Book of a Thousand Days By Shannon Hale Release Date: Buy it Today! Bloomsbury Ratings Action Romance Characters Overall Purchase on Amazon. Purchase at Powell’s. Find independent bookstores.

Dashti trained to be a lady’s maid, learning her letters and manners, and wielding generations of healing songs to ease a bad temper or help a sore muscle. What she found instead was a scared young lady who was to be locked in a tower for refusing to marry the man her father picked. Dashti doesn’t know why Lady Saren won’t marry the lord, that is until she meets the cruel man through the waste hole of her new tower. The waste hole that’s their only glimpse into the world outside the tower, where they’re imprisoned for seven years.

When the lord Lady Saren would rather marry appears, Dashti rejoices, but Lady Saren won’t speak to him. Instead, for reasons unknown to Dashti, she forces Dashti to take her place and speak for her.

Stuck between walls of stone and her duty to her lady, Dashti does the unthinkable and pretends to be nobility. As the days and years go on, they will be badgered by the man Lady Saren is supposed to marry, a wicked man who has killed many and delighted in these deeds. Their food will diminish and Dashti will have to take her lady out of the dark tower and into the light, letting their adventure begin again under the harsh sun. She’ll have to wrestle with protecting her lady and the feelings that are beginning to grow in her, of love for her lady’s lord.

One of these best parts about this book was the ending. Without giving too much away, I was awed by how well the author wrapped up the plot. It was unpredictable, yet finished up exactly the way it should have. For most of the book I wondered how it could end; so much seemed against poor Dashti if (and when) she was found out. Happily, Hale worked out a believable fairytale ending.

This isn’t your normal fairytale. Personally, I’d never heard of the original Maid Maleen. Though after reading it, I can see where the ideas sprang from, but Hale pulls out her own story from this inspiration. The weaving in of Mongolian history and Genghis Khan’s (or “Gengie” as Hale liked to call him at the book talk [audio]) own history. A lot of fairytales pull from medieval history, but it’s much rarer to see the culture of a non-European country used as inspiration.

The modern reader might have trouble understanding why a maid/servant would look up to and hold their masters/ladies in such high acclaim, but Hale shows easily how Dashti’s culture sees nobility as offspring of the Ancestors (gods). Better yet, since this is a diary, we see Dashti’s thoughts, an evolution from thinking her lady can do no wrong to seeing her as a scared child who needs to be pushed to action. Dashti and her lady are portrayed wonderfully, in such a way that we see the full scope of a medieval maid/lady relationship. I love it when an author isn’t afraid to have the character act as they would of for their time and culture, instead of trying to make the modern reader relate to them by pumping them full of modern thoughts.

I know I’ve mentioned before that I’m in grad school studying publishing, and because of that I’ve started noticing the design elements of books. Before, I only cared if it was readable or not, but now I see the way design affects a book. One little detail about Book of a Thousand Days is that the text font is slightly scripted–it’s still clear enough to read, but there is a tiny bit of flourish that makes it feel like handwriting. You can’t use a real script font for large portions of text (look at the cover and think how hard that font would be to read for a whole book), but it’s a very nice touch for the interior design. Another great element is Dashti’s illustrations. That alone made it feel like a real journal.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 4 – This book was fast paced and involved more action than the typical fairytale retelling. Dashti has to actively save the country, not just play games in the background (not that I don’t love those books too). It felt especially action-intense for a diary.

Romance 5 – The main couple fit from the first meeting. It’s one of those situations where t’s so perfect, so right, but you know they’ll have a lot of challenges - that their society, culture, and world don’t want them to end up together. Even better, I felt like they were compatible and had a future together.

Characters 5 – Despite being a diary, every character jumped off the page as complex individuals. It may have been through Dashti’s eyes, but she was a good observer of the world.

Overall 5 – This is at the top of my “books I love” list right now. If you haven’t read it yet, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Extras:
Shannon has written lots of great books: The Goose Girl (my review), Enna Burning, Austenland, River Secrets, and Princess Academy. Her website is filled with information and her blog regularly updated. I also have the audio available for the recent book tour that she did with Libba Bray, as well as excerpts of where she talks about elements of Book of a Thousand Days on the extras page.

Plus, if you’re a fan of Shannon’s books, check out Little Red Reading Hood to find more fans!

If you’re like me and have never heard of the Maid Maleen, here’s a link to the tale. As Hale points out, the poor maid just kind of gets dropped from the picture, and I certainly like Hale’s version better.

Also, Mongolian history and culture play a large role in the environment of the book. So I went searching for websites with more information. Like always, wikipedia comes through for me, and has a good assortment of information and links to more about Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.

And don’t forget that I’ve got a contest going until Sunday February 17th for some signed copies of Shannon’s books.

Parents: 10+ As a librarian pointed out, Shannon Hale has never written a naughty word in her life. But still, there is nudity. OMG.

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