Vivid fantasy world of kings and princesses and demons, inspired by West African folklore and set in the mythical desert city of Ziran. The two main characters are crown princess Karina and poor refugee boy Malik, whose paths cross when Malik is forced by a vengeful demon to swear to assassinate Karina in order to save the life of his younger sister.

Karina, on the other side of things, needs to obtain the heart of a king, in order to save her mother, and if that means marrying a boy in order to cut out his heart, then so be it. In order to get in stabbing distance of Karina, Malik tricks his way into being one of the seven Champions who will fight it out during the Solstasia festival (in a very Hunger games style event) for the hand of Karina in marriage.

Of course, from the moment the two meet they're immediately drawn to each other as if their meeting is destiny ... which Hyena, the trickster/storyteller god confirms it is.

There are certainly some plot cliches but the setting is fantastic and rich and the mythology is interesting and unusual, and I'm interested to see where the second book in the duology wraps things up.