Considering I discovered this through Goodreads' Awards for 2016, I expected the book to blow my mind. 
 It did not. At all. 
 The book generated such dislike in me that I am tempted to write an Honest Review in lieu of Honest Trailers. 
 Starring cliches: 
 - the kiss between the hero and the girl while enemies are searching for them 
 - getting annoyed that the boy you barely know kept secrets from you. 
 - girl discovering she is more special than all the special snowflakes that surround her. 
 - mastering a new power like that, just like that 
 - unbelievable coincidences 
 - the mysterious boy that becomes a love interest 
 - the detailed explanation of his chiseled cheekbones 
 - the one female character, other than the heroine, in the first half of the book, hates the heroine and is a horrible human being. 
 Baffling oddities that ruined the book: 
 - Mixing up the Wild Wild West with Middle Eastern culture AND religion. No joke, at some point, the characters were in the middle of a morning prayer. Yet, most of the characters drank despite being underage. Also, apparently, it is wise to get drunk when you are on a mission. 
 - Lack of consistency in the universe and the world. It appeared that the author took elements from the Wild Wild West and Middle Eastern mythology, culture and religion, threw everything at the wall to see what would stick. It did not work. 
 What could have been done: 
 - Keep the desert and the Wild West, and the mythology. Take the cultural and religious aspects out of it. Women are supposed to be secondary citizens in Miraji - that's okay, but find another way to back it up beyond "pseudo-Islamic religion." 
 - The magic aspect could have been consistent. The magical creatures' weakness to iron could have been explained in the first chapter, instead of giving the explanation when it was needed. That's not worldbuilding, that's making things up as you go along. 
 A through editing of this book would have made it better. Tighten the plot and sort out the inconsistencies. Amani's character and another character's supposed powers should have been linked. They weren't. Thus, the revelation did not make sense. 
 The character's names and the names of the cities and places. 
 Last County and Dustwalk cannot belong in a country named Miraji, whose capital is Izman. 
 This book did not have any kind of plot until the last two chapters. 
 Obviously, it is the first book in a series. But, it did not have a proper conclusion. It's really annoying because the ending was neither a cliffhanger, nor was it satisfying. The one major death felt unnecessary. The loyal friend of 16 years was forgotten in a second. 
 Saving grace: one female to female friendly interaction that was not infused with slut-shaming, fat-shaming, or any sort of negativity. Amen for the new friendship between girls/women. 
 I did not like the characters. I did not feel for any of them. I did not feel for Amani, and she was not endearing. I did not care for her predicament from the moment she abandoned her only friend to save herself, while the night before, she risked everything to save the life of the mysterious new boy. That's not the flaw of: I had to save myself. It was not survival, it was shallow. 
 Amani is a petty main character.