Huge thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book!

I absolutely hate DNFing books, especially when they’re arcs, it feels a little rude to not finish a book I was given for free, but listen… I have been trying to read this book since I requested it back in September 2018. I’ve picked it up and tried to start it so many times I’ve actually lost count, and every single time I never seem to make it past chapter seven before giving up again so I’m just going to call it quits now.

Full (spoiler-y) review here: http://wmsreads.tumblr.com/post/183716524737/

3.5 stars

This book is not what I thought it would be - unfortunately in both positive and negative ways.

The first quarter of it reads like straight out of a fairytale. I was immediately immersed in the story, loved the setting and the characters and was so happy with reading about a completely new (to me) kind of place in this fantasy novel. The palace came to life for me and the story's the characters tell each other were just wonderful.
The middle half kind of lost me, though. I think it could have been a bit shorter and a bit more fast-paced as I lost interest at that point. I also didn't feel as interested in the characters anymore and couldn't really understand all of Fatima's and Hassan's relationship trouble and all that.
Afterwards, though, I was fully into it again and found all main characters very understandable and relatable. The fairytale feeling came back as well and the voyage into the unknown had unexpected twists and turns that certainly kept me hooked.

All in all, I found Fatima a wonderful protagonist and her story arc was quite beautiful, her relationships to others were relatively confusing though and I'm not sure why the book ended the way it ended.

In a long-forgotten emirate, full of decadence, religion, and holy war, one question is asked - what is love?
The Bird King, by G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel, Alif the Unseen) is like walking through an intricately woven, beautiful, dreamscape. With nightmares mixed in. Wilson's second full length novel mixes historical fiction, religion, myth, fantasy and magical realism in a wonderfully, delicate way. As an agnostic, sometimes I was left wondering if the nightmare creatures were the shapeshifting trickster Djinn or the fanatical human Inquisitors.

Set back in the 1400's, when the Spanish Inquisition is in full force and the Empire of Grenada is about to fall, we follow the escape and dangerous journey of two best friends - Fatima, the last slave concubine of her race, and Hassan, a gay cartographer with the ability to draw maps for places he has never seen, creating magical doorways. They are chased across the land by the Spanish Inquisition because Hassan's "sorcery" is a big no-no with the Catholic church. Yes, this means an epic expedition ensues.

The Bird King is jam packed with history and religion. Wilson has done her due diligence when researching. The images she conjures are rich and elaborate, and drew me in. I’m not normally an Historical Fiction reader, but I really enjoyed her writing style. There are multiple intricate moments where both Muslim and Catholic religions are overlapped, praised, and questioned. Neither is showcased as predominantly good or evil, and it's so refreshing. Every painstakingly developed character has their moments to expound on their Faith or question it. It makes for extensive introspection for our main character Fatima.

During her journey we see Fatima consider if she is Faithless. Being a slave, someone else has always been in control of her life. She has always been told what to do, how to behave, what to think and feel. She has never had the freedom to express her own opinions, as she has never had a chance to formulate them. The journey she takes with Hassan, gives her the space to consider how she really feels, who and what she believes in, and what’s important to her. Hassan on the other hand, has the most steadfast Faith of all the characters in the entire book. Regardless of the hardships he experiences, being a gay, magical map making sorcerer, regardless of the people he comes across who question him, he always stays true to his beliefs. His Faith in his God, and his magical gift, is unwavering.
While we're on the topic of characters, let's give a little shout out to the Djinn, Vikram, the slightly unwilling guide come guard to Fatima. His sass stole my heart. Wilson needs a medal for her beautiful ambiguous writing of his character. His dialogue is witty and funny, mixed with candour. His visage is a juxtaposition of ever shifting beauty and beast. He is often confusing, until you realize the wisdom he has just imparted. He’s so very, very clever.

