This is a retelling of the Thousand and One Nights, with our heroine being the legendary Persian 12th century Queen, Shaherazade. It’s incredibly mesmerising to read the story she weaves for her bloodthirsty husband Shahryar every night, in a bid to stop him from having her beheaded like all of his previous wives. I was not overly familiar with the source tale although I knew its rough outlines, and I found the setting and storytelling really beautiful and fascinating. Shaherazade is painted here as a strong willed and capable woman who volunteers to marry Shahryar to save others and with a political plot all of her own devising to cool his wrath. She’s clever and heartwarming as a protagonist. I’d be keen to read the original Arabian Nights now!

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, John Murray Press, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. It is out now!

This novel is the retelling of the 1000 Arabian night stories, the story of Scheherazade, who tells her murderous husband, Nike stories in order to keep her own life. The story starts quickly and you’re immediately enthralled and want to know more
It does tend to flip between the story she tells, and the life she’s living rather quickly, and it’s sometimes difficult to follow which section you are reading. As well as this, this stories themselves have numerous characters in them, and it’s quite difficult to follow them . I tend to avoid reading fantasy novels because of this difficulty following the different names, but I’ve chosen this thinking it was more naturalistic with the alternate turned out to be it probably wasn’t the book for me.
The novel drags in the middle all the different names really confused me and I nearly didn’t finish the book.
I read an early copy on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 6th of July 2023 by John Murray Press.
This review will appear on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon, U

A fascinating historical fiction read focusing on an era that I knew very little about. Engaging characters, a developed story and a whole new world to learn about.

I was fascinated by the story of Shaherazade and I found her a clever, fleshed out and intriguing women.
We knew the story or we thought we knew it. This is another way of looking at it and I loved it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

This is the story of the Arabian Nights, told via the perspectives of their narrator Shaherazadeh. In Ahmed's book she also takes on the role of storyteller, and we experience about a year of her life, which takes her from being a vizier's daughter, to a queen, and then to a destructor of kingdoms. The main narrative, that of Sheherazadeh's own experiences, is interlaced with her telling tales, often referring to the original Arabian Nights. Her own story is that of maturation, love, heroism, courage, friendship, loss, and betrayal.

The intent behind this effort is monumental. The author clearly had to do a huge amount of research about the kingdoms dotting ancient Arabia (from today's Uzbekistan to the coast of the Mediterranean). The result, on this front, is fascinating. It is full of credible detail come to life, with real historical figures given a voice (and a personality), the experience of traversing the Arabian desert described with precision, and even the local cuisines getting a mention. I learned a lot, and loved the historical fiction component of the experience perhaps most of all.

The author also did a fantastic job bringing in tidbits from the original Arabian Nights tales. There were many, short and long, and they all created fun, imaginative and thought provoking diversions from the main plot line.

I also liked the thoughtful take on early Islam, showing more complex aspects of it, including myth, the ambivalent status of women (and therefore their power), the ambiguity with regard to alcohol, the joy of sex, etc. There are of course many less savoury elements that were also described (subjugation of women, holy war, etc), but for me this effort had a more balanced and interesting perspective.

I did, however, struggle with this book. My main frustration is that the author was trying to do much, and perhaps show off her impressive research. I think of this book having three major threads - the historical background, the Arabian Nights symbolism, and, finally, the story of the protagonist and her life. While the first two were done well, the latter, the story of Shaherazadeh and her adventures, was not. This affected the coming together of the three threads of the story making it far less powerful than it could have been.

There were several issues, for me, with the main plot line. The characterisation of Shaherazadeh is perhaps the worst. It is almost as if the author could not decide if her character was a woman wise beyond her years with a tremendous storytelling talent, or an impetuous and imprudent teenager, straight out of a Jane Austen romance. I couldn't help but liking the Malik more than anyone else, as his character showed emotional depth, the pain of betrayal, the burden of governance, and growth over time. There is also a bigger issue here, as the women of the story come across as frivolous in the vast majority of the narrative, and their moments of gallantry are more at odds with their characters than in line.

I also felt that the author, having made such an effort to research the Arabian Nights, could have done better to tie the theme of each story her protagonist told (or her protagonist's protagonist told) to the main plot line. To me most of these stories provided a welcome diversion that helped me survive the main plot line with its petulant adolescent overtones. This was a missed opportunity, which could have made the entire book come across and more mature and well thought through.

I recommend to fans of historical fiction, especially that which tells the story of the Arabian empires in the beginning of the last millennium. If you like young adult romance, you will like this book even more.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.