Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle by J M Evenson
Release: September 1st 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Capstone Editions
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis:
When twelve-year-old Dalya is dragged to Istanbul to help sell her family’s ancestral home, the visit begins unpromisingly. Most of the aged mansion is off-limits because it’s falling apart, her father is ignoring her, and her great aunt keeps prattling on about a family curse. Despite warnings against it, Dalya tiptoes upstairs, where she finds an old bottle of magic ink hidden under a floorboard. She asks the bottle’s jinn (aka genie) to grant her a simple wish…to send her home. Except the jinn interprets go home to mean send me back in time and turn me into a cat. Then Dalya must set off on a wild adventure through Istanbul’s animal underworld to find the jinn with the power to set things right.
Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle Review:
A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and Capstone Editions for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle” for my review.
I adored this book! It is a middle grade fantasy adventure novel with a loose retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” set in beautiful Istanbul. “The Wizard of Oz” is one of my favorite classic movies, and I loved how the author spun a similar tale in this book. Similar to how Dorothy and her friends go to meet the great Wizard for their their wishes, Dalya and her friends go in search of the Mustafa the Great for their wishes.
Each of the characters are so charming and adorable. I loved Dalya as the main protagonist. I also loved the author’s writing style for describing Dalya’s transformation and her reaction in such a fun manner. All the supporting characters like Mira, Oz and Azman are adorable. Even the quirky animal characters that they meet like the Pigeon Queen and the Sultan Cat are entertaining to read. The author wrote the villains like Aunt Sibel and squirrels very well too! The author also set the story in the beautiful backdrop of Istanbul which made me want to visit after reading.
The only part I found a bit confusing was how Istanbul is written as a realistic city in the present time, but written in a very magical way in the past timeline with magical creatures. It’s a very minor thing, but I just couldn’t imagine a realistic place like Turkey having mystical and magical creatures. But apart from that, I loved everything about this book!
Overall, this book has a little of everything whether it is fantasy, adventure, family, love, and even time-travel. It also gives a very good meaning of love, family and home. I look forward to the author’s future novels and truly enjoyed reading this!
