Goodness gracious, what a gorgeously written historical fantasy! I flew through the first 25% of this book, physically holding my eyes open to stay awake so I could keep reading. The pace slows pretty significantly after that, but Wilson has created a marvelous story of faith, courage, and platonic love, steeped in magic and mythology. Set in Granada at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, and just before the Emirate of Granada was conquered during the Granada War, The Bird King tells the story of Fatima and her best friend Hassan. Fatima–born into slavery and valued for her beauty–is a royal concubine in the court of Granada. Hassan is the palace mapmaker with the exceptionally rare ability to see things that are not there and create maps that will them into existence.

Lifelong friends, the unlikely pair spend as much time together as possible, filling their time with childhood games as war looms on the horizon. One night a group of Spanish representatives arrive in order to discuss the terms of the sultan’s surrender. Believing that the danger lies with the men of the group, Fatima befriends Luz, realizing only after it’s too late that she is a representative of the inquisition. After finding out about Hassan’s abilities, Luz declares him a sorcerer, and the sultan agrees to let them take Hassan as part of the negotiations. Faced with the certainty of a future without Hassan, Fatima sneaks him out of the castle and the two of them escape together with some very unexpected help.

This book is full of one of the most unique and unforgettable cast of characters I’ve ever read. A courageous concubine, a gay cartographer, a sarcastic djinn, and an unbelievably evil inquisitor just make up a small portion of the list. With so many memorable moments between them–full of tenderness, vulnerability, and wit–I easily fell in love with Hassan and Fatima and Vikram and Gwennec. Luz is one of the scariest and most convincing villains I’ve read in a long time, and her parts of the story had my pulse racing.

It is after the palace escape where things really start to slow down. There are moments of action–they are fleeing for their lives after all–but most of this time centers around staying ahead of Luz and deciding where they will make their escape to. During their childhood, Fatima and Hassan create a game around an unfinished copy of Attar’s poem The Conference of the Birds. In the poem, the birds are trying to make their way to their king, who is trapped on a mythical island known as Mount Qaf. It is this island where Hassan wants to take them with a map he has created. Hassan can do incredible things, but can he will an entire island into existence? What follows is an incredible journey of blind faith and love, full of surprises and so much bravery.

This was an incredibly thought provoking read and I adored it. Probably the best and most realistic portrayal of platonic love that I’ve ever read. The beginning really reminded me of The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty but by the end there were major Tearling trilogy vibes. A very heartfelt thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review! I’m excited to read more of Wilson’s work!

Trigger warnings: torture and attempted rape

The Bird King is an enchanting, beautifully passionate tale of love and perseverance against all odds. With jinns, magic, and last-minute saves aplenty, it’s a thrilling tale of hope in a time when war and zealotry threatens to destroy the world.

Fatima is a strong, powerful woman who runs from a life forced upon her and finds freedom by forging her own path. She doesn’t compromise her own beliefs, even when it would save her, and that determination and sheer will to survive is incredibly admirable. This isn’t a world that has given her much reason to hope for a better life on the horizon, but she refuses to believe that and powers through anyway. Her friendship with Hassan is steadfast and built on a deeper form of love than most relationships. Their fates are tied together early on and they continue to defy the odds with the help of Hassan’s abilities and a few jinn along the way. His is a magic that is hard to understand, yet it works, adding a sense of wonder to the proceedings as doors appear or places shimmer into existence. It’s impossible not to want Fatima and Hassan to make it and, at the last possible second, they always find a way.

The novel’s relationship with magic is fascinating, giving us impossible things that don’t seem grandiose or mind blowing. The magic is an uncontested part of their world. Doors appear, jinn disguised as dogs or cats are just around, lending a helping hand when needed. This casual attitude makes this version of the world a truly magical place, creating an almost fairy tale feel to the narrative. The primary jinn, Vikram, is hilarious and incredibly sarcastic, always adding a touch of levity to a situation that would otherwise be terrifying.

Overall, The Bird King is a wonderful book filled with surprises and characters who are as layered as they are brave. It’s a work of art that’s a true joy to read.

