I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book promises much with its beautiful prose, particularly description and its inclusive story. I really liked the MC being Pakistani Morrocan and Muslim as these are stories that need to be told, The story itself was interesting.
However, at times the writing was overly descriptive anf at others, sadly lacking which meant a lack of world building and important events were skipped over in a few sentences. The plot was not tight and had many holes in it.
A good read overall.

Although the premise was amazing, this book did not leave up to my expectations. I thought the world building was lacking, which did not help the plot, and I found the characters to be quite one dimensional. I would definitely try to read something else by this author, but this book was simply not it for me.

This book feels like it is one or two drafts away from being a good novel. I like the representation and the characters, but too much was going on with the plot.

Sahira has a truly amazing story in these pages. Her characters, world building and plot all came together to create this wonderful story. I was in it to win it the entire time!!!!!!!!

DNF’ed at 15%

Thank you very much, NetGalley for providing me an ARC before release! I was so happy once I knew I'd access it.

I’m so sad about it, but I prefer to let it go than getting through it, knowing that it’s not what I am looking for.

To start on a positive note, I love how the author incorporates Moroccan and Pakistani cultures. The sentences in darija warmed my heart 💕.

The beginning really reminded me of The City of Brass, plus that book is of the author’s favorites. I can see where the hint of inspiration came from.

//BUT//

The tone felt too young for me, like the younger range of YA, while I expected it to be more mature. Maybe it’s just me looking for content I will find more relatable? After all, it may be the part I read that felt younger. I can’t judge the rest.

The characters did not seem developed, to my taste. I am all for good plot-driven stories. However, I prefer beginnings focusing more on characters, taking the time to care for them, then after will come the epicness. The writing remained too mechanical: I could not understand what was happening in Nezha’s head. Therefore, connecting to her character was kind of hard for me.

I was really expecting so much more out of this. The culture is so beautifully represented and it gave me immense happiness, but the way this book is written it feels more Middle-Grade than Young Adult. We have a lot of conversations about how YA is getting geared towards a more mature audience and how YA characters are starting to sound like they are in their 20s. I would have appreciated if this book had tried to subvert that, but it genuinely did not feel like a teenager's voice and it would have worked much better if it was marketed to a MG audience. The worldbuilding was light and simple, but intriguing. There was a disconnect between the reader and the main character because the book did not use the "show, don't tell" policy very well, which makes the plot feel lackluster as well.

Everything from the stunning cover to the powerful premise of Crowning Souls made me want to love this book so much, which is why I’m so sad to say that it did not meet my expectations.

I had to DNF this book at 25% because I simply did not understand what was going on, and couldn’t find myself caring for the characters or confusing plot. While I went into Crowning Soul excitedly awaiting a powerful main character and lush worldbuilding, I found myself having a lot of trouble following the story.

Crowning Soul follows Nezha Zaman, a Morrocan-Pakistani girl who has always hidden her abilities to control fire in fear. But when her aunt—the one family member she has who truly accepts her for who she is— is killed by an evil jinni who has been mysteriously appearing near Nezha’s home for days, Nezha is devastated.

Soon, she’s transported to the magical dimension of Noorenia, where she learns of a quest that only she has the power to complete, one that will decide the fate of the entire land.

At first, this sounds like the basis for an amazing story, and I did enjoy a few things about it! For one, the author’s prose is so beautiful, crafted in stunning sentences that helped me easily picture the different settings in my head. The representation in Crowning Soul was also wonderful, I loved reading about the different worlds inspired by Morocco, Pakistan, and more.

However, as I progressed further and further into the story, I just couldn’t understand what was happening. Although the writing was beautiful, it felt like a lot of effort went into crafting beautiful prose rather than explaining the world and what was actually going on in the story.

Speaking of the world, I wish that the magic system and entire world of Noorenia had been explained better, because I was truly confused when reading about it. The characters were also not well-developed: I felt like I was being told what they were feeling and thinking rather than being shown, and they all didn’t feel like three-dimensional people.

Also, sometimes, the point of view abruptly switched from one character to another in the same chapter, which was extremely disorienting. I also thought the dialogue felt bland and filler, as one moment the characters would be talking about something and then would change to discussing a completely different topic.

Overall, while Crowning Soul has beautiful writing and representation, there were major issues with the plot, characters, dialogue and more. I’ve seen other reviewers say that this book felt a bit too childish for YA and would fit better as a middle grade novel, and I completely agree.

(I was not reading a finished copy, so take my words with a grain of salt if you will!)

FINAL RATING: 2 stars

I received this book for a blog tour a while back and was so excited to have a copy in my hands. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story had great potential but it felt all over the place and that hindered my enjoyment.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read these books in return for an honest review.

