Ehhh. 
 This just didn't work for me. It's probably me, since everyone else seems to adore it. But interestingly, I feel the same way about this as I did about An Ember in the Ashes. Interesting setting--and yes please more diverse fantasy for always--but really detached from the characters and action overall. Something about how this was written, I think. 
 I just don't get the hype. Khalid is the epitome of "cool motive, still murder"--I mean, I get what the narrative is trying to do with him, but still. There was no character growth either? Okay, he stopped killing people but that's it? Which makes the whole romance a bit perplexing to me. Shazi starts to fall for him and I just do not get it at all. And her character arc is all a bit "meh" for me. 
 Also, I found her "banter" with other characters to be really hit or miss. She had some good lines occasionally, but most of the time I was sarcastically muttering "sick burn dude" at the book. Or wanting to punch something--cf: any scene with Despina. I just do not get the appeal. But on the flip side, if she doesn't want you prying into her affairs Shazi, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T. I found that whole "main character knows best" attitude with Shazi incredibly frustrating. 
 And holy half a book alert. This doesn't even pretend to stand on its own and I just am exhausted. I do not care about any of the characters at all, especially the secondary ones. Except for maybe Jalal, but he's trapped in this bizarro secondary romance hellscape that I don't even pretend to understand. 
 The ending of this is really abrupt, which is completely at odds with how slow and dragging the rest of this felt. The pacing was just... not good. Am I interested to see how this ends? Sure. Am I going to read the second book? Probably not. I will look up spoilers though and call it a day.