Fatima has been a slave to the sultan of Andalus and his family for her entire life. Life in the palace isn't all bad though - her best friend and constant companion Hassan keeps her sane and entertained. Hassan is not without gifts himself, and can make magical maps of places he's never seen. Along comes the Spanish empire, and the after a long siege, the sultan succumbs. When visiting inquisitors get wind of Hassan's magical abilities, they demand his execution and Fatima and Hassan find themselves on the run from the burgeoning Spanish Inquisition.

The book starts off really strongly. Fatima is strong-willed and smart and I immediately liked her, and her loving friendship with Hassan is not something you often read. While some of the components of palace life were horrible (Fatima was a courtesan), I found the beginning, which focused on the dynamics of living in the palace, to be the most interesting part of the book. Its also where we start to get to know Luz, our compelling villain (although there's a twist regarding why she's so motivated that I didn't care for) who is the main representative from the Spanish Inquisition.. After leaving the palace, the next 60% of the book is kind of an escape narrative, which is something I rarely enjoy. Unfortunately, I thought those parts dragged. The book ends on a really strong note, though, and I also enjoyed the philosophical thought peppered throughout the narrative. Overall, even though it took me a while to get through it, I liked it.

If you enjoyed Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, then give The Bird King a read. Both are rich fantasies that are gorgeously written if not perfectly paced. Folks who like their fantasy to be subtle and historical will really enjoy this book. I liked it. 3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advance copy, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The Bird King is available for purchase now, or you can put your copy on hold today!

I really couldn't explain why I liked this book as much as I did, I mean other than because in my opinion it was a really good book but if I were to give out a list of reasons, I'm not sure what would go on those. Wilson has a flowery sort of prose that's really lovely to read, so that's one, but I think the main reason would be because her characters are so beautifully human (the ones that are human!).

They are beautiful, selfish, ugly, kind, pious and sinning, and they are wonderfully flawed each and every one.

The antagonist is frightening because of just how real they are and I always find those always make the best 'villains' the ones that are too plausible.

Wilson writes a fanciful historical fiction set during the Inquisition, the Spaniards, Granada, a Jinn (or more possibly? No spoilers), monsters human and not, adventure, loss, and the price of freedom with the worth of freedom as well. Poignant and with such a feel of humanity for better or worse, this book was well worth the read.

I know some complained about pacing but I think because I like this sort of pacing in novel it wasn't an issue for me, I didn't think it went slowly but you do go from a sort of 'frantic' part to I guess could be seen as a lull but to me it was still on the edge of my seat type of thing. The Bird King is beautifully written and it was another great read for me, so, it's been a nice group of great books.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Content Warning: Death, violence, and the chance the book will rip your heart out and stomp on it. But you know, no biggie.

"You were taught to waste your anger. It's convenient for girls to be angry about nothing. Girls who are angry about something are dangerous."

The Bird King, by G. Willow Wilson, is beautifully written - with some gems, like the above. While the initial pacing was a bit slower than I personally like, I do love road-trip novels. And this book, aside from the opening chapters, is one big road trip.

I loved the historical aspects, as well as the banter between characters. There were so many great lines that made me laugh - and I'm not going to sugar coat it - the end had me in tears.

"Nothing is so frightening or evil that it doesn't come from the same thing that made the stars."

Firstly, I want to warn readers that the pacing for this book is incredibly slow. Despite this book following Fatima and Hassan’s escape from the sultan’s Palace and the Spanish Inquisition, this book felt more character driven than plot driven. It takes a little while for the plot to pick up and I was tempted early on to put this book down but I’m certainly glad I held through. To make up for the pacing, G. Willow Wilson’s prose is a delight to read. From Fatima’s sun-filled days as the Sultan’s only concubine to the visceral experience of eating a rabbit raw, Wilson’s writing style and language helps truly helps bring this book alive.

Another strong point for this book is in the worldbuilding. The Bird King takes place in the late 1400s, just as the Emirate of Granada will fall to the Spanish. I have no knowledge of this time period and can make no statement of the book’s historical accuracy. However, I can say that this book does a fantastic job in giving you just enough information to paint a mental picture of the situation without turning into a history book. More interestingly, this history we learn is presented from Fatima’s point of view with biases very cleverly written in.

