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| The Storyteller's Daughter: A Retelling of "The Arabian Nights" by Cameron Dokey |
Summary from Goodreads:
"In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. 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.
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."
Rating:
I haven’t read of the actual story of “The Arabian Nights,”
but being unaware of it was not a hindrance for me to enjoy “The Storyteller’s
Daughter” which is a retelling of that tale.
Cameron Dokey’s writing is quite invigorating. I was drawn
to story as soon as it started. The plot was simple enough and I like the idea
of having a story within a story.
This book started out with a very magical and mysterious
prologue. It was such a great way to introduce this story. It was followed by a
little background about Shahrayar’s family and himself. Then we move on to our
main character Shahrazad, who was every bit of what her mother was before she
passed away. She was wise, brave, passionate and a gifted storyteller. But
every gift has its price, so Shahrazad, as her mother was as well, is blind.
Still, that did not stop her from fulfilling what she believes is her destiny.
I won’t go into any more details at this point so I’ll move
on to what I felt about this book.
I’d have to say that I found this story really interesting.
Although I will admit, it’s not one of the most memorable tales I’ve read so
far from Dokey. I didn’t see myself laugh out loud on the funny parts but
rather just smiled. When there was despair I just frowned when I usually ended
up crying. There was humor, romance and uniqueness, but not much of a standout.
