ARC Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

Buy the book at 

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository

Author's 

Website / Facebook / Twitter

Book summary:

Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.
And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.
Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.
Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

         We can all take a moment and ask ourselves: "Would you buy this book based only on the cover?" My answer is yes, I would for sure. That's I guess how this book ended on my approved NG list. Anyhow, some things this blurb doesn't tell you. First of that it carries the idea of One Thousand and One Nights. While not a retelling, still too much of it rings a bell if you are familiar with The Arabian Nights.

         So, here we are with our main characters, nameless girl and I will simply call her "she". So she is a girl who is a potential bride for Lo-Melkhiin. She is not the only one, as her sister (the prettier one) is also in danger of being taken away by Lo-Melkiin. Only our main character being a good sister goes through "the ugly duckling" phase and transforms into a beautiful swan. After making it into harem she starts fight for her life. She uses her knowledge of storytelling and all the stories she herd to distract Lo-Melkiin from killing her. It then starts to turn into much bigger story and more complex than it seemed at the start.

         That all aside, I must say that this book is really weird. Don't get me wrong. I had a decent share of weird reads and all but this one is just "I don't know what to think of it" weird. While yes it's nicely written and certainly fast read, still pretty much pointless. You don't have any idea about the main character as there really isn't any characterization here, nor there is any romance to be frank. There is a great idea and all but lacking a way of connecting with it.

       I like to refer to this kind of books as "lost in translation" books. It was interesting to read, but still didn't give me anything to connect with and there was lack of any sort of feelings, which disappointed me the most.

Rating: 2.5 stars. 

Until the next time,

*NOTE: Copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review. Thank you!