Blurb:

Retells “The Lady or the Tiger?” against a Pakistan-inspired world of forbidden love and court intrigues.

Once there was a princess forced to choose a fate for her lover - to a future in the arms of a beautiful lady, or to death in the mouth of a lion? But what came first was the fate she would choose for herself.

As crown princess of Marghazar, Durkhanai Miangul will do anything to protect her people and her land. When her grandfather, the Badshah, is blamed for a deadly assault on the summit of neighboring leaders, the tribes call for his head. To assuage cries for war, the Badshah opens Marghazar's gates to foreigners for the first time in centuries, in a sign of good faith. Enter Ambassador Asfandyar Afridi, a wry foreigner who admits outright that he is a spy. Stubborn, proud, and suspicious of foreigners, Durkhanai does not appreciate that he won't bow to her every whim and instead talks circles around her.

And yet, she has to make him her ally to expose those truly responsible for the attack as more ambassadors from neighboring tribal districts arrive at court, each one of them with their own agenda and reasons to hide the truth.When a mysterious illness spreads through the village and the imperialists push hard on her borders, Durkhanai must sort through the ever shifting loyalties at court and her growing feelings for Asfandyar. Will she be able to leave the antics of a spoiled princess behind and become what her people need - a queen?

Review:

The Marghazar Trials #1: The Lady or the Lion by Aamna Qureshi

Taken from the short story The Lady or the Tiger, Qureshi expanded the tale to a longer story, set in a beautiful setting reminiscent of Pakistan and sprinkled with Urdu that perfectly sets the scenes. 

The setting and the imagery described worked to make a beautiful world, and the zilla of Marghazar makes for a brilliant setting. As an isolated zilla, this is the first time they've opened their gates to the ambassadors to prove their innocence for a deadly attack. This is something that is repeated over and over, both directly and the characters reiterating that Marghazar doesn't need 'these foreigners' and generally xenophobic attitudes. Also sprinkled in some anti-Black attitudes towards Asfandyar Afridi. 

Alongside the rich scenery, we have a varied cast of characters but largely the story centres on the princess, Durkhanai, and the ambassador, Asfandyar. It's a bit of a weird one where the catalyst was this deadly attack and then there's a mysterious illness but those both seem to take a bit of a back seat, the deadly attack a further backseat, to the love story between the two. It becomes a classic story of a royal choosing between their role and their people. And then a lot of people telling them not to do it.  And that gets more complicated by Asfandyar outright saying he's a spy. 

Despite being a spy and the main love focus, as well the subject of the trial in the lady or the lion, he feels pretty one dimensional. And I feel like this is exacerbated when the terms of his spy work come out in the inevitable confrontation between the two main characters. Consequently this confrontation leads to the weirdest conversation between the princess and her grandparents, the Badshah and the Wali, where the princess is fuming about a murder that took place and they just pull a reverse uno card and she just apologises then says she understands. What!? I know I'm not the princess of a 'barbaric' kingdom but I feel like that's an unusual way to handle a conversation about murder. 

It did feel like at times the princess was the only fully thought out character and we do see her change from the spoiled princess who wants nothing to do with any of this because she's all about her people, which is repeated frequently, but it's not really meaningful. 'Act like a queen!' "Ok." Then she rejects the proposal of a noble son because she can't marry for political gain. My babe, that is literally what royalty does. I fully expect this to come back to her in the second book. 

The pacing wasn't really a problem, you have to remember the whole thing takes place over 3ish months. "That's not a long time to fall in love." Yeah but she's 17 and sheltered. I also had questionable relationship ideas at 17 and I don't have a royal title to excuse it. So again, pacing not really a problem but some of the transitions are...abrupt. There is a scene when Durkhanai is out by a cliff edge, rejects the proposal and the noble son leaves. The next moment it says 'Durkhanai sat back....' When did she go inside? I re-read these two pages multiple times, and still I ask, when did she go inside?! This wasn't the only instance but it's the one I went back and forth on for a good few minutes. Alongside this, some out of place writing, "Something tickled in her tummy upon hearing him say her name." and "...was covered front and backwards in gross dirt.", and my least favourite releasing "a breathe she didn't realise she was holding." 

I didn't love the big betrayal reveal. But by changing the POV focus in the last few chapters, it filled in the initial plot holes I felt the big reveal left. My "Wait, what? Why? This doesn't make sense. How did [redacted] even know these things?" were answered and silenced, even if, as I said, I didn't love it.

Despite all of that said, it ends on such an abrupt cliff-hanger that I have to know what happens next. The book both opens and ends on the trial. And knowing what we know, neither answer is a win for Durkhanai or Asfandyar. Everything else around them is kind of noise at this point because what door does he pick?! What door did she lead him to?! While Qureshi does write, "If he was eaten by the lion, all of Durkhanai's problems would flutter away." which first off is a unique way of problem solving but also it's not really true because of the things that have been laid out for the next book. So what happens?! Fortunately, the second book in this duology is out so I won't have to wait long to find out. And I am going to find out!