#alizeh

Because this woman was constantly going "My husband" when it came to Cyrus. Like once per chapter she had to say it. She just loved going my husband this and my husband that.

If I have to be honest all the love I have racked up for Alizeh and Cyrus from ATTG has run stale in ESOF. The miscommunication between them killed every sort of tension. I wanted their conversations to be a continuation from their chemistry from ATTG, but was met with unnessary drama.

Like don’t get me wrong, I love Cyrus. But man, he was such a whinny bitch. My dude, for someone that loves to say “my wife, my wife” why the hell did you avoid her so much to the point she literally fell to her knees to cry because she wanted your attention??? Also, aside from being a broody tortured soul and lusting over Alizeh, do you have any more personality? I got so tired of this constant “Oh I love her but I can’t be with her but also don’t touch my wife” because it went absolutely no where.

I love Alizeh but I feel she never grew as a character? She remained the same since book 1. I feel everything was just handed to her—a military? sure. People who love you unconditionally and are willing to die for you? sure. A hot husband who loves you? sure. Magic powers? sure. Nothing was earned from her end which makes character growth rather stale.

THEY CAN NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU KAMRAN.

I am getting tired of this forced villainization of Kamran. We get it, he is not fit for Alizeh. But damn I am so annoyed that he was dumbed down and made to be more irrational just so Cyrus could look good. I miss his friendship/bromance with Hazan. I do understand Hazan’s loyalties have changed to Alizeh + Cyrus but man does that have to mean Hazan and Kamran can’t be bros anymore?????

Huda my sweet baby girl. I love you so much. The fact that she was so ride and die for Alizeh at the mountain makes me want to give her the world. But it’s so sad she is treated like a clown. I wish she had a role in which she was able to help Alizeh. There is so much to Huda but sadly I don’t think Mafi wants to develop her 😭

Y’all I was eating up all the Kamran and Huda bits we got and I wish we got more ! Omg Kamran defending Huda from his mom ahhh that was the first time we saw him standing up for her! Plus his mom complimenting Huda and telling her she was a hottie. The snowball scene where he was teasing her! I am so ready for a novella y’all don’t see the potential for these two!

Hazan, Omid, Akbar and honary mention to Kamran’s mom. Because these 4 made the story tolerable to read.

Overall, I give this book 2.5 stars. This is the second to last book of the series? I am disappointed to say the least. The characters were unique at the start and had so much potential but in the end became victim to the Shatter me tropes Mafi wanted to replicate. Like she is ready for this to end and work on Watch Me.

I will still read the series to find out what happens but man I feel like the plot could have been handled better.

THEORY 1

Cyrus will be giving Alizeh a dragon just like he promised in the last book. I think the cover of ESOF is a hint on its own, and they could use the dragons to get to the Arya Mountains. I think Cyrus will give her the dragon as a wedding gift, and obviously, Alizeh doesn't remember that exchange with Cyrus, since she was barely conscious and extremely delirious at that time, but she will understand the importance of her receiving a dragon since she has seen how much Cyrus cares about them, and she will care for her dragon deeply. And the dragons don't really have that much of a great opinion about Alizeh already, especially Kaveh (Because the dragons are the dragon dad's biggest supporters, they're the Cyrus protection squad), but actually knowing Alizeh herself and seeing her interact with one of their own can very well change their opinion of her and make the dragons trust her.

And also Cyrus revealed that diviners can communicate with animals thanks to their magic and that his dragons are the only ones who know his full story and why he's working with Iblees, since Iblees said he couldn't tell a single person the truth, but he never specified animals, so he can speak freely to them. I think that when Alizeh gets her magic after going to the Arya Mountains, she will be able to talk with her dragon and all the other dragons as well. The dragons will tell her the truth about Cyrus, which will give Alizeh the full picture and finally the proper fact-checked proof for her to beat Iblees' ass because Alizeh don't play about her man

THEORY 2

Cyrus's dreams are not just dreams, but visions of the future. I know this has been theorised before, but I don't mean that everything he sees in his dreams is the exact future (though I really wouldn't complain 👀). I think the dreams contain fragmented clues that hint at the future, events that resemble real life but don't unfold the same way as the dreams. For example, in the dreams, Cyrus felt relief from Alizeh's touch just like in real life, after the blood oath. Also, Alizeh says the exact same lines to Cyrus just like in his dreams, that's why he thought the entire ending scene of ESOF was a dream, because she said the exact thing word for word, it's simply that the setting is different.

