This book is beautiful both inside and out, it is also one of those titles where I’m afraid to comment to deeply for fear of giving away too much of the plot and spoiling it. Suffice to say I read this in one sitting and have since re read it already.
Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed.

This book was really refreshing as far as the history and the lore. I feel like either books drag on and give you history lessons or actually show you what you need to see and this book did that. I was initially intrigued by the cover of this book and was not disappointed by the contents.
I would have preferred more of the magic world though as it is very rich in the historical content. It was also a little slow but still overall good.

I really wanted to like this book because the premise seemed interesting and I love Wilson's comic writing, but I just could not get into the story. I felt like we didn't get enough time in the beginning to establish the world of the palace before the characters went on the run and then things just got confusing from there. The story didn't make me care about the characters or their relationship. I was most interested in Luz and her relationship with Fatima, but felt like there were a lot of details missing about her that could have fleshed out her character. I did like that Fatima wasn't a typical heroine and had to adjust to life outside of her comfortable one in the palace, but I also found her annoying and repetitive.

The Bird King tells the story of Fatima and Hassan, of their friendship and of their journey to flee from the Spanish Inquisition. I anticipated this book would be filled with action, (which is the way I like my books!) but it was not. This book focused a lot more on the love we have for our friends, sacrifice, the choices we make and the inner journey one experiences on a physical journey. There were plot points, but they were not THE point of the book. Unfortunately because of that this book was not to my taste. For my personal enjoyment, this book was 2/5 stars. I've rounded up to three, because I think if a reader is looking for a literary/fantasy novel, this is the book for them, and it's a book that could be enjoyed by certain readers. I was just not one of those readers.

Try this book if:
-You typically enjoy literary fiction: books that focus more on the inner life of the characters and their development than the actual plot and things that happen in this book.
-You like fantasy/folklore and don't mind if your novels travel between "grounded in reality" and "mystical magical happenings." This book includes jinn (genies), talking and smiling animals, strange timelines (sort of like time travel, but more like time has stopped here but time still keeps passing there), and mapmakers with magic abilities. (If you need books that take place 100% in the real world, this is not for you!)
-You're interested in historical fiction from the perspective of the oppressed. History classes tell us the stories of the conquerors. The Bird King paints the Spanish Inquisitors as the villains (which is what they were) and tells the story of the persecuted. (This is something I loved about this novel!)

mainly knew G. Willow through her work on Ms Marvel and Vertigo, but this is the first of her novels I’ve read. And I love it.

It’s the story of a concubine and a gay mapmaker with mysterious powers that are caught up in the fall of Granada, and the reach of the Inquisition, and their attempts to make a life for themselves.

This is a fascinating and well paced novel that gets its hooks in you early and doesn’t let go. The characters are wonderful, the setting is one that is not normally explored in historical fiction, much less historical fantasy, and the fantasy is just a very practical and useful aspect of the story - being able to draw maps of places you’ve never seen before, being able to be unseen by being what those around you expect to see, things like that, with a touch of otherworldliness from the jinn. Most fascinating to me though is the use of stories in the novel, and how the stories we tell to each other shape us and our experiences, especially those that are passed on from others. There’s a line I can’t find at the moment but will try to find in the morning that talks about how all they have are stories from the people trying to conquer them, that really stuck with me.

Of particular note for me though is the big bad of the story, who is a white woman who is an Inquisitor, and while there is a story trope that is reminiscent of the Snow Queen/the Bible (the mote in the eye), but the novel makes it clear that while she is influenced by evil, the actions she undertakes and her beliefs are very much her own, and are absolutely terrifying. She looms over the story even when not there, and I have to wonder how having her in her headspace went for G Willow.

Get this when it comes out.

I'm having mixed feelings about this.
I loved the prose and the novel read like a middle eastern fairytale with djinns.
Fatima and Hassan's bickering annoyed me sometimes and personally I didn't feel like they developed much through the story. I liked the beginning a lot until it was a whole lot of running away, getting almost caught and more running away. I wished that Luz the Inquisitor was a bit more fleshed out and the ending was open and happened quite suddenly.
I feel like I'd read more by this author, but only would recommend this to readers who like a bit of a strange fairytale-adventure.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this wonderful ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I took a lot of time to finish this but that’s because I was so lost in the writing that I savored it for a long time. My first G. Willow Wilson book and it amazed me big time. I started it and thought it is a historical fiction about the Muslim reign but it turned out to be a fantasy and it was magnificent. The story is set on Grenada where the Muslim empire is on edge of losing his ruling to the Kingdom of Spain after 250 years of ruling. A royal concubine – Fatima escaped with her mapmaker friend Hasan who can drew maps of unseen lands because the Spanish inquisitor saw it as a royal threat. The story is about their journey to the land of Bird King which is a place of myth.