On paper, the plot is very simple. Granada, about to fall with Castille, treats their terms of surrender with a delegation visiting the Sultan’s palace. Fatima, who had unknowingly introduced the Castillan delegation to her friend and palace mapmaker Hassan, discovers Hassan’s capture is included in those terms and makes a last minute decision to escape with him. The rest of the book follows their journey to freedom as they run from the Castillan search party dogging their every step. What confused me later on were some of the decisions the two of them made as they ran, especially those related to the Bird King, which compounded with other decisions until I’d stopped trying to understand their decision making process and just follow along for the ride.

Of course, that is not a knock on the characters themselves. Fatima and Hassan are both incredibly well fleshed out characters and it was a delight to read about their journey, both physically and emotionally. Fatima especially, grows from headstrong but naive palace concubine to a brave independent woman willing to sacrifice herself for Hassan’s wellbeing. Hassan, the palace’s gay mapmaker targeted by the Castillans as a sorcerer for his magical map skills, plays an excellent foil to Fatima’s determined headstrong nature. Together, the two of them have one of my favorite M/F platonic friendships I’ve ever read.

I did have two small complaints with this book. Firstly, I thought the ending dragged on for too long. It’s hard to say anything without spoiling the entire book, but I thought the last 20% felt superfluous and book could have ended fine the moment one particular event happened and that everything that happened after felt like the book trying to overexplain events. Secondly, I never really had a good grasp of Hassan’s map powers. The maps he draws are always perfect and he can sometimes make doors to other places with them, but the details and limitations felt somewhat arbitrary and happened as the plot required them to

Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. I thought the ending dragged on for too long and the pacing was a little too slow for my tastes, but this book was an otherwise beautiful written literary tale of a young woman and her friend searching for freedom.

Review posted: 15 March 2019

This is a hard book for me to review because it’s slightly philosophical/literary (for me). I don’t think I’ll do a good job of it but I’ll try. The Bird King touches love, religion, feminism, war, sexual orientation, historical politics, and sometimes just basic common sense.

G. Willow Wilson led with getting to know the main character, Fatima, and her place in the world at the time of the political dispute arising from the Spanish Inquisition, which essentially boils down to who owns what land, before throwing in a conflict. So readers have a developed a relationship with Fatima first.

A big theme for Fatima personally is love. What is love? How a parent loves a child? Subjects love their God? For Fatima, it is how a woman is in love with her gay male friend, Hassan, and is fully aware and accepting of that fact, but struggles when it faces her head on. Fatima leaves all that is known and familiar to make sure Hassan, who is gifted with the unusual talent to draw maps and warp reality with it. His talent, seemingly harmless at first glance, means near-certain victory in the war for his master. This was why he was hunted down.

A thing I’d like to note is the apparently normal intermingling of lives with opposing religions. What’s beautiful is how freely they express their place in their own beliefs and how accepting they are of other character’s religions. They question, yes, but it doesn’t get in the way of developing a meaningful relationship with one another.

A challenge for historical fiction writers is to coax readers to leave their own time and place and completely surrender themselves to another time, but accept that it’s the same world that readers live in. It’s a different set of life yet still the same. A further challenge for this book specifically is that it intersects with the unseen realm, and even crosses it entirely so at one point it is not even historical fiction but a fantasy.

I had a hard time adjusting to the fact that harems existed and Fatima is one of the concubines (a woman slave that a ruler (Sultan, King, etc.) beds but not acknowledged as one of his wives). It really is a bitter pill to swallow. But it’s another time and I had to accept it.

Content warning(s): Slavery, sexual assault, torture

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The year is 1491 and the newly formed Spanish monarchy is at the doors to the palace of the last Sultan of Granada. The story follows a young lady named Fatima who was born and raised in the palace for one purpose… to be the Sultan’s concubine.

Fatima longs to see something other than the palace walls and only her friend Hassan, the mapmaker, treats her as a person. When Hassan’s life is threatened by the Spanish Inquisition, Fatima will go to great lengths to try and save him.

