3.25⭐ I love Margaret Owen's work, which is the only reason I read this book. I haven't been interested in any Disney novel, and I've been less enthusiastic about YA for the past few years, but Margaret Owen's work IS YA, and I've loved it all (Little Thieves being an absolute favourite of mine) so I gave it a go anyway.

It's a perfectly fine book. The characters are charming and don't feel out of character from the film. I just didn't care much for the plot. It would work for a sequel to the film I think; it just felt a bit juvenile for my personal taste. I ended up kinda speed-reading it and finished it only because it's under 230 pages.

The characters are really easy to love and root for; the dynamic that quickly appears between them (especially the Ammar/Jehane/Rodrigo trio and each duo within that) starts setting up a found family with wonderful potential. Unfortunately, it stays in that specific state the whole time, without ever developing it to a level that would make the ending incredibly hard-hitting. The parallels between Ammar and Rodrigo specifically had so much potential. The tension, the deep unspoken realisation that they were equals and entwined by fate... You can't take this, have 2 scenes of them talking for a tiny bit and then go all grand and epic. This story needs meat on its bones.

The writing is nice, but the worldbuilding is lacking, particularly in the religion department. Considering the hatred between the three religious groups in the base on so much that happens, it should be loud and clear HOW different they actually are, but it's always very vague and the few things that are specified as "bad/contrary to religious beliefs" everybody does anyway. It left me wondering why they even hated eo that much. (If you liked the concept of worshipping the sun vs moon vs star, maybe check out The Castle & The Cloister by Laura E. Weymouth. There you'll find clear distinctions —and just as much political intrigue)

I still read it in about 3 settings, I never actually wanted to dnf it, and I thought the ending was particularly well written. It's just that it falls short of its own potential (and what a crime).