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Synopsis (From Goodreads):
Set in 1491 during the reign of the last sultanate in the Iberian peninsula, The Bird King is the story of Fatima, the only remaining Circassian concubine to the sultan, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker.
Hassan has a secret--he can draw maps of places he's never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan's surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan's gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls?
As Fatima and Hassan traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate
Review:
The Bird King, by G. Willow Wilson, is a novel set in 15th century Spain at a time of transition. As the Islamic empire of the Sultan dwindles, the influence of Catholic kings press down on everyday people. I enjoyed the setting, characters, and narrative style. The book did a credible job of exposing me to a culture and time I knew nothing about. With its symbolism and violent subject matter, this is not the novel I was expecting. The changing realities and timelines made this story difficult to follow, and made the ending less than satisfying.
What I Liked:
Setting:The story begins in The Alhambra, the palace of the Sultan of Granada in 1491. Fatima, a concubine, is witness to the siege and surrender of the Sultan's empire to Catholic Spain. There is lots of colorful historical details about life in a harem that I hadn't know about. The details of Islamic faith, and culture were also delightful.
There were also lots of insight into the lives of Spanish Catholics at the time of the Spanish Inquisition. What turns people into zealots? How did people become powerful in a time of fear and superstition? I found these questions fascinating.
Characters:
Fatima, the main character is a beautiful teenager who has been raised to be a concubine for the Sultan. She is both cherished (for her beauty) and treated as property. Seeing this contradiction is infuriating to Fatima. But she sees no other way to live.
Hassan, the mystical map-maker, is Fatima's only real friend. He is also treated differently. Prized for his gifts, he is also reviled. The Sultan's people tolerate his loving other men, but also fear him because of his magical abilities. As long as both Fatima and Hassan fulfill the needs of the Sultan, they are safe. They both know that the moment they are not useful to the court, any protection they had will be gone.
Narrative Style:
The novel is very well written with beautifully detailed prose. The world of the harem comes to life in vivid descriptions of food, fabrics, and fragrances. There is a great deal of symbolism and metaphor used in this story. As we learn the stories of various birds, we learn lessons about different types of people. The jinn (magical spirits) also evoke a sense of the spirituality of the Islamic world.
What I Was Mixed About:
Story:I had very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I loved how the book took the reader from inside the harem of a Sultan to a race across Medieval Spain as the main characters try to evade the Spanish Inquisition. This was fun and exciting.
However, as the novel continued, the story became muddled. It was very hard to follow some of the key action sequences. This was due to time and space seemingly changing at random, and the author occasionally throwing in a new mythical creature to confuse the action. This caused me to miss some critical information which made it difficult to follow the story. I found myself re-reading critical moments to try and make sense of what I was reading.
What I Didn't Like:
Ending:I felt very let down by the ending of the book. Considering all the action that proceeded it, the ending just sort of fizzled out. By resolving the main problem too early, the author had nowhere to go with the story. Instead, we are treated to a lot of hand-wringing as the characters decide upon a final sacrifice (Yes, I am being vague because I don't want to throw out spoilers). This was very unsatisfying and it left many questions unanswered about one of the character's motivations, and how they would proceed. Given that this character had lied so much in the past, I didn't find their promises credible at the end, so their sacrifice was empty. By not showing a conversion of personality, there was no way to know if they would actually do what they promised. Would there be another betrayal? We don't know, because the book ended abruptly.
Rating:
Release Date: March 12th, 2019
Author: G. Willow Wilson
Publisher: Grove Press
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Page Length: 440 Pages
Source: NetGalley
Format: E-Book
Recommendation: This was a very philosophical novel, filled with symbolism and imagery. Although this is being marketed as a YA novel, I would not want a young teen to read this book. There was sexual violence and torture described. This might make for an interesting book club selection. But I recommend getting this from the library.
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