Customer Reviews

WISHING SEASON

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is about Khalid, a genie student that
was sent out into the world to study mortals...and
how to be a successful genie. Being very
intelligent, but not too much aware of the human
world, he mistakes his first master, (a cat) for a
mortal. Being a very proud genie, when he was sent
out into the world to try again his luck,
he becomes impatient, so when he meets his second
master(a true mortal this time,) he becomes
impatient and arrogant and, in uttering the
important imformation that genies have to inform
their masters before they can make their official
wishes, he forgets to say a very important line
which stated that masters can make 3 wishes and
3 wishes only, which made him bound to his master
forever, until his master wishes him free. Khalid
learns important lessons about himself, humans,
and love. I gave this book a 10 because it is very
amusing and is really an ingenious story because
it was written very clearly that gave you a superb
picture of how everything is, from the description
of Khalid to turban, and the message of this story
is very clear. The characters were true to life
despites its fantasy-ie setting and characters

Although genies, sultans, and wish-makers abound in this book, the cat, Boabdil is the omniscient
hero. The foibles of humans are evident as feline
intelligence guides Hassam in his adventures with a rookie genie who knows the rules of magic but sometimes forgets his scenario. The story is a two-parter and some of the characters in the concluding episode are too predictable, but the
humor and clever dialog compensate for this minor
flaw in a thoroughly entertaining read.

The book is actually two novellas molded into one. The storyscape is the age of the Arabian nights that lasts unchanged for thousands of year, filled with Sultans, scimitars, true love and the rules of magic.

The first tale, depending on how you look at it, is either the story of Haroun, a poor young struggling merchant, or possibly his cat Boabdil, or is it the story of the genie Khalid who discovers he is in love with fellow genie Tamar but mucks up his first assignment by forgetting to tell Haroun that he is limited to just three wishes?

In the second story Haroun is married to his heart's delight Nur and, because he wields the Sword of Solomon, has become the hero of her father's kingdom, fending off attackers and reigning in her 76 brothers' ambitions by helping them win kingdoms of their own. However the protagonist of the story becomes his young teenage son Hafiz who releases the evil genie Azem and has to redeem himself by rescuing his baby sister, his best friend Rashid and ultimately the kingdom.

I picked it up because I had read a later collection of short stories edited by Friesner and enjoyed both her taste and what she herself had written.
Freisner is witty and charming,though there is one span where a genie pontificates on too much magic that is a bit too heavy handed. Thus my actual rating wavers between 3 and 4, settling on a 4 because of a strong characterization of characters of both sexes and the cadence of the writing. As an adult I found it warm and delightful - the age level was suitable for young teens and one should have no issues in reading it to children as young as 8 or 9. Generally Friesner's play with magical rules was enjoyable but I did feel that the first story did not so much end as run out of steam and the "explanation" near the end of the second story didn't quite follow from the magical framework.

It did keep me smiling.

This hilarious book has the same great kind of humor that peppers Patricia C Wrede's "Dealing with Dragons" series.

This is the best book I have ever read. I think the very beginning of the book was a little boring though.

This book is extemely boring in the beginning just talking about the genie but some how this arabic book had some sense in it. This book is not for everyone since to some people it's not interesting. But this book is worth buying