All This Twisted Glory

The third installment in Tahereh Mafi’s young adult (YA) Woven Kingdom series, All This Twisted Glory (2024) combines romance, fantasy, and the rich world of Persian tradition to continue the series’ sweeping saga. The novel follows Alizeh, the lost queen of the Jinn kingdom of Arya, who is prophesied to free her oppressed people. As Alizeh comes closer to realizing her destiny, she is drawn deeper into the mysteries surrounding Cyrus, the supposedly terrible king of Tulan who is stuck in a gruesome bargain with Iblees, the devil. Alizeh begins to understand that she must help save not only her people, but also handsome and secretive Cyrus. The series explores themes of Cultural Heritage as a Source of Power and Conflict, The Complicated Cost of the Devil’s Bargain, and The Redemptive Power of Love through Alizeh and Cyrus’s navigation of perilous landscapes, political intrigue, and intense mutual attraction.

Known for her poetic writing, Mafi is the award-winning author of YA books such as the Shatter Me series.

This study guide refers to the HarperCollins 2024 Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, cursing, and sexual content.

Plot Summary

Just weeks ago, 18-year-old Alizeh was an impoverished snoda, or attendant, in the northern kingdom of Ardunia. Now, her identity as the destined liberator of the Jinn has come to light, throwing the world into turmoil. Jinn, who are made of fire, have lived in oppression for decades, forced to hide their magical powers to serve human society. When the mysterious King Cyrus takes Alizeh to the kingdom of Tulan, thousands of Jinn pour into the country to glimpse their queen. Meanwhile, Cyrus surprises Alizeh with an offer of marriage. If Alizeh marries Cyrus, he will give her Tulan to rule as a kingdom for her dispossessed people. There is just one catch to Cyrus’s offer: since Cyrus has made a dark bargain with Iblees, the devil, Cyrus must fulfill the conditions of his debt to Iblees. Afterward, Alizeh must kill Cyrus. Alizeh tells Cyrus she needs time to consider his proposal. What Cyrus does not yet reveal to Alizeh is that he is madly in love with her. For months before he met her in real life, Cyrus saw an angelic Alizeh every day in his dreams, visions planted by Iblees. When Cyrus encountered her in real life, he believed she was in league with Iblees. However, Cyrus has since learned that Alizeh has nothing to do with the devil or black magic.

Though the world thinks of Cyrus as a dark magician who has killed his father, as well as King Zaal of Ardunia, Alizeh is slowly falling in love with him. After briefly addressing the Jinn who clamor to see her, Alizeh follows Cyrus to a forest, where he disappears, summoned by the devil. For hours, Alizeh waits for Cyrus, but she turns back toward the palace when it grows too cold, fainting on a cliff near the palace. Meanwhile, Iblees torments Cyrus, speaking to him in riddles and showing visions of his father, King Reza, with his eyes put out. It is unclear whether the vision is a dream or Iblees really has the king captive. Cyrus’s conversation with his father reveals that Reza was the one who urged Cyrus to make the deal with Iblees.

Alizeh is discovered on the cliff by Kamran, the crown prince of Ardunia, and Alizeh’s friends Miss Huda, Omid, and Hazan. Kamran is in Ardunia to rescue Alizeh and avenge the murder of his grandfather, King Zaal. In This Woven Kingdom, the first book of the series, Prince Kamran was one of the first people to recognize Alizeh’s potential. Kamran believes the beautiful and clever Alizeh is a suitable bride for a prince of his stature. As Alizeh awakens, Cyrus returns from his meeting with Iblees. Eager for his revenge, Kamran shoots at Cyrus over Alizeh’s objections. Alizeh runs to protect Cyrus and is accidentally shot with an arrow in the process. Cyrus, injured himself, summons his dragon, Kaveh, telling the dragon to deliver Alizeh to the Diviners, or magic-keepers, so they can heal her. Cyrus collapses before Kamran and the others.

Cyrus’s mother, Queen Sarra, who hates her son for murdering her husband, invites the Ardunians to her palace. Though Sarra ignores the injured Cyrus, Hazan calls for help, and attendants take Cyrus into the palace. To Kamran’s surprise, Sarra tells the Ardunians that Cyrus and Alizeh are to wed. The decision is politically expedient, as it will bring peace between hostile neighbors Tulan and Ardunia. When Cyrus recovers and returns to the palace, he and the Ardunian group argue heatedly. Hazan demands to know if Cyrus is forcing Alizeh to marry him. Cyrus tells Hazan that he will never violate Alizeh’s consent. He plans to perform a blood oath, a dark form of magic forbidden in most of the world, with Alizeh. The oath will bind him to her, and one of its conditions will be that Cyrus cannot touch Alizeh unless she desires it. Cyrus explains that he will grant Alizeh the right to kill him after his debt to Iblees is paid, and Kamran senses an opportunity. As soon as Alizeh is well, Kamran plans to propose that she marry him after killing Cyrus, so the two of them can rule Ardunia and Tulan together.

During the four weeks it takes Alizeh, unconscious, to recover, the lovelorn Cyrus decorates the streets of Tulan with roses in Alizeh’s honor, while 70,000 Jinn gather in Tulan. Fearing a Jinn uprising, human factions rise against Alizeh, saying she is a harbinger of chaos. When Alizeh awakens, she learns of the Jinn waiting for her and rushes to meet them, despite warnings from Hazan, Huda, and Omid. As Alizeh approaches the crowd, her enemies throw magicked daggers at her. Hazan saves Alizeh and takes her to the palace in a carriage, accompanied by Kamran.

In the privacy of the carriage, Kamran proposes marriage to Alizeh. Kamran’s calculated plan to kill Cyrus shocks her. Kamran embraces Alizeh just as the carriage doors open before the palace. Cyrus spots Alizeh seemingly hugging Kamran, assumes they have reconciled, and leaves. Alizeh follows Cyrus to his chambers. She informs Cyrus that she has consented to marry him. Cyrus responds that they must perform the blood oath tonight.

Gathering Kamran, Huda, and Hazan as witnesses, Cyrus and Alizeh go to a cottage in the woods, where Cyrus practiced magic before he was expelled from the temple of the Diviners. The painful ritual drains Cyrus’s body of blood, which Alizeh absorbs so that part of Cyrus is in her. Hazan tells Alizeh that Cyrus’s recovery from the ritual will be excruciating. Alizeh wonders why Cyrus performed the ritual, since only the most desperate people perform such dark magic. Cyrus is desperate for neither power nor riches. As the novel closes, Alizeh vows to Cyrus that she will find out the truth behind his deal with Iblees and nurses him to health. Once she knows the truth, she will make Iblees pay for the horror he has put Cyrus through.