Review: Court of Lions

Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think when Somaiya Daud came out with her debut novel in 2018, it was meant as the start of a lovely, lush, beautiful new trilogy of YA SFF like none we'd ever seen before. But now I think that, given the two year gap between this book and its sequel and how little attention it seems to have attracted across the community (despite much-deserved love from Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Roth, among others), Daud might have reworked this book to be another duology conclusion. Which is a bit of a shame, but hey, it also doesn't detract from the absolute richness of this Arabian-inspired intergalactic romantic fantasy, with Daud's eye for deep detail and complex characterization. Even more so than in the first book, since while Maram, for one, came off a bit of a one-dimensional hate sink at times, now it becomes clear that Amani has reason to sympathize with her a lot more. Namely, because Maram is gay and closeted, but also because the connections between them - the connections explaining why it's perhaps not so coincidental after all how nearly identical they are - are simultaneously shocking and unsurprising given the conventions of the book's genre(s). So, while I do still hope for more adventures in this universe, I'm glad to see that Daud gives this story a nice, logical conclusion worthy of an ave atque vale. For now, at least...

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