Many aspects of the novel look borrowed at the first glance as Roseanne A. Brown talks about certain elements that are connected with African culture. Borrowing however remains just to a limit and the real story does not depend on it very much. Perhaps all of it was done to create a pure scene of African culture. Malik in the story is one of a kind warrior who never wanted to indulge in any kind of war or even fight. For this purpose, he left the city with his sisters and traveled to Ziran.
There the family hoped to find a happy future but the new town proved fatal for them. Malik’s sister Nadia gets trapped and for her freedom, he must kill the princess. The deal was simple but tough also Malik had no other chance but to accept the offer on the enemy’s terms. Princess Karina in those days was also in need of a brave man not for romance rather she wanted to heart of that brave man.
With that heart in hand she thought that she would be able to bring back her mother to the real world. Missions of Malik and the princess get disturbed in a big way when they meet each other and start coming close to one another. Developing appeal between them can be felt through the voices of Jordan Cobb and A.J. Backless i.e the two narrators of the novel. Not only that when they come close they also start feeling an old bond between them that actually attracted them towards each other in the first place.
