Scan barcode
A review by indiekay
Nayra and the Djinn by Iasmin Omar Ata
2.0
Sigh. I was looking forward to this one because I saw so many people talking about it, but it was a let down. The story is just SO confusing and long-winded, it's for middle-graders but I can't imagine a 10 year old would be able to follow it. There's just too many plot lines going on, and the beginning of the story is SO slow while the end is SO rushed.
Like, plot: Nayra is fasting during Ramadan and she's being bullied by some Islamaphobic jerks at school (who eventually either become her friends because she helped one of their friends pass an English test or she shows them Djinn magic and that makes them decide not to bully her anymore. ??? This plot point is wrapped up about halfway through the book and never brought up again). Her grades are suffering and she applies to another school without telling anyone (she gets into the school but this plot point is never addressed later in the book -- also I don't understand how she helped another student get 94% on her English test when Nayra is failing all her classes, or how she got into the school if her grades are so bad). She has a best friend Rami who she decides to stop talking to (??? I have no idea why). She's part of a online forum group she never actually talks to that she looks at frequently and somehow that forum is what introduces her to the idea of Djinn and how the Djinn Marjan meets Nayra (I feel like there's SO many faster ways we could have introduces Djinn into the plot, and this forum group chat is absolutely not important to the story later on.) Marjan barely has any magical powers and every time they give Nyra any back story on why they're on earth they says like 1 thing and then falls asleep, which just makes the story go by SO slowly because then there has to be way more Nayra going to school scenes between each explanation.
Honestly I could keep going with every bit of the plot that makes no sense, was too drawn out, or was really rushed, but I'm going to just leave it there for my sanity.
In terms of the art, I really enjoyed the colour work. But some speech bubble choices were really confusing, and there's a lot of panels that'll just be a close-up of a character's eye, but the eyes aren't drawn in much detail so those panels don't really work well - they're just space fillers. It felt like a lot of panels were just space fillers, to be honest. I also found Marjan's character design kind of confusing - it's a cute design on the cover, but in practice I kept getting confused as to whether Marjan had two sets of eyes or if those were their eyebrows, and the chain on the jewel necklace thing looked like a mouth sometimes.
Unfortunely, the only things I liked about this comic were that it takes place during Ramadan and the colour palette. I really wish I had more things I liked about it so I could at least give it a 3 star rating, but I don't have anything.
Like, plot: Nayra is fasting during Ramadan and she's being bullied by some Islamaphobic jerks at school (who eventually either become her friends because she helped one of their friends pass an English test or she shows them Djinn magic and that makes them decide not to bully her anymore. ??? This plot point is wrapped up about halfway through the book and never brought up again). Her grades are suffering and she applies to another school without telling anyone (she gets into the school but this plot point is never addressed later in the book -- also I don't understand how she helped another student get 94% on her English test when Nayra is failing all her classes, or how she got into the school if her grades are so bad). She has a best friend Rami who she decides to stop talking to (??? I have no idea why). She's part of a online forum group she never actually talks to that she looks at frequently and somehow that forum is what introduces her to the idea of Djinn and how the Djinn Marjan meets Nayra (I feel like there's SO many faster ways we could have introduces Djinn into the plot, and this forum group chat is absolutely not important to the story later on.) Marjan barely has any magical powers and every time they give Nyra any back story on why they're on earth they says like 1 thing and then falls asleep, which just makes the story go by SO slowly because then there has to be way more Nayra going to school scenes between each explanation.
Honestly I could keep going with every bit of the plot that makes no sense, was too drawn out, or was really rushed, but I'm going to just leave it there for my sanity.
In terms of the art, I really enjoyed the colour work. But some speech bubble choices were really confusing, and there's a lot of panels that'll just be a close-up of a character's eye, but the eyes aren't drawn in much detail so those panels don't really work well - they're just space fillers. It felt like a lot of panels were just space fillers, to be honest. I also found Marjan's character design kind of confusing - it's a cute design on the cover, but in practice I kept getting confused as to whether Marjan had two sets of eyes or if those were their eyebrows, and the chain on the jewel necklace thing looked like a mouth sometimes.
Unfortunely, the only things I liked about this comic were that it takes place during Ramadan and the colour palette. I really wish I had more things I liked about it so I could at least give it a 3 star rating, but I don't have anything.