Anna Petruk's Reviews > Book of a Thousand Days

Book of a Thousand Days was a solid fun read! Some aspects I liked:

- an interesting aesthetic: I don't think I've previously read anything set in the central Asian steppes before
- illustrations made by the author are always a plus!
- the heroine was kinda cool: hard-working, brave, loyal, humble, no-nonsense
- overall: an enjoyable and quick read.

I do have to take a star off, though, because a couple of things felt off:

(view spoiler)[1) Some plot hole-ish things:
- The love story only happens because Dashti, the maid, can read and write, but her mistress Lady Saren can't. The book never explains this in any way, and it felt unbelievable.
- When Dashti and her Lady are imprisoned, they only have a small metal flap on the wall they use to dump human waste outside. The tower has no windows. Then when Prince comes, she communicates with Dashti through it; he even sits beside it all night as they talk. I couldn't help thinking again and again about the smell he must have felt and what he must have seen there. It got in the way of feeling the budding romance supposedly happening there.
- The girls get imprisoned. Every day guards bring them milk and stuff, they hear the guards talking, etc. One night, an obvious attack happens outside - there are screams, commotion, cries for help, etc. From that time on, no one comes to bring supplies, and no one can be heard. Obvious that all the guards were killed, right? For some reason, the girls apparently didn't think so. And they never tried to escape for YEARS! I found that unbelievable! It's not like they had anything else to do. They were sitting in a tiny room with no light at all. Really, even without hope of escape, I'd chip at the wall just to do something. And when eventually Dashti tries, she has no trouble at all! So why did they sit in the tower for all those years and suffer unnecessarily?!

2) I was sometimes frustrated with the heroine. She was kinda bitter and unkind at times when thinking of her mistress. And Lady Saren is just obviously suffering from mental illness, and with good reason! So I was frustrated with Dashti. No one forces you to keep helping Lady Saren. If it's such a bother, just stop!
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