As-Salaamu ‘Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh, everyone!
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I totally didn’t lock myself out of my account and lose my password on an old phone. Nope. That didn’t happen. That’d be dumb.
As the title says, today I’ve got two reviews and some news to share with you all. First things first, my review for a relatively unknown book I found back in early 2019 called The Broken Kingdom.
The Broken Kingdom is an Islamic fiction story written by H.G Hussein. I meant to review this book for a long while, but then well, something happened that definitely wasn’t me being locked out of my account, and yeah. Anyways, we’re here now, so let’s talk plot and review.
In the interest of not spoiling anything, I’ll keep it general. The book centers around a soldier and friend of the Sultan, Adam. The Sultan seems to be having a recurring dream about a floating city falling and basically being destroyed, and the dream is interpreted to mean that there is a city of people who may soon face their end unless the Sultan intervenes. Thus, he summons our hero, Adam, to investigate and the adventure begins.
Now, my feelings about this story are mixed. There are elements I like and there are areas I feel need some improvement. Before I begin even with the good, I do want to acknowledge that I was definitely not the target audience for this book and that may play into why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d wanted to. Through no fault on the author’s part, I had let myself believe before buying it that this was a YA novel, but alas, it was MG and that’s just not for me, but perhaps people in the age range would enjoy it.
With that said, let’s talk about some of the good. Number one, from what I recall, this was a clean, appropriate Islamic fiction story. There were no real red flags like bad language or adult situations, although there was something in the language that struck me as a little odd and uncomfortable with just certain titles in it. That’s just the Sultan being referred to as “Allah’s representative on Earth.” I mean, yeah as the leader of the Muslim empire in this story, it’s his duty to uphold the laws of Allah and ensure that shariah is applied, but I don’t know, was being the Khalifah enough of a title?
Anyways, as I was saying, the book is clean as far as language and content. There is violence, as it’s an action-adventure story, but nothing gory or overly gruesome is shown and it’s not glorified either. What I like is the presence of Islamic morals and values, though at times they do come off a bit… intrusive? Well, not intrusive, but like, direct and distracting. Some of the conduct and speaking is a little unbelievable, but then again, it’s fiction, idealized, and for children, so again, take these criticisms with a grain and a half of salt perhaps.
However, speaking of criticisms, I must say the writing made this a not-so-easy read, if I’m honest. Originally, I planned to DNF it. The first version I bought had some errors in editing that I couldn’t get past, but I reached out to the author -Alhamdulillah he was receptive- and after going over it again to make some changes, he was even kind enough to send me a revised copy. So JazakAllahu Khayran for that, brother if you’re seeing this.
The changes made were an improvement, and he did what he felt best. In being honest and fair, I must also point out that there were, unfortunately, some lingering issues. The formatting, some of the dialogue, and sometimes the writing, in general, can be a bit… jarring? I do feel like this self-published book could have done with some outside editing, but I also understand as a self-published author myself that it’s not easy or always affordable to get professional services.
For what it’s worth, the story is a decent read for young kids, eight to twelve. I’m not sure I’d see teenagers past fourteen getting too wrapped up in this, just because of some of the writing, but I could be wrong. No one else seemed to point out the language so… Actually, from other reviews I read everything was always positive and people mentioned their young sons, in particular, loving it. At the least, it would be a nice journey into a world where someone who looks or believes like our Muslim readers is the hero and as a bonus, isn’t tied into contemporary societal woes like Islamophobia and victimhood.
Muslims get to have adventures. Muslims get to save the day. Muslims get to cherish their faith, have love for their fellow believers, use wit, wisdom, and skills to be brave heroes, and I appreciate that.
For my rating, I actually won’t be assigning this story one. As I said earlier, I was not the target audience, and even as I try to put that aside, I feel unfair judging it from my perspective and standards then. So this is just one I’ll say check out if you have young kids interested in a clean Muslim adventure, but if you’re a young adult or older, the writing may just put you off. If you can get past that, there’s potential in here, and I do hope to see the author continue his works and In Shaa Allah improve and gain more success with his endeavors. I believe in what he’s aiming for and support him wholeheartedly.
