Book of a Thousand Days in Into the Forest

May 25, 2011 Cara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, favorites, recommended-to-me, fairy-tales, 2011, 2020

Do you guys know that feeling when you just have finished an astonishingly excellent book? You feel full of life and understanding. It's why as readers we come back and back again and hope this will be the book that gives us that exhilaration. I guess it's akin to a literary high. This book did that for me and more. It deserves more than the five star rating.

Let's see if I'll be able to give a concise review without confusing people. This story is loosely based on an obscure Grimm fairy tale ( Do you guys know that feeling when you just have finished an astonishingly excellent book? You feel full of life and understanding. It's why as readers we come back and back again and hope this will be the book that gives us that exhilaration. I guess it's akin to a literary high. This book did that for me and more. It deserves more than the five star rating.

Let's see if I'll be able to give a concise review without confusing people. This story is loosely based on an obscure Grimm fairy tale (Hale mentions which one it is at the end of the book). The premise is that Lady Saren will be locked up in a tower for seven years because she will not marry Lord Khashar. Lady Saren takes Dashti who oddly doesn't mind this arrangement. She comes from a harsh background and the guarantee of having food for seven straight years while serving someone of royal blood? It seems like the gods have smiled upon her. Things start to look not so rosy anymore though, and Dashti and Lady Saren will be caught in a web of lies that will lead to an adventure neither of them could have seen coming.

The strongest point of the book for me was the character of Dashti. She is resilient, funny, caring, and loyal to a fault. The refreshing aspect about her is that she is definitely not your typical flawlessly pretty character. It's her spirit that brings forth her beauty, and that may sound cheesy but it's true. Like any other character she has her shortfalls, but comes to realize how stunted her view of things was. The author does an excellent job of weaving in the Mongolian setting and customs so the reader feels as if this is a real place. Since this is written in journal form we really get the mood Dashti's in and the progression of her and Saren's growth. Throughout we see some illustrations that aid in the storytelling. I imagine this would be a great story to read out loud. I LOVED Khan Tegus, and that's all I have to say about him because anything else I would say wouldn't even come close to describing his wonderfulness.

Shannon Hale has permanently become one of my favorite authors, she was already but now she is cemented, written in black sharpie, engraved permanent. Hale is more than an author, she is a bona fide storyteller.

I will have to retire from this review before I totally botch it up, but I want to conclude that the characters are lovely, the story enchanting, and displays the power of the written word. ...more

120 likes · Like · see review

Jul 22, 2011 Netanella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tales, young-adult, 2015-december-reading-challenge

Wow. I need to revise my opinion that I don't like Young Adult books, because I just read two excellent YA books in a row. Go, me!

"Book of a Thousand Days" is a fairy tale retelling, about a mucker girl from the Asian steppes of medieval Mongolia, who becomes maid to princess condemned to be locked up in a tower for 7 years. Dashti is the stronger of the two females, and she cooks, cleans and takes care of Lady Saren in the tower over the days. Rats invade the food stores, an evil suitor tries t ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2010 Julia rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ya, based-on-folksong-myth

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

2 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2009 Literary Ames rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, young-adult, read-in-2013, fairy-tales, fantasy, stand-alone, eastern-asiatic

Set in historical Mongolia (which I guessed - yay me!) based on Grimm's Maid Maleen (pg801 of The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales or read for free here). ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2010 Lesley rated it really liked it

Here is a story about a young serving girl who must use her wits and strengths to deal with the fact that she and her mistress have been locked up in a tower for seven years because her mistress refuses to marry a cruel king that her father has chosen for her. Hale builds beautiful stories based on little-known fairy tales, this one is based on Maid Maleen by the Grimm brothers. I like that her books are about strong girls and are for older teens and adults... we still need fairy tales, even aft ...more

Like · see review

Oct 20, 2008 JS rated it really liked it

This one is a retelling of a fairy tale I'd never heard of before. If you are a fan of this genre (YA fairy tale retellings), I highly recommend this one. Also, even though Princess Academy isn't a retelling, it's still in the same vein, and I think it's a must-read if you like the genre. ...more

Like · see review