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A review by mediaevalmuse
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
2.0
This is a book that I wanted so dearly to like more than I did. The premise itself is everything I love about a good fantasy, and I’m always delighted to read something not set in the pseudo-European middle ages. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get invested in this book, as some of the technical aspects felt like a barrier between me and the story. Your mileage may vary, but for me, I had a difficult time.
Things I Liked
1. Setting: I tend not to read a lot of fantasy anymore because, as a medievalist, I get tired of overused tropes. This novel, however, was - as others have called it - a breath of fresh air. The pseudo-Islamic world the novel inhabits is rich and full of life and magic. I loved the descriptions of Dhamsawaat and the various kinds of people who lived there. I loved the cultural shift so that I, as a reader, had to check my own assumptions about worldbuilding. Everything about the setting was exciting and I wished I could have visited the Kingdoms.
2. Characters: I really loved that our cast of characters was so varied, so all brought different life experiences to the story. Adoulla is an older ghul hunter, which in itself is interesting because not only is he an older protagonist, but one who isn’t just a wise old beardy man. I also liked how Raseed, a zealot, was constantly being challenged and forced to reevaluate what he believed to be right. Zamia, too, was fun to read, since her life experience made everything around her feel new. Litaz and Dawoud, though minor characters, were my favorite - I wish we knew more about them!
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Connectivity: It seemed that a lot of the events of the plot happened in relative isolation, which made it hard for me, as a reader, to see everything as connected. Ghuls murder a boy’s family in the beginning of the book, and he’s almost entirely forgotten as the characters move on to their next adventure. The political subplot also seemed to be woven in rather roughly - the stuff about the Falcon Prince doesn’t seem to be a big issue until the end, just something that’s happening at the same time as our main plot but with not much impact on our characters’ lives. I also didn’t see the motivation for the antagonist’s actions regarding the murders of the boy’s family, the slaying of Zamia’s people, etc. I often felt shuttled around from event to event without the sense of how each was building on each other to address the main conflict.
2. Magic System: Maybe this stems from my own lack of knowledge, but I had the hardest time understanding how the magic system in this novel worked. I wasn’t sure what was in the realm of possibility or how Adoulla’s spells/scripture functioned - was it the words themselves that made things happen? If so, could anyone do magic? If not, how does magic work, exactly? And what about the ghuls and djenn?
3. Prose: Despite the book being so short, I still feel that the prose itself was either overwritten or a bit mechanical. Things were explained that didn’t need to be, or dialogue would feel formulaic and stiff. Part of the problem might be that A LOT of the book is dialogue, so A LOT of the things we need to know about the world/characters are communicated through dialogue.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in fantasy (especially the “swords and sorcery” genre), magic, mystical creatures, djenn, ghuls, Arab-inspired fantasy, and fantasy not set in the European middle ages.
Things I Liked
1. Setting: I tend not to read a lot of fantasy anymore because, as a medievalist, I get tired of overused tropes. This novel, however, was - as others have called it - a breath of fresh air. The pseudo-Islamic world the novel inhabits is rich and full of life and magic. I loved the descriptions of Dhamsawaat and the various kinds of people who lived there. I loved the cultural shift so that I, as a reader, had to check my own assumptions about worldbuilding. Everything about the setting was exciting and I wished I could have visited the Kingdoms.
2. Characters: I really loved that our cast of characters was so varied, so all brought different life experiences to the story. Adoulla is an older ghul hunter, which in itself is interesting because not only is he an older protagonist, but one who isn’t just a wise old beardy man. I also liked how Raseed, a zealot, was constantly being challenged and forced to reevaluate what he believed to be right. Zamia, too, was fun to read, since her life experience made everything around her feel new. Litaz and Dawoud, though minor characters, were my favorite - I wish we knew more about them!
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Lack of Connectivity: It seemed that a lot of the events of the plot happened in relative isolation, which made it hard for me, as a reader, to see everything as connected. Ghuls murder a boy’s family in the beginning of the book, and he’s almost entirely forgotten as the characters move on to their next adventure. The political subplot also seemed to be woven in rather roughly - the stuff about the Falcon Prince doesn’t seem to be a big issue until the end, just something that’s happening at the same time as our main plot but with not much impact on our characters’ lives. I also didn’t see the motivation for the antagonist’s actions regarding the murders of the boy’s family, the slaying of Zamia’s people, etc. I often felt shuttled around from event to event without the sense of how each was building on each other to address the main conflict.
2. Magic System: Maybe this stems from my own lack of knowledge, but I had the hardest time understanding how the magic system in this novel worked. I wasn’t sure what was in the realm of possibility or how Adoulla’s spells/scripture functioned - was it the words themselves that made things happen? If so, could anyone do magic? If not, how does magic work, exactly? And what about the ghuls and djenn?
3. Prose: Despite the book being so short, I still feel that the prose itself was either overwritten or a bit mechanical. Things were explained that didn’t need to be, or dialogue would feel formulaic and stiff. Part of the problem might be that A LOT of the book is dialogue, so A LOT of the things we need to know about the world/characters are communicated through dialogue.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in fantasy (especially the “swords and sorcery” genre), magic, mystical creatures, djenn, ghuls, Arab-inspired fantasy, and fantasy not set in the European middle ages.