Contemporary Authors

• Mirage ( novel) Flatiron Books (New York, NY), 2018

• Amazon -

  Somaiya Daud is a twenty-something writer and PhD candidate at the University of Washington. A former bookseller in the children's department at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC, Somaiya is passionate about Arabic poetry and the cosmos. Mirage is her debut novel.

• Publishers Weekly - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/76800-spotlight-on-somaiya-daud.html

  Spotlight on Somaiya Daud
  Debut author Somaiya Daud draws from recent Moroccan history in 'Mirage,' her timely YA fantasy
  May 04, 2018

  Comments

  Somaiya Daud's Mirage is set in the distant world of Cadiz, which has been conquered by the Vath, ruthless beings from another planet bent on erasing the customs and traditions of the Cadiz people. The life of 18-year-old Amani takes a harrowing turn when she is abducted by the Vath during her community's traditional coming-of-age ceremony. She is held captive in the imperial palace by the half-Vathek Princess Maram, to whom she bears a striking resemblance. She is forced to train to become the princess's body double to shield the princess from her subjects, who despise her.
  As with many fantasy works, Daud's setting serves as a mirror for conflicts and cruelties on Earth. Daud's interest in history and her cognizance of the enduring wounds of colonialism shaped the novel. "When I'm not writing," Daud says, "I'm teaching or studying 19th-century British imperialism, and it's from there that I explicitly drew the structures, the attitudes, and the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized in Mirage."
  Daud's mother and grandmother grew up in Morocco, and Daud modeled elements of the story on a recent historical episode known as the Years of Lead, the period in Morocco between the 1960s and 1980s when King Hassan II reigned. Daud says, "It was an era notable for violent crackdowns against dissent—dissent that ranged from poetic expression to the insistence on the recognition of Morocco's many indigenous groups."
  Poetry plays a significant role in Mirage. Reading the work of Moroccan poet Laabi Abdellatif led Daud to discover a world of poetry written during the Years of Lead by poets who were imprisoned or in exile.

  "I'd known that poetry could be and often was a form of dissent," Daud says, "but it took on new meaning as I wrote this novel because I was drawing so heavily on my Moroccan roots to shape the world." With the assistance of her mother and her aunt, Daud sought out and translated poems from Arabic-speaking women to include in the novel, bringing these works to an audience who likely would not have read them otherwise. For Amani, as her days as a prisoner in the imperial palace become increasingly bleak, the poems serve as "a light in the darkness."
  Amani undergoes significant trauma at the hands of Princess Maram and the Vath, but Daud chose not to tell a story solely of darkness and victimhood; there is hope and empowerment and a bit of romance, too. Amani's suffering also leads to her deepening awareness of the injustices being committed against her indigenous community—injustices that echo those of our own world.
  Through her ordeals, Amani develops the resilience needed to fight back. "Amani starts out as someone who is angry at the state of her world but feels as if she is unable to do anything about it," Daud says. By the end of the novel, she has become "a person who can be a rebel, who can endure, come out on the other side, and still get up, still believe that there is a chance for freedom, and still think her actions matter."

• Somaiya Daud website - http://www.somaiyabooks.com/

  Somaiya Daud was born in a Midwestern city, and spent a large part of her childhood and adolescence moving around. Like most writers, she started when she was young and never really stopped. Her love of all things books propelled her to get a degree in English literature (specializing in the medieval and early modern), and while she worked on her Master’s degree she doubled as a bookseller at Politics and Prose in their children’s department. Determined to remain in school for as long as possible, she packed her bags in 2014 and moved the west coast to pursue a doctoral degree in English literature. Now she’s preparing to write a dissertation on Victorians, rocks, race, and the environment. Mirage is her debut, and is due from Flatiron Books and Hodder and Stoughton in August 28, 2018.

Daud, Somaiya: MIRAGE
Kirkus Reviews. (June 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Daud, Somaiya MIRAGE Flatiron Books (Young Adult Fiction) $18.99 8, 28 ISBN: 978-1-250-12642-9

Abducted from her small village, Amani finds that her survival depends on being the perfect body double to an arrogant and cruel princess.