I really enjoyed this story. The writing was beautiful and transported me to Granada and all along their great adventure. The only negative was that some of the Jinn or spirit scenes were difficult to follow but I think it was partly on purpose and partly because my husband was distracting me by watching Guardians of the Galaxy.

I would highly recommend this book to any one who enjoys historical fiction centered around the Spanish Inquisition. Also, if you enjoy reaching for impossible dreams on an adventure sprinkled with danger and magic then you should definitely give this book a try.

Freedom never comes without a cost.
Surely freewill, courage and selflessness are required if ever happiness in life or true contentment of spirit can ever be realized? Is Faith, in the broadest of meanings, a guide or an illusion?

“It means you can’t choose what makes you happy.”

Its been a long time since I read a YA fantasy. In my youth, as these stories lend themselves, I too gobbled up every fairy tale, superhero comic, fable and mythology available in my local library to be swept away to another time and place to escape the ordinary...a portal to the extraordinary. As I aged the stories of real kings and queens, empires and nations fallen, their religions and ideologies took my reading attention. Real life battles for power of faith, coin, and land, no matter how horrific, are often told heroically. I'd come to realize, as was meant, Grimm's tales are just as horrific and doomed as RL. Often no hero saves the day nor is saved, and the villain can win no matter how hollow the victory.

And therein truly are the lessons to be considered both from RL history and through the telling of fantastical stories...what path will one choose when faced with many roads and who do you choose to be, hero, villain or pawn? Is faith required or just freewill? Is your personal happiness more important than someone else's? What would you do if the one person you loved was doomed to a torturous death because of you?

This fantastical tale, while very much Fatima's journey, is one rooted in historical facts yet told as a cautionary fable. I won't begin to offer the lessons to be learned within, if any, as it is very much the author's story and the reader's takeaway.

I can understand some reviewer's criticism about the writing style of Fatima and her beloved friend Hassan's journey. I quite enjoyed the beautiful, almost lyrical prose describing in meticulous detail the color, shadows, tempurature, smells, memories and lack thereof, of daily life, relationships, emotions and creatures. At some points it was a bit over my head. Yet often it swept me away.

I felt the writer purposely left the main characters flawed enough to almost not be loveable. She also gave them unique talents, yearnings, beliefs and sorrows. You get to decide who is villain or hero. Whom or what is worth saving. That's the essence of fantastical fables, right? All the possibilites for personal happiness and joy laid out far away from your touch, yet offered in a path of doom LOL

In the end, I was satisfied I chose to finish.
If only to have met the jinn ;)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions, which are many and varied, are my own.

3.5 Stars

The Bird King is an unusual story in which Fatima, a Circassian concubine in the court of the last Sultan of the Emirate of Granada (on the Iberian peninsula, around 1491) and Hassan, a gay palace mapmaker, try to escape the religious persecution of the Inquisition of Los Reyes Católicos, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Fatima loves her friend Hassan and plots their escape through Hassan's secret magical gift, his ability to draw maps that rearranges reality. That gift, combined with who he is attracted to, poses a great risk to his safety. Over the course of 400+ pages Hassan draws a map of an Island, Con, where he and Fatima and other outcasts can be safe, but because the map has been drawn, others can find their haven or breach it.

While there were things I found to like in the imaginative story, including its lush evocation of the last days of the Sultan Boabdil's magnificent Alhambra, the story moved at a very, very slow pace. The idea on which the story is built- the creation of a safe haven by literally drawing one- is a lovely one, but the execution at times left me struggling. The relationship between Fatima and Hassan is a beautiful friendship that is tempered by a fulfillment of that love that Fatima can never have. But she's a loyal friend who sticks by Hassan, though he cannot love her as she might wish he could. I also felt that some of the secondary characters felt too flat in comparison to the central two. Their escape from the Inquisitor Luz, and her ultimate reformation, also felt rushed and somewhat unrealistic.

This book has piqued my interest in reading Wilson's Alif the Unseen.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book in

It's not easy to review this book as it's amazing and I'm still feeling involved in the plot.
I don't know if it's fantasy or magic realism and I don't care.
It was an amazing travel through places and history, with an amazing world building and an enthralling plot.
I loved how the characters were developed, they're so well written and fleshed out that you cannot help feeling them as real person.
The plot, a bit slow at the beginning, was engaging and made this book hard to put down.
I look forward to reading other books by this author hoping it will be another amazing travel.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all opinions are mine.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic for an eARC via NetGalley of G. Willow Wilson’s ‘The Bird King’, a historical fantasy in exchange for an honest review.

