60 pages • 2 hours read
All This Twisted Glory
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Part 2, Prologue-Chapter 22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Prologue Summary: “In the Beginning”
Part 2, Prologue is set when Cyrus is 14 years old. As part of his training with the Diviners, Cyrus must sit still in the middle of a human-made honeycomb on a hot summer day. As mosquitoes bite him, the teenager grows impatient and miserable. His teacher, Rostom, tells Cyrus that he is too restless. Cyrus counters that he has been here for three hours, waiting for the Diviners to return from the mountains, where they extract magic-containing crystals. Rostom gently quizzes Cyrus about what he has been waiting for. Cyrus says he has been waiting for this day to be over so he can ride his dragon.
Rustom tells Cyrus that he has lost three hours of his life waiting for the day to be over. Joy is found in the now. One cannot withdraw from life just because it is inconvenient. Rustom’s words strike a chord, and Cyrus shuts his eyes, surrendering to the heat and mugginess. Slowly, he begins to enjoy the stray wisps of a breeze and the sounds of birds. When Cyrus opens his eyes, Rustom tells him that he needs to master himself before mastering magic. Mastery is important because magic is so tempting that even the most accomplished Diviner can fall prey to the power it offers. But a true Diviner practices magic when it is morally right, rather than simply desirable.
Part 2, Chapter 17 Summary
Alizeh awakens in a high-vaulted circular room with beautiful windows. Roses and rose petals cover and scent every inch of the room. Further, for once in her life, Alizeh feels warm. The blood of Jinn, who can withstand fire, runs cold—Alizeh’s more than anyone else because her magic is so much stronger. As a result, she has felt cold all her life. The warmth slows Alizeh’s thoughts, and it takes her time to recollect the events before her fall. As she remembers Kamran shooting her, she mentally readies herself for more battles. Just then, there is a knock at the door. Alizeh asks the person at the other end to come into the room.
Part 2, Chapter 18 Summary
Miss Huda enters and hugs Alizeh. Alizeh is surprised to see her old friend in Tulan, especially dressed in garments that flatter her beauty. Huda usually dresses in oversized clothes that drown her. When Alizeh tells Huda she looks beautiful, Huda shyly remarks that she is wearing Queen Sarra’s clothes. The mention of Sarra surprises Alizeh, who has no idea what transpired while she was convalescing.
Huda brings Alizeh up to speed. Alizeh has been unconscious for nearly four weeks. It was not just Kamran’s arrow that hurt her; the Diviners learned that Alizeh had also been poisoned by dark magic, though it is unclear how she was poisoned. Huda tells Alizeh that Kamran shot her by accident. He and Cyrus have reached a temporary truce, and the Ardunians are Tulan’s guests while they wait for Alizeh to wake up. Meanwhile, Cyrus, whom Huda dislikes because he is magical and secretive, has installed dramatic flower arrangements around the city as he pines for Alizeh. The roses in Alizeh’s chambers are from Cyrus.
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary
Cyrus is alone on a rooftop at the edge of the Diviners Quarters, reading today’s edition of the Ardunian newspaper The Daftar. Cyrus follows the northern papers to keep abreast of international affairs. The Daftar’s main headline informs him of a panic growing all over the world about an upcoming Jinn uprising. Cyrus is well aware that the Jinn are rallying together in the wake of Alizeh’s discovery. In Mesti, his capital city, 70,000 have already gathered. The Diviners have opened their grounds to the Jinn, giving them sanctuary as they wait for Alizeh to awaken, Dija, an elderly woman, has been chosen leader of the Jinn in Tulan. Every day, Dija stands atop a roof and addresses the Jinn, the crowd chanting for justice and for Alizeh to return them to their birthright.
Cyrus knows the Jinn have come together for the power they sense in Alizeh. The trio of Diviners who met him four weeks ago told him about that power. They found traces of black magic on Alizeh, possibly from Cyrus’s cloak. The body would usually absorb such black magic, but Alizeh’s blood repelled it. Her body would rather destroy itself than be tainted by dark magic. Thankfully, her body also had unusual self-healing capabilities, which meant that Alizeh would live, despite her injuries. Though Cyrus was relieved Alizeh would survive, the thought of her being unconscious for several weeks drove him nearly mad with agony. To spare him the pain, the Diviners blessed him with sound nightly sleep.
