Im Lande des Mahdi I

More than 30 years after the last time I read Karl May, fond memories of his North African/Middle Eastern stories made me pick up this book, which I hadn't read before.

It was pleasant enough, exotic, colourful, and obviously somewhat dated. More than once, I found it tiresomely repetitive: The main character making friends through his superior European skills; his stalking his foes and listening in on their conversations; an annoying comic relief sidekick who keeps foiling his master's perfect plans through his incompetence, again and again. Still, pleasant enough; I'm going to read the two follow-up books at some time.

"Kairo ist Ausgangspunkt dieser fesselnden Orienttrilogie. Sie schildert eines der schlimmsten Kapitel der Weltgeschichte: das Problem des Sklavenhandels. Bis in die Nubische Wüste verfolgen Kara Ben Nemsi und sein Diener Ben Nil zusammen mit dem "Reis Effendina" einen Sklavenzug. "Menschenjäger" ist der erste Teil der Trilogie "Im Lande des Mahdi". Fortsetzungen: "Der Mahdi" (Band 17) und "Im Sudan" (Band 18)." (nach KMV Katalog