Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim | Review

An epic adventure in a lush Arabian-inspired fantasy world

Title: Spice Road

Author: Maiya Ibrahim

Publisher: Hachette

Released: January 31, 2023

This review contains mild spoilers.

This action-packed fantasy gripped me from the beginning and only got better and better.

In a secret city hidden in the desert, misra reigns. When drunk as a tea, the misra wakens magical abilities inside the drinker. Seventeen-year-old Imani’s affinity is with iron, making her skilled with a blade and fighting monsters that plague her land. Her family still grieves her brother, Atheer, but when she discovers he may still be alive, Imani travels out of the city for the first time and into the Forbidden Wastes - where nothing is as it seems.

We will fight, but first we will have tea.

Accompanying Imani are her fellow warriors, Taha, Fey, and Reza, and it’s in these dynamics that so much tension bubbled. Taha is the arrogant, brooding son of the Grand Zahim, and he and Imani had a bit of a will they, won’t they going on - though it never went as I expected, which I loved. Taha was such a great character, he was ruthless and dedicated and truly terrifying in parts. Every now and then he showed the glimpse of a soft side, which makes me really excited to see how the story continues and how his and Imani’s relationship develops (if it does!)

Imani herself was a really wonderful character to follow. Being from a well-respected clan, she grew up with wealth and love - her world was glittering and warm. Which is why, when she’s forced to leave, things get really interesting for her character. Imani isn’t selfish or arrogant, but she is ignorant - she just didn’t know what she didn’t know about the world. But I really loved watching her recalibrate everything she knew and admit her ignorance. It was really handy to experience the new world through her eyes.

It is not enough to mean well, not anymore - I must also do well. Otherwise, are Taha and I so different? Both of us alienate others in pursuit of our own ideals, meaning well along the way, only to find ourselves alone at the end. No family, no friends. Victors of a path littered with hurt people and apologies never uttered.

I also loved being along for the ride as Imani’s character changed, especially when it came to experiencing colonisation and realising that the outsiders (those who had been colonised) weren’t so different from her own people. She asked the question we should often ask ourselves: just because it isn’t happening to you, does that mean you stand by and do nothing?

One of the other characters on their quest, Qayn, also helps Imani work through her prejudice. Qayn is a djinni with a mysterious personality and past - I don’t think we got to know enough about him (as in, I’m dying to know more) but I think that will change in book two!

There were also so many truly beautiful family moments that were, at times, bittersweet. It was a reminder that you don’t always know people and we change all the time, but love is the constant and that makes all the difference.

I did not want to accept that the people I love will evolve with time, and perhaps that is all right, in the same way it is all right for trees to flourish in the forms and directions they please, for rivers to forge their own course, bringing life with them, for the colours of the sunset to delight differently from one day to the next.

Also - how gorgeous is Maiya’s writing?! Every sentence feels so perfectly crafted to immerse you into the world and completely enjoy every moment. It’s just one of many, many elements that made this novel so addicting.