The novel opens in August 1491 in the besieged palace of Abu Abdallah, the last Emirate of Granada in Iberia. Fatima is the Sultan’s concubine, the companion of his mother, and a slave since birth. She is quite vain and spoiled but a sweet young woman. Her best friend is Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret: he can draw maps of places that he has never seen and bend reality. He also loves men, something everyone in the palace ignores though he is discreet.

When a delegation arrives from the newly formed monarchy of Spain (Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand) to negotiate the surrender of the Sultan, Fatima befriends one of the women in the party. She is unaware that this charming woman is an agent of the Tribunal of the Holy Office (aka Spanish Inquisition). Fatima inadvertently reveals Hassan’s gift, which is interpreted by the Spanish as sorcery. His sexuality also condemns him in their eyes. In order to save Hassan’s life, he and Fatima have to flee the palace. They are assisted in their escape by a clever jinn.

This premise was very appealing to me and more so once I realised that Willow Wilson was weaving into the narrative aspects of Attar’s classic, ‘The Conference of the Birds, an allegorical tale about the soul’s search for meaning. It is from this work that the title is derived.

From the beginning Willow Wilson uses the written word to paint rich descriptions that made me feel as though I was present in the royal court and later joining her protagonists as they travel beyond those walls.

This was an stunning work that blends history, fantasy, and allegory. Her world building is detailed and exquisite evoking the last days of the Muslim Empire in Europe, Spain and mythical lands beyond the Strait of Gibraltar.

The characterisation was very well realised especially Fatima and Hassan and their platonic love affair. In addition, the jinn in the story are delightful; witty in their own way and very fluid in the way they interact with the human’s sense of reality.

A beautifully written novel that I recommend highly. In addition, the cover art is wonderful. I certainly plan to buy my own copy in hardback.

G. Willow Wilson has crafted a well written, magical, adventure filled with indelible characters and absorbing action. Wilson’s story is an epic journey in multiple ways. A former harem slave, magical cartographer, and wolf-like jinn are joined reluctantly by a monk in fleeing the reach of the Spanish Inquisition. Their flight to an unknown land contains elements of religion, alternate history, mythology, self discovery, redemption, and love in many forms.

A beautifully written book. Fatima is the concubine of a sultan of a kingdom soon to be conquered, and in order to save the life of her only friend Hassan, a man with strange powers to shift reality through his maps, she runs away with him in search of the land of the Bird King.

The prose was truly lovely, the characters well-rounded, and the general atmosphere of an Islamic kingdom threatened by the Spanish Inquisition fascinating and sad in equal measure. Having just finished Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy, I could draw some parallels—a well done mish-mash of fantasy and historical fiction with beautiful prose. So readers who enjoyed the Winternight trilogy would very well do themselves good by picking up this book and giving it a try.

I think lots of people are just disappointed with the book because the synopsis leads you to believe it will be a book with a lot of fantastical elements. It's true to say that it's more of a historical fiction that heavy with fantasy.
However, being a historical fiction lover, this didn't disappoint me.
The author focuses on the historical aspect of the story integrating some magical realism. But, it's done very well. So, I wish the premise was better written so that people were not just disappointed for this reason, and the books meets with the right audience, as I thought it's a really good book.

Fatima is the last concubine of a sultan of the Iberian peninsula. Her friend, Hassan, is a royal mapmaker, here comes the magic that he can bend reality. It's the times of Spanish Inquisition. So, Fatima and Hassan are at the verge of either converting to Christianity or escape.

Wilson has enchanting writing. I think she was very successful at building the setting of the time period. It was a period I haven't read about, so I'm very glad I read it. I loved reading about Fatima and Hassan.

