Dawn of the Firebird Audiobook By Sarah Mughal Rana cover art

Dawn of the Firebird

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Dawn of the Firebird

By: Sarah Mughal Rana
Narrated by: Sarah Slimani
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Buy for $35.99

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For fans of The Poppy War, She Who Became the Sun and The Will of the Many, a breathtaking fantasy novel about the daughter of an overthrown emperor from an exciting new voice

Khamilla Zahr-zad’s life has been built on a foundation of violence and vengeance. Every home she’s known has been destroyed by war. As the daughter of an emperor’s clan, she spent her childhood training to maintain his throne. But when her clansmen are assassinated by another rival empire, plans change. With her heavenly magic of nur, Khamilla is a weapon even enemies would wield—especially those in the magical, scholarly city of Za’skar. Hiding her identity, Khamilla joins the enemy’s army school full of jinn, magic and martial arts, risking it all to topple her adversaries, avenge her clan and reclaim their throne.

To survive, she studies under cutthroat mystic monks and battles in a series of contests to outmaneuver her fellow soldiers. She must win at all costs, even if it means embracing the darkness lurking inside her. But the more she excels, the more she is faced with history that contradicts her father’s teachings. With a war brewing among the kingdoms and a new twisted magic overtaking the land, Khamilla is torn between two impossible choices: vengeance or salvation. Action & Adventure Epic Fairy Tales Fantasy Historical Fiction World Literature Revenge Magic War
All stars
Most relevant
It's more violent, dark, and gory than I expected, which I do not enjoy. The audio book was hard to follow at times and would have benefited from a pdf with a map and character reference.

Ambitious

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Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5
Pacing: 🏎️🏎️🏎️
Main Characters:
Khamilla Zahr-zad
I felt like this was mostly dull. Not bad but just not good. The most engaging parts were engaging because of other characters. All of the characters are well developed. I didn’t have any strong feelings for the FMC. Here comes the spoilers. Her brother that she outted as a traitor, causing his death, is my favorite character and he dies early. Then, I love the child army but they’re very secondary to the main plot. When Arezu died trying to save Khamilla, I gave up what little hope I had for this book. The FMC takes way too long to ‘get it’. It’s glaring. So obvious but it takes her until the end to realize it. I needed her to be wiser. Then there was that ending. What WAS that?!? How was that the end??

2.5 stars

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