The story was a bit dragged, Otherwise It was an interesting read....Thank you Netgalley for giving this eARC

I can’t describe this book in another word than beautiful. Because it truly is. Beautiful and magical. I loved the mix of history and magic and how slowly the story unfolds. In the beginning it was a bit hard for me to stay focused for that reason though. I wasn’t sure where the book was going and because it was so slow and detailed, it could not keep me for longer than a few pages. But once I decided I really wanted to read this book and explore its characters, I somehow fell in love with it. The slow pace radiates more of a tranquility you can float on, moving you forward through the story, than a boring piece of writing. The heat of southern Spain, the brutality of war, the innocence of the main characters. Everything is wrapped in such beautiful words, woven into this story at exactly the right points. I could imagine everything so well, the places, the characters, the magic. Oh, the magic. It was a thing of beauty, subtle, not visible for everyone. Perfectly integrated with history. It was a big part of the story but it never took away the focus from the characters and their relationships.

The characters were what pushed this story forward, not necessarily the plot around them. The book focused on the people and their development, from innocents fleeing a palace and becoming survivors who find ways to fight for their freedom, their love and the good in the world. All the while staying themselves. I also loved how diverse the book was, with characters of different sexualities, ethnicities and religions, all of them coming together in war and love and companionship. They learn from each other and grow with each other.

I really grew into the story. If you plan to start the book, please don’t let its inital slowness keep you away. It just makes the right feeling for this book. It just fits everything so well and I don’t know what else to say. The Bird King was a fantastic read with history and magic beautifully mixed up with strong, growing characters.

A compelling story from a harem slave’s point of view. This is the historical moment when Isabel and Fredrick unite Spain and finish extraditing both the Moors (Muslims) and Jews. Due to a poor background in history I was unaware that these acts occurred during the same time period, and with the aid of, the Inquisition.

Fatima dreams of freedom despite being the favorite of the sultan’s court. Her friend Hassan, a mapmaker, has the uncanny ability to add to known maps and make new rooms and islands appear. Together they attempt to run from the sultan and the Inquest to a place known only in an old unfinished tale.

3.5 stars rounded up. Actually would easily have been 4.5 stars except that the plot got a bit lost in the middle. But this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the story. It was beautifully written and the main characters were memorable.

To say this was not quite as wonderful as alif the unseen is not an insult, since alif was one of my favrite books of all time. I loved
The background of the Iberian peninsula and Fatima although a character in a fantasy was believable. I also thought that the plot took twists that wereboth surprising and reasonable.
I just hope that the Bird King will receive the attention it deserves. Glad to say that the cover art is first rate.

It's said that history is written by the winners. The Bird King by American Muslim G. Willow Wilson is about those who lost. Before Ferdinand and Isabella became the rulers of Spain, there was a long struggle in Spain between Muslims and Christians. As The Bird King opens Grenada is the only part of Spain that is still Islamic. The protagonist Fatima is a concubine to the Sultan, and her closest friend Hassan is the Sultan's mapmaker who also has an unusual paranormal gift.

The Bird King has been sitting on top of my Net Galley priority list since I received the ARC. Now I finally have the time to read it. I've been a fan of G. Willow Wilson's work with Ms. Marvel, the first Islamic female superhero. I also read her memoir, The Butterfly Mosque with interest. I couldn't wait to spend time in Islamic Spain with an independent minded concubine and a paranormally gifted mapmaker.

To begin with I wasn't too fond of Fatima's immaturity, but I recognized that she was seventeen and made allowances for her age. I liked her better over the course of the narrative because of her loyalty toward Hassan who is truly a remarkable character. His paranormal gift apparently results from a type of neurodivergence. He's also gay. Fatima is determined to rescue Hassan from the Spanish Inquisition when it arrives in Grenada with a Castilian delegation. They escape with the help of a djinn.

Fatima matures as a result of their journey which takes them away from their familiar lives into a mythical realm where I perceive them as eventually becoming lost to history as a result of a difficult decision that Fatima makes. I feel that this decision has highly ambivalent consequences. Many readers probably feel more positive about it than I did. I saw many five star reviews on Goodreads, but I have a more mixed perspective toward the resolution of The Bird King. I just wished that the ending could have been different.

Wilson creates an eerie sensation with her world and the charcters who inhabit them. The magic system in this novel is clear and genuine. The heroine and the villains both of a clear and deep motives. The world the author creates is astounding.

