about the book
At one time, the human and the jinn worlds co-existed in peace, sharing and advancing knowledge together, but now they are embroiled in a deadly war.
In a village near Baghdad, Zayele lives with her parents and blind brother. She has to follow strict cultural standards and wear the modest hadjib. Free-spirited, she chafes at these restrictions. Imagine her outrage when the caliph’s vizier picks her to be the first wife of young prince, Kamal! She has no choice in the matter.
Meanwhile, below the world’s surface in caverns of water, fire, and crystal, jinn Najwa is still mastering her powers while training under magus Faisal to spy on the humans for the prestigious Eyes of Iblis Corps. Her task is to steal a weapon Kamal is developing. On a forbidden jaunt above ground, Najwa is so enraptured with the palace that she lets her guard down and is captured by Zayele.
Hoping to evade her impending nuptials, Zayele makes one wish, to trade lives with the unwilling Najwa. In an explosion of smoke and fire, they become each other. Instead of making it easier for Najwa to find the weapon and Zayele to return to her family, the switch puts both their lives in peril.
Forced to impersonate each other in strange worlds where everyone is an enemy, Najwa finds herself living a very confined and controlled life, while Zayele must somehow survive where magic is everywhere. As both girls struggle to undo the wish, they uncover a deadly intrigue, a hidden past, a startling connection…and the possibility of love!
One wrong move and they both will die…and in their world, where twists and turns abound, their chance of making it seems pretty slim!
about the author
Amber Lough (rhymes with “dough”) had a pretty unusual childhood. She went to pre-school and kindergarten in Cuba; fourth through sixth grade at a Japanese elementary school; seventh and eighth grade in Bahrain, and high school in South Carolina. She once got lost in a pyramid because she didn’t want to follow the guide.
Though the libraries she frequented were set up for sailors, she read every book she could get her hands on, especially nonfiction tomes on anthropology, the ancient world, and foreign cultures as well as historical, fantasy, and sci-fi novels.
After studying Russian at Saint Louis University, Amber joined the Air Force and became an intelligence officer. She didn’t get to do any exciting spy stuff, but she did get to travel all over the world as an analyst. Her job was to figure out what was going to happen next—sort of like a fortune teller without a crystal ball. On one assignment, she spent eight months in Baghdad, where “the ancient sands still echo voices lost to wind and time,” and that, of course, became the perfect place to set her first published novel.
After having her first child, Amber left the Air Force and began writing full time. She works on a desk cluttered with crystals, and you’ll find lots of references to crystals in her books. In The Fire Wish, Amber hopes young readers will realize if their opinions, religion, race, or culture set them apart from everyone else, these same differences can be strengths; If they keep looking, they will find somewhere to belong!
Currently Amber lives with her astrophysicist husband and two kids (a future CEO and an up-and-coming comedian) in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Sources :
Author website
Author interview: Writing Teazurs
Author interview: One Four Kid Lit
Also by Amber Lough:
The Blind Wish (Jinni Wars, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. July 2015.
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