Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Nala's Story

Subtitle: Champion Standing, Book 0

Author: Mark Gardner

Narrator: Edoardo Camponeschi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-15-16

Publisher: Article94

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Nala and her sister live their lives as slaves in the Han Dynasty. A chance encounter at a bazaar leads Nala on a mission to keep her sister safe from evil, while learning that not everything is as it appears to be. Can she save her sister and herself before it is too late?

Members Reviews:

Romance and intrigue in the Han dynasty

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Nala's Story is a romantic novella set in ancient China. Nala and her sister Hazina are slaves from Nubia who've found themselves traded to the Han dynasty, where they're purchased by the Magistrate aka the infamous Champion Standing, a man rumored in the marketplace to murder his concubines for sport.

Gardner draws on the classic One Thousand and One Arabian Nights -- with a twist. Every night Nala is summoned to Shui's chamber and given a chance to assassinate him. If she fails, she must tell him a story of her people in exchange for another chance to try and kill him and save the lives of herself and her sister.

I was a bit leery of the premise in the beginning since most romances where the female protagonist is a slave, or otherwise in the power of the male love interest, tend to be kind of creepy. I was happy to see Gardner delivered modern sensitivity in his handling of slavery and consent in the relationship between Nala and Shui.

I don't know enough about the practice of slavery in the Han dynasty to say how accurate the details regarding the slave trade in ancient China are, but Gardner does not romanticize slavery or excuse the institution in a historical context. Slavery is horrible for Nala -- so horrible that, were it not for her need to protect her sister, she would rather be dead.

He also avoids a physical relationship (attempted assassinations aside) between Nala and Shui while Nala is a slave. Yes, it's probably unrealistic in a historical setting, but if people can have stories with immortal elves and talking space squids, I think we can have a historical romance where the hero waits until the heroine is in a position to freely, enthusiastically consent before he gets his groove on. Good on Gardner.

Overall, the parallel with One Thousand and One Nights is a mixed success. For starters, Shui is clearly no madman, murdering women for entertainment or out of a deep-seated hatred. It's never well established in the story why Shui and his guards allow the women to grow more and more terrified, believing they're going to be assaulted and killed. Even if they were oblivious to the women's fear in the beginning, at the point where the women become hysterical and fight the guards who come to take them to Shui, it should be obvious something's up. It bothers me that the situation isn't addressed in some way because it seems like a sadism out of character for Shui.

Also, I was kind of disappointed the tales Nala tells to Shui on the nights she fails to kill him weren't more fully included, with only a line or two scattered in the dialogue.

Gardner's strength lies in the depth of his characters and their relationships. They're relatable and sympathetic people. Some of his best writing is in their dialogue, and their inner thoughts. Nala is scarred by years of slavery and abuse; she's conflicted over her instinct to trust Shui when all logic, evidence, and experience tell her he's a danger not just to her, but her sister. Her reflections on her relationship with her sister are complicated.