Amani lives with her family in an impoverished village on Cadiz, a moon of the planet Andala that has been occupied by the Vathek Empire. At her coming-of-age ceremony she is violently stolen away to the imperial palace, Ziyaana, where she is shocked to find that she looks exactly like the princess Maram vak Mathis, known to be as cruel and ruthless as her Vathek father but with the visage of her Kushaila mother. In response to increased rebel attacks, Amani is groomed as a body double and must navigate the complexities of court, including the charms of Maram's fiance, Idris. Daud's debut, set in a Moroccan proxy world, addresses colonialism, appropriation, suppression, and erasure, along with orientalist tropes. Readers may recognize a possible reference to William Beckford's gothic orientalist novel Vathek, used to describe invading colonizers. In addition to a cast of characters of color, Daud also introduces concepts specific to the Indigenous Amazigh of Northwest Africa, including the warrior queen Dihya, who serves as a symbol of feminism and anti-colonialism.

Though the machinations of politics and identity create a slowly burning narrative, readers will appreciate the rich world and prose built by a much-needed diverse voice. (Science fiction. 13-adult)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Daud, Somaiya: MIRAGE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723232/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=88aa5569. Accessed 17 Sept. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723232

DAUD, Somaiya. Mirage
Jenna Friebel
School Library Journal. 64.7 (July 2018): p70.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* DAUD, Somaiya. Mirage. 320p. Flatiron. Aug. 2018. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781250126429.

Gr 8 Up--On her majority night--the celebration of her entrance into adulthood--Amani is forcibly taken by Imperial droids and carted off her moori to the mother planet Andala, home of Vathek royalty. Amani grew up under Vathek occupation and knows their cruelty. She learns it was her looks that got her kidnapped; she is to serve as the hated half-Vathek Princess Maram's body double in potentially dangerous public appearances. With her life and her family's on the line, Amani sets out to perfect the role. Her new identity starts to feel too real as she begins falling for Maram's fiance, Idris. But an encounter with the leader of the rebellion gives Amani the opportunity to take advantage of her situation and help her people. Readers are thrown right into this incredibly built world with fully developed cultures and characters. Daud expertly uses a scifi setting to explore issues within our own society, particularly the effects of colonization on both individuals and cultures as a whole. This poetically written novel will appeal to many, particularly fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. The ending will leave them excited for more. VERDICT This debut novel has what it takes to be the next big thing in sci-fi/fantasy.--Jenna Friebel, Oak Park Public Library, IL

KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Friebel, Jenna. "DAUD, Somaiya. Mirage." School Library Journal, July 2018, p. 70. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545432419/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a42a4f29. Accessed 17 Sept. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A545432419

• Utopia State of Mind
  https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/review-mirage-by-somaiya-daud/
  Word count: 758

  Review: Mirage by Somaiya Daud
  August 15, 2018 inautopiastateofmind 3 Comments

  There is so much to say about Mirage, but the bottom line is that Mirage is spectacular. It makes you swoon, weep, and rage, sometimes all within the same moment.

  In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen-year-old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation; she dreams of writing poetry like the old-world poems she adores; she dreams of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she, too, will have adventure, and travel beyond her isolated moon.
  But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects: she is kidnapped by the regime and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half-Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, someone to appear in public as Maram, ready to die in her place.
  As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty—and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear. If Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection…because one wrong move could lead to her death.

