The Rahma Awards 2019

Take One: A Rare Review

Resident Reviewer: @nooceeH, has written this wonderful review, I'm in love with the way she's put the message across, Ma Shaa Allah! Jazakillahu khairan Nusi, once again! 

Enjoy! ❤️✨

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Book: Guilted: Wars Against The Past

Author: @froward

Title: 5/5

Cover: 9/10

Description: 10/10

Plot: 15/20

Grammar: 4/5

Overall Rating: 43/50

Total marks: 83/100

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Trudging through an island full of overrated clichés, I stumbled upon a rare treasure; an absolutely non-cliché story with an equally grippingly twisty plot!

Guilted: Wars Against The Past is a captivating story, one of a kind, I must say. If you are looking for something fresh to read, then Guilted is for you. And no, the protagonist isn't a woman, the author isn't a guy either; told you, it's a rare treasure.

The title and cover of the story are 100% appropriate, I can confidently say, you can totally judge Guilted: Wars Against The Past by it's cover because for this book, what you see is what you get.

The protagonist is the perfect antagonist for many stories in my opinion, because I've never read a story in which the author depicted the main character as someone with the type of flaws and issues like @froward had; it was refreshing. This story is real in every sense of the word; it's about picking up your broken pieces while trying to move on. It's about hope, failure, flaws, fear, struggles, loss, selflessness, family, friendship, love, imaan, optimism, trials, emotions coping and of course, dealing with guilt.

The story was written in the third person narrative but the author spinned it in such a way that readers are placed directly in Abed's shoes; sensing what he sensed, feeling what he felt but at the same time not getting to be able to predict what he might do next, it's absolutely amazing!

Abed is totally hateable but real and relatable, he is a character who every reader of this story can learn from. I know it is hard for some people to be empathetic, understanding and non-judgmental towards people like him but I'm sure being in Abed's shoes can teach readers a lesson or two on all of those.

And Sahar, the loving, daring, shy and adventurous character that totally threw me off guard by doing what she did albeit with Esta's help, is a calm to Abed's storm. She was the person responsible for the manifestation of other different sides to Abed. Her love is unconditional, true and pure, I admire her character for that, in addition to her shyness.

Esta also deserves some accolades because of how she handles Abed, how she stood by him and tolerated him and how she knocked sense into him; just like a mother would. Even though she was struggling with her own demons, she didn't let them get to her.

Although, it didn't depict the ideal characters and behaviours of Muslims, the author had put a disclaimer at the beginning and at the end of the story. Besides, the whole story portrays the protagonist's journey back to Allah. So, the portrayal is perfectly appropriate.

The author did a great job; the lines of poetry amidst the paragraphs made it more captivating and touching. Information was being fed to readers in spoonfuls, characters were introduced tactfully and correlatively, making the story all the more thrilling and fascinating.

Another thing I love about the whole book is the reminders at the beginning of every chapter; Qur'anic verses, Ahadeeth and quotes that are thought-provoking and deep. Although most of them suit the chapter they were found in, some are totally irrelevant. Also, the reminders are too many for the chapters and it might be tiring for a reader to read through all of them, especially if the reader is eager to proceed further into the story.

If there is anything I am not satisfied with about Guilted it would be that the important past events the story is strongly connected to weren't depicted as vividly and clearly as most readers would like, there are loose ends and omission of most of the parts that may have made the story more satisfying and better. For example; the court sessions after Hadi's death, how Abed got into the military school, how he got his scars, his life in the asylum and how he received the news about his mother and Taraa.

The scene about the fire feels a bit jumbled to some extent, and the events that followed it were kind of rushed- it's likely to be unsatisfying and a bit confusing to most readers. As Abed's life completely changed afterwards, it would have been more satisfying to read about how he coped days and weeks after the incident but everything was fast-tracked to a year later.

Guilted is not for very sensitive readers, especially those looking for something light to indulge in as it has a pretty intense plot. Emotions of the protagonist were expressed vividly. It contains scenes that may be triggering to some, although the author portrayed them as mildly as possible.

The story would make readers cry, smile, swoon (the hopeless romantics though), frustrated, heartbroken, sad, angry and possibly, a handful of other emotions. It would also teach them to have more patience in dealing with difficult people, to have hope and trust in Allah and to be more steadfast in trying to strengthen their connection to Allah.

To rate how much I enjoyed reading Guilted, I would describe it as a 40 out of 50.

The author, without a doubt is talented, Allahumma baarik laha. And considering that this is her very first attempt at writing a story, I must say that she has full potential of writing many more.

Guilted: Wars Against The Past is not your average story, it's an extraordinarily amazing one.

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So how many of you are willing to add it to your library? I have! - Jasmin 🌼❤️✨

[Written by: @nooceeH (Nusi), edited by: @writer_muslimah (Jasmin A.)]