The author used the history of Spanish inquisition to the proper portion and though I had not enough idea of that particular period , it still feels right to be used as the background of the main story. What I really like is the research of Muslim history and culture. Wilson reflects the essence of Muslim culture and progressive ideas of that time which is usually and highly misguided and misunderstood nowadays.

Middle of the story is slightly slow paced and bugged me a bit as the last few pages are seem to be so rushed but overall the world building is excellent so I cannot complain too much. The characters of the book is very fun to read. I really like the djinn and Fatima. They are new and fresh and vibrant to be met.

The ending is a bit questionable but there are so many incidents happening in the book which are enjoyable. The charm of the book is the writing style. There are so many lines I want to quote only because of how the book is beautifully written. It would be more fun if the book stayed with the historical fiction theme because I enjoyed that part a lot.



My ratings: 3.5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers, Grove Press, for providing an advanced copy of The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson!

First of all, the premise: The Bird King is set in Granada in 1492, a period of time about which I know pitifully little, but was interested to know more. It's astonishing - and unfortunate - how little we learn about Spain during the time of Muslim rule. I don't think I even knew there had been Muslims in Spain until I was in my late teens.

It is 1492, and the era of Muslim rule is coming to an end, due to Isabella and Ferdinand who wish to create the Catholic nation of Spain - which, of course, means driving the Sultan out of Granada, the last part of Spain yet to be conquered.

It is here that we meet Fatima, the Sultan's concubine, and Hassan, the royal mapmaker. Fatima has lived in the harem all her life under Lady Aisha, the Sultan's mother. Hassan is her best friend, and he has the ability to create rooms and walkways from the maps that he creates. Together they tell the story of The Bird King from an unfinished old book of Lady Aisha's.

When a delegation from Isabella arrives, Fatima befriends Lady Luz, but soon discovers that she is from the Inquisition and that they plan to capture and torture Hassan, who is considered a sorcerer and a threat. The two flee in the middle of the night along with the palace dog - who, it transpires, is a jinn named Vikram.

What follows is a long and difficult journey across the harsh terrain of southern Spain, as they aim to find a boat that will take them away from the people who wish to torture Hassan. While I did enjoy their journey, and the constant scrapes they got into, I do feel it could perhaps have been shortened a little.

One thing I must mention is Wilson's writing, as it was absolutely marvellous. She is truly accomplished in her prose, which was rich and fascinating but never verging towards either dreary or flowery.

I also enjoyed the character of Fatima, who was often driven by her anger and who refused ever to give in, especially when the fate of her best friend Hassan was at stake. Hassan is another favourite. He is gay, and never does this conflict with his faith or his friendship with Fatima, and his own acceptance of himself was a breath of fresh air.

The Bird King was a beautiful book to read; I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, particularly historical fantasy. I enjoyed the characters we met near the end of the novel, and seeing them come together and the sacrifice a certain character made was wonderfully done.

I do feel, however, that the novel ended rather abruptly. I would have liked to have read a little more about what happened on the island, even if it was just one more short chapter or epilogue. As it was, I was left feeling rather bereft at the sudden ending; perhaps I simply didn't want to leave this world, and I find myself hoping that perhaps in the future there will be more stories set in this world of subtle magic and jinn.

Overall, I gave The Bird King four stars, because it really was a joy to read - especially, as the synopsis reads, it takes place in a world before the Muslim world and the West were separate. The characters were diverse both in ethnicity and faith, and it makes me wonder what could have been, had this divide never become so wide. The themes of love and freedom were well-considered, and this book has certainly left me with much to think about.

The Bird King will be released in March 2019, and I look forward to getting my hands on a finished copy. Thanks again to Wilson, Netgalley, and Grove Press.

Having recently reviewed a history of Islamic Spain, I couldn't resist this work of historical fiction. The best thing I liked about this book were the protagonists, whose predicament captures the reader's attention from the outset and holds on to it for the length of the book. I also found the historical details to be rich and mostly accurate. Overall it was a wonderful read.

