Scan barcode
A review by mariahistryingtoread
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
5.0
A Book of a Thousand Days exceeded my expectations in every way. I can barely begin to explain how phenomenal this was.
Let me start by saying I hate the epistolary kind of format. I enjoy letters within my novel, but absolutely hate when the entire book is just a diary and not 'in the moment'. So the fact that I adored this book is nothing short of amazing.
Dashti is a 'mucker' girl ie. a lower class citizen. Because of the mucker culture of healing songs she winds up being trained to be a lady's maid. But when she finally completes her training it just so happens to be when her lady, Lady Saren, is to be locked away in a tower by her father for refusing to marry the awful Lord Khasar. Feeling it is her duty to serve her Lady no matter what she agrees to be locked away with her for her seven year imprisonment.
The book is separated into two parts; before and after the tower. Dashti narrates the entire thing and the strength of her character is the largest reason I was so enamored. She is everything a heroine should be and in the future I'm sure I will be comparing others to her. She was earnest, steadfast, and honest. While she was naive at the beginning she never became annoying with it. Following her growth through their trials and tribulations was never boring. And it was so interesting to see how her opinions evolved over time based on what she had been through. By the end I felt as if I had witnessed a good friend of mine become the best they could ever possibly be.
And related to that the culture within the book is so well written. Some of the best parts were learning about Dashti's culture and as she encountered other ones getting to see her insight into the differences. Hale did a great job establishing not just Dashti's background, but that of the surrounding world as well.
There was romance and it was sweet and pure. It's hard for me to read a book and love the couple the entire time. Often times it will start out strong only for it to peter out halfway or fade enough that I become neutral to it. It wasn't so with this. It remained captivating the entire novel and some of the struggles were just the right amount of frustrating.
Small note that is definitely a personal issue than a reflection of the writing was Lady Saren. Absolutely hated her. She functioned as a great foil to Dashti and I understood why she did what did, but it was no excuse for most of her behavior considering what most of the people had to go through.
Overall, fantastic book. I am now going to read literally every other book Shannon Hale has ever written that's how good this one was. If I could give this book 10 stars I would.
Let me start by saying I hate the epistolary kind of format. I enjoy letters within my novel, but absolutely hate when the entire book is just a diary and not 'in the moment'. So the fact that I adored this book is nothing short of amazing.
Dashti is a 'mucker' girl ie. a lower class citizen. Because of the mucker culture of healing songs she winds up being trained to be a lady's maid. But when she finally completes her training it just so happens to be when her lady, Lady Saren, is to be locked away in a tower by her father for refusing to marry the awful Lord Khasar. Feeling it is her duty to serve her Lady no matter what she agrees to be locked away with her for her seven year imprisonment.
The book is separated into two parts; before and after the tower. Dashti narrates the entire thing and the strength of her character is the largest reason I was so enamored. She is everything a heroine should be and in the future I'm sure I will be comparing others to her. She was earnest, steadfast, and honest. While she was naive at the beginning she never became annoying with it. Following her growth through their trials and tribulations was never boring. And it was so interesting to see how her opinions evolved over time based on what she had been through. By the end I felt as if I had witnessed a good friend of mine become the best they could ever possibly be.
And related to that the culture within the book is so well written. Some of the best parts were learning about Dashti's culture and as she encountered other ones getting to see her insight into the differences. Hale did a great job establishing not just Dashti's background, but that of the surrounding world as well.
There was romance and it was sweet and pure. It's hard for me to read a book and love the couple the entire time. Often times it will start out strong only for it to peter out halfway or fade enough that I become neutral to it. It wasn't so with this. It remained captivating the entire novel and some of the struggles were just the right amount of frustrating.
Small note that is definitely a personal issue than a reflection of the writing was Lady Saren. Absolutely hated her. She functioned as a great foil to Dashti and I understood why she did what did, but it was no excuse for most of her behavior considering what most of the people had to go through.
Overall, fantastic book. I am now going to read literally every other book Shannon Hale has ever written that's how good this one was. If I could give this book 10 stars I would.