Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a delightful book. I picked this for #6, a story within a story, for my 2017 Reading Challenge.
Bookshelves: myth-and-legend, once-upon-a-time, retelling-a-classic, reading-challenge, women, ya
This is a perfect example of YA that is so well-written even adults will enjoy it. There is nothing complicated here, a clear and simple retelling of The Arabian Nights, with a new sub-plot and some new behind-the-scenes players. Notably we have Marjan, a young orphan girl with a crippled foot, a storyteller in her own right, who visits the palace by chance and becomes Shahrazad’s secret emissary to the world outside the harem, searching for the completion of this next, great tale — the one that can keep her alive for the next three nights, or every night ever after.
The descriptions are simple and true; I could feel the cool marble under my feet, hear the fountains, feel myself in the bazaar with the dust in my nose and the hawkers’ cries in my ears. The characterizations are wonderful, the intrigue just right for young ones and good enough for us older folk, the lessons about life and love and friendship and the power of words and love are elegant. The story pulled me right along and I was finished with it too quickly.
Join me on Goodreads: View all my reviews
99 Monkeys 