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bryanthomasschmidt

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

My thoughts on books, stories, authors, and publishing

Currently reading

The Clockwork Dagger
Beth Cato
Progress: 120/360 pages
The Road to Science Fiction 3: From Heinlein to Here
James Gunn
The Road to Science Fiction 4: From Here to Forever
James Gunn
The Road to Science Fiction 1
James Gunn
A Broken Christmas
Claire Ashgrove
The Ultra Thin Man
Patrick Swenson
Progress: 174/334 pages
The Broken Eye
Brent Weeks
The Dark Between the Stars
Kevin J. Anderson
Oath of Fealty
Elizabeth Moon
The Road to Science Fiction 2: From Wells to Heinlein
James Gunn

Throne of the Crescent Moon

Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed An amazing debut with fun, well drawn characters, strong plotting and well written action sequences, good use of culture and invention. A delightful read, but not one of those fantasies that's so long or involved anyone would hesitate to make the investment.

The story of a ghul hunter, his dervish apprentice and their friends taking on a gruesome magical threat to the Crescent Moon kingdoms, this is tightly, concisely written with a good flow and very enjoyable as a gateway to a new writer or into sword and sorcery or Arabic fantasy for anyone new to it.

The magical elements and themes fit well within the Arabic cultural fantasy world, Ahmed weaves together seemlessly with a blend of fact and fiction. His switches POV characters flawlessly as well for such a short novel and therefore develops all of his major characters more richly and deeply than many other novelists might even for such a short book.

His transitions between chapters and characters are seamless and they often provide just the right insight to keep the story moving forward in both pace, plot and character arc.

Recommended highly.