There is a lot going on here and I must admit there were moments where it was a bit of a trek. It did feel very slow for the middle portion of the story, bogged down by a few too many descriptions of the rough land they had to traverse, or where their food was coming from and how they ate it. However, I most definitely felt it was worth the effort in the end. I was back to being fully engaged once I hit the last quarter.

I personally find the most intriguing aspect the discussion of love while actively downplaying romantic love. So many times, our heroes in story are aided or boosted to finally find themselves via the help of their love interest. There are several sex scenes and much discussion about sex in a matter of fact way throughout the book. There is also physical assault and failed attempted rape, when the Inquisition capture and question Hassan and Fatima, look out for those around chapter 15. However, the focus of the story is simply Love. Loving yourself, your best friend, your God if you believe in one, and attempting to treat those around you with love. I feel we could all benefit from being a little kinder to those around us. Sometimes that pure love and comradeship can spring from the unlikeliest of places.

I absolutely loved this book. The synopsis and the wonderful cover drew me in and once I started reading, I could hardly put this book down.
The writing itself is beautiful and, at times, poetic. Wilson knows how to use words and phrases to paint a vivid picture without getting too flowery or long winded. I found myself stopping at times just to re-read her writing. The world is gorgeous and is seamless between the real world and the fantasy world. The terror of the Spanish Inquisition was captured in a horrific way.
The story was fantastic, filled with adventure, friendship, history, magic, life-and-death situations, and characters that I cared about. Fatima and Hassan were both interesting and grew as the book went on. Even if I didn’t agree with them, I felt for them because I could understand where they were coming from and how difficult things were for them.
And the Bird King. I loved how it played in the story and how it was resolved at the end.
Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Press for a review copy of this book.

A classic archetypal tale with a solid historical foundation. The depiction of the terrors of the Spanish Inquisition rivals that found in any good volume of historical fiction. At the same time, the intercultural and gender identity portrayals are utterly contemporary. As the story progresses, it requires a bit of the fantastic to create a mythic setting for a resolution worthy of the characters and conflicts that have developed. Apparently Wilson is the artist for the job.

I really liked this book. I haven't read much fantasy with Muslim characters, and definitely never one set in Muslim Spain, and the setting is rich and interesting. The plot isn't fast moving on the whole, but it does have its action scenes.

The real gems here are the characters. Fatima is stubborn, loving, angry, naive, and clever all at once. She wants everything, and has no experience with anything. And she loves Hassan so much. Their relationship is probably among the best friendships I've ever read. The depth of their love for each other is put under such stress, forced to its breaking point and then back. The core of the story is really driven by Fatima's love for her only friend.

The villain is uncomfortably human while the jinn are uncomfortably inhuman (and also somewhat aggravating), which is probably what both villains and jinn should be. The writing is beautiful, which is also what writing should be. In short, it's a good book and I recommend it.

This was not the book for me.
I got really excited when I first saw The Bird King on my friends' reading list: It was about the Muslim Spain; set in Alhambra, it took place in Granada; it included friendship between two extraordinary characters: one, a concubine of the last sultan of al-Andalus and the other, a cartographer with special powers, who can draw maps of places that do not exist and make them real. It sounds incredible even as I am writing this review, but maybe because I got my hopes so high that it was a total disappointment for me.
This has been one of the slowest reads of the year for me and hopefully it will be the last. I am not the one, who gives up on books so easily, but this one really brought me to the edge. It was excruciating but I am proud to say that I saw it through the end and did not like it.
However, I have to give some credit the author, who know for sure how to use the language and play with the words. The book is full of beautiful sentences with meticulous choice of words, which I think is a unique ability but I could not enjoy them as much as I could have due to the tedious story.
(Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and Netgally for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for honest review.)

Beautifully written historical fiction that has a healthy dose of fantasy mixed in it. I enjoyed G. Willow Wilson's writing for her comics, so I jumped at the chance to read a full length novel from her. I wasn't disappointed.

