It was my friend who got me started on the Princess Sultana trilogy after she read the first book and claimed that she was in tears by the end of it. I simply had to read all three books in a week, and I admit I was in tears by the end as well. The tears were not only due to sad plight of Saudi women, but also due to the realization of how great the story could have been if it had been told with more maturity. Maturity as a writer relies not so heavily on age, but on practice and hard work. Great stories take time to develop, and reading the Sultana trilogy gave me the impression that Jean Sasson was in a hurry to have one book published after the other, without giving attention to developing the characters or the plot.

Sultana's Daughters is the second book in the trilogy detailing the life of a Saudi royal whom the readers will know simply as Sultana, the Arabic word for Princess. The story begins with Sultana's family finding out about the publication of her first book, an act that could get Sultana tried for treason against her own family. Despite the severity of this situation, after their initial hostility somehow her family forgets about Sultana's misdeeds and there is no mention of it by any of them until the end of the novel. The book then moves on to Sultana's daughters, beginning with the older one, Maha. As a Westernized, music loving sort of teenager, Maha shares her mother's rebellious spirit and protests against customs binding women in Saudi Arabia. She feels a hatred for these overly religious ideas and, in one dramatic scene, goes as far as to state that a woman who believes in God is a fool. Sultana's other daughter, named Amani, is the total antithesis of Maha. She is staunchly religious, her Islamic fervor reaching almost to the point of fundamentalism. Unlike her mother and sister, she believes in the abaya and takes the Quran almost word for word to her heart and demands that her family do the same, much to Sultana's dismay.

With so much material to work with, Jean Sasson seems to jump from one subject to another like a rubber ball. In a relatively short novel, she throws in subjects like lesbianism, genital mutilation, prostitution, teenage rebellions and more. Instead of detailing the chapters to include these topics together, she makes one chapter discuss specifically about one topic, the next about another, etc. She seems to be trying to explain Islam in the East to people in the West by adding several portions of the Quran here and a saying of the Prophet(S) over there. For example, when Maha is shown as a lesbian in the first couple of chapters, the story doesn't describe what factors led her to accept her friend as a lover or why she so quickly gets "cured" of her lesbianism. Instead, Sultana describes how widespread homosexuality is in the Saudi kingdom and how Islam views it. Although it is always good to include some background information about a topic, it would have been better if Sasson allowed the characters to develop, which would cause the readers to understand them better and sympathize with them more.

Sultana's Daughters, as the title suggests, gives you the impression that the story was about Maha and Amani. Therefore it seems strange that, with the exception of a few chapters, the story is mainly a recycled version of the first novel, Princess: Behind the Veil In Saudi Arabia. In a sequence the characters are suppose to develop and the plot is suppose to change. Analyzing the two novels, you would come to the conclusion that, with some character additions and the fact that the characters are older, the two novels are basically the same. The narrator, Sultana, hardly seems different as a child in the first book and as mother in the second. Moreover, the plot is nothing new or exciting. The detailed explanations of the luxurious trips abroad, the expensive gifts, the lavish, and many times sinful, lifestyle accustomed to Saudi monarchy life is all recorded in the first book.

Another major drawback to the novel is the description of the supposed main characters, Maha and Amani. Although they are real people, I find it hard to believe and understand why Sultana's daughters take such opposing roles. Jean Sasson makes it seem like all teenagers in Saudi Arabia, or any part of the Muslim world for that matter, who like being Western like Maha are denouncing their religion. Similarly, Amani's overly religious ways make it seem like all practicing Muslims should hate and avoid the evil West.

The suffering of women, not only in Saudi Arabia but all around the world, is a topic that should be discussed and taught, but Jean Sasson's Princess Sultana trilogy sounds more like a whiny tale of neglect rather than a real, eye-opening story.

Recommended: No