I found this book fascinating. The setting is uncommon. I don’t think I’ve read another recent book that focuses on a Muslim civilization during the Spanish Inquisition. I’m sure there are some but not that I’ve come across in the Fantasy genre. The setting lends itself to a book with rich description and detail.

Fatima is truly the star of this show. She is a concubine to the last Sultan in Granada and has been raised to be a creature of “love”. In reality she is a slave. She has been raised to be used by the Sultan, and while she is somewhat fond of him, in her heart of hearts she recognizes the truth of her situation. She is beleaguered but also a little spoiled. She does not know severe hardship, cold, or want. Now with the rise of the Catholic inquisition she has choices to make. Everything about her life, and that of her dearest friend stands in opposition to the new regime. Her life until now has been one of waste, her talents and abilities misapplied to the petty jealousies of court life. But if she is to escape a cruel fate she must reach out to grasp her full potential.

It’s a beautiful book. I noticed quite a few DNF’s and complaints on Goodreads in particular that the book is slow. I think that maybe this is because the readers were expecting a different type of book. This is not a book to speed through, and Fatima is not the usual “strong girl” that I think some readers are coming to expect from books. She’s not a fighter per se. There are some action scenes, but they are not the focus. The real action is in her personal growth and that of the people around her. I enjoyed the book very much and will be looking forward to reading more from this author.

Song for this book: Marrakesh Night Market – Loreena McKennit

This book was a pleasure to read – the beauty of the writing is what sets it apart. It’s poetic, philosophical while still having enough action in it to keep me interested.

This book is a mixture of magic and historical fiction, when the last emirate of Muslim Spain is about to be taken over by Christian rule – this book isn’t a judgement of religion, it treats religious beliefs with respect (within the historical context – the Inquisition was what it was, after all) and throws in some mythology and folklore for good measure. It creates an atmospheric feeling I’ve never encountered before and really enjoyed.

The main characters are fascinating, as are their relationships with one another – it explores the non-romantic love between two people who have been held captive their entire lives under different circumstances.

I found the pacing a little bit too slow for my tastes, but that’s 100% my issue rather than the book, and the whimsical final chapters weren’t quite as strong as I was hoping for – leaving room for interpretation by the reader, which isn’t something I’m a huge fan of.

This is a beautiful mix of character study, historical fiction and atmospheric writing – a perfect read for a quiet weekend.

The cover drew me and it proved to set the tone of the novel. Imaginative. Distinctive. The story follows Fatima, a concubine and her friend Hassan through a warn torn world. The story was a surprise but slow and it took me awhile to finish it. But the characters are richly designed and the description of the culture was fascinating.

Mini review:

DNF

Trigger warning: Mention of war. Up till the point I read.

I received this E-ARC via Grove Atlantic and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was really looking forward to reading this! I've read and enjoyed Ms. Marvel. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it.

I really enjoyed the friendship between the two main characters! However as I read on I started to lose interest. I didn't much care for the historical aspect or the war. I didn't care about the plot.

Overall this was a personal thing. I still recommend.

Very atmospheric but also very slow. Took awhile to feel like I understood what was going on, etc. The dialogue seemed a little stiff in my opinion as well. Didn't love it, the writing could have been stronger.

I'd give this book 3.5 stars for the sheer beauty of the first 2/3rds of the book. Fatima, a concubine, rescues her favorite mapmaker, who happens to be gay moments before he's taken to be tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. They're helped along they're journey by a singular talent of his, a literal ability to change landscapes and buildings just by drawing it, and by a jinn named Vikram. Chaos ensues in the 1/3rd, a map of an island is drawn and there's weird symbolism hinted at obscurely that I'm either too stupid to understand or was just truly pointless. The writing is lush, the characters are beautifully imbued with life and that's what saved this book because the ending was jarring and slapdash.

Advanced reader copy provided by Grove Press in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not one who is fond of slow reads but The Bird King truly was something different. I've read G. Willow Wilson's works in the comic book industry, Wilson does not disappoint in any form of literature. As I have said before, I'm not fond of slow reads but the writing style is just so vivid that it caught me in its embrace and pulled me deep into the story. The characters are all so interesting and the relationships between them are so unique that I can't help but love them. The plot starts off a bit slow but as the story progresses, so much starts to go on that I couldn't put it down. The ending really was something special and I love the message the book wants to convey. The Bird King truly is a special book filled with history, wonder, and religion that will capture the hearts of each reader as it takes them on a journey beyond belief.