I found this to be a interesting blend of fantasy and historical fiction, as we begin the story in Spain right at the beginning of Spanish conquering of Moorish lands in the southern part of the country. Fatima is a concubine of the last ruler of the kingdom, and friend to the slightly eccentric Hassan, the royal cartographer. They love each other dearly - with a deep platonic love that is the center of the book.

There's so much to like about this book, but like many high fantasy novels it tends to slow down here and there. I was prepared for this, but there were times during Hassan and Fatima's journey that really crawled. The lush scenery and complex characters make up for it, though.

This is a fantasy that I recommend to non fantasy readers, too. The fantasy elements are there, what with Hassan's unique abilities and one character being an actual jinn, but the focus is on the characters, their relationships to each other, and the explorations of the many meanings of love. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Content Warning: Death, Slavery, Harem, Torture, Violence, Attempted Rape, Alcoholism, Religious Persecution/War, Adult Content

This review may contain spoilers!

”Long ago, all the birds of the world began to forget their history and their language because they had been leaderless for so long. So a brave few sought out the king of the birds, a king in hiding--the wisest and greatest of all kings, living on the island of Qaf in the Dark Sea beneath the shadow of a great mountain. Waiting for those with the courage to seek him.”

I’m not really sure what I just read. I’ve read books that have simply floored me, and left me with a similar initial sentiment. They were books that called for me to mull them over for a period of time after turning the final page because there was so much to digest. The Bird King, however, doesn’t relate. I literally don’t know what I read. I've had time to ruminate on it, yet, little has become more clear.

She was the last reminder of a time of prosperity, when pretty girls could be had from Italian slave merchants for unearthly sums; there had been no money and no victories since.

Despite my previous statement, this book had a strong start. The first quarter of it drew me in like a sponge with the world building and coherency. Fatima, a young, beautiful girl, is the last Circassian concubine to the last sultan of Granada in the Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal). She is long friends with the royal and uncanny cartographer, Hassan. It’s no secret that his map-making skills are more than ordinary ink on parchment, which ultimately, is the reason for the start of their long quest. Set in 1491, during the Spanish Reconquista, the sultan informs Fatima that their country is on the brink of ruin. With armies from Castile and Aragon pressing in, supplies being cut off, and money running out, the small Muslim empire soon would become extinct. Shortly after this information is divulged, Christian visitors under a banner of peace arrive at the palace, for reasons not fully disclosed.

Fatima soon becomes warm acquaintances with Luz, an emissary, so-to-speak from the newly-formed country of Spain.

”She’s very clever, this Queen Isabella of Spain--or if she isn’t, there are very clever people advising her. I assumed the general was their hawk--that they went their military man to bully our military men. But they know us better than we know ourselves, it seems. They know my son does not love his viziers or his generals. The people he loves are here, in the harem. They sent their dove to the men. The hawk, they have sent to us.”

Shortly after, Fatima discovers that Luz is actually from the Inquisition, which marks the fall of security for her and her special map-making friend. Deemed a sorcerer for his abilities, Fatima helps Hassan flee beneath the palace to escape the Inquisition.

A lot happens after this point. The book itself feels like it’s split into three parts--the beginning, a long voyage, and the mystical war in the end. It also starts off feeling like a historical fiction, then completely transforms into fantasy story as it nears the end. Personally, I thought it felt disjointed. The more the plot progressed, the less it also made sense.

I really enjoy reading about folklore and fairy tales from different cultures. With doing this, however, I’m more susceptible to be ignorant to intimate details when it comes to unfamiliar lore--which is what happened in this instance. After completing this book, I ended up looking up some of the different aspects represented.

"As I've told you, no one living has ever set foot on that island. It's a story they tell in church to seagoing people who need to believe there's something left once they've lost sight of land."

According to legend, Roc is a giant eagle, referred to here as the bird king that only lands on Mount Qaf, which is where Fatima and Hassan travel to. Roc is often seen in sailor folklore, in particular, Sinbad the Sailor’s tale. Mount Qaf is the highest mountain in Arabic tradition and referred to as the farthest point of the Earth, assumed to be the North Pole. Jinn, and other odd...things...appear, and aren’t ever really explained.

