Karuna Riazi

I agree that we need diverse books, and this Bangladeshi take on Jumanji has a lot to recommend it, and a few areas that fall short. The characters are good, the puzzle solving/board game aspects are solid and interesting, and it's certainly fast paced. Also, the imaginary world of the gauntlet is quite beautiful, and I lurved the lizard resistance corps. As first books go, this is an impressive debut.

Things I didn't love so much/ my nitpicky adult brain got stuck on:

Welp, it's basically Jumanji.

Also, Farah's younger brother, Ahmad, is a badly behaved brat that tantrums whenever anything doesn't go his way. Apparently this is due to ADHD? Apparently, that should excuse him from anything other than drooling love from his family and especially his big sister? That felt like the perpetuation of a cultural norm in which precious boy children should always be deferred to and spoiled by their less important sisters. I feel pretty strongly that that particular cultural norm leads to men with no self-control and a culture of rape of the abuse of women, and I want it to go away with all the fire of my heart, so even though I'm not 100% sure that's what's going on here, it made me deeply uncomfortable to see Farah defer in all ways to her dearly beloved and completely unrestrained younger brother.

There were also several moments which came across as a glorification of not eating/ despising Essie for enjoying eating, and I really don't appreciate that point of view. Essie clearly has other qualities and evens out as a beloved friend as the adventure continues, but it felt perilously close to fat-shaming.

Finally, sometimes the plot was so fast paced/ the descriptions were so vibrant but shallow that it stopped making sense. It almost felt like leaping from one crumbling sand block to another before anything was fully formed. That works, on the whole, with the theme of illusion, but neither the message nor the line of the plot ever really clicked in for me as well as I wanted them to. It felt unfinished, or perhaps unpolished, and let me say again that I think it's an impressive place to start from, if polishing is all it needs.

This review may sound super negative, and I'm sorry for that -- I think this book is a strong choice for the audience it's intended for, I'm just not convinced that it has the literary strength to become a beloved classic -- please understand that that is the very high bar I am reading for -- and if you are looking for nonstop adventure in a fantastically imaginative new world, this is definitely a great book to pick up.… (mehr)