The bird king

Title:

The bird king

Author:

Wilson, G. Willow, 1982- author.

Summary:

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.

Edition:

First edition.

First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Physical Description:

403 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Romance fiction.

Fantasy fiction.

Subject Term:

Cartographers -- Fiction.

Inquisition -- Fiction.

Voyages and travels -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Spain -- History -- 711-1516 -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Grove Press,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9780802129031

Publication Information:

New York : Grove Press, [2019]

Call Number:

WILSON

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003398339	Adult Fiction	WILSON	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

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.

Author Notes

G. Willow Wilson is the co-creator of the Hugo and American Book Award-winning series Ms. Marvel (2013-2018), and has written for some of the world's best-known superhero comic book series, including The X-Men , Superman , and Wonder Woman . Her first novel, Alif the Unseen , won the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, was a finalist for the Center For Fiction's First Novel Prize, and was long-listed for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction. In 2015, she won the Graphic Literature Innovator Prize at the PEN America Literary Awards. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She lives in Seattle.

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up-Although she lives a luxurious life in the sultan's harem, the only thing Fatima craves is freedom. With the help of Vikram, a jinn who fades from man to dog, Fatima and Hassan, her best friend and magical cartographer, flee the palace when Hassan becomes a target of the Spanish Inquisition. Wilson weaves Arabic, Islam, and Islamic traditions to create an adult novel brimming with YA appeal-one that questions the meaning of time and reality. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Wilson (Alif the Unseen) sets her swashbuckling second novel amid an epic clash between cultures on the Iberian peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition. Fatima, the most beautiful girl at the court of Al Andalus in Granada, is Sultan Abu Abdullah's favored concubine. But she loves only her friend Hassam, the palace mapmaker, who possesses an uncanny ability to conjure doors to whole new rooms-or even whole new worlds. When the Spanish send a delegation to demand the surrender of the Alhambra from the sultan, they bring with them the Baronesa Luz. Invited to the harem to be entertained, Luz gains the confidence of Fatima, but after Hassam's gifts are carelessly revealed, Fatima discovers Luz is part of the Inquisition. When Luz condemns Hassam as a sorcerer, he and Fatima are forced to flee. They make one harrowing escape after another (and another) by land and sea, helped by the vampire-jinn Vikram (who takes the form of a dog); his fickle feline sister, Azalel; Gwennec the ill-fated monk; and various other fantastical entities. Fatima remains the hero throughout, her courage and loyalty the only attributes that can save them. Though marketed as literary fiction, this book is pure fantasy, and teen readers especially will relish suspending their disbelief as Fatima and Hassam careen from one violent fray to the next. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Assoc. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

This historical fantasy by Wilson (Alif the Unseen) is set in the late 15th century at the fall of the last sultanate in the Iberian peninsula in what would become Spain. Fatima, a young concubine in the sultan's harem, and her only friend, Hassan the mapmaker, have lived sheltered lives at court. Hassan's ability to create maps that alter reality makes him a prized asset, and the pair are forced to flee when Spanish forces take the besieged estate. Their odyssey forces them into partnerships with unexpected allies as they attempt to escape the forces of the Inquisition to the fabled island of the Bird King, to which Hassan holds the only map. Iranian actor Elmira Rahim narrates the audio edition; her faintly accented English informs the story with feeling and flavor. Verdict An emotional and often melancholy historical fantasy that will appeal to fans of Guy Gavriel Kay and Helene Wecker.-Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.