"If you run from this thing, you’ll set it loose. It will lodge in your bloodstream like a splinter and you’ll carry it all your days. It’s too big for that, thought Fatima, half to herself. It’s small said the dog-man. It’s very small. It began as a mote in the eye of the Deceiver. Keep your back straight and don’t look away."

I understand that not everything about folklore will be thoroughly dissected in a book, and I don’t necessarily want it to be. But, these things do require some sort of explanation as to how they fit into the story. This mote? This...thing...that flees from underground and preys upon one of the characters is a missed opportunity, I believe. I never fully understood what it was.

Another area that I had difficulty with were some inconsistencies that presented themselves. Both of them resided with the character of the Monk, Gwennec. First was the vernacular. About halfway through the story, Fatima and Hassan are thrown together with a Christian monk. This monk, however amiable a person at first, sort of ruined the sense of setting for me. His vernacular, and ridiculous use of vulgarity, were not only totally unnecessary, but entirely contradictory. I don’t know whether this was to prove a point, but I found the way he spoke--general vulgarity and using the Lord’s name in vain many a times--to completely derail the setting and his sense of station. Which leads me to my second point--what his character was trying to prove. I don’t fully understand what Gwennec’s point or representation was. Certainly, the Inquisition during this time was supposed to be for good, but wasn’t exactly good. Violence to win over territory and people to Christianity wasn’t a good technique. To say it plainly, Gwennec’s character, and much of this book, heavily focused on pushing boundaries.

”You’re always so angry,” he said. “I don’t understand. You have pretty clothes, entertainments, food when others go hungry. You have the love of a sultan. What else could you possibly want?” Fatima licked the dry, taut line of her lips.
“To be sultan,” she said.

The relentless push of feminism in general just gets old. Don’t mistake me, I get that Fatima would want to be out of a harem--I have no issues with that. It’s the want and desire to completely replace men in any position as “women must conquer all” that strikes me as simply unfeminine. It’s a message that is being broadcasted loud and clear, and one that I don’t agree with. This message becomes most ridiculous when towards the end of the book, Fatmina is designated as “the Bird King,” which--why? Not only that, but how? It’s never explained clearly. Why can’t she just be queen of the birds? I don’t know.

In the end, some “redemption” is exemplified, but even then, the purpose and message behind it felt hostile. This probably just wasn’t a book for me. I really do enjoy reading about different cultures, religions, and lore, but I still need a meaning, and a wholesome one at that. Also, the segmented way in which the story reads and feels makes it more difficult to read as coherence becomes less apparent and purpose less defined throughout.

I think many people who enjoyed The City of Brass would like this one.

Vulgarity: Moderate.
Sexual content: The main character is a concubine, so yes. Also, attempted rape, and additional adult scenes.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★1/2

I got this book because a friend had received it from NetGalley and thought I would enjoy it and we could do a buddy read etc etc etc. It is a combo of Historical Fiction and Fantasy and I really enjoy both of them, so I was looking forward to this book a lot.

Unfortunately, I didn't love this book. Some of the problem was strictly me; I know little to nothing about the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition [with the exception that they were killing in the name of God and using torture to "convert" heathens to their form of "Christianity". I probably have avoided this time in history because just typing that made me both angry and had me rolling my eyes at the audacity of people and what they will do to get others to believe they way they want them to believe] and so there were moments in this book where I had no idea what was going on, or what the time frame was etc. It made it confusing for me and while I was dealing with being angry at what was happening to Fatima and Hassan, I was also confused and frustrated with that confusion. Once Fatima and Hassan got away from the structure of the castle, things got a little easier for me and once they were fully on their adventure and it picked up, I started really enjoying it. Enjoying it enough that until the end, it was a 4- star book for me.

