This book was actually a pretty big disappointment, I read it in just one sitting (during finals week btw). I had heard so many good things about it, and was really excited to read a YA retelling (by a wonderful writer) about A Thousand and One Nights - a story about a guy who keeps marrying new woman because he keeps KILLING them. Is that not a compelling idea? Sure, it's a retelling, but I wanted to see what was different - And I loved it until the last 30 or so pages when the ending was horribly rushed and went against the theme the rest of the book held. Favorite part of this book was the descriptions and the fact that only the king had a name (not even the female NARRATOR is named in this book). I found that very impressive. But there is so much that the ending made me dislike about this book for going against its own themes.