Pashazade

Intertwined plotlines in a fragrant north african setting. Cultural clash, mystery/crime thriller, and a kind of "coming of age"-novella.
The author obviously likes his characters, and he makes the reader like them as well. This book made me preorder the sequel straight away :-)

In a way, it is not too great a step between this universe and the one Effinger uses in his books about Marid Audran (When gravity fails, The fire in the sun, and The exile kiss), but the Arabesque suite does not feel like a ripoff. BUT - if you like one, you'll probably like the other!

First and lingering impression is that this is Gibson/Stephenson lite. The day-after-tomorrow alterni-future setting did its usual best to confuse and frustrate me (I never know whether the words being dropped are concepts/gadgets that exist or are being made up, which makes getting my head around the worldbuilding difficult) but it was rich and exotic and interesting... sometimes possibly too much so; I felt like occasionally the author was wallowing in atmosphere, and then paring back his action, which made the pacing oddly syncopated for me. Moreover, the rich world stuff - not just the setting, but the accoutrements of the hero and his sidekick - wasn't actually central to the story, which was an unsettlingly simple murder mystery show more thriller-whodunnit.

That said, I did enjoy the story, and often the telling, even in the wallowing or paring. And if not seated in what Ashraf is, at least who Ashraf is is quite important to the story (and a thing worth talking and thinking about for 300 pages).

There were POV changes mid-sentence, but for once I didn't find that at all troubling, possibly because it was never confusing. Unlike the author's penchant for sentence-fragmenting lengthy run-on qualifying clauses, which tripped me up every single time and meant I had to re-read whole paragraphs.

For example: Hani was worried about something but asking her directly about it hadn't worked. Though he'd tried that several times, starting when he'd got back to the madersa after [character name] flat-lined.

Every time I came across this construction, I read the second sentence like it was starting with a conditional clause, and every single time I got to the end of the clause and found the fullstop and realised it had been a follow-on conditional from the previous sentence. Which I then had to re-read. Every. Single. Time. show less

It is a pity the alternate-history flavor didn't come through stronger in this story. Still, it presented an interesting set of characters, an exotic location, and a decent enough mystery. It holds up better than its sequel, "Effendi"

If you think that murder mysteries need vicars or tortuous plots, where the last chapter reveals all then put the kettle and I’ll finish before you come back. But if you are open to Chandler film-noir stories please stay as this review is for you.

The context is an alternative future where the 1st world war ended early so the Ottoman Empire is modernised rather then dismembered. Aristocrats still have political and social power within a liberal monarchy. Think of Jordon being the norm throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

This is by way of back-story as real focus is the arrival from an American Jail, of Asref Bey in El Iskandryia(Alexandria in our timeline) summoned by his Aunt who is a mover and shaker in the local politics to show more marry a cousin he has never met. His refusal and the death of his Aunt soon have him fighting for his life in a world he struggles to understand. Intertwined with this story are flashbacks to why he is confused about his past and future.

The story is plot not character driven but the setting makes for freshness to a familiar story. Given my interest in history and politics, I found it difficult to see why this society has more advanced technology then our timeline but that’s a Geek thing.

Anyway, the kettle is boiled and the tea-tray is on the way so let’s go before we have to find out what Professor Plum did in the Library. show less

A gallop through the exotic El Iskandriya, it's parties and politics, family dramas overlaid with a cyberpunk veneer. Great start to a fascinating trilogy

Loved it. Part 1 of the Arabesk trilogy. Speculative fiction set in a vastly different reality where the Ottoman Empire rules the world. Fast, furious and elegant fun.

A complicated but interesting fantasy work.