Book of a Thousand Days

The second I finished this book, I wanted to TELL someone how good it is, so here I am!

Main character Dashti's voice is what makes this tale come alive, and in broader terms, Shannon Hale's prose sings. Pun intended--one lovely component of the book are the healing songs Dashti sings to her mistress Lady Saren and others. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly apparent, in an understated way, that the songs really are magic. I like the fact that the words of the small songs both do and do not seem to relate to the pains Dashti heals with them. These fragments of folk song and folk magic, tiny pieces of poetry, evoke images from the life Dashti remembers growing up on the steppes.

Which reminds me--what a wonderful and unique setting for this story! Medieval Mongolia with a dash of folk magic makes for a refreshing change of venue in today's crowded fantasy market.

Another thing I like about Book of a Thousand Days is that Dashti's evolution as a person who comes to believe she is as valuable as the gentry she reveres is so unforced that it doesn't seem like a device or jar with the culture Hale describes. Plot-wise, the early build-up might seem a little slow, but the oddity of the girls' being locked in a tower for years and the ways in which Dashti handles her imprisonment, not to mention the visitors (good and evil), make the first half of the book compelling in its own right.

The legal dilemmas at the end of the story form quite a tangle, but their solution is kindly as well as sensible, giving poor beleaguered Lady Saren a chance to finally come into her own. Saren is a strange character, but an intriguing one. It's nice to see her gradually emerging from her seemingly endless state of terror. Her relationship with Dashti also raises interesting questions about the sometimes uneven nature of friendship.

Despite its fairy tale roots, the romance in this story reads with such ordinary happiness that it, too, sings. The growing friendship between Tegus and Dashti is all the more sweet because she is so determined to ignore it (it's inappropriate!) and because their appreciation of each other is refreshingly real. Tegus is appealing because he's a person, not a stereotypical handsome prince.

I haven't even touched on how Dashti handles the big villain of the piece, but that's a great subplot, too. One last thing--I love the names of these tiny kingdoms, and the way they allude to a rich religious culture which ends up playing a subtle part in the plot.

Shannon Hale got off to a promising with Goose Girl, and she just seems to get better with every book!

Ok. So I've read every other Shannon Hale book. When I was 12, a friend of mine recommended the Goose Girl to me and I was not able to put it down. The day that Enna Burning was released, I made my parents take me to Barnes and I stayed up till two to finish it. River Secrets, though not as strong, was still very good. Now, the Princess Academy had the lamest plot in the world. It was guessable, and one could almost recite the ending. But I couldn't put it down. When the girls are captured by bandits, my heart was racing. I am almost embarrassed to say that I was so enthralled by a book with so little plot. That book took me to another world. Time flew by. Suddenly I was finished, and three hours had somehow passed. But it felt like two seconds, and I wanted the book to last forever. Shannon Hale is an excellent writer. She is a master of prose. But A Book of A Thousand Days, in my opinion, fell short of my admittedly humongous expectations. The plot was so extremely guessable. I knew exactly what would happen the whole entire time. I got bored of it. I was not drawn in . I did not experience the feelings of before. The girl is naive and immature, and the childishness of her journal entries galls me. It feels like you went on a roller coaster only to find out this roller coaster goes in a straight line at two miles per hour. I had to force myself to finish it. Maybe I am too old, at fifteen, to enjoy these books. But I don't think so. I still am in love with the Goose Girl. I just don't understand why I disliked this book so much. And then I come on Amazon and can't find one negative review. What are these people getting that I'm missing?

(This review is spoiler free. I don't even mention the plot.)

I have read quite a few good reviews of Book of a Thousand Days, by the wonderful Shannon Hale so I was expecting good thing.

It was better than I could have ever hoped for. It was perfect.

It was a story that made you forget every story you have ever read before. I had no idea what was going to happen with the characters--I was reading something new and raw, with no expectations. I read as if it were the only book that existed in the world.

Why? Because of Dashti. Dashti is the author of the book. The book is her journal. I usually end up understanding characters, relating to them, and liking them. I loved Dashti. I loved her as if she were my best friend, as if she were my sister. As if she were real. I've read many books and stories where the characters are real, but I haven't loved them as I have loved Dashti. I loved Lady Saren as Dashti loved her. I knew these people and I became a part of their world.

The setting was magnificent. Gone with the Western norm, this was set in a world based off of Asia. Gone was the cliched magic of fantasy books. It was Shannon Hale magic in its best: subtle, gentle, feminine, beautiful.

The voice and tone were Dashti. The words were so different from what many books are, but the newness and rawness of the words became part of me. There was beauty, and there was deep, deep sadness in the book. I have never read a book that so adequately portrayed the sadness of life and war--it could have been real. This never seemed like a word of fiction, ever, it was real. Instead of pretty heroines with feisty attitudes, the book offered something heartfelt, real, and full of inner beauty.

I love Book of a Thousand Days. Wow. Wow. Wow. Please read it. It isn't an enjoyable, fun read. It isn't something that you laugh through and are entertained. You do laugh, but it is the deep laugh that comes from sadness. You cry, but it is because you are happy. You see these characters and you join them and can weep for them, laugh with them, and rejoice with them. This book is what any book should aspire to be.

Hale has proved herself adept at finding obscure fairy tales and reworking them in mouth-watering new ways. Her latest offering is based on the little-known "Maid Maleen" by the Brothers Grimm. A lady and her loyal maid are locked in a tower for seven years as punishment for the lady's refusal to marry the man her father wants her to. The story details their imprisonment in the tower and the adventure that follows. Hale's version is told in diary format from the point of view of the maid--Dashti.

