Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Fantasy is not my chosen genre of choice. Thinking back to what fantasy I’ve read in the last couple of years, the only thing that comes to mind is Harry Potter and The Hobbit. But one of my goals this year was to discover a new genre, so I thought I would explore fantasy a little more. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale was doing just that. So I can’t really compare Book of a Thousand Days to other fantasy books (since my reading has been limited) to judge one against the other. But as I’ve seen this book everywhere in the blogosphere and not to mention that it won the Cybils for YA fantasy, it must be a par above the rest, right?
Having said that, I will say this, I quite enjoyed Book of a Thousand Days. Honestly, I suspected I would! What a cute story. Dashti, a maid and our narrator, and Lady Saren, her mistress are shut in a tower for seven years. Dashti keeps a diary, the Book of a Thousand Days, to recount the passing of time and unfolding events. I was so worried that the entire story would actually take place in the tower. But what adventures!
I thought Dashti was such a strong character. I don’t know how she kept her patience with Lady Saren, who I wanted to smack around a couple of times myself. I liked the way the story ended and was quite satisfied. Too bad I’m not familiar with the fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, as this was a retelling. There was probably so much that I was missing due to my lack of insight. But it was fun, it was cute, and I was Dashti’s personal cheerleader hoping that in the end, she’d get everything that we knew she deserved.
Visit Shannon Hales website. I still have Princess Academy on hold at the library. I’ve been waiting for over a month now. Hope to have it soon!
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Young Adult
Tags: A-D Title, Cybils, E-H Author, fantasy, LDS author, twisted fairy tale
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Have you read Shannon Hale’s adult novel, Austenland. I will be posting my review on it soon and found it to be a great book! I picked up Goose Girl which I plan on reading for Carl V.’s challenge. I will definitely give Book of a Thousand Days a try soon! Thanks for the review
on March 6th, 2008 at 10:39 amStephanie – I did read Austenland. It was a cute story. You can read my full review right here. I have Goose Girl on my TBR and am looking forward to it. I’m enjoying Shannon Hale. I hope to catch her at a book signing sometime in SLC as she seems to be out and about here quite often.
on March 6th, 2008 at 10:51 am[...] weeks) read The Kite Runner too, finishing her review a few minutes before mine. Plus she read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, The Absolutely True DIary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and Eat, Pray, [...]
on March 7th, 2008 at 7:01 amIf you want fantasy (good fantasy – there’s a lot of trash out there, and this genre seems to have more than its share), try “Tamsin” by Peter Beagle. Quite delicious.
on March 7th, 2008 at 7:43 amMum – I looked up Tamsin on Amazon. All the reviews were really positive! From what I can see it’s about a ghost cat? Sounds interesting and very odd at the same time. I may look into it more.
on March 7th, 2008 at 1:56 pmRead the original tale now, you’ll be amazed at how much she pulled out of it: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/b1000_tale.html
on March 7th, 2008 at 10:52 pmthe fantasy genre wouldn’t be my type of genre either but you have piqued my interest with your review. Thanks!
on March 8th, 2008 at 2:01 amI absolutely love Shannon Hale. If you get a chance to hear her speak, don’t miss it, she’s hilarious. And a great writer. She writes good strong heroines and beautiful descriptions. I think The Princess Academy is my favorite although The Goose Girl is a close second. Book a of Thousand Days is still languishing on the shelf. I must be waiting for a good fantasy challenge. Thanks to MUM for her suggestion of Tamsin.
on March 8th, 2008 at 7:09 amI read Book of a Thousand Days recently, too, and enjoyed it as much as you did.
As for good fantasy suggestions: Tolkien, The Gammage Cup by Carolyn Kendall, The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, The Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, and of course, Alice in Wonderland. These are the classics as far as I’m concerned, and if there are any of those you haven’t read, you’re in for a treat. (And I’m jealous of your being able to read them for the first time.)
on March 8th, 2008 at 7:48 amOh, I’m very sorry that I didn’t tell you before, but I got the book you sent in the mail and I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much.
on March 8th, 2008 at 7:49 amErin – Thanks for the link. I’ve been to her website but I missed that part. I look forward to reading it in depth.
Jane – Your welcome!
Framed – Princess Academy is crawling up my hold list at the library!
Sherry – I actually haven’t read any of those, with the exception of The Hobbit. Like I said, I never really got into this genre, but I want to start exploring it. Thanks so much for the great suggestions! I was thinking of A Wrinkle in Time this year.
on March 8th, 2008 at 2:45 pmI’ve seen this one around but wasn’t sure what it was about–thanks for the review! I don’t read a lot of fantasy, but I do prefer it to science fiction (bleh!!). Glad you liked it!
on March 11th, 2008 at 6:29 pmTrish – I haven’t read any science fiction myself. I don’t have the interest either. Maybe at another time in my life.
on March 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pmI think this is my favorite Hale book. I’m glad it won a Cybils.
on April 18th, 2008 at 10:51 amI just finished this one a few days ago. While it was enjoyable, I liked Shannon Hale’s other books better (The Goose Girl; Enna Burning).
I found the beginning of the book too slow (while in the tower), but the second half sparked my interest.
on June 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pmSherry – I need to pay more attention to the Cybils. Hmm . . . is there a challenge for that?
Nicole – I haven’t read The Goose Girl or Enna Burning yet but hope to this summer. Having just discovered Shannon Hale, I’m enjoying myself.
on June 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pmhey i love it fantastic job
on July 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pmGreat review. I linked you today in mine here. You are right, Dashti is a very real person to me and I love how she kept on even when she was rightly annoyed with Saren.
on July 15th, 2008 at 5:38 am[...] Shannon Hale has agreed to do an author interview this month on the Maw Books Blog. I’ve just read Rapunzel’s Revenge and will have a book review coming soon. I’ve got her Bayern series in the TBR pile, but have reviewed Austenland, Princess Academy and Book of a Thousand Days. [...]
on September 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm[...] out the Maw Books reviews of Rapunzel’s Revenge, Princess Academy, Austenland, Book of a Thousand Days, and my thought on meeting Shannon at children’s book festival, and lastly, the [...]
on October 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 am