The Storyteller's Daughter 04/02/2008

9 Comments

 

In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. His wife, with the help of her lover, had planned to deprive the king of his life. With her dying curse, she destroys his ability to trust and love forever – or so he thinks. Deeply hurt and bitterly angry, he vows never to be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king's plan to protect himself will endanger all of the realm's young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king -- and surrender her life. He planned to take a wife for one night, and one night only, unless she could learn of his heart and he of hers. If not, then the maiden would be killed in the morning.To everyone's relief and horror, one young woman steps forward. The daughter of a legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself. On the night of her wedding to the king, Shahrazad begins to weave a tale. Fascinated, the king lets her live night after night. Just when Shahrazad dares to believe that she has found a way to keep her life – and an unexpected love – a treacherous plot will disrupt her plan. Now she can only hope that love is strong enough to save her...

This book was very good but I wish it was longer. I wanted to know more about what happened in between the stories and what was going on in the king's head as he listened to the story as told by Shahrazad. The characters were very well developed and I was especially drawn towards Dinarazad, Shahrazad's little sister. She had to live with the fact that her sister's life was in the hand of a king she believed to be ruthless and cunning, which is also how Arabian Nights describes the sultan. However, as I read this book, the king's seemingly random outbursts were not unthoughtful, but evidence of the turmoil going on inside him. He fought with himself a lot because he thought that he loved Shahrazad but also had vowed to himself that he would never love again. It was a very deep story of love and hate, turmoil and peace, and grief and hope, all bound inside a rather short story. I would recommend it to a reader of any age.