The Jasad Heir is an Egyptian-inspired political fantasy, and it's an incredibly solid debut. I went into it expecting certain tropes - enemies to lovers, forbidden/lost magic, hidden identities - and I think this book delivered these in a very satisfying way. I had a great time reading this book, and while I think there could be aspects of the book that could be improved upon (this is a debut, after all), I personally didn't find that the flaws took away from my enjoyment overall. Richelle Meade, Kristin Cashore, Ilona Andrews, Sabaa Tahir, Ava Reid, Vaishnavi Patel, S.A. Chakraborty, and Tasha Suri have all had a role in fostering my love of SFF and the limitless dimensions of the genre.

A lot of the magic and myth in The Jasad Heir features threads of those stories, as intertwined and twisted together in the book as they are in real life.The overall world-building was not as intense as I was expecting it to be. Really it is quite simple for what I initially considered a high fantasy. However, it was enough to keep me satisfied. There are Egyptian elements throughout the book, but it's not heavy-handed. It is subtle enough without some of the themes I have seen popping up in an array of Arabic-inspired fantasies lately. The lore behind the magic was so fascinating, and one of my favorite parts of the book. A fugitive queen strikes a bargain with her greatest enemy that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever in this unmissable Egyptian-inspired epic fantasy debut. Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic was outlawed. Its royal family murdered. At least, that’s what Sy A fugitive queen strikes a bargain with her greatest enemy that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever in this unmissable Egyptian-inspired epic fantasy debut. Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic was outlawed. Its royal family murdered. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe. The Heir of Jasad escaped the massacre, and she intends to stay hidden, especially from the armies of Nizahl that continue to hunt her people.

however, it's the setting and the cultural references that make this story special. The use of all the Egyptian lures and words made it all the better. I liked many aspects of The Jasad Heir, but I certainly struggled with the characterization of Sylvia. I never truly was able to like her as a person, let alone find her sympathetic, but I found her outright frustrating as the novel progressed. I grew irritated by her constant indecisiveness about what she owed her people as the Jasad heir. Though I think it’s truly an interesting concept the book presents about the role of an heir, it’s not executed very well. Author Hashem states in the author’s note at the end of the novel, “For the Jasad heir, I wanted to know what do you owe to a place and a people you’ve barely known, but without whom you wouldn’t exist?” The push and pull between Arin and Sylvia were so intriguing and I enjoyed how they were slowly revealed to be two sides of the same coin. Readers can expect a brutal and slightly feral main character navigating a complex world where magic, politics, and myth constantly collide.

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The world of The Jasad Heir is richly layered with much political strife and a history of bloodshed caused by the hand of the Nizahl armies across the four Kingdoms. Was there anything specific which initially sparked you to write about this? How important was it to you to show how history can be altered and much of the truth from all sides can be hidden?

Everything completely fell apart after that. The premise of this book revolves around competition/trials that the MC is FORCED into, which again was the premise and set up of the whole story and conflict, but was not actually done at all until the 70% mark. I’ll get more on that later. HAPPY RELEASE DAY! A fantastic book that I would give more stars if I could. Easily my favorite fantasy of the year so far!!! I had heard that this book has a "colonizer romance" and honestly it's what made me delay reading it for so long. I will say it's not as bad as you might think when you hear those words but I'm still super iffy on the romance as a whole. I think nationalities aside, they would make for a great enemies to lovers, but as I'm reading, I can't forget that Arin is the Heir of the kingdom that destroyed Jasad. I'm leaving my opinion on this romance open minded because I can see the potential for a great pairing but I need massive development from Arin (and Sylvia). I'll break this review down into three of the most important elements of any book: worldbuilding, plot, and characters.

Welcome to the Hive, Sara! Congratulations on your upcoming debut release, The Jasad Heir! How does it feel to know that in just a few days your book baby will be out there in the wild? A fugitive queen strikes a bargain with her greatest enemy that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever in this unmissable Egyptian-inspired epic fantasy debut.

However the glaring error behind the relationship is there’s nothing to indicate why she started softening towards him & vice versa. Not once does he indicate humanity for her people. He firmly blames them until the end. & given Sylvia hates that she’s queen, she lets this slide & ignores that aspect when she falls for him. The morality of their relationship is never questioned nor confronted by either of them & that was bizarre for me. 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? And Arin. Sigh. Arin. This book is an enemies-to-lovers slow burn. I usually don't like enemies-to-lovers, and the way it was handled in this book is the reason why. It never ceases to bother me how sometimes, enemies-to-lovers involves ignoring GLARING RED FLAGS in others because of lust and physical/sexual attraction. It's one thing if the "enemy" is a competitor or was rude in their childhood and went through some massive change. It's another if the "enemy" is manipulative and lowkey abusive and has MASSIVE anger issues. Sure, Arin and Sylvia supposedly realize how well they suit one another and start realizing they find comfort in each other, Sylvia feels safe and protected when she's with Arin, cold/stoic Arin falls for Sylvia's passion--which is cute and all. But are we just gonna forget that Arin threw a dagger at the heart of Sylvia's friend (who was an innocent female bystander!) in a fit of rage? Sylvia, my dear, run away. Then she messes up. Big time. Another Jasadi is uncovered in her village. When he is killed, she feels bad for him and privately (she thinks) recites the Jasadi funeral rites over his body. Unfortunately for her, the Nizahl heir, and head Jasadi hunter, Arin, overhears her. She is sure that she’s done for. But the cuffs hide her magic from him. Without proof of her magic, he won’t accuse her. Instead, he opts to keep her close while he unravels her secrets. He declares her the champion for Nizahl in a hunger games style competition between the countries. One day, I would stand trial before the spirits of my dead. One day, the bodies I never buried would call upon me to answer for my sins. One day, but not today.”A remarkable, razor-sharp debut that cuts straight to the heart."―Chelsea Abdullah, author of The Stardust Thief 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?