Rumaysa: A Fairytale: 1 (Rumaysa, 1)

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Once I let go of trying to understand why Rumaysa is wearing hijab while locked in an isolated tower, or how the witch can't remember her name, but Rumaysa knows the name her parents gave her when she was kidnapped on the day of her birth, or that she knows she was kidnapped and her whole backstory, just to name a few, the book was much more enjoyable. One is that instead of focusing on one specific fairy tale and retelling it in a way that feels different, the story instead tries to incorporate numerous fairy tales and it ends up feeling messy and disjointed.

Thank you to the author, Radiya Hafiza, and the publisher, Macmillan Children's Books, for this opportunity. Muslims have been constantly cast as suspect communities, foreigners with barbaric views who are a threat to our society. Kashif is a Partner in our Immigration Department specialising in all aspects of personal and business immigration operating predominantly out of our Birmingham office dealing with complex cases at all levels including judicial review cases. I liked the general idea of this, but I think it struggled to really achieve what it wanted to achieve.

This was a really sweet retelling of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Aladdin's stories with a fresh take on old tales. Now 24 years old, Rumeysa was born in Turkey and is the former tallest teenager living, as confirmed in 2014. The eyeballs of a baby normally look larger as compared to the size of the head of the baby and or its complete size. In the tower Rumaysa reads, no idea how she learned, and spins straw in to gold as she sings a song that channels the magic she consumed in utero from the stolen garden. And this part in the about the author page just really warms my heart- "Radiya grew up reading classic Western fairy tales that never had any brown girls in them- Rumaysa is her debut novel, bringing such stories to children who need to see themselves represented.

I do like the spinning of familiar stories and either updating them, or twisting them, or fracturing them, so I am glad to see an Islamic cultural tinge available. Her sole companion is Zabina, an owl (who was smashing - I would have liked them to stay in the story more). He live-streamed his attack while hundreds of other extremist sympathisers watched and cheered him on. Ever since her first recognition the now web-developer continuously used her mediatic attention and platforms to spread awareness on the lights and shadows of her very rare, sometimes challenging condition.It might have been more impactful to give children the freedom to read between the lines and show rather than tell. Her husband then left the house and it is reported that he was set upon by an enemy of his and was killed. I really like that it erased the whole "prince charming" trope from the fairytales - although there is a prince and a kind Muslim boy, the princesses are really the true heroes of the story, and there is no falling in love which is really unnecessary for such a young audience. Despite all the aforementioned glimpses of my critiques to follow, I didn't hate the book and quite enjoyed the light handed morals and feminism that was interwoven with clever remarks and snark. Modern and diverse retelling of 3 fairytales with a thread of a main character appearing in them all.

The story was fun and entertaining and also full of south Asian culture that was so familiar to me and the best part was that the characters were Muslim! To start with, I thought the first part of this book was too much like Rapunzel but when the author wove Rumaysa into the next part, Cinderayla, it got a whole lot more interesting. Set in a magical version of South Asia, Rumaysa explores enchanted forests and dragon lairs, teaming up with Cinderayla and Sleeping Sara along the way to create a strong sense of sisterhood.As well as the usual plots that come with fairy tales (hereos, villians, magic etc), the stories also make references to South Asian culture (Eid, feasts, samosas! The way three classic fairytales are retold and interwoven using strong female characters who do not need rescuing, thank you very much. We pray that the agony of the bereaved may find some comfort and solace in knowing those slain will be granted paradise, God willing.