Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco – Book Review

⭐⭐

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Synopsis from goodreads:

After selling her soul to become Queen of the Wicked, Emilia travels to the Seven Circles with the enigmatic Prince of Wrath, where she’s introduced to a seductive world of vice.

She vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her beloved sister, Vittoria… even if that means accepting the hand of the Prince of Pride, the king of demons.

The first rule in the court of the Wicked? Trust no one. With back-stabbing princes, luxurious palaces, mysterious party invitations, and conflicting clues about who really killed her twin, Emilia finds herself more alone than ever before. Can she even trust Wrath, her one-time ally in the mortal world… or is he keeping dangerous secrets about his true nature?

Emilia will be tested in every way as she seeks a series of magical objects that will unlock the clues of her past and the answers she craves…

I really enjoyed Kingdom of the Wicked so I was looking forward to reading the sequel but unfortunately I did not enjoy this book at all. It was a hot mess.

This book takes place just after the events of the first book and while the first book had an interesting plot that kept me reading one more chapter this book is mostly Emilia trying to be smart and scheming but not actually doing much at all. You could read the last couple chapters and move on to the third book and not miss anything of importance.

This book is also aimed at younger YA and yet it is not appropriate at all for them. There is romanticisation of sexual assault and violent behaviour. One scene where Wrath gets Emilia completely drunk to the point she can’t even feed herself so she unable to consent and then later tells her he was doing it to teach her how to protect herself. Later in the book, Emilia comments that some people like violent behaviours when it comes to romance and this is such a dangerous thing to normalise for young people. I honestly don’t know how this was all included in the book.

Emilia also annoyed me to no end in this book, she acted like she was being so smart and badass but she was not, she was just plain stupid and unable to work anything out that every single person around her already knew. But at least she did it with confidence, I guess. She repeatedly said the same thing again and again and yet all we see from her: no thoughts, head empty, only horny. I don’t have an issue with romance in general but this was just not it. It felt very toxic and Wrath withheld important information from her regarding who she is actually supposed to be marrying and it just felt ick.

Wrath was just as annoying and after him basically assaulting Emilia in the name of training her, I just did not like him at all after that. This wasn’t addressed at all in the book at any point and I really need these scenes to stop being shown in books aimed at young teens.

This book is also very romance heavy and the plot suffered because of it, in fact there was very little plot at all. We make zero progress throughout the whole book and then right at the end all the reveals happen together and in the span of the last two chapters which were also generally very obvious to everyone except Emilia.

The ending of this book was really underwhelming because there was so little plot and everything was so vague and just I was barely interested by the end because I was so irritated by having to get through a whole book to end on THAT ending when the ending of the first book suggested we would get a lot more information but we got very little.

I’m so disappointed because I actually enjoyed the first book and this book was a mess.

The Muslim Problem: Why We’re Wrong About Islam and Why It Matters by Tawseef Khan – ARC Review

Thank you to Atlantic Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review. I was tentatively looking forward to reading this but this book was such a disappointment.

⭐

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Why are Muslim men portrayed as inherently violent? Does the veil violate women’s rights? Is Islam stopping Muslims from integrating?

Across western societies, Muslims are more misunderstood than any other minority. But what does it mean to believe in Islam today, to have forged your beliefs and identity in the shadow of 9/11 and the War on Terror? Exploding stereotypes from both inside and outside the faith, The Muslim Problem shows that while we may think we know all about Islam we are often wrong about even the most basic facts.

The synopsis sounds like this would be a great read with a nuanced discussion however this was not what this book was. It started with talking about how Muslims celebrate Christmas and just got worse from there. It took me months to get through this book because I had to keep putting it down because it made me so mad.

The only decent thing in this book was discussing the political history which has led to the increase in Islamophobia and violence against Muslims. I actually liked how he wrote about this and truly the only good part of each chapter was this discussion. If you are going to read this book just read these parts.

I for the life of me cannot understand how he so easily insulted scholars and spoke about the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) and repeatedly stated that using common sense is enough to understand the Quran. It really isn’t because this is how people twist the words, they have no real education in any of this and go about deciding for themselves what the Quran says. He also didn’t speak to actual scholars regarding these issues, only speaking to activists isn’t enough. They have not dedicated years to understanding the Quran and the Prophet (pbuh) teachings. Especially as our first language is English we cannot truly understand the Quran unless we can read and understand Arabic which I don’t think a lot of us are. Honestly by the end of the book I was so incredibly mad about all the misinformation about Islam and the way the author dismissed and belittled over a thousand year of Islamic scholarship.

