- Genre: Fantasy
- Buy
SUMMARY
Neither here nor there, but long ago . . .
Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.
With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.
MY TAKE
First of all, this is a super fun fantasy adventure that I should have reviewed months ago.
The story follows Loulie the merchant, Qadir the secret Jinn, Mazen the prince in disguise, and Aisha the assassin as they seek to find the city of the Jinn for the Jinn-murdering sultan. It takes a lot of Arab mythology and ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. Prince Mazen is even the son of a famous storyteller based on the character Scheherazade.
The adventure was fun, though the traitorous prince plot was a little predictable and the story had more fake deaths than a Marvel movie.
Overall, I plan to read the sequel when it comes out, and if you love a good adventure story, you should too.
A Couple of B's 
While this book is sitting on my shelf, I have never even read the blurb for it. You have me anxious to pick it up now, though. Great review!
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Thank you!
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