The Jasad Heir: The Egyptian-inspired enemies-to-lovers fantasy and Sunday Times bestseller

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The chapters are longer than they should be, usually beginning with a frustrated Sylvia and ending with a conversation between her and the love interest that's meant to liken the audience to the thought of them together, but I did not feel very likened. I did not like them together, and when their scenes started near the end of the chapter, I would groan. It dragged soooo badly. I'm sorry. I don't understand how we were constantly learning new things and yet I didn't care for any of it. I do not know how I was /this/ bored. Side note: I don't know why we've seen so many colonizer romances this year. Authors, y'all can write tension without this dynamic. Just make them from opposing kingdoms. Why does his kingdom have to be colonizing hers? And she’s surrounded by equally captivating characters. From Sefa and Marek who are incredible friends to Arin, who is both a formidable foe and an alluring siren. Even the guards have distinct and engaging personalities. I have to say that The Jasad Heir was a happy surprise that I couldn’t put down until I was done (who needs sleep? Not me!). The Jasad Heir is a perfect summer read I could write an extra piece of analysis about The Jasad Heir’s treatment of the devil’s bargain into which Arin traps Sylvia, Sylvia’s determination to claim most of her actions as her own unforced choices, the ethics of collaboration with (apparently) genocidal regimes, and the problems inherent in depicting the attraction between them with the history between their respective peoples, but to be honest with you, I found too many of Sylvia’s choices in the narrative beyond my understanding. I couldn’t do it with appropriate sympathy. Also the magic was not very well-explained. Nor were the politics. I wasn't even sure why the games were so important--what consequence would they have that would make the Nizahl Heir want to win it so desperately? It was never explained.

Your world also sees magic outlawed and the Jasadi who still possess powers persecuted. Was forbidden magic an element you had always planned to explore or did this develop as you began writing? Which aspects of your magic system or magical beings were inspired by Egyptian mythology? Sylvia herself is a survivor, and it's established early on that she does not have a lot of moral hangups when It comes to protecting herself and those she loves. She is not an "everyman" main character; but a woman plagued with a troubled past who is not afraid of using violenceThe worst part about the politics was the political history. Essentially there’s 4 main kingdoms including Jasad. But there’s technically a 5th military-ruled kingdom called Nizahl. Now why is a there this 5th kingdom? Because the 4 kingdoms decided they wanted to balance out their own powers to keep themselves accountable & funded/created a collective “independent military”. Now let’s use some common sense politics 101. If a bunch of kingdoms create an independent powerful army, what’s gonna happen? 😐 that army is gonna establish their own national identity & state & invade/conquer etc. which is EXACTLY how Nizahl was created aka the place that love interest rules over aka the place that invaded Jasad. Tell me that’s not the most absurd contradicting no common sense political history ever 😭 I was baffled. I actually liked Arin quite a bit more than Sylvia, even though we don’t get to read from his perspective very often. Despite his acclaim as a fearsome general, it’s clear that he also has a tortured past with more to it than what it seems. Even though he’s notorious for his battle prowess, strategic mind, and cold personality, he has very loyal followers and at least appears to want what is best for Sylvia, a member of the Jasad and a magic user, both things that he has sworn to kill. He also has what appears to be a very clear cut goal and purpose of his life until Sylvia comes along to make him question everything he knows. You can expect to meet scheming royals, chaotic Champions, beleaguered guardsmen, cranky chemists, and the friends Sylvia cares about (whether or not she’ll admit it). Developing two headstrong characters who navigate the world in such different ways, who see the other so clearly but can’t turn that same assessing gaze inward…their conflicts were often my favorite part of a chapter. A scene I particularly enjoyed writing is a gigantic spoiler, but it takes place toward the end of the book and involves Sylvia’s unbreakable determination to keeping her moth-eaten cloak dry.

Circumstances force a lost kingdom's uncrowned queen into a gambit of court intrigue in this Egypt-inspired debut.The politics were very messy but not layered. They’re typical which is not a bad thing. I did expect a little more complexity given this political set up is what I expect from YA. But even this was executed & explained very poorly. For instance, what kind of obligations are you owed to a people/culture that you were ripped away from at a young age — do you owe anything at all? At what point does survival outweigh any internalized responsibility you have to such groups of people? How far would you go to survive? How much of yourself would you cut away to survive?