Abu-Jaber has written a rich story of a young woman delving into the hidden parts of her Jordanian-Palestinian family. Her characters are deftly handled and developed and become ever more complex as their history unfolds. Using a heritage that straddles the rich culture of two countries, speaking to their era of displacement and the violence that led to it. Amani embarks on her journey to Jordan not expecting to be dropped into the centre of hidden familial secrets.

To seek the story of a presence that has always been with her but that in life seemed to have led an unspoken of life where her expressions were corralled. Amani must now try to uncover the secrets and untold story of her grandmother's life and why there is always tension and an unwillingness to share when she questions her uncle Hafaz. But Amani gets help in unexpected ways and in subtle ways.

I absolutely loved how the author handled the pacing of her plot and the navigation through a complicated and painful family past, while also managing to include domestic drama, political shenanigans, and social hierarchies which definitely enhanced my enjoyment and brought the world to life. A well told and well-written story.

However I do feel as she let Hafaz off too easily after his greedy and entitled betrayal of his family. This made the ending just a bit underwhelming.

Diana Abu-Jaber’s author note at the beginning of Fencing with the King creates immediate interest and gives a personal context to the socio-political nature of the story that follows. Even though it bounces around between perspectives, times, and places, the transitions are for the most part smooth and logical, feeling more like an omniscient narrator than a constructed artifice.

The plot line is engaging, but it is the characters who shine. Family relationships are masterfully, gradually uncovered, and we become more and more vested as the story unfolds. A reader can feel the opportunity for a sequel, and I, for one, will be happy to see it.

The audio is clear and very well paced. It shows A skilled balance of distinguishing characters from one another and straightforward reading, not the performing that can distract from the work itself. I would listen to more books narrated by Zamamiri without hesitation.

Thank you to Diana Abu-Jaber, Rasha Zamamiri, Orange Sky Audio, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for providing an early edition of this audiobook for review purposes. I have been wanting to read Diana Abu-Jaber's books for some time given her cultural background, and appreciate the opportunity to be able to listen to this audiobook. Rasha Zamamiri’s narration was excellent.

The story starts with Amani, a troubled American poet of Jordanian decent, finds an old poem written by her grandmother, a Palestinian refugee who arrived in Jordan during World War I. As it happens, her father, Gabriel, who was the King’s favorite fencing partner in his youth before moving to USA, was invited to fence with him to celebrate the King’s 60th birthday in Jordan. Even though Gabriel has not returned home for many years, he agrees to travel to Jordan with Amani to participate in this event. . The book describes complex culture of Jordan, from a view point of someone grew up in a completely different culture of America, which is fascinating. Her homeland has two faces, the one seen, and another hidden but enticing and inviting her to discover. I imagine middle east to be fascinating meeting points of dry air and family devotions. I appreciated to be able to have a glimpse of this culture. Abu-Jaber is also a poet and some phrasings in the book shone through. I enjoyed that part.

The book has a multiple point of view and timelines. This, at times, was a bit confusing to me even with wonderful narration. I also felt that the book included too many plot points and characters, and it got rather complicated. Personally I felt that Amani or Gabriel's story would have been enough to carry the entire book, and dig deeper to explain their behaviors for us to understand their decisions.
Overall I felt the book was fascinating glimpse into Jordanian culture, and would look forward to reading another book by this author.

Amani is excited to be invited, along with her father, to Jordan by her uncle. Her uncle works for the King of Jordan. Amani is an Arab-American who is intrigued by her family history and when she happens to find a piece of writing she believes to be written by her grandmother she decides to try to solve the mystery. When they arrive in Jordan, her father is invited to fence with the king, as he did when he was younger. Quite complex, and sometimes hard to follow, it felt like there were two aspects to the story, one very serious on family, inheritance, greed and culture, and the other more cheerful and romantic. A fascinating insight, carefully put together and beautifully written with excellent narration. Thank you to Diane Abu-Jaber, Net Galley and OrangeSky Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fencing with the King is the search of one woman for understanding her grandmother. American born daughter of a Jordanian immigrant, she has the opportunity to travel with her father and meet the King of Jordan. The book provides insight into Jordanian culture during the peace process in the 1980s and the Bedouin culture there. Overall the book was a good story, but the POV of the evil uncle felt overdone and in some cases removed the suspense. His POV was him constantly justifying his actions. The romance is done well but doesn’t put the male character in the role of saving the main character. The narrator was very good.

This is such a beautiful story! I was drawn in by the characters and setting. I loved her descriptions of everything from the environment to clothes to creative expression...made me feel as if I was actually there.

Fencing with the King by Diana Abu-Jaber is a book that will stay with me for a long time. It is beautifully written and has so many layers to it.

"How can there be peace without justice?"

When Amani finds a poem that slips out of one of her father's books, she finds out that it was probably written by her grandmother. The same grandmother she knows little about and who was a refugee during the First World War. Amani's Uncle Hafez, is an advisor to the King of Jordan and invites Amani and her father (Hafez's brohter) to come to Jordan. Hafaez invites Amani's father to fence with the king as they did when they were younger. This is no ordinary trip to Jordan as Amani finds about about a secret family member and the history of her family.

While Fencing with the King is written like poetry itself, there are many difficult topics that are addressed. One major topic is the crisis in Palestine and how generations of history is being erased without a trace. "How can there be peace without justice?

"How can we forgive and forget when kept in an ongoing state of siege."

And with all the hardships that the characters address, there is still and underlying romance that peeks in and out of the storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about a woman who returns with her father to his homeland of Jordan, and how she journeys to find out more about her grandmother, and also to find a missing relative.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and the narrator was absolutely fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to it.

I knew essentially nothing about Jordan before I read this, and one of my favourite things about the book is that it tells you so much without feeling like an info-dump, you learn as the protagonist learns. I absolutely fell in love with the setting and the characters that Diana Abu-Jaber created. The picture that the author created of Jordan, and how they depicted religion and family were so heartwarming and welcoming.

The writing was so so so beautiful, the way that the author described everything was vivid and lyrical. It's the kind of book I can't wait to own a copy of so I can tab all of my favourite lines.

I was gripped from beginning to end, I wanted to know more about every character and I wanted to find out about the things she was investigating.

I would've liked to have known more about what happened to Hafez at the end of the book, and for the characters to be able to confront him to gain closure.

I rated this book 4.5 stars (rounded down to 4).

How does it feel to know not where you belong to?

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The story brings you face to face with the realities of families who lived in Palestine. The places that were completely erased with no trace in history of the family and people that once lived there generations back.
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Every twist is a treachery for the greed of wealth and land. Whether you have to ditch your closed ones or often erase the whole bloodlines. The greed of man - never satisfied, the heart of such men - never at peace
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The book had a smooth pace, initially a bit slow paced for me but later it was alright. The book also had an underlying romance thread that kept showing in bits and peices - I guess as long as there is hate there shall be love too 🧡

Fav. Quote: "Don't struggle against the tide, let it carry you"

3/5 ⭐

Thank you to the W W Norton and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this amazing book. Beautiful writing, interesting characters and plot come together in this well-told story. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

I found this to be beautifully written, and am really glad I listened to it. The culture, the history, all of the little details were great. The narrator was perfect for this as well.

This audiobook is about a woman who strives to find a belonging. I have never listened to any audiobooks about Jordan before so this was a very enlightening experience! I found the narrator has enhanced the story. Her voice was raw and full of emotion. It made listening to the audiobook an emotional experience! Overall, this was a pleasant listening experience and recommend this for those interested in current events!