I hate the fact that I did not enjoy this book. I had to DNF It quite early on and DNF'ing a book is not something I like to do at all. The premise sounded so so good but I just could not for the life of me get into the writing. I gave this several attempts but I will try and read it again in a few months to see if it was just because I could not get into the genre. If this does happen that this review will be changed appropriately.

Rating: 1⭐
Would I Read It Again? I want to try again in a few months.
Would I Recommend it? No

The plot and characters were an interesting and intriguing concept. I enjoyed the ideas that were put into the story. But the overall writing and progression of the story needs some work. I had trouble following along with what was happening; the character development was lacking; the tension wasn't intriguing.

The is idea is there, but it needs more work.

DNF @ 30%

I really wanted to love this one but unfortunately I couldn't connect to the characters or plot- I felt like too much was crammed into the story detracting from its overall effect. I wanted more characterisation and less action. However, I did like the Muslim hijabi rep and the unicorns! It's just that the execution could have been better.

I had a high expectation of this book but it kinda flopped. Crowning Soul could be a high potential book if not for its messy plot and writing. Maybe this is her debut novel after all? I just hope she will improve her writing or maybe find some critic readers before getting it published. As a side note, I really love the Muslim representation and diverse cultures from this book so maybe it is not a bad read after all. Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc

Very disappointed with this book as I just couldn't get into it. It was very bland and stretched out. There was need for more action.
However, there was a beautiful depiction of the culture and with more edits, it could have been a good read!

I finished this book but I was not invested with the story or the characters. I felt that the plot wasn't fully fleshed out but the concept of it was intriguing.

DNF... this book did not work for me. it seems like an interesting concept, but this book needs to be edited a lot more.

DNF @ 20%

I'll keep this review short.

I really wanted to love this book. And I'm really sad that I didn't. Nezha is a great main character and I loved reading about her, her fire magic, and also about her relationship with her aunt. But something just didn't really work for me, and I couldn't get into the story. Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little confused by this book. The world itself was a little confusing so I had to put it down. So then I was scrolling through the reviews on Goodreads and the author said that the finished version was much better, so I bought it on Amazon. I do have to say that the finished version is more condensed and a little bit easier to follow. I had the same problem with Furyborn. So if you enjoyed Furyborn I am sure you will enjoy this book. I just felt like too much was going on and the jumping from character to character and having flashbacks were just too much for my brain to handle. The storyline is good but like I said a little muffled in my opinion.

Sadly, the book wasn't for me. While the writing style of the author really brought forward the richness of the world and the culture, it also managed to make the character a bit more juvenile than I tend to enjoy.
This is, obviously, more a thing of me being in the cusp of adulthood than a critique of ya characters but it was still worth mentioning it.
It's not a book that I would recommend simply because it didn't manage to capture my attention throughout and rather bored me.

Thank you, Netgalley and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Crowning Soul is the debut fantasy book from the author Sahira Javaid. It is the first book in the series by the name Heart of Noorenia. When I saw the blurb mentioning the book being perfect for fans of InuYasha, I got really pumped to read this. The story follows young Nezha Zaman, a fire mage whose life gets upended after her encounters with a vindictive Jinn. She realizes dangers are lurking around her, and it seems to be following her and her family. She gets pulled into a different realm called Noorenia, which she, later on, realizes to be her family's roots as well. On arrival at Noorenia, she meets two unicorns who tells her the story of the fantastical Kingdom and its history. The light orb inside her is given to her by her relative. It will guide her in collecting the soul's shards from an angel who got attacked by the Iron Prince. The soul's pieces are the angel's soul that got disintegrated into several fragments. Nezha is the chosen one who needs to find all of the missing shards of the angel's soul to protect the Kingdom from ruin. The unicorns accompany Nezha in her journey, and the story is them going on different adventures, while Nezha is fulfilling her destiny.

As I mentioned earlier, the blurb sounded fascinating, and I was excited to try this book. The cover looked gorgeous as well. Unfortunately, I realized that the book didn't work for me. But I continued hoping things would change as the story progressed. I was wrong, and sadly, I couldn't enjoy it. Sadly, I had to DNF it at 50%, and it is with a heavy heart, I am saying this as I hate to DNF books. It had a lot of potential with all the elements introduced, and the concept was unique as well. Sahira Javaid is a Muslim author, and I am happy for her debut fantasy and the Muslim representation.

Overall I wasn't happy that I had to DNF it halfway through the book. I wish things were different. Also, I will not be rating the novel, as it will be unfair for me to give it a rating without completing the book. But, If I was to rate the half I completed, I would be giving it 1 star.

From the plot I thought this was going to be an amazing book, plus the representation and cultural background was a huge bonus that caught my attention.
Sadly it didn't meet my expectations, there's just so much in just one book, it should have probably been split in more,