Originially Reviewed at Witchmag's Boekenplank

*I received a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion*

I couldn’t help to compare my reading experience with getting lost in a big forest. All starts well, you see a beautiful sky and magnificent trees. You hear birds singing and can feel the sun on your face. What a great walk this will be! But then… You were so lost in thought you missed a turn in the road. You don’t recognize any of the landmarks and quickly walking back, you still don’t recognize a thing. Your completely lost! Slightly panicked you continue your journey in the hope to see something familiar. But to no avail… Wait a second! There, that tree! You knew that one! Immensely relieved you run to it, hug and kiss it and continue your walk. Still shaken from you earlier experience and therefore unable to full enjoy the rest of your trip.

That’s how I felt while reading this book (okay I was NOT scared but confused and annoyed instead ;) ). I was off on a great start with a very interesting blurb and one heck of a cover! Seriously! It’s so beautifully drawn and fit the book perfectly. Amalia Chitulescu is an amazing artist. That was the fun part, aka the entering of the forest. However as soon as I started reading I was lost, confused and not very happy. I don’t know what it was, but I was unable to follow the story. It was like there was no red thread and we get to read some random events with no connection whatsoever. Not much was explained and I didn’t have the faintest idea what the author tried to accomplish with this beginning. It felt like there were mayor holes in the story, therefore I was unable to find my way back to familiar terrain.

Fortunately the story found it’s focus the moment everyone arrives at the school. I slowly but surely understood more and more. I could finally start with identifying all the characters and give them their own voice. However the first part had “shaken” me too much to truly love the second part. Not even the prettiest flower or most magnificent tree could make me forget that I was lost at first.

That said, the beauty of the forest, aka the amazing world that Terah Edun created mollified me enough to continue. It’s full of magic and intelligent creatures. With flying horses, who can be haughty at times. A school where everyone has to pas a difficult test to enter. I absolutely loved what the author had created here! It was a great world to discover once I sort of recovered from my initial annoyance.

After having completed my journey, all that is left is to ask is WHY? What makes these five people so special? What has fate in store for them? I’d love to get my hands on the next book and find out!

Conclusion

2 HEARTS. In the first part of the book I had great difficulty with finding my bearings. I could not separate the characters, give them their own identity. I simply had no idea through whose point of view I was reading. Fortunately everything changed for the better when our main characters arrived at the school. From then on I got more and more intrigued by the world that Terah Edun has created and I managed to finish this book feeling slightly happy that I continued. Given the big mystery that the author presented, I’m looking forward to the next book, so I can decipher what it is ^^ ( )

I enjoyed this novel, but it definitely could be improved. The beginning is full of suspense and mystery, then everything is put on hold when the kids arrive to Madrassa. I can sort of understand the appeal for Maride and Vedaris, and even, to some extent, for Allorna and Sidimo, but I really didn't understand how Sitara could put her mission on hold, just like that. Perhaps it would have made more sense if she was making a conscious effort to only stay at the school long enough to be completely healed, but she seems content to stay there. That being said, I liked the concept of the school and found the various classes and assignments interesting. This series has potential, but the plot needs some work. ( )

Red Madrassa is a magic school, of sorts, where 5 teens unexpectedly find themselves enrolling. Having showed up by accident, and operating incognito, when assumed to be there to take entrance exams, they’re like ‘sure! yeah, that’s me...’

We have our [possibly] main character, Allorna, who is the daughter of some important guard guy, and she is supposed to guard the Prince but she doesn’t like him.
Her friend Sidimo is a healer without healing powers, and together they rescue...
Maride from possible execution for murder (they believe him to be innocent). During their escape they try to use a portal and end up near...
Sitara who is a difference race? maybe? who also went through a portal kind of by accident, and they carry her unconscious form to the Madrassa where she is put in with...
Vedaris, who was aboard a ship and ended up here mysteriously. Also, Vedaris is a dragon.

So... as you can see, the author sets this book up for a lot of mystery and action. What is this world? What are the other races and where did they come from? Each character has their own individual drama, and are a piece of something bigger and more mysterious.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the book delivered on all that set-up and tension. You are introduced to 5 different characters and their backgrounds rather abruptly (in short prologue sections), then we get some action in the beginning... then nothing happens. The whole book is spent going over each character’s entrance exam and classes (separately).