4.5 rounded up to 5 stars

The book opens in 1490, during the ending of Islamic rule on the Iberian peninsula when Spanish forces sent by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand have arrived at the Alhambra palace to demand surrender. It really enhanced my enjoyment of the story's setting having visited the majestic Alhambra in Granada, Spain. This work is a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy with mythology, the best category which it fits in would be mythic fiction.

For fellow fantasy lovers, I would say it has the excellent characterization and compelling plot-line of Robin Hobb's works, the feminist boldness of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy and the allegorical poignancy of Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant.

The main protagonists, Fatima and Hassan, are consistent vividly drawn characters. Fatima, as a sheltered concubine born and kept in the inner palace, is a courageous spitfire fiercely strong woman who forges her own ground-breaking path in a world torn with war and strife. Hassan, I loved his cartographer skills of being able to create new places and landscapes out of his map drawing and his unabashed flirting with men. Vikram is a mythological creature of half-dog, blood-sucker and creature of shadows; his cynical sarcastic utterances were amusing and on-point.

Just like Ishiguro's The Buried Giant is not really about vanquishing the dragon, the quest for the Bird Isle and the Bird King is similarly tenuous and ambiguous. The Bird Isle may well have been Shangri-la, the fabled Shambala of Buddhist belief or Avalon, as the author herself mentions. It seems to represent a refuge that the truly desperate seek. Different groups of people (the Bretons, the Moors) have different myths and folklore about this place which Wilson illustrates beautifully. The identity of the Bird King is simultaneously clear and obscure - is it the one person specified or do we all have the potential to become bird kings? In addition, the reference to us human beings as 'banu adam' and creatures of mud and clay was illuminating. Through the story, I feel like the author is urgently telling us 'listen, we are all in this together, all these external differences of tribe, race, color, language, religion which lead to war, those don't matter, we all desire the same things.'

I feel the same about the last quarter of the book as I did about Wilson's last otherwise excellent book Alif The Unseen: it seems to spiral out of control, becoming bigger than the original premise but with no clear direction. Nevertheless, Wilson's prose is gorgeously evocative and addictive to read. Her created worlds straddle those of this solid known reality and the unknown. For instance, when she writes about the Spanish Inquisitors, it sends chills down my spine because of their documented inhumane torture but she also conjures up a mote that was in the eye of the Destroyer that has now infected the chief inquisitor. Wilson also fills a niche of writing Muslim-based literary fantasy which has been woefully underrepresented in the genre.

Highly recommended read. Thanks to Grove Press and Netgalley for an advance book copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I started this book with high hopes. I lived in Granada for a while and love it there, so I was familiar with the setting. It was so nice to imagine what life was like in the Alhambra at that time, and I was quickly caught up in the palace hierarchy. However, once the Inquisition arrived, I felt that the book lurched forwards at an unnatural pace. I realise that this was meant to reflect the haste of the escape, but it felt rushed to me. The jinn felt rather Gollum-esque, and the middle of the book spent at sea was boring as a result - it seemed too slow after that haste. Finally, I was disappointed by the ending. “It was inside us all along” was a bit of a let-down, and the mythology seemed fumbled. There were a lot of loose ends and revelations that didn’t get the ending they deserved. Nice imagery though!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

I feel fortunate that Netgalley shared a copy of this book with me. I thank them for this and greatly appreciate the experience of reading books before they are more generally available. This book started with great promise and I loved every word and most importantly, every character. It ended in a confusing muddle that left me confused and far worse, disinterested in the outcome and the characters.

I found the plot of this book was pretty slow and plodding I had to force myself to slug through to the ending which I found pointless. I felt the subject matter interesting but did not like the writing

Simply a magical book. The setting was perfect for this, and I liked the mix of various cultures portrayed in the novel. I can't wait to buy a hard copy for my own collection.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of a honest review... This one.
Sadly I DNF this book, I suppose it's my fault but there was something that really pulled me off, like this is far over my suspension of disbelief.
The writing style was really good but I didn't feel any strong attachment to the characters, in truth I Found the main character sometimes annoying.
I suppose this book will be appreciated by many readers, sadly not me.

I am very grateful for having received this e-ARC by the publisher and the opportunity to read it. However, due to technological and personal restrictions, I unfortunately cannot read the book in the format provided (PDF). Therefore, a review and rating cannot be provided at this point in time.