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What Members Thought
Set in 1491 Grenada, most of this novel reads like a devoted historical novel where the Muslim world is mixed with the Christian at a time when the Spanish Inquisition is running strong and the last Emirate is about to fall.
Fatima, the last concubine, and her friend Hassan, a mapmaker with the ability to open up doors to the Other, transforms this novel from a strict historical to an outright fantasy. But it happens slowly. The historicity of the world is rich and lush and it introduces the worl ...more
Fatima, the last concubine, and her friend Hassan, a mapmaker with the ability to open up doors to the Other, transforms this novel from a strict historical to an outright fantasy. But it happens slowly. The historicity of the world is rich and lush and it introduces the worl ...more
A lovely novel about a friendship, flight from the Spanish Inquisition, and the search for a mythical land of safety.
I’m a huge fan of G. Willow Wilson’s Kamala Khan, so I was pretty excited to read this book. The writing is wonderful. There are numerous beautiful passages throughout the book, and I particularly liked the interactions between Fatima, the sultan’s concubine and unwilling slave, and Hassan, the sultan’s mapmaker. Hassan is more than a conventional mapmaker: he's able to create doo ...more
I’m a huge fan of G. Willow Wilson’s Kamala Khan, so I was pretty excited to read this book. The writing is wonderful. There are numerous beautiful passages throughout the book, and I particularly liked the interactions between Fatima, the sultan’s concubine and unwilling slave, and Hassan, the sultan’s mapmaker. Hassan is more than a conventional mapmaker: he's able to create doo ...more
A compelling story from a harem slave’s point of view. This is the historical moment when Isabel and Fredrick unite Spain and finish extraditing both the Moors (Muslims) and Jews. Due to a poor background in history I was unaware that these acts occurred during the same time period, and with the aid of, the Inquisition.
Fatima dreams of freedom despite being the favorite of the sultan’s court. Her friend Hassan, a mapmaker, has the uncanny ability to add to known maps and make new rooms and isla ...more
Fatima dreams of freedom despite being the favorite of the sultan’s court. Her friend Hassan, a mapmaker, has the uncanny ability to add to known maps and make new rooms and isla ...more
Nov 28, 2018
Viv JM
marked it as to-read
Dec 11, 2018
Justine
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Jan 02, 2019
Aqsa
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Jan 11, 2019
Navi
marked it as to-read
Mar 09, 2019
Amber (Books of Amber)
marked it as to-read
Mar 13, 2019
Icy-Cobwebs-In-Space
marked it as to-read
Mar 20, 2019
Gali
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2019
Jessica
marked it as to-read
May 29, 2019
Carrie
marked it as to-read
Oct 23, 2020
Juliana
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2021
Emma
marked it as owned-to-read