Moving on, my next read was Once Upon An Eid, an anthology co-edited by S.K Ali and Aisha Saeed. I was very excited for this book, and Alhamdulillah, I was approved for a review copy by NetGalley. It’s even harder for me to avoid spoilers on this because I’m so tempted to go on and on about some of my favorites from the book.
That something like this would even be put together is a praiseworthy endeavor, and I hope to see something even more come of it in the future, In Shaa Allah.
The book contains 15 short stories all about Eid, told from multiple perspectives, different characters, different traditions, different important themes, different feels. Ultimately the main draw is the feel of Eid, both Eids, and what that means to different Muslims in different parts of the world. You really gain some insight into different cultures and customs, different families and it definitely will fill you with Eid feels.
“DiFfEreNt“
I can’t even describe to you the pleasure of seeing our joy, our Muslim joy, celebrated and shared so brilliantly through several well-written short stories. I regret to say that because I read only a review copy from NetGalley, most of the artwork was not available to me, but I’ve heard nothing but praise for it and there is a sample in the form of a graphic novel inclusion. How cool is that? Stories, poetry, and a comic, all about Eid.
And when I tell you some of these stories capture Eid, I mean you may very well feel like you’re waking up for Eid the next day yourself. They’re really packed with the holiday spirit. I’m trying really hard not to spoil some of them, so I’ll just list the top five stories that I loved the most and when you guys get your hands on this, you can rush to read them yourselves.
S.K Ali’s Do’nut Break Tradition. Even before reading, I knew I would like this one because of that name and my family’s own donut related tradition. So when I started reading the inspi- oops, no spoilers. Just read the book!
Ashley Franklin’s Creative Fixes. Another awesome and relatable story. Another must-read, Ma Shaa Allah.
Hanna Alkaf’s Taste, which absolutely made me hungry in the middle of my fast. Counting down the hours til iftar, wondering if I could run to the store and try my hand at making the delicious dish centered in this heartwrenching tale about- UGH NO SPOILERS. And also I know unfortunately almost none of the ingredients are available at my local markets, well except ginger, but I’d need ginger and galangal because they are NOT the same thing.
Jamilah Thompkins Bigelow’s Perfect. The name says it all.
Hena Khan’s The Feast Of The Sacrifice. Although the manner in which qurbani is handled really raised some eyebrows here because huh? I don’t want to spoil the story itself but yeah, something in this story, while I enjoyed it overall, was a little….. hm.
ANYWAYS, those are my top five picks for this anthology. If you’ve bought the book I’d love to hear which ones are your favorite stories and why. If you haven’t, are you planning to? Are you excited for it? Let me know in those comments down below!
And lastly, for my news. I was actually inspired by the Eid feels of this book to draft up something of my own.
Perhaps as much or even more so than stories themselves, I really liked what this book represents, what it can mean for readers, particularly Muslim readers who will get to see their holidays, their beliefs and cultures and customs and perhaps their experiences written out on paper and presented as a norm. Their words and languages spoken to life, as they would live them. Their excitement and hope and joy out for their eyes and those of their peers and indeed, the world at large, to see and appreciate. To get to know us on OUR terms.
I love that.
Now the stories are all MG (something I didn’t expect before going in but I got used to it), so in keeping with that, my short will be too. I’ve already written it and In Shaa Allah I’ll be posting it Eid weekend, so I hope you’ll all be around for that. I’m excited to share it with you, but alas, no spoilers until then.
With all of that said, thank you so much for tuning in, I hope you enjoyed the reviews, links for both books down below. Buy them if you’d like to support some Muslim authors and get some nice Eid gifts. You can follow authors like S.K Ali and Aisha Saeed over on Twitter (follow me too, yeah?) and H.G Hussein is on Instagram (as am I). Come back soon for more reviews and more Muslim/Islamic fiction related content, In Shaa Allah. Thank you, and I’ll see you soon!
As-Salaamu ‘Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
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