Book review 'The Variant' by Tanzeela K Hassan

Book review: The variant by Tanzeela K Hassan

Genre: short story


Okay so I just finished reading “The variant” by Tanzeela, I decided to read this because it was the shortest of four books she sent me… (Its a gift, I only paid for two the other two are gifts) anyway, so let's dive into it.


“The variant is an interesting story, I love the short story genre because of its ability to deliver a punch, it can say a lot in very little. Variant features several characters at the heart are our heroine Ayman and her two brothers Uzi and Zub…


The story starts with the disappearance of two boys Uzi and Zub who had gone to fetch food, and Aymen decides that she is going to go rescue her brothers… and she gets into an argument with her mom.


And she is like “whatever boys can do, a girl can do too”


Then the story goes into a supernatural realm. Where Aymen faces some really extraordinary fantastical creatures called Bazoras, and Wozorans, these are like wolves and fire-breathing dragon sort of creatures.


And I love that because I am a fan of the extraordinary and trying new things. I got through the story in one sitting and it had me hooked till the end. And the ending is very neat because it ties up everything neatly, so no loose ends.


One really interesting idea is the idea of metazorric dimension, a parallel dimension where you are your thoughts, you are whatever you believe yourself to be. I think it's an interesting idea that can be used in many ways.


And Aymen has to go through some sort of trials to rescue her brothers and she also has to learn some sort of spiritual truths. All in all, it's a very interesting story to read because it's startlingly original. Because it was some copied content I would have known right off the bat because like I am obsessed with literature.


Okay, they are a few things I didn’t like, first of all, the Bazoras and Wozorans had me a little confused, the descriptions are amazing, it's just the names confuse me because they sound the same. The other thing is there is sort of a subtle “preaching” going on in the background, that sounds to me a little anti-feminist, maybe it's just me because I lean more towards liberal and secular ideologies but it doesn’t affect the story. The story is good.


Tanzeela you should do science fiction you really have the knack for it.