Read aloud with daughter; this book has strong main characters and a great mythology, along with excellent descriptions of the locales (New York, London, and Cairo). It is the first of a series, and we plan to dig into the next book very soon.

This story is mythological fantasy, with magic, but set in our modern day world. This element, along with what is clearly well thought out folkore of the djinn is excellent. I also appreciated references to other books - Tales from the Arabian Nights and [b:The Oxford Book of English Verse|199009|The Oxford Book of English Verse|Christopher Ricks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347624482s/199009.jpg|39907033]. The two main characters (twins) show excellent problem solving skills and teamwork. The supporting characters, while mostly caricatures, provide both knowledge and humor.

So why wasn't it awesome? The first part of the book felt very slow, with not a lot going on. If not for the humor and occasional in-jokes, we probably would have put the story down. Perhaps that was needed for the first book in this series - a lot of exposition.

Overall result, recommended!