And then the end happened. And I just was like meh. And that took it to 3 stars for me. And I was left with some serious disappointment. I will say that I will be looking into reading some books about that time frame so the next time I am presented with a book about The Spanish Inquisition or The Crusades, I will be better equipped to understand what is going on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Grove Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson was one of my most anticipated novels and I'm honored to have been approved. Luckily for me, Wilson's new historical fantasy novel really delivered. Wilson's writing is absolutely captivating. I adored all of the historical detail and the research that clearly went into the novel. It really makes me want to learn more about the Emirate of Granada. That said the mythology and magic featured in the story are brilliant. Hassan is one of my favorite characters now - by the way, he's a cartographer who can shape reality from the maps he draws. How cool is that? I also enjoyed getting to know Fatima, a concubine to the sultan and Hassan's best friend. She has a magnificent character arc and it was fantastic to see her grow over the course of the story. My only complaint though is that the story is slowly-paced, for the most part it works in the novel's favor but at times it begins to drag. Overall, The Bird King is a must-read lyrical fantasy novel. If you enjoy the historical fantasy of Cat Winters, Susanna Clarke, and V.E. Schwab, I have a feeling you'll love this too. I'm looking forward to reading more from G. Willow Wilson in the future. Thanks again, NetGalley!

"This isn't the end of the world, little Fatima. It's only the end of the world
you know."

A concubine, Fatima has lived her entire life in the harem of the Sultan's palace. She has been well-fed, dressed in the finest clothes, bathed in perfumes, a playmate of princes... and never known freedom. Her only joy is visiting her best friend, Hassan, the Sultan's mapmaker; together, they tell each other stories based off the poem The Conference of Birds, centered around a quest to find the majestic Bird King. All of that is about to change. Her city of Granada is under siege, entrance blocked by the forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of the country of Spain that they have created--and Granada is the last piece of Spain to gain. The king Fatima "serves" is the last Sultan of the Iberian Peninsula. But Fatima's story is just beginning. When an ambassador of the Spanish Monarchy learns of Hassan's ability to create maps of places he has never been before (as well as that he is homosexual), Fatima and her friend flee with the Spanish Inquisition following closely behind with distinct goals for each of the friends: to convert Fatima to Catholicism... and to kill Hassan. Together, the friends embark on an adventure and meet an odd cast of characters, to include: a jinn who, when not in the form of a dog, takes on the form of a naked man; a grumpy, snarky fisherman-turned-monk, and a ugly horse named Stupid.

Fatima is perhaps the best main character I have ever encountered. Her story is one of faith, not hope, as she sets out to create her own destiny, be her own person, and take charge of her life. She gets called bossy a lot, but in truth she is assertive and a good leader. As she should be, as she was raised at the hand of her mistress, Lady Aisha, the mother of the last Sultan. (Lady Aisha is a brilliant character and I love her; I loved her even more after I found out through Wikipedia that she told her son as they went into exile "You weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man.") Fatima learns about herself, the world, and friendship.

The friendship between Fatima and Hassan is wonderful as well. They are very much platonically in love with each other (and tell each other so frequently). If they were modern day friends, they would be the ones who marry each other solely for tax benefits. Nevertheless, their friendship isn't perfect, and they go through many bumps and growth together, which is another reason it is so wonderful.

All in all, this is a fantastic novel and not one to miss.

TW for: sex slavery, attempted rape, violence, and torture.

I think some people will love this book, but I just did not get on with it. I like both historical fiction and fantasy, so the fact that those two genres collided in this novel was a compelling reasong for me to read it. That the novel was set in Moorish Spain was a definite bonus.

For the first 50 pages or so I considered DNFing it, but then it picked up and I felt I was going to really like it and then it simply sort of fizzled out for me.

I did like the setting and I liked aspects of our main character Fatima, who starts out as the Sultan's concubine. I feel her character could have been explored a bit more, as could Hassan's, who is a really interesting character and I feel he is so underused in the narrative.

