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.

I wanted to love this book so much and I was off to a great start. But when I was about 30% in my interest decreased. I just couldn't get into the more fantastical elements of the story and therefore I give the book 2 stars.

I've loved G. Willow Wilson's run on the Ms. Marvel comics and that’s why I decided to pick this up. This was the first book I read of hers and honestly, I definitely want to pick up more. Not to mention the setting of the novel being an olden day Iberia with rising and falling Kingdoms and the wars on religion.

The premise of The Bird King involves Fatima, who is a Circassian concubine in the palace of the last sultan of Grenada. When she finds out that the Spanish Inquisition was coming to overtake the Emirate and capture her friend Hassan, the gay mapmaker with special abilities in cartography, unjustly accusing him of sorcery, they escape the palace. They eventually set out in search of the mythical island of Qaf, which is known to be the home of the Bird King, in order to seek refuge from the people relentlessly pursuing them. And along the way, they meet others, humans, and jinns, and discover how to let go of the things that bound them.

This is a great fantasy book full of rebels, conquerors, magical beings, and mythical islands but my only problem was the pace which was drawn out and slow and the plot was a little meandering. I found myself skipping entire descriptive paragraphs. The whole journey that Fatima and Hassan take, narrowly escaping various dangers could’ve been, in my opinion, a lot shorter. Nevertheless, there were so many clever thoughtful paragraphs that handled religious philosophy really well. and the relationships between various characters were complicated and wonderfully written, especially between Fatima and Hassan. It was learning how to overcome their co-depending and selfishness with each other to really care for the other’s happiness.

Although I had never heard of the tales of the island of Antillia (forgive my knowledge gap), I could understand the conflict involved in its identity. How the name – Qaf, Antillia, Avalon – changed based on the people in power and those who wrote about it which was mirrored in the experiences and history of people around that region. The island truly was its own character and I wish it had played a bit of a bigger role right from the beginning of the book.

Oh my gosh. I love this book, it is so beautiful and rich. It is a love story of a different kind entirely. This is a fairy tale in the fullest, most decadent sense of the term. Fatima is annoying and lovely, and she doesn't do anything the way you'd think she would. Her sense of person seems so tied into this love that she gave freely to her friend and her friend, Hassan, who understood the full weight of what accepting that love meant.

I have never highlighted text in my kindle before this book, her prose is like swimming in a lake of honey, you have to take your time and it'll sometime pull you into it. This is my first 5* book from NetGalley and I'm so humbled I got to read this beautiful bedtime story for free. I will definitely be getting this as soon as it hits my local bookstore.

Fa and Hassan are cinnamon rolls that should be cherished forever.

This was a fascinating story. The main characters were a feminist concubine who yearned for freedom and her best friend, a homosexual mapmaker who could create new realities with his maps. The book is a slow read and frequently I wondered why Hassan didn't use his skills more frequently to help get himself and Fatima out of the messes they got into. But I enjoyed the look into that period of history in Spain, where the Muslims and Catholics fought over the land and religion. Of course, the Spanish Inquisition made an appearance as well. Within this framework was the story of Fatima and Hassans enduring friendship, the question of love, and what constitutes freedom and loyalty. The writing was descriptive and beautiful but I thought that several parts could have been edited a bit without a loss. Additionally, at times I felt Ms. Wilson left a bit too much up to the reader to decide. I would have preferred a few more connections to be spelled out for me. Overall the book was a very enjoyable read and should attract readers outside its sci-fi fantasy genre.

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.