I finished this one with mixed feelings. The conclusion I came to is that I wanted more. There was so much potential yet I felt I wasn't allowed to scratch past the surface of things. I liked Dashti, but she didn't have to struggle that hard to get what she got. Or at least her struggle wasn't given the gravity it deserved. Lady Saren, who had quite clearly been driven mad by some atrocious event, was so wonderfully vacant and creepy. I wanted to get to the root of her madness. When I finally found out, it was appropriately weird but it wasn't given enough time or depth. I wanted more. More psychological exploration, more emotion, more pages in general. Her previous books are chock full of it and so this one came off a bit...flat. These comments aside, I always recommend Shannon Hale highly and I eagerly await the fourth Bayern book.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. It was a nice little read, but it just seems to be missing something. I love how it is written in a diary format, but the setting seems to be slightly dull and lacking descriptions at times. Having read 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World', which the setting was based on, for a world history class, I just can't help but to wish that the book was set more heavily on Mongol culture. I also wish it was longer. I finished the book in one night and once I had finished it, I no longer thought about it. Book of a Thousand Days wasn't a bad read, but I probably won't ever return to it.

I loved The Goose Girl and Princess Academy, so I had high hopes for Book of a Thousand Days, especially since I'd heard glowing early reviews. But it just didn't grab me the same way the other two did. Hale is a talented author, but I just didn't relate to Dashti. She is admirable, but almost to a fault--she doesn't have much depth beyond being smart and resourceful and self-sacrificing. I didn't dislike the book, and I would recommend it to younger girls, but I just didn't love it.

The first time I read Book of a Thousand Days, I wasn't entirely sure that I liked it more than The Goose Girl. After my second reading, I know for sure that Book of a Thousand Days is my favorite book of all times.

Based on the Grimm's fairy tale Maid Maleen, Book of a Thousand Days transports readers to the Eight Realms, a world inspired by Mongolia. After her mother dies, teenager Dashti receives the position of lady's maid to Lady Saren. Lady Saren, however, refuses to marry the man her father has betrothed her to, claiming that she is betrothed to another, and her punishment is to be locked up in a tower for seven years. Dashti chooses to accompany her mistress and records their imprisonment and their adventures in her journal.

Book of a Thousand Days starts slowly but very quickly builds up pace until it becomes hard to put down. The first time I read it, I read it slowly, savoring every word, but I still finished it in one night. Dashti's voice is very clear, and she is such an amazing character. Unlike many fantasy heroines, Dashti is only a maid and staunchly believes that she is inferior to the gentry. Shannon Hale is also such an amazing writer, and in just this three hundred page book Shannon Hale has created an entire, detailed world. I can picture the Eight Realms perfectly.

Book of a Thousand Days had the fairy tale quality of The Goose Girl, the darkness of Enna Burning, and the humor of River Secrets. The healing songs, too, were reminiscent of the quarry songs of Princess Academy, making Book of a Thousand Days into a beautiful combination of Shannon Hale's previous works while still remaining its own beautiful story and creative retelling of a little-known fairy tale. All in all, an absolutely amazing book, one that I will read again and again.

I read this book for hours at a time today - and when I would set it down, I could not stop thinking about it. I felt as though I might miss something if I didn't hurry back to it! Shannon Hale has such a gift with words and description. It's impossible for me to wrap my mind around how she sees things the way she does, but her stories are like poetry to me.

The main character in this book in particular, Dashti, is one of the strongest, most likable voices I've ever read. She invites you right into her world, and I wanted to hear more and more of her story. Very few writers could make nearly three years in a tower (the first half of this book) a finger-burning page turner, but Hale made me feel like I had a broom in my hand and was happily bashing rats alongside Dashti.

I LOVED the relationship between Dashti and Tegas. It was so genuine and sweet - so true to the nature of love. I couldn't get enough when they were together. And I'm not generally a cat fan, but My Lord the cat was one of the best sidekick characters (and storytelling devise) I've ever seen in a novel.

I can't praise this story enough!! Well done!! Hale's best novel yet, and that's truly saying something :)

This is one of the most realistic fictional accounts I've ever read about being a caregiver to someone who is emotionally and mentally unstable. What makes it fun is that the realism is packaged in a fairy-tale-turned-novel.

Unfortunately, the original fairy-tale, Maid Maleen, is rarely told anymore. It's about a beautiful lady whose father locks her in a tower for refusing to marry the man he chose for her. She awaits rescue, but when none comes, she up and rescues herself. And that's only the beginning.

In Book of a Thousand Days, Shannon Hale gives the story a few extra twists. Most importantly, the heroine is no longer the lady herself, but rather the lady's maid--Dashti, a mucker (the lowest kind of peasant). Dashti cooks, cleans, and plans for them both. She's the one who breaks them out of the tower, faces the villains, and (most difficult of all) cares for the childish, unstable Lady Saren with affection, humor, and patience.

As far as style goes, it's mostly well-written. Dashti narrates the story through her journal, and her upbeat nature makes for a fun read. I did feel that the dialogue sometimes got a bit awkward, but not enough to ruin the story.

As for the rest, of course there's adventure and romance, which I enjoy, but the part of the book that speaks to me most is the decision Dashti makes (and has to make again and again) to keep on giving, keep on loving, even when Saren's neediness has utterly drained her. That's the kind heroism and sacrifice I can truly admire.

I just could not get into this book, it would have been nice to provide a little more detail into the book or get into their emotions earlier in the story.