about the book
Forget what you know about the story of Aladdin—well, except the part about a boy who finds a lamp with a three-wish-granting genie inside.
In this reimagined version, the genie is Zahra, the powerful Jinni of Ambadya, condemned to the prison of her lamp because of a betrayal to the jinni hundreds of years ago. Once released, Zahra grants the possessor three wishes, but as she warns them, for every wish, there is a price to pay. She can shape-shift at will—from human to animal to smoke—but her fate is tied to the human who carries the lamp.
Seventeen-year-old street-smart orphan Aladdin, steals a ring from a nasty prince, which leads him to Zahra’s lamp, hidden since the uprising five hundred years ago.
When the two meet, each has their own agenda. Aladdin wants to avenge the death of his parents and destroy the reign of the prince.
Zahra wants her freedom, which is offered to her by Nardukha, the king of the jinn, in the form of a deal. Free his son, a jinn prince, before a moon’s cycle. If she succeeds, she gains her freedom. If she fails, she and all the humans in the city will die.
Aladdin and Zahra become allies and, as each seeks to fulfill their goals, they become more than friends. Completing their schemes proves much more difficult and treacherous than either imagined.
about the author
Sometimes Jessica Khoury’s house gets messy. Piles of mail stack up, dirty dishes lay strewn around on counters, heaps of laundry appear to crawl out from the bedroom. That’s when her husband taps her shoulder and tells her it’s time to walk away from her computer for a while so they can clean. She can’t help it, sometimes she gets so engrossed in composing a story she barely looks up for six or seven hours. Her first novel Origins was written in one month. Therefore, she relies on her husband to bring her back to reality. “Which is a good thing, or I’d never notice the dirty dishes and laundry spilling out the doors and windows,” she says.
Jessica began writing when she was young—four years old. She wrote a sequel to Danny and the Dinosaur for her preschool class. Since then, she has kept on reading and writing. And reading and writing. Her best advice for young, aspiring writers is to emulate other writers that they admire. She started out by copying the style of Brian Jacques and T.A. Barron and eventually found her own voice.
She was at an eye appointment when she received the call about her first book being acquired by a publisher. Her optometrist—not her family—was the first to know!
Jessica writes best between the hours of 11 p.m. – 3 a.m. in her Greenville, South Carolina home. She wishes she could write during the day, but admits, “I write better when the world is asleep.” When she’s not writing, she plays video games and spends obscene amounts of time on Pinterest and choosing the perfect font for text and visual projects.
If you are an aspiring young fantasy fiction writer, check out her fantasy map-making tutorials on you tube. Get started creating your own kingdom!
Source:
Author website
Author blog
Author interview: BookPage
Author interview: USA Today
Author interview: Creative Kids
Author interview: Terri Bruce
Also by Jessica Khoury:
Kalahari. Razorbill. 2015.
Vitro. Razorbill. 2014.
Origin. Razorbill. 2012.
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