# 2
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Release Date: February 7, 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic
These Infinite Threads, by author Tahereh Mafi, is the second installment in the authors This Woven Kingdom series. This story alternate's between Kamran and Alizeh. It picks up right where This Woven Kingdom left off with a wild cliffhanger ending. The series was inspired in great part by the epic poem Shahnameh, one of the greatest literary masterpieces in Persian history and culture. Alizeh is a Jinn with extraordinary powers that she’s forced to conceal
to survive in a world controlled by humans.
She can fight off any threat
that comes her way all on her own—even a team of six men sent to
execute her. Though the Jinn no longer have an official leader, she’s
the heir to the throne and is destined to lead her people out of hiding
and back into power. Kamran has been hardened by war and by loss. Only Alizeh can bring out
his softer, more tender side, and he’d do anything to protect her—even
risking his life and defying his grandfather, the king.
With the heat of a kiss, the walls between
Alizeh, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and Kamran, the
crown prince of the Ardunian empire, have crumbled. And so have both of
their lives. Kamran’s grandfather, the king of Ardunia, lays
dead, the terrible secret of his deal with the devil exposed to the
world. Cyrus, the mysterious copper-haired royal, has stolen Alizeh away
to Tulan, the neighboring kingdom where he rules.
Cyrus has made his
own deal with the devil (Iblees) one that would require Alizeh to betray her
feelings for Kamran if she’s to reclaim the Jinn throne. Kamran, meanwhile, is picking up the pieces of
his broken kingdom. Facing betrayal at every turn, all he knows for
certain is that he must go to Tulan to avenge his grandfather. He can
only hope that Alizeh will be waiting for him there—and that she’s not
yet become queen of Tulan.
Meanwhile, Alizeh finds that Tulan is a entirely different world. A world where there are Jinn here eager to find their savior and a mother who really hates her own son because of what he did to take the crown from his father is willing to make a deal with she has no clue may very well be her enemy. While she has no desire to become Queen or marry Cyrus, both Alizeh and Cyrus know that in order to defeat the devil, sacrifices must be made. I am a bit confused in that the relationship between Cyrus and Alizeh seems to be overriding what was supposed to be between Alizeh and Kamran.
Tahereh has created an incredibly rich and lush world, and the sumptuous
details describing Alizeh’s seamstress work, the bustling marketplace,
and the glittering castle bring it to vibrant life on the page. This
story is a feast for the senses—readers will be able to taste the sweet
pomegranates and smell the freshly baked baklava, and will never look at
fireflies in the same way ever again. Mafi treats readers to sumptuous world-building. Like an intricate
Islamic flower mural, Mafi’s story expands deliberately, each small
revelation rising from the one before, delivering deeply satisfying
epiphanies at the end of each chapter.
