it's a tale of resistance. i love everything about this book, only a few minor notes but overall this has been a very rewarding read for me. i love the political background it had. the characters are top tier and they're women centric. the writing is very elaborate, sometimes poetic, simple yet not boring at all.

/minor spoiler also big thumbs up on how the story is ended. the resistance is in full circle. as an outsider, thinking in practical manner, i originally think it makes more sense for them to stay in pakistan, rather than back to kabul. but no, it's theirs in the first place, they deserve to stay in their homeland and be at peace.

i can not possibly imagine what it felt like being any of the characters involved in this story, especially of the amazing women they were. to persist on your life doing whatever, protecting whom you love, merely scraping by for basic human needs all because men decided to inflict wars on eo over land and power. it is ALWAYS women who had it worse. it ruined me that this is still a very relevant reality to this very second, if not worse.

i was very intrigued by the premise, potential plot, settings, as well as characters being offered in this book. yet i couldn't helped feeling disappointed when i could not find myself to enjoy the book fully. it was written rather plainly with so little subtlety. the complicated characters were somewhat off and inconsistent in their supposed development or behavior. /minor spoiler/ when marie bailed sadie out and they met again after such a long time, despite the complicated history between them as well as considering how nasty they could be, they just smiled and acted like nothing ever happened between them. just simply happy to be w eo. i find that truly odd, they never really blamed eo whatsoever, just went on like it's of no importance. it's hard to feel invested in them despite how intriguing and compelling their characters are, which really is a shame to me.

weirdly, i also appreciate how it's being wrapped. which makes me more disappointed bc the direction of the plot is NOT BAD. 😭😭😭