Now, Cyrus cradles a nosta, or magical orb that glows warm when it detects a truth, that the Diviners took from Alizeh. He calls to Hazan, whom he knows has followed him to the rooftop. Hazan reveals himself and asks for the nosta, which Hazan himself gave to Alizeh. Cyrus asks Hazan how he came to possess the nosta, since it belongs to Cyrus.
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary
In Alizeh’s room, Alizeh asks Huda why Cyrus allowed the Ardunians to stay in Tulan. Huda guesses he knows Alizeh would not like it if he killed Kamran. The Ardunians have had a good stay in Tulan: Omid has eaten better than he has in his life and Cyrus has allowed Deen access to magic so he can mix potions. Yet, Huda dislikes Cyrus, calling the king evil because he practices magic so dramatically. Cyrus is always disappearing and materializing unexpectedly, which to Huda is proof that his power comes from his pact with Iblees. Alizeh is dismayed by Huda’s criticism of Cyrus, but keeps her thoughts to herself.
When Huda tells Alizeh that her impending blood oath and nuptials with Cyrus are public knowledge, Alizeh responds that she wishes to learn what the Jinn think of these decisions. Huda brings Alizeh a fresh set of clothes; she must dress in royal garments before going out, as thousands of her subjects are waiting to see her.
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary
Hazan tells Cyrus that the nosta cannot possibly belong to the southern king: Hazan’s mother, a courtesan, left the orb to him in her will. Cyrus retorts that the nosta is his family heirloom. It may have come to Hazan via his father. Cyrus asks Hazan what he knows about his father, but Hazan says he first wants answers from the king. Hazan can see Cyrus is unlike other kings since he does not wear jewelry or royal robes and keeps to himself. Cyrus must answer what drives his behavior and describe the exact terms of his deal with Iblees. Cyrus tells Hazan that he cannot disclose his arrangement with Iblees. The only answer he can provide is that Alizeh is entirely safe with him. At Cyrus’s words, the nosta glows red, proving their truth. Dumbfounded, Hazan notices Cyrus’s changed expression when he talks about Alizeh. Hazan remarks that Cyrus does love Alizeh. Again, the nosta glows. A swarm of locusts rises above the Diviners’ Quarters, and Cyrus tells Hazan that the insects, his messengers, have signaled that Alizeh is awake.
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary
When Alizeh learns that people have been waiting to see her for nearly a month, she dresses quickly and races out of the Diviners’ Quarters, Huda on her heels. Alizeh runs into Deen and Omid, who tell her to wait for Kamran before meeting the crowd, but Alizeh refuses. Omid says he wants to accompany Alizeh to protect her. Alizeh is overcome with affection for the boy, who, like her, does not have parents. She embraces him and feels a pang of love for her Ardunian friends, who have risked their lives in a foreign country for her sake.
Nevertheless, Alizeh tells them, she must speak with her people immediately. Deen reminds Alizeh that some people in Tulan may be against her, worried her presence inspires civic unrest. For centuries, the Jinn have lived in subjugation to humans, but they are now threatening to rebel. Deen shows Alizeh a report in The Daftar on rising anger against her. Alizeh promises her friends she will be cautious. As she walks on, a row of Diviners meet her, bowing their heads to her. Deen and the others are shocked: The Diviners only ever bow to other Diviners; they do not even bow to royalty.
Part 2, Prologue-Chapter 22 Analysis
Mirroring the narrative structure of Part 1, Part 2 opens with a prologue that provides vital insight into Cyrus’s backstory. In the early sequence in which Cyrus faced Iblees in the cave, he called upon reserves of stoicism and courage to get through the ordeal. The prologue shows this stoicism is the result of years of training and meditation. Cyrus’s teacher Rostam tells him that “when you suffer […] you can choose to endure, or you can choose to overcome” (214), a lesson that will come in handy when Cyrus is facing an impossible situation. Further, the prologue develops the idea that magic—and by extension, power—are sometimes best suited to those who least desire power for power’s sake. Rostam explains to Cyrus that crystals yield the most magic to the Diviner who has mastered himself and his temptation for wealth and other material attributes. Cyrus is an instinctive Diviner because he has little use for material wealth; similarly, Alizeh is the rightful Jinn queen because she wants to rule to liberate, rather than conquer. The reappearance of Rostam reinforces The Complicated Cost of the Devil’s Bargain. After striking the deal, Cyrus is no longer able to access Rostam’s instruction, despite his innate potential as a good leader. In this way, the deal costs not only Cyrus, but also his people.
