by Layal Hilal
Nura and the Immortal Palace is a capturing and stunning book by M.T. Khan. It was published in 2022 and is a detailed well-written novel about hope, danger, and greed.
It follows a twelve-year-old girl named Nura who has to mine mica, which are minerals that can be dangerous and even fatal. Mica is used for makeup. Nura works in underground caves with a variety of other kids, some as young as five years old. The caves are dangerous and Nura doesn’t want to work all day, just like the others, but she has three younger siblings and her mom all struggling at home, and mica mining is the only way to support them at least a little.
When Nura first started working in the mines, she didn’t have any friends but gradually became close to a boy named Faisal. Nura and Faisal, her only friend, both work in the caves to support their families, but they couldn’t be more different. Faisal tries to mine as many little pieces of mica as possible, hoping it will amount to something bigger. Nura, on the other hand, always gets the biggest pieces of mica, the ones that will get the most money for her family.
One day, Nura learns that her mom wants to put her in school and stop her from mining. But Nura knows that if she stops working in the caves, she won’t be able to support her family and they will crumble. So she works harder than ever, trying to find the famed legend, the Demon’s Tongue. It’s rumored to be worth more than an emperor’s riches and kingdom. If she finds it, it won’t matter if she stops mining mica. But Nura digs too deep. The tunnels collapse, and Faisal, Nura, and five other kids fall into a world of purple skies, pink seas, and jinn. Jinn are tricksters and they will go to any lengths to imprison humans like Nura and her friends.
It doesn’t help that they land in the Sijj Palace, the number one hotel for jinn and where humans are slaves. But in this world, Nura finds more than evil Jinn. She discovers what loyalty is, what danger means, and how greed is much more than wanting something. It’s wanting things until you don’t remember why you wanted it in the first place. As she starts to realize the true meaning of friendship and hope, she also discovers a way out.
Nura and the Immortal Palace will captivate readers ten and up and will send them spinning into a whirlwind world of jinn and humans and what happens when two worlds collide. M.T. Khan truly captures the beauty of trust and the danger of greed. This novel will engrave itself in your heart and mind for the rest of eternity.
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