A Thousand Nights by E.K Johnston - Restarting September 5th 2015

[Rachel]

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.

[Rachel]

Renee and I are reading this if anyone wants to join us!

[Rachel]

7% (view spoiler)[ wow it seems like women don't have much of a role in this society. it seems like all they're seen as good for is marriage (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

10% (view spoiler)[ they brush their teeth with sand?! That would be awful (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

19% (view spoiler)[ I'm not sure how I feel about this at the moment, it's got quite a slow pace, and it hasn't pulled me in. Lo-Melkhiin is odd too, I don't know what he is or why he only comes to see her for like half an hour on a night (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

24% (view spoiler)[ I don't understand what those powers are, and how she can see what her sister is doing back in the desert? (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

33% (view spoiler)[ im getting a big bored now, it's very slow paced and not much seems to be happening. every conversation seem to be about her sister which I find a bit odd (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

Renee +Tsundoku+ wrote: "Rachel wrote: "24% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I really don't know, it's a bit confusing! If she can see what her sister is doing does that mean the sister can see what she is doing too? really weird (hide spoiler)]

[Rachel]

Renee +Tsundoku+ wrote: "Rachel wrote: "33% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Yep that's my plan too! I haven't picked it up for a few days so need to force myself to read some more! Hopefully it gets better!

[Abi]

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Reading from the 5th of September 2015.

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[C.P.]

15%
(view spoiler)[I actually kind of like it. If they had names it would be easier to keep them all in my head, but it's interesting. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Chapter 10/27%: (view spoiler)[ I'm pretty confused at the moment. Does the protagonist have a name? I can't seem to remember one being mentioned since they all go by titles. I think the world itself is interesting but the powers stuff leaves me confused. What are those "vision" things she's having? How did she see what her sister was doing? What are those bits about something killing his wives? What was that glowing on her hands? I'm not following this story very well. (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

26%
(view spoiler)[These vision/dreams are odd. What do they mean? And what about the light? (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

My copy of the book from Netgalley sometimes has little sentence fragments where there are no spaces. It doesn't happen that often but it's strange and annoying nonetheless.

[Ashley]

Chapter 18/50%: (view spoiler)[ I'm not really liking this at the moment because I prefer my fantasy novels to have some sort of goal that drives the protagonist, but at the moment this book is just the protagonist hanging out at the qasr (which I assume is like a palace?) and somehow developing powers. I don't understand how her visions or how the "cold fire" works and I hope it is explained. Halfway through and I don't see any sort of direction the plot is moving in and I don't like that. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Chapter 27/76%: (view spoiler)[ I'm finding this too boring for my liking. There isn't enough excitement going on. I'm finding the whole fire thing confusing as well. What are the cold fire and the copper fire? What do they mean and why do they have them? I have too many questions and no answers. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashley]

Done: (view spoiler)[ The only part of this book I enjoyed was the end, where everything ended up okay for the most part. I didn't like that nobody has a name and that their was no goal besides "don't die" which is usually a goal in any fantasy novel anyway. I'm not familiar with One Thousand and One Nights so maybe if I was I would've enjoyed it better. I liked the setting of the book but the plot was rather dull for me. I'll likely be rating it 1 star. (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

My netgalley copy is the same Ashley. Luckily it's not all the time. Not sure I could handle that.

40%
(view spoiler)[I like this, bit time is passing so slowly. I don't really feel like much is happening. Some of the flashbacks are interesting, others annoying. Sometimes both. And the statue making is kind of creepy. (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

84%
(view spoiler)[The parts from the demon or whatever it is are really interesting. It's so different from the rest. (hide spoiler)]

[C.P.]

Finished. I actually liked it quite a bit, though it could have definitely been shorter. It wasn't great, but it was interesting. The characters not having names didn't even bother me too much, though it would have been easier to discuss them if they had.