Title: Mirage
Author: Somaiya Daud
Series: Mirage #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Science Fiction
Publisher: Flat Iron Books
Pub Date: August 28, 2018
Pages: 320
My Copy: ARC that I got at Book Expo America
Note: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, so you have been warned
Book Summary:
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.
But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.
As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death.
Book Review:
Amani is a young woman who thinks her life is going to go one way. She has a life that is very nice or as one could have thanks to her loving family and then things happen on a special occasion. It leads her into a life where nothing is ever easy and finds herself in a situation she can’t even imagine.
The Varthek forces come and abduct her from a party and take her to a place she never expects. She finds herself face to face with the Princess Maram. They both are looking at one another at first and realize that they could be twins. So this provides a solution for Maram and her problems. There are things that Amani has to learn. Also they make changes to Amani faces because she has marks and that this is part of the culture that she is from. It’s basically a form of disrespect to her that they have committed. We also learn that Maram is very cruel and mean. She also needs a body double because their have been several attempts made on her life.
This makes Amani a little bit nervous. Amani knows what this means. She will have to do whatever is necessary to survive. Failure means death in Amani’s eyes. There are things that she has to learn about Maram and court politics as well. Plus she has to learn Maram’s mannerisms, social circle. Basically Amani has to become Maram’s perfect duplicate. There are complications to this that neither of these two can predict and the complex relationships that these two will have and with others.
I really found all the interesting things that happen in this book and the different places that they go make the plot move forward. Idris is an interesting character, he is Marams finance, but there are things he learns about his past thru his markings and Amani tells him that they are from his ancestors, so that he wouldn’t forget where he came from or their struggles.
This is an important step for his character. He begins to change his view on things after talking to Amani.
There a lot of other situations that take place. Not to mention Maram has to visit various family members that she rather not see. Amani knows that she will go there. Things happen that lead Amani to take some rather dangerous risks and chances. Sometimes in order to be free you have to take those risks. Rebellion sometimes leads to happiness and freedom, but nothing is ever easy after talking to Maram’s grandmother.
So many crazy twists and turns happen near the end of this book that it is hard to know what is going to happen next. Then a betrayal happens in the eyes of Maram and lets say that Amani gets a very hard lesson that Maram may be even crueler than her father ever was. We get to know that it isn’t the end of Amani, but things will be even harder for her now that trust is gone between her and Maram. Maram’s right hand woman is truly evil and really the more dangerous one in my opinion.
Amani’s world can never be the same after she learns just how cruel the royalty really is and what is next for her, she doesn’t know. All she knows is that her life is literally in these sadistic people.
I am looking forward to the second book in this series.
Rating:
Four Hearts
