Title: A Thousand Nights.
Author: E.K. Johnston
Publication Date: October 22nd, 2015.
Publisher: Macmillan.
Genres: Fantasy, Re-telling, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 256 pages.
Source: ARC Provided By Publisher.
My Rating:
Lo-Melkiin killed three hundred girls before he came to my village, looking for a wife.
When Lo-Melkhiin – a formidable king – arrives at her desert home, she knows that he will take her beautiful sister for a wife. Desperate to save her sister from certain death, she makes the ultimate sacrifice – leaving home and family behind to live with a fearful man.
But it seems that a strange magic flows between her and Lo-Melkiin, and night after night, she survives. Finding power in storytelling, the words she speaks are given strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. But she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a King… if only she can stop her heart from falling for a monster.
Review
When I first read the blurb for A Thousand Nights, I was extremely excited – I thought the whole premise and idea behind the novel sounded brilliant. So I went into reading A Thousand Nights with rather high expectations even though I’d not read the original tale of Arabian Nights or read any reviews on it beforehand. I’m pretty sure this proved to be my undoing, as I really didn’t enjoy reading A Thousand Nights as much as I thought I would. I’m afraid I was only vaguely interested in what was happening, and as much as I was curious to find out what happened next, I just couldn’t wait for it to end. So much could have been done with this retelling, and it could have been crafted beautifully, and I actually feel really sad that I didn’t reading it like I hoped I would.
Our main protagonist is a bit of mystery, this is because we don’t know her name until the end of the book. I didn’t actually realise that she hadn’t been called anything other than ‘my lady’, ‘lady-bless’, ‘sister’, ‘wife’ and ‘daughter of mine’ until I was over half way through A Thousand Nights. The main character wasn’t anything special, or that well developed in my opinion, which was a real shame as I thought a lot more could have been done with it. The only thing I knew about her was that she had a high morals, which I actually really commended her for, she fought for what she believed in and wanted. She would literally do anything to save the ones she loved, unlike a lot of characters that say they would but never actually follow through, and I thought that was beautiful. Other than that there isn’t a whole lot else to say about her character, as nothing else is really given away, which is probably why I found it so different to relate to her character on any level which is a real shame.
Overall, I wasn’t keen on A Thousand Nights at all. There were many occasions where I wanted to just put the book down and not complete it, but I hate doing so, so I forced myself to keep reading the story. I didn’t completely dislike A Thousand Nights, as I believe the whole idea of the story is amazing, but I just didn’t get on with E.K. Johnston’s retelling of Arabian Nights. I’ll definitely be reading a different retelling of the storyline, as I own another, but unfortunately this particular one just wasn’t for me. I felt like I couldn’t connect with the characters, I was thoroughly confused on more than one occasion, and although I loved the whole idea of the storyline and the concept, the writing style and general pace of the book bored me. I hate to rate a book such a low rating, but I feel like 2.5/5 stars I gave it best reflected my opinion. Don’t be too discouraged by my review though, if you think you’d enjoy it, then you should definitely pick it up and give it a go. Just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it won’t be yours!
Quotes
It began slowly. One moving spark in a sky full of fixed lights, spiralling blue and gold, and then doused by the blackness of the sky. Not all of us saw it, it burned so quickly, but soon there were plenty of lights to marvel at.
I hoped my sister was watching. I hoped she did not fear the sight, but stood in the sand and watched this beauty with her strong heart. - Page 76.
They were burning up, and they didn't even know they were afire. - Page 107.
She was not of my kind, yet there was some power to her that was not human, not quite. She did not die, and I wondered if I might at last have found a queen for whom I could set the desert on fire. - Page 109.
Good men fall to monsters every day. Clever men are tricked by their own pride or pretty words. - Page 258.
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