Somaiya Daud: Mirage (Mirage #1) | Lara
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.
But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.
As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection...because one wrong move could lead to her death.
“You do not kneel or bend, I told myself. To anyone. You continue.”
Reading this book was such a rollercoaster-y experience and I kind of have no idea how to rate it. Like, there were parts I absolutely loved it and couldn’t stop reading, and then there were parts I was practically dying of boredom and questioning my decision to ever pick this book up. I was thinking a lot about this book, mostly for the message it has to send, but also for my indecision in its liking, and I mostly managed to systematize it in parts of my liking/disliking.
Worldbuilding
Mirage is set in a Moroccan inspired solar system, Cadiz. There’s a moon of the planet Andala, which was viciously conquered by the Vath, an empire from another planet, intent on erasing every trace of Andalan culture and heritage and turn them into another group of their bland followers. Amani is 18 and was taken from her home on her majority night and brought to the Ziyaana palace to serve the crown princess, Maram. The two of them look almost identical, so Amani was trained to become Maram’s stunt double and replace a princess despised by her people in public occasions that may endanger her life.
This own-voices book was really beautiful to read, especially because it opened my eyes to another stunning and marvelous culture and mythology. It’s so nice to see the representation of Moroccan history in YA literature because it really got me interested in it and the suffering of people brought by the foreigners’ rule. This is a beautiful, thoroughly developed and emotional story of pain, colonialism, and injustice brought down from those who find themselves above others because of the power they think they have. I wonder when people will learn that you can oppress people only to certain limits – what no longer can bend will break eventually and fight back.
Plot
Despite my amazement with the inspiring world building and beautiful representation Mirage has to offer, I really hated the plot. If I think better, I’m not even sure there were enough events in this book that could be called “plot”. The whole story revolves around Amani pretending to be Maram and there was literally nothing happening except Amani going places and meeting Maram’s relatives. The peak happens in the moment of Maram’s assassination attempt, but it was resolved quickly and without much action. I get that this is a character-centered book, but I didn’t see anything special in Amani that would make me like her, except her rebelliousness and will to fight for her people.
Romance
I just can’t get over how much more I’d like to see Maram and Amani together rather than no-personality Idris, whose role in this novel was literally nothing except for being a love interest. I don’t want to spit on anything, but the chemistry between them was non-existent and it felt like the author wanted to give Amani a love interest just because YA as a genre requests it.
Maram
Maram was the only character I actually liked and was genuinely interested in. She’s cruel and power-hungry at first, selfish and despised by her people. But as we get to know her, we see her as more than just spoiled palace brat - a lonely princess, torn between the two sides of her ancestry, who wants to help her people and make a difference. Her friendship with Amani was one of the better-developed relationships in the book.
“The blood never dies. The blood never forgets.”
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