The Forbidden Wish

By: Jessica Khoury

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

When Aladdin discovers Zahra's jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn't seen in hundreds of years, a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra's very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes. But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity, only to discover that she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart? As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

©2016 Jessica Khoury (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Lush, romantic, and exquisitely written - The Forbidden Wish is a rare, glittering jewel of a novel." (Sarah J. Maas, author of Queen of Shadows)

interesting take on a classic fairytale

I would recommend this book to those who like "remixed" fairy tales. The writing style was at a teen level but the story didn't center on feelings or entirely focus on the romance. I feel the characters were nicely developed. Narration was fine, diction was a little strange sometimes but that could have been related to the level of literature. Overall, worth the listen!

Beautiful and magical

An enjoyable rendition of Aladdin that paints a magical picture for the listeners. There were a few moments where the speech was out of place for the time line which was slightly distracting.

Magic in your ears

Where does The Forbidden Wish rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Among those that I have listened to, this is my favorite audiobook. There were a few others that are close, but thus far, this is the best.

What did you like best about this story?

Cassandra Campbell's performance of Zahra.

Which character – as performed by Cassandra Campbell – was your favorite?

Zahra, the main character was the best performed, no doubt.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book took me several sittings to finish listening to. I don't have the kind of time to listen to an audiobook for ten straight hours, unfortunately. This one was so good that I could not help but spend some of that time to comment about it.

Any additional comments?

Cassandra Cambell weaves a spell into your ears with the words written by Jessica Khoury. This book and the way that it was performed are simply magical, and the way Cassandra's voice breathed life into Zahra, the emotion that you felt throughout the tale from her as you see it all from her eyes gave you a connection with the character that you rarely can find in fiction.

Beyond that, the character of Zahra was a fascinating and lovely character. She had far more patience than I would have in some situations that she found herself in, and I could not help but think it befitting of one who was what she was. Even so, her sanity after so long almost seems impossible.

Fun, whimsical story.

I really enjoyed this story of Aladin from the genies point if view. Fun story!

Excellent read

Loved the descriptive style. The author captured my attention from the first moment and kept it throughout.

Loved this!

I loved this story. It was such an original version of Aladdin and I loved Zahra’s mix of gentleness and strength, Aladdin’s spunk, and the princess and her maidens’ girl power.

that the genie was a woman not a man

really enjoyed listening to this book and would recommend anyone to listen to it and would listen to it again

Imaginative & Enjoyable Rewrite of Aladdin

I really enjoyed this book! Writing the book from the Genie's point of view worked very well as the Jinn in literature and in this book are much maligned. Yet here is a Genie who mourns and is filled with regret who is trapped by the rules and powers that created and bind her not only to her lamp. Those same forces plus the fear and hatred of her kind keep her from doing what she most deeply wants to do. The world, creatures and events that Jessica Khoury has created around this age old tale greatly entertain as the surprises, twists, turns, magic greed and evil all work together to create an exciting, fun, story that draws you forward though out the book. Enjoy!

Love it!

It was an interesting take on the story of Aladdin. The characters really came alive. I found it very interesting, the parallel between the vizier and his son and Narduka and Zian. I also really liked that, rather than ending up with the princess (as in the classic tale), he ended up falling in love with the genie.

By the end, you understand everything that led her to this point. It was very interesting to see her try to fight the command from her master. It kept me at the edge of my seat, wondering if her will and her love would be enough to overcome that command. The ring, forged from her love, being the thing that finally gives her that strength.

Even when she won free, I wasn’t sure how the story would turn out. I was so afraid that she wouldn’t succeed in both beating Narduka and in reuniting with Aladdin. Ultimately, she did so and… it was beautiful!

I loved the very end bit… when she found she had no magic, she was completely lost. It had been thousands of years since she hadn’t had magic. It was so upsetting for her, at least at first. Once it struck her that… hey, I’m almost normal. It’s all good!

I loved the little twist at the end, when they were on Sinbad's ship!

Cassandra Campbell did an excellent job in narrating the story, giving each character a unique voice.

The plot was very good but…

The main character is obviously the Genie, but I often found myself wishing that Princess Caspida was the main character instead. Zara has a classic Disney princess personality and often says “no, no, please” when being professed undying love to, instead of accepting love’s gift and doing something about it. Also, about love, I feel like if Zara weren’t as pretty, Aladdin wouldn’t love her as much. Aladdin’s personality especially in the beginning isn’t my favorite, because he’s very handsome and used picking up girls and dropping them as he pleases. Also, his backstory with his parents wasn’t very clear. We get a couple sentences about how he turned them in to the police(that’s what I understood anyway) and now he wants revenge for them against the person who killed them (which I don’t get). Also, the ending, I at least thought was a bit of a cheat. There’s this big problem with the forbidden wish and love and then in the end, it’s just magically gone because Zara sacrificed herself but actually Zara isn’t dead which I thought was just to make it a happy ending. Enough of that, though. The pros are that princess, Caspida is an awesome person who fights for her throne, and being a good queen and her Watch Maidens are really strong capable women which I loved, and would have wanted to have their story more than Zara’s. And the plot was very good and entertaining overall, I don’t think I’ll be re-listening to this, but it was amusing despite the multiple flaws.