Starting the first chapter with the claim that Muslims integrate because they celebrate Christmas left me with a sense of dread as to what the rest of the book will hold because I shouldn’t have to celebrate another religions, religious festival to be considered as integrated into society. This is assimilation, the irony is that he actually discusses assimilation in a later chapter yet doesn’t see how this is also assimilation. Also saying that he laughed at scholars who have explained why we don’t celebrate Christmas, and called it inane remarks is not the progressive thinking that you think it is.

I completely lost all faith in this book when he started to say how hadith are unreliable and came after the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) saying that they were oppressive and unreliable. Truly I don’t know where he found this because the ones he specifically mentioned are known for their reliability and standing up for justice.

There was also an undertone that is incredibly problematic which was regarding “conservative Muslims” and how they were an issue. He even grouped Islamophobes and them together as if they are the same. Just because someone chooses to practice Islam in a way that you aren’t comfortable with that doesn’t make them wrong or bad. There are parts of Islam that aren’t completely compatible with the western culture and you know what that is okay. You can’t change or water down Islam and claim that this is the correct thing and look down on others. There was several instances of humble bragging that had me rolling my eyes too and I just…it’s safe to say that I did not enjoy this book, at all.

I am tired of books being published that have so much misinformation or written in a way that makes Islam palatable to non-Muslims because what is even the point of these books. If you are going to write about Islamic beliefs and integral parts of the faith then at least go speak to the actual scholars about it.

This book is called the Muslim problem and yet all it does is create more problems. People reading this will look at me and say why am I not celebrating Christmas and that I am not integrating. It’s awkward enough as it is to explain why I don’t want to take part in Christmas celebrations without other Muslims claiming it is absolutely fine. The fact that the reviews I’ve seen so far that praise this book is all from non-Muslims and the reviews from Muslims are all discussing the issues in this book and how it is not a great book to deal with these issues should tell you all you need to know about how reliable the information about Islam really is.

Books That Disappointed Me In 2019

There were several books that I was very excited about since hearing about them and I was very disappointed by them. There were also some very hyped books that while lots of others loved, I just didn’t and as I have a lot of thoughts on some of them, some probably unpopular opinions, I thought I would share what books I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would.

The kingdom by Jess Rothenberg – I think this book just wasn’t for me. I can’t quite explain why I didn’t enjoy it much.

Evermore by Sara Holland – I loved Everless and so I was so excited for this but it just wasn’t as good and left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.

We Are Blood and Thunder by Kesia Lupo – This felt like any other fantasy book and I got bored halfway through.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – I think it’s time to admit that Laini Taylor books are just not for me. I just can’t get on with her writing style even though the story itself was quite interesting.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – A really hyped book that while I enjoyed I didn’t love. My favourite part of the book was Silas. If there is a Silas book I would read that.

The Paper and Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie – Another book that I was excited about that after reading a few chapters I just knew it wasn’t for me.

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman – I loved the first two books and I was so excited about seeing how it would end but the story moved so slowly and not a lot happened until the very end so I wasn’t invested in the story by the time we got to the action and the plot moved forward.

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron – I am so sad I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I was so excited for it but it just took too long for the plot to move for me and I got bored. The magic system and the world was so great though!

Alex Rider: Secret Weapon by Anthony Horowitz – I love the Alex Rider books but the short stories just felt very off character for Alex at times and I just didn’t enjoy them as much.

Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa – I loved the first book so I was sad when I got bored halfway through this. I honestly can’t remember much of what happened in it.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – Look I have never been more upset over a book that has let me down. I waited for years for Nikolai book and this was not it! It felt like a Zoya book and while I adore her, I wanted more Nikolai. Also was not a fan of Nina’s story.

The Wicked King by Holly Black – I cannot get past the toxic relationship that is Jude and Carden.

The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee – Wow this book was problematic.

Once and Future by Rose Capetta & Cori McCarthy – I feel like I read a different version of this than everyone else because this book was problematic as hell and I haven’t seen anyone mention it! From the mass genocide of Arabs (and barely a paragraph of the character coming to terms with this) to the way Arabs were spoken about beforehand. I just can’t. The story itself was a mess too.

Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman – This book was boring and predicable as hell and problematic too. Why do people ignore the token diversity when the authors are white? I was thrown by some of the token diversity in Obsidio but this was…something else.

As you can tell I have been thinking about Once & Future and Aurora Rising since I read it and I have a lot of feelings about both of these books. I’m tired of the way that people of colour are portrayed in books and especially that no one says anything on the many stages of editing and beta reading and arcs and these authors just so happen to be white.

Anyways most of the books I read while there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with them just weren’t for me aside from the few problematic books I read this year.

Any books disappointed you this year?