Book Blog!
Ok,
emmaco, I promised to try to blog more this year about books, and here goes! I read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.
Dashti, a mucker girl (of the herder people who can heal others through songs and thoughts) goes off to the city after her mother dies. She is trained to be a maid to gentry and goes to take her place as maid to Lady Saren. Boy, talk about your bad timing. She arrives, takes her oath to serve Saren, and walks into a horrid scene between Saren and her father, the King. She agrees to serve Saren even though the king has ordered that his daughter be walled up in a tower for seven years. Saren has refused to marry her father's choice of grooms, and claims she is in love with another prince. Off Saren and Dashti go, imprisoned with food and fire and a journal for Dashti to keep.
The story takes place in two parts; the first in the tower, and the second after. As I read the first part I got a little nervous. I wanted so much to love this book. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors ever since she visited Readerville and chatted with us about Goose Girl and Enna Burning. But the first part was so narrow--after all, there are few characters and the action takes place only in the tower. The book is told in first person, in journal format, from Dashti's pov. But once the girls are no longer in the tower, the story changes; evolves and grows along with the characters.
The world where the book takes place is fully-developed with a fascinating religion . The customs, law, and names of the countries are really different and interesting and the evil characters are chilling and scary. Dashti's way of healing was delightful to read about. The pov is interesting to me. All the action is described after it happens (since it's told in Dashti's diary) but it's still suspenseful and gripping. Quite a feat.
What would happen to a person who was walled up in a tower for years by her own father, with only one other person for company and comfort? Ms. Hale's retold fairy tales are always true to how normal people would react to the bizarre fairy-tale situations they are put into.
I enthusiastically recommend this one. My one, little, tiny complaint with it is that it is very much like Goose Girl, following very similar lines. But, why fool with success?
Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book:
"A cat can make you feel well rested when you're tired or turn a rage into a calm just by sitting on your lap. His very nearness is a healing song."
emmaco, I promised to try to blog more this year about books, and here goes! I read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.
Dashti, a mucker girl (of the herder people who can heal others through songs and thoughts) goes off to the city after her mother dies. She is trained to be a maid to gentry and goes to take her place as maid to Lady Saren. Boy, talk about your bad timing. She arrives, takes her oath to serve Saren, and walks into a horrid scene between Saren and her father, the King. She agrees to serve Saren even though the king has ordered that his daughter be walled up in a tower for seven years. Saren has refused to marry her father's choice of grooms, and claims she is in love with another prince. Off Saren and Dashti go, imprisoned with food and fire and a journal for Dashti to keep.
The story takes place in two parts; the first in the tower, and the second after. As I read the first part I got a little nervous. I wanted so much to love this book. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors ever since she visited Readerville and chatted with us about Goose Girl and Enna Burning. But the first part was so narrow--after all, there are few characters and the action takes place only in the tower. The book is told in first person, in journal format, from Dashti's pov. But once the girls are no longer in the tower, the story changes; evolves and grows along with the characters.
The world where the book takes place is fully-developed with a fascinating religion . The customs, law, and names of the countries are really different and interesting and the evil characters are chilling and scary. Dashti's way of healing was delightful to read about. The pov is interesting to me. All the action is described after it happens (since it's told in Dashti's diary) but it's still suspenseful and gripping. Quite a feat.
What would happen to a person who was walled up in a tower for years by her own father, with only one other person for company and comfort? Ms. Hale's retold fairy tales are always true to how normal people would react to the bizarre fairy-tale situations they are put into.
I enthusiastically recommend this one. My one, little, tiny complaint with it is that it is very much like Goose Girl, following very similar lines. But, why fool with success?
Here's one of my favorite quotes from the book:
"A cat can make you feel well rested when you're tired or turn a rage into a calm just by sitting on your lap. His very nearness is a healing song."