Court of Lions, by Somaiya Daud

Sequel to Mirage, which I read earlier this year. The strengths and weaknesses continue to be similar. I loved the two main characters and their complex relationship with each other. And I loved that it's a story that's so woman-focused. But the plot is not much to write home about, and the romances--there's two this time--feel shallow and uninteresting to me.

Maram's lesbian love story had some promise, but it's so lightly sketched that when you add it all up there's hardly anything there. I liked the idea of it but there wasn't really anything more than an idea.

And the love story between Amani and Idris is just....meh to me.

The pacing dragged in places too, and I nearly gave up on the book a couple times. In the end I'm glad I didn't, since I do still care a lot about Maram and Amani. But I was hoping to see growth from the author after her first book, and I'm not sure I did, which made this book more disappointing for me than I think it would have been if it had been the first book.