Indie Book Review: The Djinn Entrapment by Leigh Eskin Mascolino

GENRE: YA Fantasy

LENGTH: 271 pages

PLOT Melody can see magical being called Djinn. While she's always feared them, she learns that they are being entrapped by a human and realizes that they themselves are not evil. She agrees to team up with them to help free them.

CHARACTERS

Melody and Adin (her djinn love interest) are very compatible as their personalities are quite similar. Both are brave and compassionate. While I wouldn't classify this as a romantasy, their first love story is a cute addition to the novel. Melody herself has some innate magic - she can see auras/people's emotions, astral project, and work with the elements.

The other primairy djinn character in the book is Zayn. He is the youngest of his kind and is seen by the others as immature and annoying. I liked his character, though, because he was a loyal friend and, like our protagonist and her love, put himself on the front lines in the war against the person entrapping the djinn.

There are two human side characters who are Melody's friends. Carrie is her best friend who, like Melody, has some magical abilities that stem from her family being Wiccan. While she and her powers are always portrayed in a positive light, I do think it's a little tricky to take what is a real life religion and portray it in your novel. That said, I cannot speak on what Eskin Mascolino's religious affiliations are. The other friend character is Jamie, who is the feistier and tougher of the two and probably my favorite character. I really appreciated how the friends weren't just used as pawns but had their own developed personalities and relationships. I read another novel recently where that was a complaint I had - that the side characters had no development.

WRTIING The novel is told primarily from Melody's first person perspective. The writing is pretty good but it could definitely use some polishing. This is an indie published book so, though Eskin Mascolino hired an editor, I do think it could have benefited from one extra set of professional eyes. I don’t think any great changes needed to be made as the story is well told, there's just some phrasing that either didn't need to be included or I felt could be reworded better.

This novel is pretty short for a fantasy novel. It is an urban fantasy, though, and the magical system is pretty simple. I actually think this would be a good beginner fantasy for young readers. Despite its short length, the author doesn't sacrifice story or character development, so I give her writing points for that. This is a very high stakes story and while I was reading it I was very much on the edge of my seat in anticipation of how the characters would find their way out of their current predicament. This is another sign of a good storyteller.

The novel ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. This book is marketed as the first in a series - I’m not sure how long the series will be. However, I think it could be read as a standalone as well as the main conflict is resolved.

Finally, there are a couple of things I want to mention. The author mentioned that, in the universe of the book, real life wars and conflicts were the cause of djinn magic - including the Holocaust. I think it's fine to imply this type of impact when you are keeping things vague, but when you're naming a specific historical event that caused the deaths of millions I think that's not really in the best of taste. Also, while not on page there are mentions of rape. This really wasn’t neccessary - with a few tweaks the author could have gotten the same effect she was going for without the triggering content.

FINAL THOGUHTS I was a snob when it came to indie published books previously after a couple of negative experiences. I like to think of myself as an open, accepting person and book lover in general. I came to realize this judgmental mentality wasn't something I liked about myself. This book was published by an author from my hometown, so I figured what better way to try indie publshed books again than to support a book in my favorite genre by a local author? I am happy that I did because I think this is a pretty good book!

FINAL RATING: 4.25⭐️