As I read the latter half of the book I just found I did not care as much I wish I did and it lost its shine for me. The events that unfolded just did not hit me in the right places.

If the premise interests you, do pick it up and try it out.l

✨ 2.5 / 5 ✨

Plot:
This was a slow moving boat. The plot barely started at 40% of the way through then stagnated again. I’m all about a slow-burning book but in this case, it felt contrived and trying to convey a mood rather than a story. What really made it feel off is the amount of stuff that happened at the end. There was a sort of conclusion and then another big conflict after another and by the end, I was drained of energy from reading this book. It also seemed to me that some points that were supposed to be emotional were repeated several times, taking away from the impact it could’ve had.

Characters and Relationships:
Fatima was a character I could see myself rooting for. She was determined and single-minded and seemed to be compassionate at unexpected moments. However, she had some moments where she seemed to switch between emotions and personality very quickly in one scene and so it felt like there was a bit of discontinuity in her character.

I did love that she was imperfect and impulsive but I was not a fan of her up and down relationship with Hassan. The same conflicts and points were being rehashed and the arguments between Fatima and Hassan while making sense sometimes just became old really quickly and there were points where I didn’t know why they were friends.

I also didn’t understand what was going on with Fatima’s feelings with Luz. It was interesting to see that Luz was a wolf dressed in clothing but I don’t think the execution was quite right.

Themes:
The meaning of this story was a beautiful and heartfelt one. However, I don’t think this book was effective in the way it was telling this story and the impact was lost to a tired plot line and a loss of interest. This book did not hold my attention and I almost put it down for good viral times despite somewhat likeable characters and beautiful writing.

I really enjoyed the early chapters of this fantasy historical novel which is set in the Alhambra during the dying days of the Sultan of Granada's rule. In 1491, Granada was under siege with no supplies getting in and it's people slowly starving as Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain close in in their quest to force Granada to capitulate. Representatives have arrived at the palace to negotiate terms when Fatima, the Sultan's favourite concubine discovers that amongst their number is an Inquisitor who wants to arrest her best friend, Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a very special skill, which is the ability to draw maps of places he hasn't seen and to draw paths and doors that weren't there before. In the eyes of the Inquisition, this makes him a sorcerer so Fatima knows she must help Hassan escape if she is to save his life.

Once they escape the palace, with the help if a jinn, they have a long journey to the coast where they must once again escape the soldiers and Inquisitor hot on their tails. Eventually they get there and using his special skill Hassan is able to evade their pursuers and take them to a mythical island, home of the legendary Bird King, but also one that is common in mythology in many cultures and religions. Although well written with beautiful descriptions, I found this more fantasy based section of the book quite slow and not nearly as interesting as the more historical section at the beginning. However, I note that many other reviewers enjoyed the philosophical nature of this section and recommend that readers make up their own minds.

A lush historical setting in the last days of the last Sultanate on the Iberian peninsula, blended with a twist of magical adventure, the Bird King by G Willow Wilson is an absorbing book. Told through the eyes of Fatima, a young concubine born within the sultanate , who has never seen the world outside, this is the story of the fall of a kingdom, as pressure from Isabelle and Philip of Spain combine to crush this remaining outpost of a once proud and powerful people. Sending emissaries from the dreaded Inquisition , they seek to force a peaceful capitulation but when Fatima learns that her beloved friend, map maker Hassan is to be handed over to the Inquisition for torture , she decides to take him and flee . His apparent crimes are two fold, he is gay but also the inquisitors suspect sorcery in his ability to draw maps of places he has never been, and even on occasion places that do not even exist. Fortunately they have the help of a powerful jinn who aids them on their quest to find the hidden island of the mysterious Bird King.
While I loved the setting of the book, and the very evocative descriptions I struggled a little with some of the magical aspects, particularly towards the end of the book. I am not sure that the two genres blended entirely successfully in this work. The character of Fatima was really good, as was Hassan and of all the magical aspects I did like, the one I liked most was the jinn, his dry wit was really fun. I loved the early part of the book, but felt that as it went on the pace slowed down enormously .
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This book is very different from anything I've ever read before. It feels like a historical fiction book, ripe with queens and politics and ladies in waiting, but it also feels much more than that. It feels like it has an undercurrent of magical realism tying the whole thing together. A thought-provoking read for those who appreciate a very slow burn literary fantasy.

