Lana's Reviews > Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind

I'm very interested in different religions and cultures, which is mainly why I chose to read this book, seeing that it was about a Muslim girl. I'm not really sure what I was expecting from it, but it ended up a bit different than I thought, I suppose. It was a coming-of-age story that was a little bit slow-paced at times but overall enjoyable, and the glimpses of culture were very interesting.

I think my favorite part of this book was the ending. I was going to rate it lower than 4 stars, but then Shabanu made her final decision. She changed, she grew up, and she became the kind of person I'd been wanting her to become the whole time I was reading, and it just left me with this nice warm feeling.

I'm not planning on reading the second and third books--I just don't feel like I need to. The ending left room for a series, yes, but it also ended in a way that contented me; it felt concluded, and I was happy with that.

I am reviewing this a bit late, so my memory may not serve me correctly, but I think my main complaint about this book was just that it seemed to move rather slowly to me. It felt as if the plot line wasn't very distinct, and yet it worked because of the style and moral of the story. It just wasn't my typical magic-wielding fantasy book, and I was a tad bit bored at times.

But those moments were few and I did enjoy this book. It taught me a few things about Islamic culture (though of course personally I would have loved to have seen more) and I really did end up loving Shabanu and how she grew throughout the story.