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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I hold practically every version of this story that I read/see up to the mini-series Arabian Nights, starring Mili Avital and this book didn't do too badly. I was a little surprised when it showed the two brothers as friends rather than enemies. Very interesting twist.
A sweet retelling of this classic story.
A sweet retelling of this classic story.
I'm not the target audience for this book. Right now, I looked at all the wonderful reviews of this novel and wonder if the people read the same book I did. Maybe I'm too picky.
Go read any translation of nights instead of this.
I have problems with this book. The first is that the character of Shahrazad makes no sense. All of sudden she's blind. All of sudden she's a wonderful story teller who understands people even though she avoided people by locking herself in her room. By the way, Shahrazad, her sister, and her mother are the only good women in the story. It is very unclear why Shahrazad would do what she does (the mini-series was even better here). Shahrazad is perfect! She's wonderful! (I'm going to hurl!). Her step mother was evil, but that's okay cause she died in child birth when she gave birth to a girl.
Go read any translation of nights instead of this.
I have problems with this book. The first is that the character of Shahrazad makes no sense. All of sudden she's blind. All of sudden she's a wonderful story teller who understands people even though she avoided people by locking herself in her room. By the way, Shahrazad, her sister, and her mother are the only good women in the story. It is very unclear why Shahrazad would do what she does (the mini-series was even better here). Shahrazad is perfect! She's wonderful! (I'm going to hurl!). Her step mother was evil, but that's okay cause she died in child birth when she gave birth to a girl.
My favorite of the Once Upon a Time series, Dokey weaves many tales into one main story creating a highly enjoyable experience for readers. Told in an old style narrative, readers are instantly enchanted by the first line all the way to the last. A quick, easy read The Storyteller's Daughter is perfect for those who like the "happily ever after" with more to characters than meets the eye.
You will notice that it took me quite awhile to finish this book. It is not because I have disliked it (see my rating? Higher than three, i.e. I liked it). I liked it so much, that when a dark era began to come into the characters' lives, I dreaded it so much that I've avoided reading it until today!
I will be back to edit my full review ;-)
I will be back to edit my full review ;-)
All I have to say is wow.. The way the sotry is told, breaks the figurative fourth wall and truly feels as if there is a storyteller telling the story rather than the reader simply reading it. The characters come to life and their turmoil can truly be felt.
Our protagonist is wise and talented, but still has her flaws and that makes her all the more real.
Overall I just really liked it.
Our protagonist is wise and talented, but still has her flaws and that makes her all the more real.
Overall I just really liked it.
“What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?
And just as swiftly as her mind posed the question, her heart gave the reply: What I must. What I must. What I must.”
This quote is a perfect depiction of The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey and the Arabian Nights tale in general. This retelling follows the pattern of every other Arabian Nights tale, but it had a few small deviations that made it its own story. The intro made me want to set down the book and stop reading, but once I got past that, it was a very fast read. The intro began the novel with the ‘storyteller’ or narrator asking us if we were comfortable, how interested we were, and other things about us turning the page that made me very bored. The problem with intros like that is I wasn’t actually doing any of the things she said I was. So that fell flat for me.
The general story outside of the beginning was okay, nothing new. The hidden gem in this novel was actually one of the stories told by the storyteller’s daughter about a girl who wanted to save her father. That was a nice tale.
This book was very mushy and all about seeing each others hearts. For the unromantic out there, this is not the book for you.
And just as swiftly as her mind posed the question, her heart gave the reply: What I must. What I must. What I must.”
This quote is a perfect depiction of The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey and the Arabian Nights tale in general. This retelling follows the pattern of every other Arabian Nights tale, but it had a few small deviations that made it its own story. The intro made me want to set down the book and stop reading, but once I got past that, it was a very fast read. The intro began the novel with the ‘storyteller’ or narrator asking us if we were comfortable, how interested we were, and other things about us turning the page that made me very bored. The problem with intros like that is I wasn’t actually doing any of the things she said I was. So that fell flat for me.
The general story outside of the beginning was okay, nothing new. The hidden gem in this novel was actually one of the stories told by the storyteller’s daughter about a girl who wanted to save her father. That was a nice tale.
This book was very mushy and all about seeing each others hearts. For the unromantic out there, this is not the book for you.
Cute story for what it was, a once upon a time story. This is an Arabian Nights retelling. It was an easy fairy tale to read.
This is the story of Shahrazad who must weave a story every night to continue living. Its a story of knowing your own heart and learning to read the hearts of others. Her story is one of being unselfish and doing what one must. Sharayar is a hard character to like with his threats of killing all his wives and all that. While this was Sharazad's story I would have liked more of getting to know Sharayar.
There was a lot of build up to the Story within the story and while I enjoyed it, I do wish more time had been spent on the telling of the tale that kept her alive or at least what else was going on at the time.
All and all a good fairy tale retelling.
This is the story of Shahrazad who must weave a story every night to continue living. Its a story of knowing your own heart and learning to read the hearts of others. Her story is one of being unselfish and doing what one must. Sharayar is a hard character to like with his threats of killing all his wives and all that. While this was Sharazad's story I would have liked more of getting to know Sharayar.
There was a lot of build up to the Story within the story and while I enjoyed it, I do wish more time had been spent on the telling of the tale that kept her alive or at least what else was going on at the time.
All and all a good fairy tale retelling.
I think I have maybe read too many retellings of The Arabian Nights? I dunno, I think the story written was pretty good, had some fun and interesting parts to it, but the way it was introduced felt heavy handed. But it also was written in (gasp) the 1990s, so it was probably not quite so annoying then. I don't know if this retelling really brought any new life to Shahrazad, and I'm not quite sure what the point of the book was other than to retell it in a more accessible way for Western audiences to absorb it? But I didn't hate the book and the writing was well done. Their growth towards loving each other was believeable, though it doesn't really hold up to today's romantasy genre, so it wasn't quite as fun as it probably would be if it was written today. Probably a much better book when it came out that just didn't age well in the era of historical retellings and proliferation of romance fantasy today.