ARC Review: The Tyrant's Daughter

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format Reviewed: eARC
Publication Date: February 11th, 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 304
Reviewed by: Stephanie
My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
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From a former CIA officer comes the riveting account of a royal Middle Eastern family exiled to the American suburbs.

When her father is killed in a coup, 15-year-old Laila flees from the war-torn middle east to a life of exile and anonymity in the U.S. Gradually she adjusts to a new school, new friends, and a new culture, but while Laila sees opportunity in her new life, her mother is focused on the past. She’s conspiring with CIA operatives and rebel factions to regain the throne their family lost. Laila can’t bear to stand still as an international crisis takes shape around her, but how can one girl stop a conflict that spans generations?

J.C. Carleson delivers a fascinating account of a girl—and a country—on the brink, and a rare glimpse at the personal side of international politics.

*Bonus Backmatter includes a note about the author's CIA past, and a commentary by RAND researcher and president of ARCH International, Dr. Cheryl Benard. Recommendations for further reading are also included.

I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken to alter this review.

 

After her father is killed, Laila and her family flee the Middle East and are forced to live in exile on United States soil. Everything isn't what it seems though and Laila finds it difficult to leave her past behind.

 

First of all, that cover is stunning. I love it.

 

I've never read anything like The Tyrant's Daughter before. The entire concept is really interesting though. Laila has been taught to be silent, invisible. All her life she's never had a say in anything. Now she finds herself in America and suddenly she not only has options, but now she has to choose. She suddenly finds herself in a land where information, food, and freedom abound. When she enters a library, she can hardly believe all the information that's at her fingertips. But that information sets her down a path of no return.

 

As if moving to a different country and losing her father weren't enough, for the first time, Laila learns that her father was not the man she thought he was. Her every memory contradicts the words she finds to describe him. Dictator. Tyrant. She reads article upon article about the awful consequences of her father's tyranny. And then she comes face to face with Amir, a boy whose family has been split up because of her father.

 

What do you do when the father you loved turns out to be an evil guy? What do you do with that information? How do you see him? How do you see your manipulative mother? My heart went out to Laila. She had no clue that her father was tyrant.

 

Her mother was just.... I have mixed feelings about her. It's so despicable that she'd use her naïve daughter to land the final blow in her manipulative game. At the same time though, she cares about her children. She's just to twisted.

 

I really liked Amir. I had hopes for him and Laila, but alas, this isn't a love story and their story ended the only way it could - in anger and heartbreak.

 

The Tyrant's Daughter does not have a happy ending. How can it when the Middle East has just slipped into another tyrannical pair of hands? But Laila does find inner strength that will help her survive in the Middle East, so there's that. Overall, I found the ending to be very honest and it seemed realistic.