A Thousand Nights

ISBN: 9781484722275
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: October 6th 2015
Number of Pages: 328
Source: Advanced Reader Copy
Goodreads 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.

My Rating:  

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"Lo-Melkhiin rode into the desert as a man, and he was something else when he came out." pg. 40

 

Very intriguing story that is reminiscent of the Arabic tale One Thousand and One Nights AKA Arabian Nights. In that tale, a king finds his wife to be cheating on him and has her executed. He assumes all women are like his wife and proceeds to marry a different virgin every night, having her executed the next day. Finally, there are no more virgins left in the city and his vizier's (high official) daughter offers herself. On the first night, the daughter tells the king a story but fails to finish it - thus promptly the king to spare her life so he can find out the end of the story. She does this for 1,001 nights. 

Like the Arabic tale, we have a king, Lo-Melkhiin, who takes a girl from each village to marry and they are found dead the next day after they marry. That is until one day he finds a girl willing to offer herself to save her older sister from this deadly marriage. We never find out the girl's name (the story is told partially from her point of view) and we actually never are told anyone's name, save for Lo-Melkhiin. The author doesn't give a reason for this but does tell us in the acknowledgements "Emily Meehan, who took me very seriously when I told her that no, no one was ever going to get a name." 

There is a mystical element to the story, as the girl has been made a smallgod from the shrines and prayers offered to her. This power allows her to battle with the demon who has taken possession of Lo-Melkhiin's body and mind. We have some chapters told from the demon's perspective that give us a little more insight into this strange and dangerous creature. 

The story is very well written and moves at a quick pace. I haven't read anything like it before.