A Thousand Nights (A Thousand Nights, #1)

by E.K. Johnston

[Joséphine]

Note: I received an advanced reading copy from a local distributor in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Initial thoughts: This book, this book, this book receives a very solid 4 stars from me. Were I to compare A Thousand Nights to The Wrath and the Dawn as many a reviewer did, I would have to respectfully disagree and say that A Thousand Nights enchanted me so much more. It's 4.143 against 3.750 (yes, I use three digits after the decimal point because I average out all the various aspects that I rate).

A Thousand Nights is a very loose retelling that incorporates a lot of originality and mysticism. It conveys the notion of myths and legends extremely well as it portrays pre-Islamic beliefs through rites and prayers. Above all, the writing is beautiful.

Perhaps A Thousand Nights would do better if it was positioned as YA literary fiction. Then readers wouldn't expect conventionally high-laden plots with an infinite amount of twists. Yes, at the end I reflected upon the identities of the characters and noticed that I only knew the name of the king, Lo-Melkhiin. I didn't know the name of the protagonist, the name of king's mother, much less the names of anyone else. Everyone was referred to in terms of their relations — her father's father's father, her sister's mother (her father had married twice), her brothers' children, etc.

Given what I learnt in my anthropology courses, relations mattered a great deal to many tribes of ancient times up until today even, so all these nameless people came off as pretty authentic, despite my wish to know their names.

Do we really have to know someone's name to know someone? A name is but a label. Yes, an identity, surely. However, what do we become when we take on a pseudonym or change our names? We don't become lesser people. Our characters remain intact.

So with that, I want to submit to you, give A Thousand Nights a chance, even if so many have grieved that this book didn't sweep them off their feet. It didn't sweep me off my feet either but I developed a quiet liking for it in my heart. Not everything has to be a whirlwind to touch us.