Advance readers copy from NetGalley—
I downloaded this book back in September, and my only complaint about it is the formatting— it’s hard to read the paragraphs when they aren’t tabbed in, and some of the italicized words jumped lines, so it could be difficult to read in spots. I’m hoping a lot of that gets fixed before this is released.

However, I really enjoyed this story. It was great to read a story that features a strong woman and in that period in Spanish/Moorish history (late 1400s), with some magic and fantastical elements thrown in— magic mapmakers, jinns, and seers. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll enjoy this story too.

This book was absolutely gorgeous. Filled with lovely, detailed descriptions of the characters, the setting, and everything else, this novel pulled me in from the very first few sentences. It's worth noting that this is a fantasy novel that takes place within a very real setting (the last state of Muslim Iberia), making for some interesting bits of history thrown in with the magic.

The main character, Fatima, is so very strong, but not so strong that it gives the other characters nothing to do, and that balance is so crucial to how this story progresses and, eventually, meets its end. Each character was fully fleshed out and crafted into the story. Each character stood out all on their own, but the two main characters, Fatima and Hassan truly make the book magical. They were full of both strength and vulnerabilities, making them both utterly believable and relatable. I felt as though I was living these moments and reacting with them.

Touching on issues of freedom, consent, and happiness, this book managed to make both the fantastic journey the characters undertake and those social issues equally important parts of the story. The ending wasn't exactly a happy ending, but it was satisfying nonetheless, and I would've expected nothing less "real" from this novel.

The writing was amazing, the characters believable, the world magical, and the story fantastic. The best way to describe this book is a wonderful balance of everything you want in a story.

I loved this story and will recommend it to anyone who will listen.

I feel very conflicted about The Bird King. There were many things I liked, things I didn't like. While reading it I felt incredibly frustrated and when I finished I felt underwhelmed. The Bird King was beautifully written and well research and it was obvious a great deal of effort and care was put into writing it. But I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. There is nothing technically wrong with the story or the characters or the plot but it wasn't what I expected and wasn't for me.

80% of the reason I read this was because the summary said there was a jinni. And while there were jinn in the story I felt incredibly underwhelmed. If you read the summary and think this is a fantasy story it is NOT, or more so, if you go into it expecting a fantasy novel you will be disappointed. I'm not sure exactly which category this falls into, but I would consider it a historic fiction with fantasy elements rather than a fantasy in a historic setting. The characters were well written and authentic but they not to my taste. I found them incredibly immature and frustrating to read about.

This wasn't for me but not technically bad. I'm sure there is tons of subtext, deeper meanings, symbolism and allegory which I didn't understand. I think if you don't mind a slow plot, or the characters and like analyzing the symbolism in literature you will enjoy this more than I did.

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in 1491 Grenada, most of this novel reads like a devoted historical novel where the Muslim world is mixed with the Christian at a time when the Spanish Inquisition is running strong and the last Emirate is about to fall.

Fatima, the last concubine, and her friend Hassan, a mapmaker with the ability to open up doors to the Other, transforms this novel from a strict historical to an outright fantasy. But it happens slowly. The historicity of the world is rich and lush and it introduces the world of the Jinn and magic in pure magical realism style, later becoming an outright adventure to find the Bird King.

The old world has died. The only course now is survival. Perhaps happiness. But mostly, it's just finding a place to survive, and if it is with the help of the Jinn and all the creatures under Allah, so be it. Allah made all.

I liked the message at the end of the book.

I also happened to like G. Willow Wilson's Alif the Unseen a lot more. But that being said, there's a lot to love right here.

The year is 1491. Granada, the last emirate in the Iberian Peninsula, is losing its battle against the Kingdom of Spain. It is only a matter of time before the sultan finally capitulates to the Spanish monarchy and ends their dynasty’s 250 year-old rule. At the heart of the story are Fatima, a royal concubine, and her friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker who can draw maps of places he hasn’t yet seen. However, his ability brings him into trouble with the Spanish Inquisitors who view it as sorcery and a threat to Christian rule. Fatima helps him escape, and together they set on a journey to find the place they only learned from childhood stories: the place of the Bird King.