It's a slow-burning historical novel more than anything. I loved it for what it is and I definitely would recommend it if you're a historical fiction lover.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book way more than I did in the end and it really disappoints me to say that. The synopsis had given me such high hopes and got me so excited to dive into this book, but unfortunately the overall pace was extremely slow for my taste and failed to keep me captivated. The book overall came off more as a historical fiction story rather than a fantasy one which is why I believe that the slow pace was not very helpful in keeping the reader's interest. The world building was intriguing and well-developed with the lush details painting a beautiful picture of the setting. I loved the obscurity and secrecy behind the court and their rivalry with the Spanish court which established high risks and added uncertain outcomes for the characters. As a whole, the characters definitely needed more depth to them. They were fairly one-noted and fell flat most of the time. The mystery behind Hassan's gift was what grasped my interest since the start and I wanted to keep learning more about it but I feel that the story did not elaborate on much about his "skills" other than the basic understanding of it. This made it confusing at times and took me out of the story because I had to make assumptions of my own. Even in the beginning of the story, it felt as if this detail was just thrown onto the reader with no background whatsoever. When the story started to accelerate in its speed of events with the escape, it was really engaging up until the point where they're still escaping...and escaping...and escaping a good portion after their initial escape with no plans of where they hoped to end up. Holistically speaking, if the plot was further developed and written in a more concise manner with better developed characters it would have made for a much better story overall.

“This isn’t the end of the world, Little Fatima. It’s only the end of the world you know.”

Fatima is a prized concubine to the last sultan to rule Spain in the late 1400s. Born in the beautiful Alhambra palace, Fatima has never known freedom. She’s treated well, or as well as a bondswoman can be, but chafes at the injustice and inequality of being both a woman AND a slave. Her best friend is Hassan, the sultan’s mapmaker, who has a magical ability to map places he’s never seen and create rooms and passages out of thin air by drawing a map of them. When the sultan surrenders the palace to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, they brand Hassan a sorcerer and demand he be turned over to the Inquisition. Fatima and Hassan flee the palace together, and with the help of a capricious jinni, embark on a dangerous journey to freedom.

“Perhaps the difference didn’t matter; perhaps it was the only the escape that mattered. And she had escaped: she was free, and though freedom was neither happiness nor safety, though it was in fact a crueler and lonelier thing than she could have imagined, it was real, just as the ship was real, and like the ship, it was hers.”

This book started out strong for me, but my enthusiasm for it waned as I kept going. Not because it was bad necessarily, but because it drifted into genres that I personally don't enjoy. The writing is lush and poetic, and I was constantly highlighting. There were beautiful descriptions of Spain and the Alhambra. The pace is slow, but there’s a dreamy yet exquisitely described detail to it. It starts out reading like historical fiction with the minor bit of Hassan’s small magical talent. And then a jinni gets thrown in. And then monsters, and imaginary islands drawn into being, and then some metaphysical self-awareness followed up by an ambiguous ending. There ends up being a lot of magical realism, so if you’re the type of reader, like myself, who likes clear magical boundaries with explanations and resolutions than you might be frustrated by this book.

I also struggled to understand all of the main characters and their motivations. The “love story” of the book is the platonic relationship between Hassan and Fatima, but I was never really convinced that they loved each other, since they always seemed to be at odds or irritated and jealous with each other. I could never get a good feel for any of the characters. Their dialogue and actions were kind of all over the place. For example, everything Fatima does is supposedly out of love for Hassan, but she has far more interesting interactions with all the other characters and there’s very little growth in her and Hassan’s relationship. You’re also dropped right into their friendship, so there’s not much evidence for their closeness, other than Fatima trying to save his life.

I can still recommend this book, especially for fans of magical realism. There are several really interesting side characters who I enjoyed, and the writing is always beautiful.

The synopsis had me thinking this would be a heavy fantasy based in a historical setting with a large focus on a mapmaker being able to bend reality, a mystical Bird King, and the jinn. That's not really how Ms. Wilson executes it; she focuses much more on the historical part while the fantastical is incorporated more like magical realism. If you aren't familiar with magical realism, in a nutshell, it is generally a sub-genre of fantasy with the fantastical or mystical element being lightly incorporated, or real-life with a touch of magic. As such, they'll read strongly like a secondary genre, like historical fiction, contemporary, or a thriller. This is by no means a bad thing, but I was not expecting a magical realism tale going in.

