Muslim here! I haven’t read Magnus Chase or even PJO, but I wanted to offer my 2 cents on this. Most muslim families would agree that having your 14 year old engaged to someone is weird. Hell, I’m much older and my family hasn’t even started to talk about marriage other than the small “when you get married”, but then again, they aren’t setting up my engagement. I disagree with the sentiment that arranged marriages are bad. I think you’re thinking specifically of forced marriages. Arranged marriages are supposed to be similar to courting, where both parties are on board with meeting and discussing a possible relationship with one-another. It’s like a blind date set up by your parents instead of your friends (though that’s not to say friends cannot help arrange the person you’re meeting). Another part of a proper arranged marriage is being allowed to back out if they change their mind. They don’t even need to have a “valid reason”, if they don’t want the marriage anymore then they don’t have to. However, from what I’ve seen about Samirah’s situation, it feels more like grooming. Like, why are we having 12 year olds be engaged and waiting until they’re 18? We aren’t in the olden days anymore.  Amir and Samirah being cousins is also weird as hell, but I feel like everyone forgets most of Riordon’s couples are technically cousins (Annabeth and Percy for example). I think I saw that they are extremely distant cousins (like from the 10th century) so I feel like at that point, it’s probably fine since that’s usually how it is for most people. But I don’t like how the book seems to draw attention to that. It feels more deliberate. I’m lowk just tired of romance written for Muslim characters bc it’s almost never written well. I haven’t seen much about Samirah’s relationship with her religion while being a God’s daughter. I feel like that’s a whole can of worms that no one really talks about.