Wilson does a wonderful job of describing the details of the story. The interaction between the characters were believable and weren’t stiff. I could easily visualize what was happening and how the plot was moving forward. It was an enjoyable read.

This is a difficult bird (ha!) to categorize – it’s a lyrically written historical fantasy, set during the last days of Muslim Iberia and in a lot of ways it’s more about the ideas than the plot. I’m a firm believer that each reader’s relationship with a book is highly personal and may diverge strongly with what the author intended, and this is certainly one of those books. The author is Muslim and this book is steeped in Islamic folklore, so considering that I’m Christian, I’m pretty sure I’ve missed large amounts of meaning, but I still found it fascinatingly deep.

“I can get us to Qaf,” he said. “I can get us to the isle of the Bird King. That’s where we should go. That’s where we’ll be safe.”
Fatima closed her eyes and attempted to muster her self-restraint.
“It’s a game, Hassan,” she said as gently as she could. “We were bored children shut up in a crumbling palace, so we made it up. Bit by bit. We made up a story.”
“But that’s just it,” said Hassan, leaning toward her. “What if our stories are like my maps? What is a story but the map of an idea? There is a secret in the poem of Al Attar—we made it into a joke because joking felt better than despairing. But perhaps that is the secret. The Bird King is real, and we are his subjects.”


Fatima is a concubine of the last sultan in Iberia, and for her whole life the sultanate has been at war with Spain and losing. So it’s perhaps no great surprise when Spanish envoys arrive to negotiate their surrender – but it is an unpleasant surprise when the sultan agrees to give up her best friend, Hassan, the palace mapmaker, accused of being a sorcerer by the Inquisition. Hassan has the ability to draw maps of places he’s never seen, and bend space in interesting ways with the maps he draws, something that he’s put to use many times to give Fatima a view outside of the confines of the palace harem. Left with no other options, Fatima and Hassan escape the palace by night with the help of a jinn. But with everything around them now belonging to Spain, where can they hope to go? By either madness or genius, Hassan draws a map to the mythical island of Qaf, the supposed homeland of the king of the birds according to a partial poem that’s become a sort of touchstone to both Fatima and Hassan. Can such a place exist? Can they find it? And would a runaway concubine and a magical mapmaker even be welcome there?

“No one offers me peace or safety except to keep me for themselves,” she said aloud. “No one reaches out to me except to take what little I have.”


First off – yes, the pacing is slow, and if you were to sum up the plot it’s basically: Fatima and Hassan escape, they almost get captured, they escape, almost get captured again, rinse, repeat. However, it’s not so much what’s happening as how Fatima is reacting to it, how she grows and changes from the girl who’s never been outside the palace walls, a caged bird, to a woman in charge of her own destiny. The book starts off mostly reading as historical fiction and then, one magic map or jinn or eldritch creature at a time, starts becoming more fantastical until it’s pretty solidly a fantasy at the end. Ms. Wilson has an incredible skill with words, as well, and the lyrical quality lends to the fairy tale-feel as well. Fatima is an interesting character – a pampered slave who completely lacks the skill to dissemble, but still possesses a deep-seated sense of righteousness and courage.

“No one can choose who God loves, or change who God loves,” said Vikram. “Not even the Inquisition.”


