Nura and the Immortal Palace

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Olly is flabbergasted when a horde of hamsters appear in his bedroom after crash-landing their spaceship in his neighbour’s garden pond. I managed to predict a couple of things before they were revealed, but I doubt many children reading this will.

The world-building of the palace was magical and can easily transport a reader, on the other hand, the way Meera bagh was portrayed transported me to a calm and small village in Pakistan.

She is determined to find a legendary treasure known as ‘The Demon’s Tongue’, and thus provide respite to her widowed mother and four younger siblings from the drudgery of poverty and struggle. When Nura falls into the world of the jinn she’s transported to the Sijj Palace, a colourful place which is filled with trickster jinn of all kinds and she soon finds herself enjoying all the pleasures the palace has to offer including endless food, dancing, gambling and more.

I love that her qareen (jinn doppleganger) was not her true 'evil reflection' so much as Mirza, and that Nura can see in him how her own greed could make her.

Nura’s family life at the start with her mother and brother and sisters is lovely to see, and her friendship with Faisal is one I really liked too. also, pakistani media is woefully lacking in middle grade/young adult fiction aimed towards young people so it's really nice to see mainstream fantasy fiction featuring pakistani muslim kids (including ms.

This book was so fun and creepy, and I really loved the way it handled the very difficult issue of child labour, which is something I've actually never read about in a book. Author MT Khan takes us on a magical journey through the contrasting worlds of a mica miner to the bountiful world of the jinn palace. It’s not often I see my religion or culture celebrated in a such a beautiful way so I recommend this to everyone.Through the eyes of Nura, we see that even when she makes mistakes that come with terrible consequences, she does everything in her power to make it right. While written in first-person present, it flowed so naturally that it took several chapters for me to even realize that it wasn't in past tense like what I usually read. The first two elements remain the same in this book but the rest transform into an experience closer to home: excitement for Eid; Islamic values; gulab jamuns, lehengas and jinn! By submitting a review you grant us the right to display and use it in any way; please read our General Legal Notices for full details.