Super clean, would be great for young teens ( )

I really loved how interwoven this retelling was. I've never been massively fascinated with this tale, but I was engrossed in it the whole time. The ways the stories are over lapped, the history alluded to and slowly revealed, the tales of love and hurt and healing and what makes or breaks a heart or a family.

Definitely advised. ( )

3.5 stars. ( )

This is the first book in the Once Upon A Time series. The first one I read was actually "Snow," and then I gathered all the rest from various places because I love them so much. I just recently decided to re-read the entire series. (And no, it's not a series you need to read in order - each book is based on a separate fairy tale.)

The Storyteller's Daughter is based off the The Arabian Nights, or The One Thousand and One Nights, or Tales of the Arabian Nights - pick your poison. Having never read the original (ok, that's not entirely accurate, let's say instead "any of the translations"), I can't speak to the accuracy of the story. The story Dokey tells, though, is positively enchanting.

Dokey tells the story of Shahrazad in beautiful language that has a form very much like I would expect to see the translations written in. The story is told by Shahrazad, the greatest storyteller of all time, and feels, to me, very authentic - as though it were truly Shahrazad telling her story. There are some beautiful phrases, such as the tear welling up from the crack in Shahrazad's heart, that I feel fit very well with the time and place of the story, and these phrases fit in well with the stories Shahrazad is telling, as well as being lovely.

While I didn't laugh out loud reading this book, I did smile a lot, and I even teared up some. This is a great read, and a pretty quick one. I always have the oddest feeling upon completing these Once Upon A Time books, one of satisfaction at the completion of a great story, and also as if I've just said goodbye to a dear friend. ( )

The book starts off with Shahrazad herself actually addressing you saying that this is her true story as she alone can tell it and makes it sound uberdramatic. THEN it switches to a third person omniscient tale that is so nonsuspenseful I struggled to keep my mind on the story as I read. ( )