I am not familiar with either the history of Spain as a newly-established kingdom or the Spanish Inquisition, and so it was fascinating learning a bit about this particular time period; I also thought it suited the fictional setting of the novel quite well. The discourses on war, religion, and life in general are all thought-provoking, although noncommittal. The story gives off a philosophical vibe to it that doesn’t come out preachy and also integrates a bit of folklore or myth with its made up parable about a bird king, which is central in the story.

Though there are parts in the middle of the book that read slow and unexciting, it was a good thing something remarkable usually happens every time there is a dull gap. I first thought this was also more historical than fantasy, but reading along I realized the historical time period was merely a backdrop to highlight the story’s fantastical element, which disappointed me a little because as a historical fiction enthusiast I had actually hoped for a committed historical story. The last few pages seem oddly rushed, and the conclusion somehow fails to validate the plot and its historical element, but overall I liked the characters and the novel’s mature take on cultural and religious dissonance.

I love G Willow Wilson and her books, so I was all prepared to love this, too, and for the first half I did. I thought the world building was fantastic, the writing superb, and the characters really well drawn. It has some interesting, nuanced thoughts on friendship, agency, opression that masquerades as freedom, and complex relationships that contain both dark and light.

The second half, though, was puzzling. All the subtlety with the characters and the central relationship kind of peters out. Things feel like they're happening.. just because. Because the author decided they needed to. The same ideas keep being repeated without any real development to get you to the point where you actually believe them.

The story also kind of takes a left turn in the latter half that leads to a conclusion I found to be overall very unsatisfying.

Set in 14th century Iberia, The Bird King (which comes out in March) is a fable, steeped in magical realism. Yet despite its enchanting otherworldly trappings, it is primarily a novel of ideas. It grapples with who we are, how we love, why we worship, and why a world of co-existence—perhaps even of Convivencia—seems so far beyond our reach.

In prose so vivid and original that one can only read it with envy, The Bird King tells the story of Fatima, a Circassian concubine, mistress of the last Emir of Granada, and Hassan, the only person she loves in the world, a mapmaker whose homosexuality imperils his existence under the Inquisition. As the fall of Granada comes to pass, Fatima and Hassan are guided only by Hassan’s ability to make maps out of myths—what he draws comes to pass, a sorcerous talent that sharpens the eye of the Inquisition, and places a target on his back. Terrifying jinn, stalwart Christian knights, wayward monks, and others beguiling creatures are encountered along the route of Fatima and Hassan’s escape to the island of the Bird King. But this is really Fatima’s story—the story of a young woman whose greatest desire is the freedom to make her own choice. Without the Emir’s power to protect her, Fatima has nothing—is nothing, yet through the force of her convictions, she makes a place and a world for herself.

https://www.tor.com/2018/11/12/five-sff-books-drawn-from-neglected-histories/

[this review will be up on my blog, acquadimore.wordpress.com, on December 1, 2018]

The Bird King is a historical fantasy novel which follows a Circassian concubine in the royal court of Granada. It's a beautifully written book, and - as far as I know - also a well-researched one; it mentioned a lot of things I know from reading nonfiction about Genoese history (the Genoese were the ones who sold Circassian slaves to rich people, including Sultans - just one of the many awful things they did to make money).

Unfortunately, this kind of slow-paced, detailed historical fiction with just a hint of magic isn't my thing (I find it boring, but I think it's not in any way this book's fault), and I don't want to force myself to read something that isn't working for me. However, I do recommend it if this genre appeals to you - I think it's a very good book.

The writing in the novel is absolutely gorgeous with moments of great insight. The plotting, however, didn't do the writing justice. I loved the fairytale feeling and the magical realism. But, when the rules of the magic established in the story were violated, it broke the veil of the story for me. The second half of the book was not nearly as strong or engaging as the first for these reasons.

I received a free e-copy of The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson from NetGalley for my honest review.

Thank you G. Willow Wilson for this beautiful and enchanting novel, written with rich history. The writing is absolutely magical and rich with emotion. The kind of writing that makes you go back and re-read parts of it just for the sheer joy.

Fatima is the last sultan’s concubine in a kingdom falling down to the Spanish Inquisition. Her friend, Hassan, is in danger for his crafting ability of drawing maps. Hassan's maps can open secret passages for places he has never even seen. Fatima runs away with him and a Jinn. A story of love, friendship and culture.

I struggled at the beginning of this book, took me a while to get into it.
But once I did, I enjoyed the story.