I found I didn’t really care about any one character because it was bouncing around between them too much. I didn’t care what each kid did in their class, not really.
Also, the classes were like 5 minutes long. The teacher would be like ‘hi class, this is our material’ and then they would be dismissed. (Sometimes this was done on purpose. Most times not, I think.)
Through the classes you are introduced to more of the world, the problem is that nothing has happened so far that you can relate to all this cool stuff, making it useless cool stuff :(

At the start of the book, I couldn’t tell how old any of the characters were (except Allorna), I didn’t really realize it was a kid’s book. Well, it might be Young Adult, but compared to something like for example the Circle of Magic, I found it rather childish.

Red Madrassa promises a big huge world with lots going on... but they you’re stuck at this school with these teenagers, and that’s kind of painful. It’s like the start of a long series of short books in which little happens. I really liked the cover, so this was a bit disappointing. I would not seek out the sequel, but young readers may enjoy the elaborate world around Red Madrassa.

(Read as an eBook on Kindle.) ( )

The concept for this book is really interesting and kind of Harry Potterish. I loved the young adult world the author was able to create and the fantasy woven storyline.

There is a multitude of characters and different points of view that get sprung on the reader in the first few chapters making the reading a little confusing. Once you are able to get past that it is a quick and fun read. The four teenagers, Allorna, Sidimo, Vedaris, and Sitara were easy to relate to. The relationships throughout the book were well done and believable.

Overall, it was a greatly enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Note: I won this book from LibraryThing Member Giveaways. All thoughts are my honest opinion! ( )

The following review is based on the ebook edition of Red Madrassa from a librarything.com giveaway.
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Terah Edun's Red Madrassa is best described as the set-up to what could be a really great fantasy adventure series. It's got world building, character introductions, and the beginning of an epic plot. Taken as the first book in a five-book series that it is, it's a fantastic introduction; as a stand-alone novel, however, it really left me wanting more (which could very well be a good thing, because now I can't wait for the next book in the series, Casbah Guardian!)

Pros:

- The cover is gorgeous! I know YA books tend to have gorgeous covers, but Red Madrassa's cover is particularly magical, elegant, and inviting, not to mention that it's beautifully drawn.

- Edun has built a very interesting world. She's clearly been influenced by her living in Sudan (madrassa, for instance, means "school" in Arabic), and the different types of magic and races (human, kith, dragons, etc) were a lot of fun to read about.

- There are A LOT of named characters in the book, and although it's a shame that many of them pop up only once or twice (granted, if all of them were recurring characters, it would be impossible to keep track of them!), I actually really liked all of their names. None of the characters are "one-scene wonders," but they are imbued with a little bit of personality, and their interesting names certainly add a bit of color to the story.

- Red Madrassa's main characters are all likeable. My favorites were Allorna, Maride, and Sidimo, but I didn't find any of the five main characters (or even any of the side characters) to be gratingly angsty or hateful or mary sue-like.

- One of the greatest parts of this book is the character diversity. We've got different races, different types of magic, different backgrounds, and different motives, and it's fun to see how all of these factors affect the way the characters interact with each other. I was also impressed with the Edun's LGBT-inclusiveness. It's becoming more common to add that sort of diversity in YA books (although there's still room for improvement), but Edun approaches the topic in a subtle, completely accepting way that I found to be well-suited for the story.

- No sappy romance! I imagine there will be more romance in later books (there's a little bit of build-up in this one), but it's nice to see a YA book that isn't filled to the brim with teenagers falling head-over-heels for each other.

Cons:

- The first few chapters of the book were really confusing. Although I usually enjoy the use of different character POVs because it gives everyone a chance to have his/her voice heard, it really only works if the characters are given enough of an introduction to define them and distinguish them from everyone else. The characters were different, clearly, but until they actually started meeting up, I was confused about the roles they played in their own stories (not to mention the overall plot). I think the book would be much more inviting if the characters were each given a chapter to introduce themselves and give some insight into their roles.

- As much as I hate to say it, there was a sad lack of plot in this book. At first I thought it would be a "swash-buckling adventure," what with three characters on the run from the law, but then it turned into more of a Hogwarts-type adventure, only without any of the mystery. This can be forgiven because it's the first book in the series, and most of it was spent detailing the characters' lives at The Madrassa, but I really hope the second book picks up the pace a bit.

- I wish the book were longer! The book wasn't short by any means, but because it was split to give five characters near-equal "screen time" (is there a word for that in the print media world?), I was left wanting to know a lot more about the characters by the end! I would have loved to get more background information (especially on Allorna, Maride and Sidimo), and I can only hope later books will give more detail.

Overall (especially considering the price), I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Harry Potter and Charlie Bone. Assuming the plot picks up in later books, I would also recommend the series to YA fantasy fans in general. Personally, I'm super excited for the next one!