Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, 306 pagescelebrate the author; genre: fantasy; young adult
Hale continues her marvelous fairy tales with this retelling of Maid Maleen. Her winning tradition includes picking a lesser known fairy tale and then reworks it after creating her own world, full of language, tradition, and folklore. I've enjoyed The Goose Girl and Princess Academy.
Dashti, lady's maid to Saren, gets locked into a tower with Saren for seven years after Saren defied her father and refused to marry Khasar, a Lord and leader from a nearby realm. Dashti keeps a diary of their days as they try to survive. Dashti is a Mucker from the Steppes with a deep tradition of singing and belief in their gods and goddesses. There is another guy around, Khan Tegus from another realm, and he tries to save Saren from the tower. So we have all the characteristics of a great fairy tale: evil man, good man, adventure, true love, animals, different classes, even werewolves! I particularly liked Dashti's folklore of singing and her way with animals and the fact that this was set in ancient Mongolia. I remember seeing a documentary on life in Mongolia and the ghers, the portable houses the Mongol nomads live in and carry.
I read this for the Celebrate the Author challenge. Shannon Hale's birthday is January 26th. Her afterward mentions a group at http://www.heifer.org/ where you can donate an animal to a family in need, an animal which can make a huge difference in their life.
I really liked this book. One of my favourites by her! I still have a couple more to read, though.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to get around to reading one of Shannon Hale's stories. Love the idea of celebrating authors for their birthdays too!
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen another review of this before. I love retellings of fairy tales. I'm going to have to check this author out. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this one, too. It and Princess Academy and Goose Girl are my favorites. Hope she writes lots more.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like just the kind of book I would love!! Since the kids are having a "snow day", I may see if we can dig out and get to the library!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know this lives up to her others! I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it...now I just need to actually get to it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only Shannon Hale book that I've read. I really enjoyed it and need to start reading some of her other books.
ReplyDeleteI discovered Shannon Hale for myself last year, when I read and was impressed by The Goose Girl. I plan to read the rest of her books, starting with Enna Burning. I'm glad to hear that this one is enjoyable, and will look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I'd been wanting to read this one so badly, but then it sort of went off the radar. Thanks for the reminder! I adored The Goose Girl!
ReplyDeleteThe author's books sound like they would be a fun read. I LOVE Heife International! One year we chipped in with some friends to buy a water buffalo for Christmas. That's just fun to say!
ReplyDeleteI have to read this author sometime soon. It sounds like she has a lot of good books out there. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI have been waiting very impatiently for this to come out in paperback and my wait is nearly over... I am really looking forward to reading it as I loved her Goose Girl serie.
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