  (Disclaimer: I received this free book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
  I adored the premise of a body double story – hello! Could it get cooler? Not to mention that Mirage is totally space worthy and also diverse. I don’t often get to say this, but this just was entirely immersive and atmospheric. You could almost taste the food, feel the sad, and see the blood on the ground. There was this intense desire to savor it, to relish it, roll it around, and keep it in your heart.
  Not only can you practically feel the tension underneath your fingertips, but you immediately empathize with Amani. The idea of being at the whims of royalty. You think you know fear and pain, but you can always know more – there are different types that range from starvation to the savagery of the court.
  One of the things I loved about the dynamic between Amani and Maram is that for a bit, Amani gets to have a taste of Maram’s power – of her self-confidence, of the way she is just in utter control in that moment. It changes the way Amani makes sense of the world because it’s heady and intoxicating, and terrible and dangerous. Because, one has to ask, what price does it cost?
  (I adored that Daud makes an explicit connection to the feeling of powerlessness and oppression when our language and culture is stolen from us. It’s been taken, beaten, obscured, erased from us, until all we have left is a memory – and that too is fleeting).
  What I also loved about Mirage is that there is not really a strict line between right and wrong, Maram and Amani. They both have their situations, their quirks, their struggles. Maram has been hated for her ancestry of both tribes and she’s been thrown into an environment where you have to grow fangs to survive. At the same time, Amani is clearly under Maram’s influence, but finds herself understanding more and more about Maram’s life – completely breaking down this strict box.
  (I think Daud makes a fantastic point that, ‘happiness is rebellion’. Yes we need to act and to fight back, but sometimes the very act of being happy in a system that seeks to make you invisible and unworthy is an act of resistance).
  Overall
  The break down of right and wrong only progresses further as the story continues. We find we don’t know whose side we’re on anymore, or what the appropriate cost of peace is. Mirage is intricate and spell binding. There is care in the words, the phrase, the nuanced conversations all within these pages. The book moves slowly, stoking the fire of the romance, building the flame of rebellion and tension. And yet at the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves what is worth sacrificing? What else can we lose? Our conscience or our family, our love or our life?
  Check out Mirage on Goodreads.

• The Illustrated Page
  https://theillustratedpage.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/review-of-mirage-by-somaiya-daud/
  Word count: 952

  Review of Mirage by Somaiya Daud
  Posted by Sarah Waites
  on
  August 14, 2018
  Mirage by Somaiya Duad. ★★★1/2
  I had a mixed experience with Mirage; I enjoyed some elements, and I found others frustrating.
  Amani’s home planet is dominated by the interstellar Vathek empire, and she can’t remember life before the occupation. She is nothing special, one peasant girl of many, but she has family, friends, and the cultural traditions the Vathek are trying to stomp out. Then, she’s kidnapped and taken to the place, where she’s to serve as a body double for the half-Vathek Princess Maram, the heir to the throne of the Vathek empire.

  Mirage is a very character-focused novel. It’s not big into action sequences or the like; the majority of the book is comprised of character interactions and subtle growth. There are three major characters: Amani herself, Maram, and Idris, Maram’s politically-arranged fiance and Amani’s love interest. Amani and Maram are both interesting characters. Amani could easily blend in with other genre heroines, but she is well enough characterized to be distinct. Of particular note, her faith plays a large role in her life, which isn’t something we see with many genre protagonists. Maram begins a clear-cut villain, cruel and abusive to those around her. But Amani (and the reader) slowly come to have some empathy for her — in the Vathek culture she’s been raised in, she’s been made to hate herself. Basically, Maram’s got a ton of internalized racism that she acts out on the people around her. The relationship between her and Amani is the most interesting part of the novel.
  Then there’s Idris. He comes from a lineage that ruled the planet before the Vathek invasion, and most of his family was killed in Vathek purges. He and the other remaining pre-Vathek nobility have a very tenuous position, and he’s been denied his cultural heritage in a way Amani was not. I did appreciate the way that Idris showed another facet of the Vathek invasion, but I wasn’t a fan of the Amani/Idris romance plotline. Part of this is surely just me and my usual apathy towards fictional romantic relationships. As other reviewers have pointed out, it also veers close to insta-love territory. They spend two weeks together, meet twice more (briefly), and then declare their love for one another. My eyebrows were raising.
  As you may be able to guess by the synopsis, Mirage is technically science fiction but probably owes more to the fantasy genre. A good comparison would be K.B. Wager’s Behind the Throne. You could actually make some fairly light edits and have it be complete fantasy, not science fiction. The sci-fi elements were mostly superficial — mention of intergalactic laws, droids as servants and soldiers, transport ships, etc. This didn’t bother me, and it provides territory for the sequel to explore. I do question the preponderance of monarchy… it’s one of those SFF stories where the focus is on who’s the hereditary monarch, with no question of whether monarchy itself is what’s right for the oppressed masses. It’s a problem with many SFF stories, and Mirage doesn’t deviate from the standard line or examine it in any compelling way.
  With one other criticism (which I’ll get to shortly), I enjoyed the world building of Mirage. The setting and Amani’s culture has Moroccan influences, and the story itself is inspired by Moroccan history. I’m not well enough versed in Moroccan culture or history to say much more than that, but I did find the setting to be detailed and immersive! I get a sense of how Amani’s people live, what they believe, and what’s important to them.
  Back to my one other criticism… Mirage makes some weak nods towards dealing with gender issues, mostly by having the pre-Vathek culture be matriarchal. But it is also incredibly, mind-numbingly hetero- and cisnormative. There is not one single line anywhere in the book that would lead me to believe Duad even knows queer people exist. All romantic or sexual attraction or relationships ever mentioned are between men and women, and gender is always binary. In a book as focused on culture and marriage alliances as Mirage, this exclusion is rather glaring. I saw some other reviewers saying that Maram should have been a love interest, and that’s not even what I’m talking about here. I’m asking for the bare minimum, which isn’t a queer lead. My bare minimum is the acknowledgment that queer people exist. It is 2018, and I am no longer going to swallow down frustrations about this topic. When a book like Mirage fails to acknowledge the presence of a whole segment of the population, I’m going to start mentioning it. From here on out, all SFF books that act like queer people don’t exist will have me talking about that in my reviews.
  While I am frustrated by Mirage‘s blithely heteronormative viewpoint, I still am planning on reading the sequel. I thought it handled themes of colonialism and oppression much more deftly than the many other YA SFF novels that have similar setups, and I’m invested in Amani’s story. For various reasons (I also would have liked at least a bit more action or political intrigue), I’m not going to give Mirage a fully enthusiastic recommendation, but I will say that it is a story worth consideration.
  I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review.