The world-building continues in this set of chapters with the introduction of The Daftar, “Ardunia’s preeminent publication” (238). The existence of the newspaper shows this world’s combination of realistic elements with fantasy motifs and mix of past and present. In this world, newspapers and university Jinn studies departments coexist. The characters observe royal etiquette and their language tends to be decorous and formal, yet they never question the idea of a woman as a liberator of her people. This paints the picture of a complex society that mirrors the real world in some ways and starkly departs from it in others. Terms borrowed from Persian and Arabic lexicon further enrich the world-building: “daftar” refers to an official record, while Alizeh greets her friends with the call-and-response “Shuk pazir ke manam, manam,” in the common tongue of Ardunia and Tulan, an imaginary language that uses Arabic and Persian words. “Shuk,” for instance, is adjacent to the Persian “shukr,” which means thanks or gratitude. By grounding the text in real-world culture and linguistics, Mafi lends authenticity and a lived-in-feel to her universe.
Another important aspect of world-building in this section is Cyrus’s unpacking the Jinn’s subjugation, which also reinforces the theme of Cultural Heritage as a Source of Power and Conflict. He reflects that the Jinn, forced to tamp down their power due to political accords, are “sources of cheap labor” (240) to the world’s empires. The accords have created a long-standing culture among humans built on the foundation of Jinn subjugation. Alizeh’s ascension threatens this easy stream of exploitation and the human culture based on it, creating potential conflict between humans and Jinn. Cyrus’s plan to marry Alizeh, giving the Jinn queen a kingdom to rule, further destabilizes the existing social order, making Cyrus and Tulan a target for the world’s empires. The Daftar’s manner of reporting this growing threat satirizes the skewed reportage in real-world media. For example, the report Alizeh reads terms the Jinn gathering in Tulan as “unwanted migrants”; Alizeh herself is called an “alleged queen”; and an expert predicts that the gathering of Jinn will unleash “one of the bloodiest world wars in history” (276).
However, the growing love between Cyrus and Alizeh suggests that there can be peace and community between humans and Jinn illustrating The Redemptive Power of Love. Reinforcing this idea, this section prominently features juxtaposition and parallels between the political and the personal. For example, while Cyrus’s love for Alizeh burgeons in the form of multiplying roses, Alizeh’s followers gather in the thousands. The gathered Jinn are even compared to “tightly arranged bouquets” (246) in the Diviner’s Quarters, which spill outward, a direct comparison to the flowers dramatically piling up for Alizeh in Tulan. The Jinn’s yearning for Alizeh is a yearning for freedom and dignity, and it parallels Cyrus and Alizeh’s rising fervor for each other. Through this parallelism, once again, the text collapses the boundaries between personal and political, material and spiritual, and further ties the love between the two lovers to the political future of their respective people.
Alizeh’s response to Cyrus’s floral tribute starkly contrasts Huda’s reaction. While Alizeh finds the gesture overwhelmingly beautiful, Huda considers it overdramatic and morbid, as if Cyrus were arranging wreaths for Alizeh’s funeral. The difference between their perspectives shows that Huda is still operating on old cultural assumptions, represented by her attitude toward Cyrus, while Alizeh has come to look beyond them. While Alizeh and Cyrus express their attraction to each other in hyperbolic terms, the two have not yet spent any conscious time together. The delay in their meeting is an example of the text’s use of delayed gratification and suspense to build the tension and intensity in the romantic plot.
In the series, magic is mined from rocks and crystals, making it a tangible and exhaustible resource. This particular bit of world-building connects the fantastical universe of the novel with real-world geopolitics. Though the Jinn and other creatures like the Simorgh are naturally magical, humans need crystals to manipulate magic, which is why they seek to occupy and control land. Similarly, in the real world, dominant countries and corporations fight wars for access to limited and precious resources like oil, strategic lands, and water. Thousands of workers die in mining disasters in the real world, particularly in resource-rich but cash-poor countries. This parallels the world of the novel, where people work in the crystal mines until they collapse.
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