#the bird king

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: GOODREADS, WEEK 17.b

The Bird King by G Willow Wilson

I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!

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From award-winning author G. Willow Wilson, The Bird King is an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.

G. Willow Wilson's debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and it established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. Now she delivers The Bird King, a stunning new novel that tells the story of Fatima, a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, 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.

Date added: 2019

Goodreads: 3.73

Storygraph: 3.75

PRO:

Historical magical realism?!?!!!!!

Political intrigue perhaps?

Available from my library in print and ebook

CON:

NOT available from the library in my preferred format (audiobook) (unless I want a book on CD. lmao WHY)

[lindensea]

So far The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson isn't an instant favorite of mine, but it is good and it has so many fantastic elements going for it:

Historical fantasy set at the fall of Al-Andalus that takes the history part seriously

Nuanced look at religion (both Islam and Christianity) in a historical context

Platonic m/f best friend duo

Really compelling antagonist

Beautiful writing and thoughts

Some kind of allegorical journey perhaps?? If so I'm super into it

Very pretty descriptions

Kinda weird

I'm a little over halfway done, but impressed so far.

[ida-spies-genitals]

And On the 26th Day the bird king

came back

[pnchen]

Cerberus...?

[fall3nangel333]

Sansa Stark you deserve the world

[starwrighter]

Ghost chirps au but instead of the cute little bird songs and peeps it’s just-

“CAW”

Like a giant crow or flock of crows if there’s more than one ghost. Danny being able to gather all of Gotham’s crows, as a giant army because he sounds like them.

Crows: Who tf are you

Danny: CAW

Crows: Say less homie

He’s named every last one of them and has trained them all to pick locks and steal. He’s respected by the crows because he’s the only one with dexterous hands. If they can’t open something they call in the big guns (AKA Danny) Like imagine being a Gothamite and watching a enormous flock of crows seemingly summoning a scrawny child out nowhere to unlock a dumpster? Like they’re crowding around him like he’s the messiah, a god even and they all just squawk in unison when the kid pulls out a bobby pin and picks the padlock. They’re dropping, coins, bottle caps, earrings, bullet shells, anything vaguely shiny and the occasional paper money into his hands.

The kid has a necklace of soda tabs and bottle cap earrings. He also just walks around collecting beer bottles and later sells little glass statues that have a bioluminescent glow (HC that Danny can melt and shape glass with weaker ecto blasts) Glowing glass jewelry is weaved into his hair that is seemingly a identity confirmation for the crows.

Nobody knows the kids name he just showed up one day with his massive army of crows and started to wander. After around a month of the kid wandering around without a care in the world and not dying the locals decide “Huh, I guess crow prince is here to stay,” Like, they accept him as a local cryptid.

Like “Yeah, crow king just kind of vibes but if you give him food, he’ll bash in a pedophiles kneecaps,”

Shit goes down When Danny discovers his chirps can also sound like geese.

[run-bird-run]

King Rail (Rallus elegans)

© Clive Harris

[great-and-small]

[corvidaemnit]

vulture fancam yaaay:3

you can also find it on my tiktok here if you want!

[ostdrossel]

When times are rough, I am especially happy for this hobby because it distract me and keeps my mind busy. And I never get sick of seeing birds, trees or gorgeous skies. We live in a pretty awesome place here on earth. And I hope we can continue with that. And I will continue to share what makes my heart happy, here from my little yard 💓

[coulrocanth]

construct

[antiqueanimals]

George Marston (1882-1940). Polar Wildlife.Iink, watercolour and body colour on artist's board, captioned in ink.

Bonhams

[michaeladrianwright]

A knight and friends.

[otiksimr]

Reposting from the Main blog. Feel like there are definitely some followers who are into Kaiju's here.

[sealsdaily]

Today's Seal Is: The Thinker