The Lady or the Lion Volume 1 (The Marghazar Trials)

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To start, this book is beautifully written. It’s narrated so well, with an evocative prose, clever metaphors and realistic descriptions. The setting, which is Pakistan inspired was so easy to imagine, like I myself was transported to the mountains, river, and palace of Marghazar. The imagery of it all was brought to life elgantly. princess durkhanai puts her people first so when a strange illness started to spread in the village, she knew she needed to do something about it. weirdly, her family have been asking her to stop asking about the medication and the illness in general. everything is in control or so they say. also, while durkhanai is determined to fulfil her duty as the crown princess, she’s pretty naive about court politics. she had no idea how rumors and opinions would sway her standing or her reputation. i think despite her best efforts, she might be a little pampered and sheltered. Muslim and fellow South-Asian readers are going to relish the desi references —the food, the Urdu phrases, the dresses — all felt authentic to read about. Can’t tell you how many times I craved samosa and chai or wanted to roam about in my lehenga while reading this. I keep forgetting to review this, and by now, my memory isn't as sharp so as to be able to go in-depth with a proper review, but I'd like to point out my major takeaways. being a south asian, i was so happy when i first read the synopsis. a desi fantasy book? sign me up. desi representation in books is not something one sees everyday and even if we do get some brown characters, they appear once in a blue moon.

Well, I enjoyed this one. The Lady or the Lion by Aamna Qureshi is a Pakistani inspired young adult fantasy (though I believe that the magical element is nonexistent unless we are counting the beautiful mountains and luscious prose). Once there was a princess forced to choose a fate for her lover - to a future in the arms of a beautiful lady, or to death in the mouth of a lion? But what came first was the fate she would choose for herself. An intricate deep dive into a forbidden love story and all the stages in-between. Aamna Qureshi writes of a world steeped in rich culture and tumultuous politics with an expert hand. The Lady or The Lion is a gorgeous read.” - Chloe Gong, NYT Bestselling Author of These Violent Delights When the second daughter married, and the youngest was again invited to the wedding, she said to the Lion, ‘This time I will not go alone, you must come too.’ At night, when the Prince was asleep, she was taken to his room. She sat down and said: ‘For seven years I have followed you. I have been to the Sun, and the Moon, and the Four Winds to look for you. I have helped you against the Dragon, and will you now quite forget me?’The idea of the tiger killing the young man is admitted to be terrible, but the terror is dismissed in a brief paragraph consisting of a single sentence. A much longer paragraph then examines in detail how the princess had "gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair" at the thought of her beloved's relief at the joyful life he would lead with the lady, and how they would be married amidst general rejoicing: thankyou aamna qureshi for bringing to us this book, these characters and for making me feel represented. The Lady, or the Tiger?" is one of three short stories that were adapted into the 1966 musical comedy The Apple Tree. [4]

Hi Aamna! Thank you so much for joining me over here on Misty Realms. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing journey till now?

The Lady or the Lion

As the story progresses (painfully, because pacing is not the best) the world building is also handled in an incredibly sloppy way. For example, unless you are an Urdu speaker, or are familiar with South Asian court/political culture, this book will be relatively unaccessible to you. Second, as someone who loves politics in their fantasy novels, Qureshi did a terrible job in explaining both the court politics of the kingdom, and the geopolitics. Durkhani as princess laments that colonialism is what the kingdom is fighting, yet is interchanging that with a Gregorian calendar (rest assured folks, there are other calendars from South Asia that could have been used). Also, while Urdu does borrow heavily from Farsi, Turkish and Arabic, there are natural words in regional dialects or aryan languages that could have been used, rather then the "colonization" languages of Farsi, Arabic and Turkish that were brought over by the Mughals, Safavids and Silk Road traders into South Asia (which in this world apparently didn't happen, so another point that did irritate me) This is probably not first story focusing on a Pakistani princess but it’s the first one I’ve experienced! Disney may never make a story about one, but Aaamna Qureshi sure did and she did a beautiful job! Durkhanai is such a relatable, flawed protagonist to follow, and I cannot wait to see where her journey takes her next. She also wears the most fabulous lenghas and chudiyan. This is the first time I’ve read a story that does Desi clothing justice in its descriptions! As a Young Adult romance with court intrigue, this reads...like a Young Adult romance with court intrigue. It's sweet, it's funny at times, it has the infamous "moody rebellious teenagers" thing going on, so on and so on. Basically, if you love YA and you love romance, I'd say this is a book for you. Unreservedly recommended for middle school, high school, and community library YA Fiction collections . . .” —Midwest Book Review Asfandyar— the love interest was just so charming, and amazing, and funny LIKE I cannot talk about his and Durkhanai’s dynamic without physically screaming my lungs out alright? Their romance was forbidden, but that made me root for them even more, and I loved every single aspect about it. All the characters were really well developed— even the side characters like Dhadi and Agha-Jaan. The ending was just— we do not talk about it, we only talk about the fact THAT BOOK 2 IS NO MORE A WANT, IT IS A NEED. I just— *incoherent screaming*

She knew what she felt for him was otherworldly, but what she couldn’ Do you have a playlist/ some songs that embody The Lady or the Lion? If you do, would you like to share them with us!? suicide (mentioned), murder, contagious disease, racism, classism, manipulation, dysfunctional family, death of loved ones, murder of a child, neocolonialism The side characters were wonderful as well; Durkhanai’s cousins added so much to the story, and for the sake of spoilers I won’t mention more, but I can’t wait to see them get more development and time in the sequel. It is clear which of the two options is the most horrifying for the princess. She, like everyone else in the story, is a flat character, and there is no complexity in the way she is drawn to suggest that compassion would win out over jealousy. Clearly, she chooses the tiger.

Summary

The romance between her and Asfandyar is trope filled and swoon-worthy. It’s honestly one of my favourite parts of the book. The banter! The yearning! The flirting! Forbidden, secretive love has so much scope for angst and tension and Aamna did it so damn well that I honestly wanted to scream reading some scenes. I have to say though the romance in this book was just gorgeous, just gorgeous I loved it. the sweet, genuine, pure love without the extra bs I see way too much.