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A Thousand Nights
A Thousand Nights
E.K. Johnston | 2016 | Children
6
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Lo – Melkhiin is the king of the desert and has had 300 wives that have lived for no longer than a month – he has a reputation and all girls and women that are at a marriageable age are worried they will be the next one. No one is safe! No one knows what happens to these women and how they see their death it just happens.

The king now roams the villages for a new wife, a nameless young woman beautifies herself so that the king chooses her over her sister and the other women in her village and other towns across the desert.

Our nameless heroine is determined to live for more than a day, with her fearless courage and bravery she tells the king stories of the love she has for her family and the way of life.

First of all the cover for this book is beautiful, with a purple ribbon which is referenced in the story. It is one of the most beautiful books that I own.

So to the actual story itself, I have not read the original version of A thousand and one nights so unfortunately I cannot compare. The book is set in the desert, which you get a feel for but I don’t think it’s described at it’s best. In this book the female protagonist doesn’t have a name, actually pretty much everyone has no name apart from 3 people who included Lo-Melkhiin himself, which is annoying, I like to be able to have a name and then I can imagine what they look like.

The female protagonist is brave, courageous, stong and wise despite her upbringing, her and her sister have this indestructible bond between them, even though they are half sisters they are like twins and do anything for one another without question… its unconditional love.

Unfortunately I didn’t feel any connection with the characters in this book, it could be that they had no names or personalities whatsoever! It lacked in character development.

There wasn’t any romance in this book at all so if you’re not really a fan of lovey dovey this is the book for you. There wasn’t much action apart from the last 20 pages or so, if you’re expecting wars and fighting it’s not going to happen

The names that were used to describe her stepmum so to speak and grandfather was tiresome e.g. my sisters mother and my fathers fathers father got really annoying, I was literally rolling my eyes every time I read it (enough already) It took the enjoyment out of reading it for me, even if it is the way they speak.

I haven’t read a persian story folklore book before, so it was a new experience, the writing is very beautiful and the relationship with the sisters is done well. This was an enjoyable read but could have been done better.

I rated this 3.5 out of 5 stars