Customer Reviews

The Princess of Dhagabad (Spirits of the Ancient Sands)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Much of today's literature (I am talking about fiction) represents an attempt, for the authors and the readers, to understand the real world. We are told what it was like to "grow up in the depression," what are the issues in today's family life, what may be the real causes of the American revolution ...

Anna Kashina's book is different: it opens up a new world for the readers. The beautiful palace gardens and exotic oriental cities are not merely a background for the story of a young girl turning into a young woman. The young heroine LIVES in this world, and it becomes part of our own as we read the book.

I believe that the most important ability of a real writer is the ability to create a new world, where the readers can live alongside the characters of the story. Good literature brings us not only understanding, but joy.

Anna Kashina's book is extremely enjoyable, and it is a joy to explore the world she created for us. I hope the second book of the series will be published soon!

The Princess receives a bottle containing a djin--Hasan--who obeys her every wish. As she matures from child to young woman, she pursues knowledge, but knows that she must some day marry someone else. Hasan is a slave who cannot be freed.

Anna Kashina is a smooth writer making THE PRINCESS OF DHAGABAD a pleasure to read. Her concept of the djin being the gods' way of punishing humans who learn too much is amusing and creates an internally consistent magic system.

Not a lot actually happens in this novel. The adventure is personal and coming of age, rather than monumental. Like a romance, what matters is the relationship between two people, not the saving of the world or creating great new empires.

This is an extraordinary book. After becoming familiar with the unusual, ceremonious English, I could not stop reading the book to the end.

It is the Arabian Nights story of the bottle imp, told in a new and completely original way. The young princess is always accompanied by the djinn Hasan, whom she has liberated from the bottle. The djinn turns out to be very wise, highly intelligent (sometimes he talks like a modern scientist), and sometimes mildly ironic. He leads the princess into a world of oriental splendor and helps her in difficult and dangerous situations.

The colorful story is told in a captivating way. Walking on the tight rope of logical paradox, the reader looks down to a paradise. The book is to be read and re-read several times; each time one discovers something new. It is a book which I would not like to miss.

I am impatiently looking forward to the second volume of the book.

Open this book, read the first page, and you won't be able to stop until you finish reading the very last page of it. The author takes you into a wonderful fairy tale for grown-ups. In this tale, there is a beautiful, kind, and clever princess. She is only 12, but she makes you think about eternal ideas of good and evil, love, friendship, and loyalty.

The book will introduce to you the magical world of the East, with its ancient history and traditions. While reading it, you'll imagine yourself walking in Sultan's Gardens or visiting the Arabic bazaar. The detailed descriptions of Eastern costumes and Arabic cooking adds authencity and dynamism to the narration. I want to congratulate the author for an excellent debut and to thank her for the pleasure I received from reading this book.

This book was a pleasant discovery for me. It carried me away into a wonderful magic world created by author's extraordinary imagination and style. Kashina has an great mastery of the English language that has almost Nabokov's quality to it that is indicative of a rare talent and makes this book a pleasure to read. In addition, the author has original views on the nature of knowlegde and religion that stimulate thought.

I got this book a few days ago and I simply couldn't put it down until I read it all the way to the end. I believe that this story has every attribute of real classics, like Tolkien, and Harry Potter books. It may not appeal to the lovers of violent epic sagas, but I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and not enjoying every bit of it. Its vividly described Arabian Nights' setting provides a beautiful frame for the genuine feelings of love, and duty, and frustration that gets resolved in the most magical way! I highly recommend it not only to the readers of fantasy, but to the readers of literature in other genres.

This book is beautiful and fresh. It offers perspectives on life, love, and knowledge that are rarely seen in literature. The setting and characters are vivid, the conflicts are original, and the ending is exquisite. I highly recommend Princess of Dhagabad.

This is a wonderful book, with depth, pathos, and above all, love. We are drawn by Kashina into an imagined, entrancing world, where the transforming power of love works its magic on both the princess and her slave.

If you are an adult who loves Harry Potter, you should definitely read this book. It is set in the ancient Middle East instead of modern day England, and it has those sensual parts that are definitely not appropriate for young adults, but this book has the same genuine purity of an all-time classic. It tells of a princess growing up in a richly described world of the Arabian nights. She is a shy and quiet child with a lot of responsibilities, but her life completely turns around on her twelfth birthday when she finds herself in command of an all-powerful djinn who obeys nobody else but her. It is not simply an adventure book, although you will find plenty of magical adventures an near-death experiences there. It explores the meaning of wisdom and suffering that comes with it. Also, the meaning of true love. The book is beautifully written and deeply moving and it will leave you wanting more.

This book is well-written. It reminds me of Jane Austen, just in the sense that you have to read most of the words to get the whole story. Most books written today are fairly dumbed down, and you can skip a page or two and not know the difference. I always enjoy books where you are enticed to go back and read a passage again. This is one of those books.