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Ahmed, Saladin - Throne of the Crescent Moon
Thu, Oct. 25th, 2012 11:17 am(Book 1 of Crescent Moon Kingdoms)
Adoulla Makhslood is the last ghul hunter in Dhamsawaat; the order of ghul hunters has been slowly dying out for a while, which is a bit of a pain when a series of ghul attacks strike the city. Soon, he and his apprentice Raseed find that the attacks are somehow connected with the overall dissatisfaction with the current Khalif and the growing backlash against the Khalif that is being fanned by the thief the Falcon Prince.
I very much liked how urban this book was: Adoulla is an inhabitant of the large city Dhamsawaat, and he wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how much he complains. My favorite bits had very little to do with the plot and had more to do with Adoulla talking to various people around the city, going places, having tea, and etc. I was also glad to see characters who are aging, as opposed to the usual teens and 20-somes that populate fantasy. Adoulla is tired and his joints often hurt, and really he would like to just sit and eat instead of chasing down these ghuls every day. I greatly sympathize with this. In fact, the older folk are the most interesting, from Adoulla to his two friends. Zamia, a member of a nomadic band, later joins, and she and Raseed are sadly the most boring bits.
I think Ahmed was trying to go for a commentary on religious fundamentalism and varying types of Islam via Adoulla and his apprentice Raseed (the religion of the book is not Islam although is probably based on it). Raseed is extremely by-the-book and devout, and he is frequently horrified by the little exceptions and grey areas that Adoulla insists on. And I am sure all of you guys know this, but it is so nice to see this kind of commentary framed entirely within a religion, as opposed to Faith A vs. Faith B or Faith C vs. Atheism.
Alas, I probably wouldn't have picked this up if it hadn't been for the setting. The plot wasn't enticing enough to pull me along, and the emotional connection, which is usually what keeps me reading, was a bit lacking. As noted, I liked Adoulla plenty, but I found it very hard to get into Zamia and Raseed's heads, as they were fairly single-minded in what they were going for. Also, Ahmed has a habit of telling emotional facts, such as Raseed's attraction to Zamia or Adoulla's pining over an old flame, as opposed to showing. In the end, I wasn't a believer of either romance.
Though I appreciated the inclusion of Zamia, Ahmed's old flame Miri, and a female magic user whose name I can't find, I really wish Zamia had been more fleshed out. We mostly see her through Adoulla's eyes or Raseed's, and in one she's the nuisance, and in the other, she's an object of romantic attraction. There are bits where she gets to interact with female magic user, and I like the contrast of warrior Zamia with female magic user's healing ability, but really, the book is Adoulla's. Also, it would be nice to have a female romantic interest whose main desire was not to get Hero out of the whole Hero of Epic Fantasy business.
Cool world but could be fleshed out a lot more.
Adoulla Makhslood is the last ghul hunter in Dhamsawaat; the order of ghul hunters has been slowly dying out for a while, which is a bit of a pain when a series of ghul attacks strike the city. Soon, he and his apprentice Raseed find that the attacks are somehow connected with the overall dissatisfaction with the current Khalif and the growing backlash against the Khalif that is being fanned by the thief the Falcon Prince.
I very much liked how urban this book was: Adoulla is an inhabitant of the large city Dhamsawaat, and he wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how much he complains. My favorite bits had very little to do with the plot and had more to do with Adoulla talking to various people around the city, going places, having tea, and etc. I was also glad to see characters who are aging, as opposed to the usual teens and 20-somes that populate fantasy. Adoulla is tired and his joints often hurt, and really he would like to just sit and eat instead of chasing down these ghuls every day. I greatly sympathize with this. In fact, the older folk are the most interesting, from Adoulla to his two friends. Zamia, a member of a nomadic band, later joins, and she and Raseed are sadly the most boring bits.
I think Ahmed was trying to go for a commentary on religious fundamentalism and varying types of Islam via Adoulla and his apprentice Raseed (the religion of the book is not Islam although is probably based on it). Raseed is extremely by-the-book and devout, and he is frequently horrified by the little exceptions and grey areas that Adoulla insists on. And I am sure all of you guys know this, but it is so nice to see this kind of commentary framed entirely within a religion, as opposed to Faith A vs. Faith B or Faith C vs. Atheism.
Alas, I probably wouldn't have picked this up if it hadn't been for the setting. The plot wasn't enticing enough to pull me along, and the emotional connection, which is usually what keeps me reading, was a bit lacking. As noted, I liked Adoulla plenty, but I found it very hard to get into Zamia and Raseed's heads, as they were fairly single-minded in what they were going for. Also, Ahmed has a habit of telling emotional facts, such as Raseed's attraction to Zamia or Adoulla's pining over an old flame, as opposed to showing. In the end, I wasn't a believer of either romance.
Though I appreciated the inclusion of Zamia, Ahmed's old flame Miri, and a female magic user whose name I can't find, I really wish Zamia had been more fleshed out. We mostly see her through Adoulla's eyes or Raseed's, and in one she's the nuisance, and in the other, she's an object of romantic attraction. There are bits where she gets to interact with female magic user, and I like the contrast of warrior Zamia with female magic user's healing ability, but really, the book is Adoulla's. Also, it would be nice to have a female romantic interest whose main desire was not to get Hero out of the whole Hero of Epic Fantasy business.
Cool world but could be fleshed out a lot more.
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