That said, it really focuses on the historical aspect of the story. Fatima is the last concubine of a sultan of the Iberian peninsula. Her friend, Hassan, is a royal mapmaker and the one able to bend reality. With the Spanish Inquisition taking over, Fatima and Hassan have to decide what they are going to do with their uprooted lives; they will no longer be able to live richly in the palace. They will be either forced to convert to Christianity or flee for their lives. I definitely have not encountered much literature about this specific area during this time period, and it struck me of how harsh the spread of Christianity really was. 

Ms. Wilson has very lovely writing. She fully paints of a picture of the setting and time period. She also creates very believable characters. Fatima and Hassan are not typical protagonists; they are used to living a spoiled palace life. They struggle along their journey and are by no means perfect. But they are very good friends and I found myself rooting for them, hoping they will prevail.

It's by no means an action-adventure or a thriller. It's a slow-moving tale and it takes time for things to unfold. I still enjoyed the book overall. I recommend if you like slow-burn historical fiction and don't mind a few fantastic elements along the way.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After reading many of the reviews already posted here I find myself nodding in agreement with the 2-3 star ones. I so wanted to love this book and for the first 1/2 of it I was. It has a great start: wonderful writing, interesting characters, a truly unusual setting, intrigue, rivalries, angst, danger and a miraculous escape. Then the road/cross country phase begins coupled with the jinn who is probably the best character for me. Cynical, amusing and totally selfish. But things are also beginning to bog down. While I appreciate that neither Fatima nor Hassan are flawless, their bickering and whining got old. There are also TSTL moments that had me throwing up my hands with disbelief. Do you idiots want to survive or do you want to give in and let the Inquisition kill you slowly and painfully?

But they struggle on and so do I. The action slows down to a crawl with near misses and then a new character added. Followed by near encounters with evil and unbelievable escapes. I also agree with the other reviewer who mentioned the unneeded animal cruelty. Then the ending gets jammed on. I realize I've been more or less happily reading a book with magical elements and had been okay with that. The ending though .... WTH? It lost me with only a bit more of the book to go. Suddenly I honestly had no interest in pushing myself any further. It was just too weird.

Other things that annoyed me - how many times does Fatima get carried during the book? How many times does she faint or whine then fall asleep. Everyone loves Fatima.

Hassan and his gift were supposed to be so special and wonderful (and were) but we didn't see nearly enough of this.

What started off great ended up fizzling in the home stretch.

I started this novel with some hesitation. The concept sounded interesting, but historical fiction is hit or miss with me. This novel was definitely a hit. I would say until towards the end the novel is fairly slow paced. I enjoyed it, but if you're looking for some fast-paced crazy action this generally won't be for you. The amount of love and care that I felt from this book was incredible. Just the amount of historical facts sprinkled within the novel was wonderful and then the fantasy elements just blended seamlessly together.

World building. The detail described throughout the book is wonderful. I read it and definitely could imagine the world. I'm not familiar with that time period in history or that particular area at the time, but it was easy to imagine. As a speculative novel there wasn't anything to crazy from our normal world when it comes to governments, religion, etc.

Characters. This is what really sells the book to me. Wilson focuses most of her attention on mostly three or four character at a time and its perfect. Fatima is amazing. A concubine who was educated and uses that to power her through a tough journey. Hassan, our devote Muslim who draw fantastical maps. I don't want to give a ton away, but I feel like you do get to really see into who these characters are and to watch them grow. They're messy and imperfect, but there's just something I find so interesting about all the characters we meet in this novel. Maybe it's the realism.

Diversity. This books diversity is mainly through Hassan I would say. He's a devote Muslim who also happens to be openly gay. There are other characters in the book who are also Muslim in the first half of the book. Fatima I believe would identify as Muslim if asked, but she's not very religious.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The ending left me feeling a little unsatisfied, but I think it was a realistic way to end it and it is probably the best way to end it. Fatima has some great quotes about women that I really enjoyed. I would call her a determined feminist. If you have any interest at all in historical or speculative fiction I would highly recommend this book!