The Lady or the Lion Volume 1 (The Marghazar Trials)

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I just finished reading The Lady or the Lion by Aamna Qureshi, a Pakistani-inspired Young Adult fantasy novel, and I am absolutely in love with this book for so many reasons. The first and most significant reason is that Pakistani-culture is instilled into this story like I have never experienced before. As a Pakistani teen myself, this book meant the world to me. Just the fact that one of the characters shared a name with my dad, or the fact that the characters were constantly drinking chai and eating samosas, or the fact that the main character played kadam board with her cousins. I can go on and on about all of the bits of Pakistani culture in the book, but that would be an essay. I will say that as someone who has never been to Pakistan and who has many times felt so very disconnected from half of his culture, this book hit home. It made me feel a belonging to my culture that I’ve so deeply needed because many times I haven’t felt super Pakistani, living in America my whole life, and when I recognized and identified with so much of this book, I felt so very validated as a Pakistani. I was transported to magical mountains that I’ve yearned for so long to visit. While that can only be really quenched by actually going to Pakistan, this book will help me feel like I’m there until I can actually go. Durkhanai drinks her chai very strong and very sweet and very spiced. Zahra, on the other hand, drinks her chai very mild: sugared and milky and comforting. And Durkhanai drinks her while its scalding, while Zahra waits for it to get a little lukewarm. At noon on the following day, the prince was blindfolded and brought before a priest, where a marriage ceremony was performed and he could feel and hear a lady standing next to him. Once the ceremony was complete, the blindfold was removed and he turned to find 40 ladies standing before him, one of whom was his new bride. If he did not correctly identify her, the Discourager would execute him on the spot. The prince narrowed the possibilities down to two, one lady smiling and one frowning, and made the correct choice.

This discussion is steering a lot towards food but if you had a tea party with Durkhanai from The Lady or the Lion (2021) and Zahra from When a Brown Girl Flees (2023), how would each of them drink their chai? and even though the reveal in the ending had started building up early on, i was still entertained to see what happened and oh how i am excited for the second book! But, ah, I ship these two so hard. I can't stop thinking about them. Am I being too generous with my star rating? Probably. But, I very much enjoyed it💔😭❤ but I guess it is up to interpretation and I have to appreciate and applaud her creativity in writing this. I really enjoyed both books in the duology and found it so engaging.

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My mind is still spinning from that ending. This was a beautiful and vibrant story, full of color and love, and then tinged with betrayal and heartache. Trust me when I say this is not a book you want to miss out on. what i loved the most: the writing. such beautiful prose and delicately handled phrasing that made me smile in pure appreciation. oh how i wish people talked like that in real life. the romantics of life through the pretty words the author managed to weave together to craft the storytelling of this book was just incredibly admirable. i enjoyed it a lot. i also appreciated the undertones of the serious themes presented in the book, neocolonialism being one of those. i loved the rep that was the whole of this book and i really wish i could understand urdu so i can instantly get the little phrases sprinkled throughout the book. Durkhanai’s character development was my fav to read of all. I love seeing her journey of turning into a responsible yet caring queen for her people from a little spoilt princess we saw in the first book, who did whatever was told for her to do. It was truly astonishin g. I am so proud of her. She deserves everything! Every happiness and love in the world! Also Asfandyar my poor baby he went through so many things *cries* he truly deserves everything he deserves the happy life with durkhanai and the newly found family he has with saifulla, zamina, rashid and gulaila apart from shirin. All of the characters were written in their own beautiful way. We see every character’s development throughout the duology and it was so touching!

Can you give us some hints about book two and your upcoming projects? I’m literally not okay after finishing book one😭 As crown princess of Marghazar, Durkhanai Miangul will do anything to protect her people and her land. When her grandfather, the Badshah, is blamed for a deadly assault on the summit of neighboring leaders, the tribes call for his head. To assuage cries for war, the Badshah opens Marghazar's gates to foreigners for the first time in centuries, in a sign of good faith. Enter Ambassador Asfandyar Afridi, a wry foreigner who admits outright that he is a spy. Stubborn, proud, and suspicious of foreigners, Durkhanai does not appreciate that he won't bow to her every whim and instead talks circles around her. She thanked the Moon, and went on till the Night Wind blew upon her. ‘You blow among all the trees and leaves, have not you seen a White Dove?’ she asked.As a Young Adult romance with court intrigue, this reads...like a Young Adult romance with court intrigue. It's sweet, it's funny at times, it has the infamous "moody rebellious teenagers" thing going on, so on and so on. Basically, if you love YA and you love romance, I'd say this is a book for you.

As crown princess of Marghazar, Durkhanai Miangul will do anything to protect her people and her land. When her grandfather, the Badshah, is blamed for a deadly assault on the summit of neighboring leaders, the tribes call for his head. To assuage cries for war, the Badshah opens Marghazar's gates to foreigners for the first time in centuries, in a sign of good faith. His family has three months to prove their innocence, or they will all have war. Overall, The Lady or the Lion is a very enjoyable read and is sure to be loved by South Asian and Muslim readers.the lady or the lion is a retelling of the lady or the tiger? which i haven’t even heard of until now. aamna qureshi set in a pakistan-inspired world that is filled with color, intrigue, and richness. it’s the perfect setting for such a mysterious fairytale. Okay I just want to get this out of the way, the beginning was a bit slow and it was a bit frustrating. We kept hearing about the stakes and the consequences with the deadline looming and I’m like, “when is something going to happen like major??” But that being said, the last 20% is explosive. Seriously, these threads that Qureshi was weaving the entire time almost spring around us like a trap. And the amount of revelations and secrets revealed is astounding. So just know that going in – it is worth it! The characters were okay overall. I never could become completely engaged with any of them or their personalities, which did detract from the story. Durkhanai was a difficult protagonist to like – she began as a spoiled, stubborn, demanding princess, which was absolutely acceptable. But despite being told that she was growing and developing as a character, I just didn’t see it until the very end. Even in the last quarter she’s still whining and stomping her feet, which made the growth unbelievable. There were also instances where she was changeable (like a complete about-face) with no explanation as to why, which was annoying. reading this book made me realize how proud i am of my culture, of my heritage, my ethnicity. the language our characters sometimes use just made me scream because urdu and hindi are so similar and i understood every single thing what our mc durkhaina spoke with her dhadi or someone else. the descriptions - from food items like samosas to the clothing used like kurtas and lehengas - perfect.