly enough, and the direction of the plot was very predictable. I'm sad we didn't get to the actual competition until about 70% of the way through. For me, there was too much subplot action and not enough focus on the main plot of the competition and politics.

This was a miss for me, but I can see this book doing well with the right audience. 

Writing Aesthetic/Style: 3
Plot/Movement: 2
Character Development: 4
Overall: 3

Thank you, Orbit Books, for the arc!

Trigger/Content Warnings: genocide, murder, gory descriptions, fighting violence, wounds, makeouts

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