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The Blurb On The Back:

It’s time for the Great Race of Azamed – the most famous magic carpet race in the world. Zal and Zara believe that only an enchanted Rainbow Carpet could possibly steal the prize, but perhaps such a thing is just the stuff of stories … The race is on for the pair to discover the magic behind the legends and weave the winning carpet, but will their enemy Haragan beat them to their dream?



Zal and Zara are two 12-year olds who live in Azamed, a city with a distinct Arabian feel that sits on top of an extinct volcano. Their fathers have arranged for them to be married, but they dislike each other. Zal is the son of a weaver, more interested in developing his sword skills and joining the city’s guards than the family business (despite his own talent for it). Zara is a rare rainbow magician (someone who can access magic linked to each of the colours of the rainbow) who is training at the local academy. They’re brought together to weave a six-colour magic carpet, which will then be entered into the local magic carpet race. Unfortunately their carpet is destroyed by Zara’s rival Haragan, who seeks to ensure that his own six-colour carpet (which he’s racing on behalf of the Shadow Society) won’t have any competition. Zal and Zara don’t have the time to make a new carpet, but if the legends of a Rainbow Carpet (a carpet consisting of seven colours) are true and they can find one, then maybe they won’t have to …

Kit Downes has created a workmanlike text, which races along at a fast pace and which has a plot that hangs together. However, Downes relies far too heavily on telling rather than showing – everything is explained and very little is left to the imagination. As a result, the novel lacks vital atmosphere and there are times when I really wanted the pace to slow down so that I could absorb more of the world that’s been created. The idea of linking magic to colours is interesting but never really explored or explained, which meant that the scenes involving magic lacked a certain credibility.

Neither Zal nor Zara really come alive on the page and are largely characterised by reference to their abilities. As the villain, Haragan is given more development and is more interesting in terms of his motivation and family background. The other characters are really there to move the plot along. It’s telling that the most sympathetic character is the dog, Rip.

The depiction of religion in the text is very simplistic. People in Azamed believe in either the Celestial Stork or the Cosmos Vulture. Everyone shown believing in the Vulture is a member of the Shadow Society, which is devoted to stealing, destroying things and trying to overthrow the Caliph. In contrast, those who believe in the Celestial Stork are shown as being decent, honourable and generally good. This overly simplistic depiction of religion made me uncomfortable and I think that Downes needed to show shades of grey on both sides of the divide because otherwise the message is that some religions are right and some are wrong.

I was also concerned with the depiction of Zal and Zara’s arranged marriage because there’s no discussion of the fact that they’ve been engaged since they were eight and this was arranged by their parents. If anything, it’s shown as being perfectly normal and the character’s behaviour at the end of the book, reinforces it as being a good thing. Again, it’s something that left me uncomfortable, particularly in how it will be read by younger children.

Given the language used and narrative style deployed, this is really a book that will be more to younger readers (8+) than older ones. Downes does give the book a neat ending that provides a good set up for the next in the series, but given the two issues I had with the text, I’m not sure that I’ll be continuing.

The Verdict:

This just didn’t have the spark or va-va-voom to make it a classic and the depiction of religious beliefs and arranged marriages between children is faintly disturbing. The book is the first of a series, but I’m not in a rush to carry on with it.

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July 2025

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