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Book Review: Johara's Choice
Posted on 27/10/2023 15:39:52Johara's Choice by Astrid V.J.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Written in a beautiful prose with a delightful cadence of old, Johara's Choice is one of those tales that will appeal to anyone with a love for the classic.
Set on an clearly very well researched Ottoman Empire cultural background with a Persian touch, this tale skilfully entwines the old classic with new modern themes, giving us a fairytale with heart and meaning.
Great character development is something I have come to expect from this writer's works, and she didn't let me down. Johara and Erik are perfectly imperfect heroes, and I've been rooting for them from the very beginning. Both flawed, and broken, and as human as it gets. I loved the representation of PTSD in Erik and that of depression and crippling anxiety in Johara. Wonderfully done. Just as the themes touched upon in the tale. How those in power can get away with anything just because of their status, while those lower placed are blamed for just about anything because they are expendable and unworthy.
The wordbuilding is solid, albeit restricted to the particular places in which the scenes unfold - typical fairytale style - and the pacing builds up nicely, though a bit uneven. The start is relatively slow, while the end feels a little rushed, with things getting wrapped up a tad too fast. As a result, the internal monologue seemed to get a bit repetitive at times and a couple of scenes didn't really work for me due to a too sudden conclusion.
My favourite part were by far The Treasures. Delightful and cute and totally awesome.
Written in a beautiful prose with a delightful cadence of old, Johara's Choice is one of those tales that will appeal to anyone with a love for the classic.
Set on an clearly very well researched Ottoman Empire cultural background with a Persian touch, this tale skilfully entwines the old classic with new modern themes, giving us a fairytale with heart and meaning.
Great character development is something I have come to expect from this writer's works, and she didn't let me down. Johara and Erik are perfectly imperfect heroes, and I've been rooting for them from the very beginning. Both flawed, and broken, and as human as it gets. I loved the representation of PTSD in Erik and that of depression and crippling anxiety in Johara. Wonderfully done. Just as the themes touched upon in the tale. How those in power can get away with anything just because of their status, while those lower placed are blamed for just about anything because they are expendable and unworthy.
The wordbuilding is solid, albeit restricted to the particular places in which the scenes unfold - typical fairytale style - and the pacing builds up nicely, though a bit uneven. The start is relatively slow, while the end feels a little rushed, with things getting wrapped up a tad too fast. As a result, the internal monologue seemed to get a bit repetitive at times and a couple of scenes didn't really work for me due to a too sudden conclusion.
My favourite part were by far The Treasures. Delightful and cute and totally awesome.
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