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3.5 

The Jinn Daughter

By Rania Hanna
The Jinn Daughter by Rania Hanna digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

FINALIST FOR THE NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARD
BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY: AN AMAZON EDITORS' PICK

A stunning debut novel and an impressive feat of storytelling that pulls together mythology, magic, and ancient legend in the gripping story of a mother's struggle to save her only daughter

Nadine is a jinn tasked with one job: telling the stories of the dead. She rises every morning to gather pomegranate seeds—the souls of the dead—that have fallen during the night. With her daughter Layala at her side, she eats the seeds and tells their stories. Only then can the departed pass through the final gate of death.

But when the seeds stop falling, Nadine knows something is terribly wrong. All her worst fears are confirmed when she is visited by Kamuna, Death herself and ruler of the underworld, who reveals her desire for someone to replace her: it is Layala she wants.

Nadine will do whatever it takes to keep her daughter safe, but Kamuna has little patience and a ruthless drive to get what she has come for. Layala’s fate, meanwhile, hangs in the balance.

Rooted in Middle Eastern mythology, Rania Hanna deftly weaves subtle, yet breathtaking, magic through this vivid and compelling story that has at its heart the universal human desire to, somehow, outmaneuver death.

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The Jinn Daughter Reviews

3.5
“I wanted to love this book soooo much, but the ending completely threw me. Hakawati is a storyteller Djinn, one of the last of her kind thanks to her “father-in-law”. Her main job is to collect the pomegranate seeds that fall outside her home every morning. These seeds are the souls of the recently deceased. She is the conduit to their safe passage into the afterlife. Without her, the souls would become fearsome ghouls. I loved every single peace of the folklore and Arabic mythology interspersed into the story. It was so refreshing and completely hooked me into the story. Hakawati only wishes to protect her daughter, Layala. A curious and slightly morose young girl wishing to find purpose in her life. I suppose the moral of the story is to listen to your children? Because my main issue is Hakawati, along with a completely underutilized character named Rami; travel across worlds and realms to save her daughter through a series of quests only for her daughter to end up in the same position as before. The only tragic difference is all the lives lost and the pain gained from Hakawati’s sheer stubbornness and refusal to let her daughter go. Although the story ends on a slightly uplifting note, I wanted to see a reunion between a few characters that never happened and that was incredibly disappointing.”
“Middle Eastern folklore mixed with the depths of maternal love. I always appreciate a folkloric tale that weaves tender messaging such as what was displayed in this book throughout the plot. The cast of characters stood out in mystical, spectral ways; the river witches, for instance, I can picture with a certain vividness.”

About Rania Hanna

Rania Hanna is a Syrian–American writer and researcher. She is a neuroscience doctoral student at George Mason University. The Jinn Daughter is her debut novel. She lives in Northern Virginia.

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