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Summary
Summary
"A story threaded with shimmering vibrance and beauty, A Thousand Nights will weave its spell over readers' hearts and leave them captivated long after the final tale has been told." -- Alexandra Bracken, New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds series
A dazzling retelling of Arabian Nights , A THOUSAND NIGHTS is a tale of family, love and power that would not feel out of place if Scheherazade herself were telling it. And maybe she is...
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. 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, back 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. Then 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.
Author Notes
E. K. Johnston is a Canadian author and a forensic archeologist. Her books include The Story of Owen, Prairie Fire, A Thousand Nights, Spindle, That Inevitable Victorian Thing, and Exit, Pursued By a Bear.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Inspired by the Scheherazade story, Johnston (Prairie Fire) introduces a nameless 17-year-old heroine who takes her sister's place as wife to a murderous king. Thanks to her sister's prayers-channeled through an original magic system by which revered ancestors become "smallgods" through the worship of their descendants-she acquires godlike powers while still living. As she struggles to survive her marriage and adapt to city life, she discovers that the king, Lo-Melkhiin, is possessed by a demon fascinated by her newfound powers. Johnston creates a memorable world populated by craft-obsessed demons who prey on humans by forcing them to create art even as it destroys them. The power of sisterhood, both literal and figurative, gives the protagonist the strength to stand between her people and total destruction. Though the ending is slightly rushed, the focus on female solidarity and worth in a male-dominated world, along with the ethical questions raised as the heroine's magic alters the course of her sister's life, make this a powerful read. Ages 14-up. Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The king has killed every bride hes taken, so when he comes to their village, the sister of the prettiest girl convinces him to marry her to protect her sibling. But she has a plan to survive and also gain the power to save the tormented king from himself. Beautiful lyricism and dynamic characters offset a slow pace in this Arabian Nights retelling. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
This fantasy, rich with layers of legend and meaning, will captivate readers ready to embark on an adventure spawned by the deadliest of threats. A girl sacrifices herself to the local evil king, Lo-Melkhiin (known for carrying off brides only to kill them in short order), for she believes that with some strategy, she can keep herself alive and save other girls from this hideous fate. We never learn the name of this Scheherazade, but she is capable of interesting magic and able to see faraway happenings as though she is there. Her biggest challenge, however, is to ensure her own survival, and, by association, the survival of all the girls the king might wed and kill. Johnston's writing is densely lyrical, evoking the legendary tales of One Thousand and One Nights, from which this story derives. While that may deter more casual readers, those that persist will find the nomadic cadence compelling and the texture of the unforgiving desert a fascinating backdrop to a story inspired by some of the most ancient folktales.--Howerton, Erin Downey Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-This work explores the setting and central characters from the classic Arabian Nights: Tales from One Thousand and One Nights, adding a mystical backstory for why the Prince kills his 300 wives but spares the Storyteller. In this retelling, the unnamed heroine sacrifices herself for her sister, the most beautiful girl in her village, when the Prince comes to claim a new bride. When her sister builds a shrine to make her a small god, the protagonist finds that she can weave more than just stories, and as her time in the Prince's court grows longer, she finds her powers growing unexpectedly strong. The protagonist continues to survive thanks to the tales she spins every night and begins to discover the true nature of her husband's "possession." She uses this knowledge and her burgeoning abilities to overthrow the demon and his kin when they converge on her village to stop the growing rebellion led by her family. The author creates a mystical fantasy world set under a hot desert sun using an elegant, traditional storytelling style. However, the characters are not as well drawn as the landscape, and readers may not find themselves invested in their individual story lines. The plot draws to a very abrupt, predictable end. Teens who love the fantasy genre will be drawn into the world created here but may be disappointed by the story that takes place in it. VERDICT Not as strong an offering as Renée Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn (Putnam, 2015).-Sunnie Scarpa, Wallingford Public Library, CT © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A loose retelling of The Arabian Nights frame story from Morris Award- and Kirkus Prize-finalist Johnston takes ideas of power and gender, belief and love, and upends them. Somewhere in the pre-Islamic Middle East, an unnamed girl narrates how, with the intent of saving her beloved sister, she sets herself against a king who has already wed and killed 300 wives before the story begins. Desert spirit Lo-Melkhiin (neither djinn or afrit is used but readers familiar with Arabic tradition will recognize the mythic wellspring) has possessed a king and feeds upon human creativity; he is also the only named character throughout the novel, a bold stylistic choice that shapes the entire tone. This is a story of the unnamed and unnoticed in which women's unrecognized power (from the prayers of the narrator's mother, sister, and sister's mother to the creative genius of women in the qasr, entirely overlooked by Lo-Melkhiin) provides the magic that defeats the demonic presence. Fueled by prayers and love (her family has made her a smallgod, or local deity, something usually done only after death), determined to stop the cycle of pointless deaths, the narrator tells stories that become truths, possibly including her own. Detailed and quiet, beautifully written with a literary rhythm that evokes a sense of oral tale-telling, this unexpected fantasy should not be missed. (Fantasy. 12 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
