Throne of the Crescent Moon
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Traditional swords & sorcery fantasy with an authentic middle-eastern spin.
The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, Khalifs and killers, is at boiling point. A power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince is reaching its climax. In the midst of this brewing rebellion, a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. Only a handful of reluctant heroes can learn the truth, and stop the killing.
Doctor Adoulla Makhslood just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame's family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter's path. Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla's young assistant, a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety, is eager to deliver God's justice. Zamia Badawi has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the Lion-Shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man's title. She lives only to avenge her father's death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father's killer. Until she meets Raseed.
When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince's brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn the city, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ahmed's debut masterfully paints a world both bright and terrible. Doctor Adoulla Makhslood is a professional destroyer of ghuls, clawed creatures whose hissing sounds like "a thousand serpents rasping with a man's hatred." He's almost ready to retire when an unheard-of number of the monsters all but wipe out an entire clan of the Badawi people. Hunting the sorcerer who raised the ghuls, Adoulla and his religiously uptight swordsman apprentice, Raseed, are aided by the lone Badawi survivor, a girl named Zamia who can transform into a lion. They soon discover that the mysterious figure plans to cast an ancient sacrificial spell powerful enough to wreck the world. Unobtrusive hints of backstory contribute to the sense that this novel is part of a larger ongoing tale, and the Arab-influenced setting is full of vibrant description, characters, and religious expressions that will delight readers weary of pseudo-European epics.
Customer Reviews
A great read!
Set in a mythical Middle Eastern city of Dhamsawaat, Throne of the Crescent Moon contains a monster hunter, a sword-wielding dervish, alchemists, a shapeshifter, a nasty raiser of demons and his equally nasty jackal-demon sidekick. Hooray!
Sixty years old, overweight, tired and fed-up hunter of monsters and demons, Dr Adoulla Makhslood is all for a quiet life. A good cup of tea at his favourite tea shop, the comfort of his home, his books and the company of friends are all he longs for. Shame about the recurring dream involving rivers of blood flowing through Dhamsawaat.
Things change when his assistant, the pious dervish Rasheed bas Rasheed, arrives with the orphaned nephew of Adoulla’s estranged lover, Mira. Abdoulla finds himself sucked into a devilish plot that could very well end with rivers of blood.
I enjoyed the story’s Middle Eastern setting and mythology, and I loved its characters even more. To make the hero a cantankerous old man who believes he is past his sell by date flaunts convention, and then to pair him with a righteous yet naïve twenty-something dervish is brilliant and offers ample opportunities for comedy. In fact, one of the story’s strengths is the different ways in which the characters interact, mainly around love: hindered, marital, fraternal and forbidden.
While there are only partial glimpses of the villain, his rare appearances are grizzly and revolve around the physical and mental torture of a former guardsman, which serves a purpose only revealed at the end of the story.
The plot is good but don’t expect to be blown away by it. For me, it’s the characters that really make this story special and demands a sequel.
Throne of the Crescent Moon is around 250 pages. It’s shortish, but it packs a lot of depth. It’s definitely a case of less is more.
Great book!
This was a great book! An awesome fantasy world and gripping storyline!