Considering it stars two Muslim characters who are pursued by the Spanish Inquisition, it’s no surprise that religion and the conflict between Islam and Christianity is a major (and timely) topic. And while you’d expect the Muslims to come out of it much shinier than the Catholics, given that it’s from Fatima’s point of view, the strengths and weaknesses of each religion are deftly explored. It’s no surprise that so much of it, for our characters, boils down to “divisions used by those ‘above’ us to grind down those ‘below.'” While this is something that Fatima has lived all her life, it’s demoralizing to find it still true outside the palace walls as a free woman, and to realize that the same applies even to Hassan as a gay man with a strange talent. At one point, the jinn tells Fatima, paraphrased, “fear only God” and, to me, that was the main takeaway of the book – regimes and religions may change, but, in the end, it’s God who matters, and the best a person can do is live how they think God would intend them to.

“I do know how the poem ends,” he said. “But your poem, the one you and Hassan have been telling to one another, has diverged from it so profoundly that it doesn’t matter. There is no longer any real poem, or rather, one is now as real as the other.”
“There is so a real poem,” said Fatima, annoyed. “The real Conference of the Birds was written by someone, by a real person. He had certain intentions. I want to know what they were. He wrote the poem for a reason, and the reason matters.”
“Does it?” Vikram stretched his toes, revealing a row of claws as black as obsidian. “Once a story leaves the hands of its author, it belongs to the reader. And the reader may see any number of things, conflicting things, contradictory things. The author goes silent. If what he intended mattered so very much, there would be no need for inquisitions and schisms and wars. But he is silent, silent. The author of the poem is silent, the author of the world is silent. We are left with no intentions but our own.”


There’s a lot else to unpack – Fatima’s relationship with the sultan’s mother, who’s been her strongest maternal figure in her life, though still her owner; the identity of the mythical island – is it Muslim Qaf or Catholic Antillia?; her relationship with Hassan. Oh, and Luz! Luz is a fantastic villain, and I was absolutely tickled pink that the female heroine was balanced by a female villain. While I’m certainly no Islamic scholar, I found the choice of names interesting. The historical Fatima (daughter of the prophet Muhammed) is frequently given the title “Zahra,” which means “shining,” and to have this Fatima face off against someone whose name means “light” was certainly an intentional choice on Ms. Wilson’s part. Fatima’s fascination with Luz – even when she knows that fascination is harmful – was simultaneously nerve-wracking and enthralling. She’s a complicated, complex creation and wanting to see her and Fatima interact again was what kept me reading through the first half of the book. Vikram, the jinn, was also a fascinating character. Utterly inhuman, tricksy, and motivated by his own difficult to understand desires, he still manages to distill many of the book’s lessons and themes down for Fatima and Hassan.

I think, in the end, the strength of the book was also its weakest point for me. I found the ending somewhat unsatisfactory, and closed the book still trying to figure out what exactly the author meant to say – as Vikram says above, the reader is “left with no intentions but our own.” It’s definitely a novel feeling, considering how most books are much more straightforward, written with the intent to make a reader feel a certain way, think a certain way, but it’s not particularly comfortable. Whatever else can be said, I will definitely be thinking about this book for a very long time.

Overall, this is a slow-paced historical fantasy, well-written and big on the ideas. I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for something unique and thought-provoking!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I liked many things about this story – the mixture of history and magic and fairytale, the romance of the last days of the Moorish rule of Spain and the beauty of the Alhambra Palace and the threat of the Spanish Inquisition. Hassan and Fatima’s story was also interesting – I thought there would be more explanation and exploration of his magic, it seems to be isolated and not part of a wider magical society. It was a very interesting concept to have a magical map maker and there were lots of ways this could have developed. The second part of their story, after the escape, was less easy to relate to, the island reminded me a little of the magical island in the TV series ‘Lost’ with random and mystical events occurring with little explanation. I also felt that the reveal of The Bird King’s identity (identities) was also a bit woolly and not very well explained. The concept of a magical map maker was lost in the metaphysical turn that the story took, and this was a little disappointing. However I enjoyed much of the story and found the ideas in the novel to be entertaining and thought-provoking.