• The Nerd Daily
  http://www.thenerddaily.com/review-mirage-by-somaiya-daud/
  Word count: 559

  Review: Mirage by Somaiya Daud
  Holly Angus August 31, 20180 comments3 min read

  Everyone loves a good ol’ cliffhanger and you’ll get just that in this debut YA fantasy! Somaiya Daud’s Mirage follows Amani, a young girl growing up in a poverty-stricken village on a planet called Cadiz, the daughter planet of Andala. Post “purge”, a coup staged to conquer the Andalan government and territory, inflicted by the barbarous Vathek authority. Since the invasion, Amani and her family have been living in fear for their lives. There has been the ever looming threat of rebellion as well as death, or if they’re lucky, brutal beatings by Vathek drones.
  The day of Amani’s Majority Night, a spiritual blessing into the life of adulthood, she is kidnapped by Vathek drones and taken to the palace of King Mathis, the Vathek conqueror of the neighbouring planets. Amani is quickly forced into living as a body double for the Princess of Vath and heir to the throne, Maram vak Mathis. Living under constant threat of assassination, the physical and emotional abuse from the royals, along with studying the Vathek, history, ancestry, and customs, Amani is in way over her head. She risks her life every day for a brutal princess and is forced to fool all of the Vathek royalty into thinking that she is in fact Maram.

  Somaiya Daud’s debut novel is a story of rebellion, empathy, and love in a time of warfare. Amani is a likeable character who rationalises all of her actions and can see the better in her fellow characters despite their cultural and political differences. She genuinely is a good protagonist and narrator for the story. She is sassy, unapologetic but understanding of her situation in the palace and does not unnecessarily risk her life to do something stupidly heroic as most YA female protagonists do (*hem hem Allegiant hem*).
  However, I was not fully invested with the love interest in this book. It was pretty flat and “unship able” due to his involvement with Maram. It was insta-love as per usual, but we have grown, as YA readers, to expect that in most of our books. The love story will most likely become more fleshed out as the series continues. I really appreciate how it did not take away from the political intrigue and danger at the forefront of the story, not undermining the plot and actual point of the rebellion. It was not a bad love story, but also not the best.
  Mirage is an intriguing book. However, it is not non-stop action or keep you on the edge of your toes writing, but, I believe it was a good first book for a series that will keep getting better and better with every instalment. For comparisons sake, this is the Three Dark Thrones to the rest of its series. Setting up the political discourse, the spite within the character arcs, and the plot that will grow more and more with every book.
  Overall, I really enjoyed it and anticipating the next instalment. Daud has announced that Mirage will have at least three books in the series, the second remaining untitled, but is to be released in 2019.
  Mirage is now available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.