This book has been sitting on my virtual shelf even pre-GoodReads membership and I'm glad that even after all this time I have finally got around to reading this.

I thought initially that Book of a Thousand Days would be more of a light fairytale about friendship then the dark, more imaginative story that the book turned out to really be. I adored reading Dashti's perspective, she is such a grounded and kind female character that somehow despite her circumstances never got whiny or annoying with her narrative.

I'll admit that I had some minor problems with the first part of the book while Dashti lived imprisoned for the sole reason of Lady Saren. Equal to the amount I enjoyed Dashti, I disliked Saren. For someone in her situation she seemed rather ungrateful for Dashti being with her, even after two years of imprisonment which to me seems rather inhuman. As the book continues Saren's behaviour begins to make more sense but while I was reading I just did not share Dashti's sympathy for her. As a result of this reading about Sarens struggles were more irksome then interesting. I did however in the end come to like Sarens character and knowing the way the story plays out how Shannon Hale was writing her makes sense with the plot.

Book of a Thousand Days managed to weaved a rather fantastical story in a believable, intricate world with an adventure that could have gone in any direction. This wasn't something I expected from a story that after putting off for so long I had many expectation for. This is an excellent adventure-fantasy book and I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fairy tale retold.