The Sultan and the Storyteller by Lichelle Slayter Review

The Arabian Nights is a story that has always piqued my interest. The question of why a king or sultan, as he is called, would murder his new bride every night because of his first wife’s betrayal always made me want to read a retelling of this tale. The Sultan and the Storyteller is the first retelling of this story I have read, and I must say I really enjoyed it. While I later read The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey I got to say that any retelling I read of this story will have a lot to live up to. This book that was less than 200 pages was such an amazing retelling that I will be eagerly looking into other books by the same author. In fact, it seems that Lichelle Slater really enjoyed writing this book for she is making another series based on the tale Aladdin set in the same world. Aladdin is not my favorite fairy tale nor my favorite movie (although I adore Robin Williams performance of the genie) but I still plan on reading the book Daughter of Thieves when I get the chance. 

Anyway, the book begins with Shaira and her sister Kiara learning to their horror that their close friend Jade has been chosen to be their Sultans newest bride. The Sultan (Zayne) was supposedly betrayed by his first wife has killed thirty-nine brides for they are found dead the next morning! Jade and her family try to escape the city but are caught by Shaira’s father, the vizier of the kingdom, who shows the family no mercy. After seeing her best friends' parents killed Shaira volunteers to take Jade place to spare Jade and her brother their lives. Her father seems angry and reluctant to take her to the sultan despite never showing any love to either of his daughters, but Shaira prevails. After marrying the sultan (Zayne) who is nothing like she expects, she uses her magic while telling a story to make him fall asleep. In the middle of the night, she senses an evil presence seemingly haunting Zayne, but she doesn’t know what it is. In the morning Zayne and the servants are shocked to see her alive and well. And so, begins a pattern of Shaira using her magic to make Zayne fall asleep while telling him a story and then sensing an evil watching them. As she gets to know her husband, she starts to suspect foul magic is at work. Zayne is nothing like the evil tyrant everyone believes him to be and as the two grow to care for each other the evil manipulator grows more desperate. It will do the unthinkable to achieve their goals! Can Shaira save her new husband and the kingdom from forever falling into the evil's clutches? Who is pulling the strings behind all these events? What happened with Zayne’s first wife? And are the secrets of her past related to her new husband's past? Find out in this amazing book how all will turn out! 

I’m just going to say it. I love this book. Although it was less than two hundred pages it has packed in so much in such a wonderful way. Truth be I usually prefer to read books within the 200–350-page range but since I was so busy with schoolwork, I decided to try reading shorter books. Usually, I find shorter books good but not great. It can be hard to develop a good story with good characters within such a limited page range. But when I do come across a short book that I am extremely invested in I have to give the author props for doing such a good job. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings. It is full of magic, love and even has some elements with the movie Aladdin. I rate this book five out of five stars. Until next time. E.V.A.