Puzzles from Another World: A Review of The Gauntlet

It’s Farah Mirza’s twelfth birthday, and her two best friends, brainy Alex and adventurous Essie, have come to her new home to celebrate. Her Aunt Zohra has brought over what everything thinks are books, but it morphs into a wooden game box. The entire Mirza family enjoys board games – most of all Farah’s impulsive seven-year-old brother Ahmad, who quickly rips into this strange game called The Gauntlet. Soon Ahmad vanishes in a maelstrom of wind and sand, and Farah and her friends must become part of the game to rescue him. In doing so they find hundreds of other children captured and imprisoned within The Gauntlet over the years, among them Aunt Zohra’s childhood friend whose disappearance changed her life.

In a story reminiscent of the classic picture book and feature film Jumanji, the children are transported to a fantasy world, which debut author Karuna Riazi describes in exquisite detail. Farah and her two best friends pass through a lively souk – an Arab market – and into the kingdom of Paheli, a land of both delights and terrors ruled by a tyrannical and capricious Architect. The children must navigate this ever-changing world and solve a series of puzzles to rescue Ahmad and return to their New York City home. Along their hero’s journey, they encounter helpers and betrayers drawn from the traditions of Muslim peoples from Morocco to Bangladesh, the latter, the land of Farah and Ahmad’s ancestors.

The Gauntlet hews closely to the classic hero’s journey, seamlessly weaving in cultural details from many lands – the food, the stories, the games, the celebrations, the architecture. Riazi’s lush descriptions draw readers into this world, where everything is tangible, exciting and terrifying at the same time. This middle grade novel is a fun read but also can be used as a starting point to explore further the many Muslim cultures embedded into the story. Adventures await!