Rashika, The Book Owl

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to love this book and how disappointed I am that it didn’t sweep me away. There are SO many things I love about this book but the slowness of it became a big issue for me.

Slow books can be a hit or miss for me. A Thousand Nightswas neither a hit nor a miss. I loved the beautiful lyrical writing, I loved the characters and I loved the world building. What I didn’t love was the lack of action. By now, you might know that one of my favorite things ever is action. This is partially because I am an impatient human (wait am I a human? WHAT?) but also because I become more invested in a story if there is something happening.

There isn’t a lot happening in A Thousand Nights. In fact, the most exciting stuff happens in the last 15% of the book. Do you think you can wait that long for the good stuff? Do you think that absolutely stunning writing, fantastic characters and breathtaking world building is enough to get you through almost 85% of nothing? I still don’t know the answer to this question and I already finished the book. I think what got me through those lulls was just the way Johnston built tension. There would be a slow simmer of tension and then suddenly everything would be boiling and then it would go back to a simmer.

Johnston does a fantastic job with setting up the world of this story. I felt myself transported across the centuries to this middle-eastern land. I could imagine the heat of the desert and the beauty of the palace. I could see Lo-Melkhien amongst this world suffering. The way Johnston weaves the story and brings the world to life makes it feel like you’re reading a folk tale. It makes everything seem so magical and compelling.

Overall, my main issue was that I just wanted the book to move a little more faster so that I could have been a little more invested in the story and what was happening to these characters. Also I totally wouldn’t have minded if there had been a little bit more romance.

Note that I received an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review