Book: Nura And The Immortal Palace
Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic
Publishing Date: July 5, 2022
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis:
Aru Shah and the End of Time meets Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away in this mesmerizing portal fantasy that takes readers into the little-known world of Jinn.
Nura longs for the simple pleasure of many things—to wear a beautiful red dupatta or to bite into a sweet gulab. But with her mom hard at work in a run-down sweatshop and three younger siblings to feed, Nura must spend her days earning money by mica mining. But it’s not just the extra rupees in her pocket Nura is after. Local rumor says there’s buried treasure in the mine, and Nura knows that finding it could change the course of her family’s life forever.
Her plan backfires when the mines collapse and four kids, including her best friend, Faisal, are claimed dead. Nura refuses to believe it and shovels her way through the dirt hoping to find him. Instead, she finds herself at the entrance to a strange world of purple skies and pink seas—a portal to the opulent realm of jinn, inhabited by the trickster creatures from her mother’s cautionary tales. Yet they aren’t nearly as treacherous as her mother made them out to be, because Nura is invited to a luxury jinn hotel, where she’s given everything she could ever imagine and more.
But there’s a dark truth lurking beneath all that glitter and gold, and when Nura crosses the owner’s son and is banished to the working quarters, she realizes she isn’t the only human who’s ended upin the hotel’s clutches. Faisal and the other missing children are there, too, and if Nura can’t find a way to help them all escape, they’ll be bound to work for the hotel forever.
My Review:
Give me all the books set in Pakistan or written by Pakistani authors!
➳ This book is about Nura who works hard to provide for her family even though she's just a child by mica mining. She longs to find the legendary Demon's Tongue to better her family's hard life. I'm gonna start with the culture and religion first. Absolutely loved the descriptions of the busy markets, mouthwatering food like gulab jamun, chicken nihaari and our beautiful dresses and culture etc. It was so delightful to see mentions of Islam and our faith so casually mentioned in the book and was very heartwarming.
➳ I loved the plot! A portal to a jinn world from a mine? Yes please! And I loved that creepy and extravagant world brimming with danger at every turn. Everything was so awesome from the buildings to the food and basically everything. Another thing I adored was the heavy emphasis on child labor and the greed of powerful rich people, many books do not mention these issues and my heart felt the people victim to these. I loved this aspect of the book the most.
➳ The characters were so wonderfully written and so amazing to read about especially about strong and fierce Nura who was so headstrong and ready to do anything for her family and dearest friend Faisal. And oh sweet Faisal was so smart, kind and cute!😍 I enjoyed reading about all the amazing characters!
Read this book if you love a determined MC, supportive friends and family, intriguing plotline and emphasis on important themes like child labor, greed etc.
Thank you so much Lonely Pages Book Tour for the opportunity of being on tour of this amazing tour! Below is a moodboard I made for this book😊
Moodboard:
Book Links:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound
About The Author:
M.T. Khan is a speculative fiction author with a penchant for all things myth, science, and philosophy. She focuses on stories that combine all three, dreaming of evocative worlds and dark possibilities. When she's not writing, she has her nose deep in physics textbooks or glued to her CAD computer as she majors in Mechanical Engineering. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, she currently resides in Toronto, Canada, with a hyperactive cat and an ever-increasing selection of tea. Nura and the Immortal Palace is her debut novel.