Review: The Forbidden Wish

By Jessica Khoury
Available now from Razorbill (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

The latest novel in the young adult genie microtrend is THE FORBIDDEN WISH by Jessica Khoury.  This retelling of Aladdin casts the genie as a woman who once wreaked destruction on an entire city due to her love of a human.  She's wary of interacting with them ever again, and just wants her freedom.

However, Aladdin has found her lamp and now has three wishes.  He's a thief, the orphan son of revolutionaries, and his country is on the verge of revolt.  A new revolutionary is on the rise, and the king is dying.  Everyone fears the foul vizier taking even more control of the throne.  The genie has a simple solution to get Aladdin to use all of his wishes and get his vengeance: become a prince.

While the story of Aladdin is familiar to many due to the Disney version, Khoury takes her story in a different direction.  At the same time, it's not an entirely unpredictable direction.  The romance between Aladdin and the genie is sweet, but I often felt I was being told more about their love for each other than feeling it myself.  I wanted more of a sense of passion.

I did enjoy the variety of female characters that Khoury populated her retelling with.  The princess may no longer be the love interest, but she still occupies an integral role to the story.  Her friends have their own personalities in addition to help move the story along.  There's also some historical queens who inspire their actions.  I liked that Zahra, the genie, wasn't the only woman Khoury added to the story.

I thought THE FORBIDDEN WISH was a fun retelling that combined jinn lore with a satisfying battle for freedom.  The romance was a little flat for me, but the struggle for personal, political, and other freedoms rang quite true.  I admired how Zahra overcame her fears to keep doing what was right, even if it had gone wrong for her many times before.  She's the kind of main character I can get behind in any story.

Review: Origin

By Jessica Khoury
Available now from Razorbill (Penguin)
Review copy
Part of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads

ORIGIN is a science fiction novel that appears to be a standalone.  Say it with me ya'll: YES!  I love a good, standalone sci fi novel and I am still craving them.  Thus I am very happy that they seem to be becoming more popular in the young adult section.  (Or at least the publishers are pushing the genre more.)

Pia is a spoiled brat living in Little Cam, a small laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon.  She has reason to be spoiled.  The scientists tell her she's perfect, the best at everything she does, although they work to keep her ignorant of the outside world.  They also make her pass Wickham tests, and we all know something named after the cad from PRIDE & PREJUDICE can't be good.  Pia is minimally curious about the outside world until a new scientist comes to Little Cam.  Aunt Harriet is glamorous, flirtatious, and less inclined to keep secrets from Pia.

Just as Pia's curiosity is aroused, she discovers a hole in the fence and leaves the compound for the first time in her life.  There she meets Eio and his people, the Ai'oa.  Suddenly becoming a scientist isn't Pia's only goal.  But she can't give up her original dream - because she's immortal and wants to create other immortals to live with.

When I started ORIGIN, I only meant to read a few chapters while waiting for my toenail polish to dry.  I ended up finishing the book.  I mean, obviously the scientists are up to no good, but I loved waiting to see how Pia would figure it out.  I thought the relationship between Pia and Eio was well done too.  Both grew up as outsiders - Pia being the youngest person around and immortal; Eio being half white - and they're both instantly attracted to someone who is more like them than anyone they've ever known.  They do, however, spend time together before doing anything really crazy.

I also liked the subtle exploration of colonization, racism, and classism in ORIGIN.  The scientists treat the native Ai'oa as stupid and ignorant and take over part of their land.  Meanwhile, the Ai'oa are just as intelligent and any other people and know quite a bit more about the local flora than the scientists since they've been living with it for centuries.  Pia learns things Little Cam never dreamed of because she bothers to get to know people.

ORIGIN is the anchor title of the Fall 2012 Breathless Reads campaign and I think Penguin made a great choice.  I was breathless while reading Jessica Khoury's debut novel.  ORIGIN will appeal to sci fi and romance fans, and the immortal angle might draw some paranormal fans into the SF fold.