07.06.21 Morning In The South Park Before The Lab - Some Reading With A Lovely View Of Oxford. Starting

i was born in the wrong century. take me to masquerade balls. give me floor length gowns and fleeting eye contact, the air thick with sexual tension. let me fall in love with my enemy and think i’m an absolute idiot for it only to find out they’re in love with me too

Breaking out of my comfort zone and going monochromatic and bold!

Angie The Rose

Angie The Rose

Abstract Artist | Paintings & Art Sundries | Greensboro, N.C.

“Forest Sampler” - machine quilted paper, hand embroidery, paper sculpture, beading.  Displayed in an antique printer’s tray. by Lost Lake Studio

Light academia spring 🫶🏻

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson is a historical fantasy set in the sultanate in Granada just before the city is taken over by the armies of Isabella and Ferdinand, as well as by the reaching hands of the Inquisition. Fatima is a teen concubine born at the Alhambra; when she discovers that she and her best friend, a magical mapmaker named Hassan, are in danger, she chooses to flee, with Inquisitor Lulu hot on her heels.

I loved the magic in this novel. Hassan's abilities, the eerie djinn, the demonic unleashed curses, the winding journeys, the stories of the Bird King, were all wonderfully surreal and well-crafted by Wilson. The world-building is rich on the historical side as well: the gaps between cultures of the visiting Castillians and the Muslims of Granada, the insidious manipulation and influence of the Inquisition as well as its real-life horrors, and the atmosphere of Europe at the time of the conquering of Spain, all feel accurate and complexly depicted.

Some choices felt strange—such as both protagonists being Caucasian or Circassian, often considered white ethnic groups, in a story so inspired by Islamic folklore and belief. Some parts of the story dragged as well. But the horror provoked by the Inquisition, the power of mythmaking and faith, and the bonds between the characters all made this a very compelling read.

Content warnings for Islamophobia, homophobia, torture, violence, sexual assault.