A Thousand Nights - Hardcover

Johnston, E. K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1484722272 ISBN 13: 9781484722275

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015

Synopsis

"A story threaded with shimmering vibrance and beauty, A Thousand Nights will weave its spell over readers' hearts and leave them captivated long after the final tale has been told." -Alexandra Bracken, New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds series 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.

About this title

About the Author

E. K. Johnston is a forensic archaeologist by training, a book seller and author by trade, and a grammarian by nature. She spends a great deal of time on the Internet because it is less expensive than going to Scotland. She can probably tell you, to the instant, when she fell in love with any particular song; but don't ask her, because then it will be stuck in both of your heads.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—This work explores the setting and central characters from the classic Arabian Nights: Tales from One Thousand and One Nights, adding a mystical backstory for why the Prince kills his 300 wives but spares the Storyteller. In this retelling, the unnamed heroine sacrifices herself for her sister, the most beautiful girl in her village, when the Prince comes to claim a new bride. When her sister builds a shrine to make her a small god, the protagonist finds that she can weave more than just stories, and as her time in the Prince's court grows longer, she finds her powers growing unexpectedly strong. The protagonist continues to survive thanks to the tales she spins every night and begins to discover the true nature of her husband's "possession." She uses this knowledge and her burgeoning abilities to overthrow the demon and his kin when they converge on her village to stop the growing rebellion led by her family. The author creates a mystical fantasy world set under a hot desert sun using an elegant, traditional storytelling style. However, the characters are not as well drawn as the landscape, and readers may not find themselves invested in their individual story lines. The plot draws to a very abrupt, predictable end. Teens who love the fantasy genre will be drawn into the world created here but may be disappointed by the story that takes place in it. VERDICT Not as strong an offering as Renée Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn (Putnam, 2015).—Sunnie Scarpa, Wallingford Public Library, CT

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1484722272
• ISBN 13: 9781484722275
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336