ancers of The Dawn by Zulekha A Afzal begins with an oath that is intrinsic to the clan, “I hereby swear to uphold the light in service to our queen and will honour Amaar as a protector of our land, only unleashing my magic in the face of the enemy and in the name of peace and unity. With every sunrise, until my final day, I pledge my life as a warrior and a dancer of the dawn,” followed by a map of Amaar and its surrounding areas. As soon as one opens the book, one is drawn into the inescapable web of Afzal’s perspective. The writer aims to concretise her imagination into an everlasting world of fiction.

Afzal grew up in Cornwall. Her narrative draws inspiration from the dramatic coastline - weaving stories of other worlds and magic. She now lives in Bath where she studied English literature and creative writing. She completed her MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University.

She currently works as an assistant editor and enjoys ballet. The novel draws heavily on the imagery and power of dance. Right from the beginning, the author establishes her inclination towards the captivating world of rhythm and movement and shows her love for dance.

Praised by many, the novel depicts an epic high-fantasy world of magic unfolding with a charismatic tale of sisterhood. Once one embarks on the reading journey, a surreal world appears before one’s eyes.

The writer clearly believes in the transformative power of magical realism. The story tends to inculcate hope amongst its readers through the character of Aasira - in a time and age where intellectual inertia prevails. “Fire surges through me, a tingle that starts deep within and branches through my body as my magic takes hold. I look to the peach-painted sky as I spin in front of Hassan, his shouts bouncing off me as balls of shimmering gold dust form in my hands… Dancer…you should call me by my true name. I’m an executioner.”

The writer utilises her skills to rekindle one’s faith in the power of imagination and curiosity. Afzal has remarkably incorporated character names from a diverse range of ethnicities and merged them together in a tight-knit global community. The traits and powers associated with some of the characters in the novel bear close resemblance to characters from Greek mythology. “Slowly, the nightmares she wove for the villagers unravel from their minds and they wake, catching themselves unawares. Dazed.”

There are some strong and resilient female characters such as Queen Sana: the water weaver; Sahi Amin: a truth seeker and Aasira Bibi: a flame-wielder.

Afzal lays out a perfect prototype of alternate world-building for her audience. It is a perfect escape from the torment of everyday life and the shackles of mundane routine. Dancers of the Dawn is not just a story about a bunch of friends bound together and their tale of navigating through life - it is also a narrative of cultural assimilation and contemporary world-building.

“The Leharanji was an oasis deep in the desert, a place of study and understanding between cultures and beliefs, a space to learn of our land and those beyond our borders.”

The novel is easy to read and similar content-wise to the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series in terms of its ability to create entirely fictive, ephemeral and atmospheric space.

It is divided into thirty-nine chapters, which present an entirely gripping tale. From the title of the novel, it initially occurred to me that the story might be a ritualistic tale highlighting the ancient nature of performing arts. At its core, Dancers of the Dawn implicitly condemns war by highlighting its negative aspects.

“We’ve all been affected by the war in some way – a war started a century ago that has echoed through the decades in ebbs and flows – but we wear our scars differently.” It is still for the readers to discover what else the narrative reveals.

“After all, what can a first impression tell us about someone we have just met for a minute … by the very nature human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory that they deserve not only our consideration but our re-consideration and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them in every possible setting, at every possible hour.”

— Amor Towles

Dancers of the Dawn

Author: Zulekha A Afzal

Publisher: Rock the Boat, 2024

Pages: 270

Price: 16.99 GPB

The reviewer is a lecturer at the Department of English Language and Literature, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore