Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Lady Saren and her ladys maid Dashti, a common mucker from the dirt-poor steppes, are bricked up in a stone tower when Lady Saren refuses to marry the cruel Lord Khasar. Lady Saren frets and seems to welcome death, but the illustrious Dashti decides to keep a journal of their imprisonment in between her ladys maid duties. She also sings mucker healing songs to attempt to lift her ladys aches and complaints, often to no avail. All is dark and depressing within the tower, but Dashti never succumbs to the nightmares and mental anguish.

At first her strength is helped by the visits of Khan Tegus, the man that Lady Saren claimed she was betrothed in order to get out of the marriage to Lord Khasar. She speaks to him as Lady Saren on her ladys orders, and he helps her remember what it was like to be alive and living under the blue sky. However, it cannot last. Khan Tegus returns to his own realm, to be replaced by Lord Khasar, who slaps Dashtis hands against the tower walls and flicks fiery pellets at them through the waste door.

Dashti thought life within the tower with her sullen lady was hard, but her real challenge begins after they manage to escape the tower and trek all the way to Khan Tegus realm, to end up in his house as servants. Faced with an imminent threat of Lord Khasar and his armies, with Lady Saren too scared to do anything, Dashti must reach inside to find, within her simple healing songs, courage she never believed possible. Her actions may cost her her life, but it just might also bring her happiness she never thought was in her reach.

BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS is lyrical and, quite simply, lovely. Shannon Hales wonderful way with words flows out of Dashtis own pen, unobstructed. This novel was a sweet treat to read.