I think that these visions are sent to him for a reason, and I think that the ones who are sending him these visions are the Angels. Iblees is our main villain, and he is the literal devil, so it feels weird that we basically have no knowledge of the angels ever interefering with humans same as him. I think they have though. We know that Cyrus and Alizeh are both part of prophecies, but how intertwined their prophecies are, we are not sure, as we know very little about both of them. But what we do know is that Diviners do see visions of the future often, that is how Cyrus' master found out about his fate, and maybe these visions are given to them by the Angels.

What Cyrus is seeing in his dreams are prophetic visions of his own future and I think the Angels are guiding him, one of their devoted followers who sacrificed himself to stop a tragedy, through these visions to show him that he is walking the right path. That's why everything he has seen in his dreams so far is recreating itself in real life, because he is following the prophecy correctly. Everything that has happened until now is what needs to happen for them to win. And I hope Cyrus realises this in the next book, based on that one sneek peek where he tells Hazan "It's over." after seeing what appears to be a vision of sorts.

THEORY 3

Cyrus' death will be one of the catalysts for Alizeh to unlock her magic. Alizeh herself doesn't know how to unlock her magic, all she knows is that she needs to go to the Arya Mountains to get it. With the blood oath, both Cyrus AND Alizeh are connected, even though Cyrus is the one bearing the brunt of the oath as the one who swore, so I think that the breaking of that connection with Cyrus' death could cause something to unlock within her.

Also, lots of people theorise that if Cyrus dies Alizeh might make a deal with Iblees to bring him back, but I don't think that's the case. Alizeh's magic is supposed to be extremely powerful, to the point that Diviners respect Alizeh already because they most likely have already seen her abilities in their prophetic visions. I think Alizeh will be powerful enough to bring him back to life on her own, and it will be symbolic as well. If her magic is triggered by Cyrus' death, then that would make the first use of her magic giving life, which fits with Alizeh's role in the story as the queen who will revive the Jinn kingdom.

THEORY 4

Hazan's family is hiding Cyrus' brother. In ATTG we are hinted that Hazan is probably royalty but interestingly enough, the nosta that Hazan gave to Alizeh actually belonged to Cyrus' family first. That creates a connection between their two families. And Cyrus' older brother is the only member of his family that we don't know the fate of. Cyrus adamantly refuses to talk about him and his father, and now we know why he can't talk about his father, but we still know nothing of his brother.

I don't think that Cyrus actually killed him. Cyrus obviously does care about his family, and he never even killed his father, so I see no reason for him to kill his brother. But he couldn't hand Alizeh the kingdom like his plan required if his brother survived, since he would have a stronger claim to the throne than Alizeh as the firstborn heir of the Tulan empire. He had to be gone for the plan to work.

I think the nosta was a symbol of alliance handed to Hazan's parents by Cyrus' parents and through that alliance, they agreed to shelter the first prince. I think that Cyrus' brother knows about his plan and what he has to do. Maybe the diviners have told him the prophecy, maybe he'd known all along, and that's why he is cooperating by staying hidden. It would also explain why no one knows anything about Hazan's origin and why he keeps it hidden himself.

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Cyrus seeing Alizeh in her wedding dress and forgetting to breath probably fixed like 30% of the issues in my life right now

Not the powerful magical king of Tulan that is feared by nations wide panicking super hard because his wife is waiting for him to compliment her dress. God Cyrus, he's so real.

"His bride."

"His wife."

Also miss Tahereh Mafi cannot be allowed to keep getting away with these captions. WE GET IT MA'AM CYRUS WILL DIE IN THIS BOOK (and come back duh) AND WE WILL ALL BE SAD STOP RUBBING IT IN!!