Adventures in Ink (Reviews): A Review on 'One Thousand and One Nights' by Ruth Browne

One Thousand and One Nights

Ruth Browne

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: September 30, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC

ISBN: 9781622663316

ASIN: B00F1R9E1I

Pages: 68

Goodreads Rating: 3.33

My Rating: 3

Book Description:

Sheri spends her days fighting zombies and her nights chained to a wall, earning her every breath by telling stories to her captor Aleksy—stories that make them both forget the ruined world. Sheri could put up with the conditions—at least she knows her sister is safe in the community Aleksy leads—until she realizes she’s falling for him...even though he wants her dead.

When Aleksy allowed Sheri and her sister into his compound, he didn't know about the zombie bite on her back. It's only a matter of time before she turns into one of the rising dead and threatens their existence, but Aleksy has a secret need for Sheri and her stories. For everyone’s safety, he chains her to his bedroom wall, hoping for just one more day. But how long will the community allow Aleksy to ignore his own rule: always kill the infected. Always.

My take on the book:

So I plan on making this one short and simple much like the book itself. One Thousand and One Nights was in fact a good read if not a bit on the slow side. I was initially drawn to the book description… A female zombie hunter and an avid reader, so needless to say being a zombie anything aficionado and a reader I jumped on the opportunity to read this one and review it.

The book had its strong points, mainly the character development. Sheri was pretty cool if not a tad on the nympho side, which felt more like a need for attention than anything else and Alesky was the perfectly conflicted… something you could definitely understand. It was just the lack of drive in the story that almost lulled me to sleep. Sheri's loyalty to the group steams from her need to protect her sister which is noble and one of her more redeeming qualities. She always comes back to the inhuman treatment of the compound, all for her sister. And her sister is such a sweetie! She's protective of her sister in a way that shows more towards their relationship than a back story ever could. I loved the concept and as I stated the characters were very well thought out, their back stories superb but simply put, it dragged. Its like one of those low budget Zombie movies that has so much promise but never delivers.

My favorite this about the undead and the books and movies surrounding it is the action and gore, something that truthfully you can get from almost any supernatural movie or book. But there is something about the zombie’s mindless need to feed and the horror that ensues when you have to fight off your family and friends after they turn that draws me in (does that make me sound crazy, if so… my bad lol) This book had none of that really. Sure there is some zombie action but it focuses more on the inner dialogue of the two main characters and their back stories. So in a way the characters are almost too developed because it feels as if that’s all the author thought of.

In retrospect, I might be expecting too much from a short story but I just felt like it was lacking a je ne sais quoi which kinda bummed me out for all the hype I put into this one. Sure, I’d recommend it but not super enthusiastically like I normally would. This one is better left up to you all and whether or not the synopsis pulls you in. There are some naughty scenes, but nothing in my opinion that is too graphic so it’s pretty safe in that aspect.