Elle (ellexamines)'s Reviews > Mirage

Somaiya Daud didn’t have to come for us like this..... she’s like “here take this amazing multidimensional narrative about colonization and agency and internalized hatred for one’s culture, driven by a fantastic lady lead and her complex relationship with a fantastic lady antivillain, featuring fantastic setting descriptions and a really good romance, and also I write like a Pulitzer Prize winner and this is my debut” and im just. out here eating a bag of chips

I know I just gave you a really long recommendation for this book, but seriously - let’s talk about this book.

Amani lives on a planet that has been conquered by the white Vathek, who have attempted to homogenize her homeland into something resembling their world - and when they can’t, brutally repressed those they can’t change. And here is where Mirage does something quite brilliant. Instead of simply focusing on Amani’s narrative, her kidnapping, and villainizing those around her, this book chooses to focus on how the Vath rule has fucked over everyone around her.

Imperial prince Idris has grown up without his language, Kushaila, being taught to forget and to push himself into a narrative he will never be accepted within. And Imperial princess Maram, both Vathek and Kushaila, has attempted to mold herself into exactly what her cruel father wants in an attempt to gain his acceptance. For this, she is hated by her own people, trapped in a narrative that is not her own.

And meanwhile, Amani is trapped in a situation where she is forced to play-act and do whatever she is told. But she never stops fighting to win back her own agency in a world that is desperate for her to have none.

The point here is that I am absolutely totally in love with the meta-narrative here about colonization.

I am not Moroccan and don’t have the specific cultural knowledge of how this book plays into the history of Morocco, but I would like you all to read this amazing explanation of how this book mirrors actual history by my best friend Chaima. And the setting really truly does take you there.

The relationship between Amani and Maram is one of the best dynamics of the book. I feel like we’re often very low on amazing female antiheroines and especially antivillains [basically, a villain who is redeemed / doesn’t always take up that role within the narrative] and it was so great to see that dynamic here.

And Amani has so much agency. Seriously, in a book that is about Amani’s loss of agency, it really amazed me how much space she is allowed to take up within the narrative. I love that she rebels. I love that she doesn’t lie down for Maram, even when she realizes she really does pity her. I love that she is aware of her feelings for Idris and yet careful and realistic about how she deals with them. She is such a sensible, well-written, well-developed lead, and I love her.

Listen, in general, this book is one of the most feminist things I have ever read. It’s essentially about an indigenous girl learning to rebel against oppression, and about her friendship with a fabulous biracial lady antivillain. I was in heaven.

And this might go without saying, but the writing and world… is gorgeous. It’s just so sensuous, and the setting is amazing, and I was so in the book. Lovely.

There are other elements within the book, like the family dynamic and the romance, that intrigued me as well, and I’m excited to see where they go in the future. And while the romance almost felt like it should have annoyed me, Amani is such a fantastic lead and Idris is so sympathetic that I wasn’t at all bothered.

This would be great for fans of sensuous, gorgeous, and theme-focused fantasy-adjacent space-opera. I have a good feeling this is going to be one of the best YA scifi duologies of our current time and I am so here for it.

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⭐Look out for my review of book two! (Which also apparently is going to be sapphic, I found this out today August 4th 2020 and I am now vibrating rapidly)