The Sultan's Harem

"The histories tell us the Greeks besieged Troy for Fourteen years for the sake of a woman. Will not the Turk, then, oppressed by piracies and invasions from this rock for over three centuries, endure one winter's siege?"

Harem by Colin Falconer

Wow. What a work of amazing quality this is! I went into it knowing nothing about the Sultan and Hürrem. It was quite an eye opener.

SPOILERS:

I was not helped in reading this by the fact that I despised Hürrem. I could not help it. Just reading about the incredible damage she causes in everyones' lives was enough to give me a headache. But it is impossible to stop reading this book once you start.

If there is one thing I did not like and it is something that caused me not to rate it a five, it was show more the amazing amount of violence throughout this book. Most of it involved Julia's story and as much as I did enjoy this book. I really could have and would have enjoyed it more if her story was not even told. I was primarily interested in the story of Hürrem.

And the Sultan had me grinding my teeth together. To me it seemed so obvious she was lethal and there were several times I wanted to shout through the book at the Sultan:"No. Don't do that". With each choice he made, all of which were terrible, I just got more exasperated with him.

But the book did what it needed to. It was educational, interesting and well written. I couldn't put it down. show less

Interesting book about the politcs of a harem. I don't know how historically accurate it is, but it was a good fiction read. The lengths a woman would go to in order to insure her position with the sultan surprised me. I never thought about it, I guess. Between the sultan fighting his own nature and history, the plotting and scheming of the women in the harem, and the few moments of kindness shown by a few, it was a suprisingly quick read considering the size of the book.

Some nice plot twists, but overall, pretty predictable. The Kindle version is filled with typos which I find very distracting. I enjoyed learning more about Topkapi and Falconer sprinkled in plenty of Turkish (I assume!) words.

This fascinating tale from the talented pen of Colin Falconer brings you inside the Harem of the sultan we now know as Suleiman the Great. The harem was a place barred to men, except for the sultan - he had his choice of all the women there and they saw his choosing them as their way out. But Suleiman was different; he did not follow the ways of his forefathers. He stayed faithful to one woman at a time. This is the tale of his second kadin - or wife.

I have long been a fan of Mr. Falconer's work and when I was given the opportunity to review Harem I was ecstatic! So needless to say I loved the book. I will also tell you that if you pick up any of his books you will not be disappointed. But back to Harem! It's really two stories that show more intersect. And they do so in the harem. The first is the tale of Suleiman and his second kadin - a woman (young girl really) sold into slavery by her father. She is determined to get out of the harem and into a position of power. The second tale is that of a reckless young man and a virtuous Venetian noblewoman.

The writing draws you into time and place and you feel like you are in the harem with the enslaved women. I love books that take me out of myself and get me lost in another time and this was one of those books. You can almost smell the perfumes, feel the heat. There are hard realities of the time too as men are killed in battle and eunuchs are created. Nothing is spared.

If you want to go behind the walls of the forbidden and experience the world of Suleiman the great get yourself a copy of Harem and go back in time.... show less

I absolutely loved the first half or so of the book, at least four and a half stars there. However, towards the last quarter, it became just bearable. I was finishing the book because I do not like to leave books unfinished.

The intrigues got too predictable. I guess in 452 pages you can get used to an author's style, and boy did I ever. (That is not to say that I haven't read longer books and not felt this way.) It just lost something for me towards the end.

But I'm not upset that I read it. It was a good peek into that culture and that time period, and I was interesed to learn that Sulyemon and Hurrem's graves are still in Istambul. It did make me want to travel there someday.

This story is full of intrigue, women fighting against each other to gain attention for themselves, men competing for power and money. The majority of the book was very interesting, the author was perfectly descriptive but the last quarter of the book dragged on unnecessarily and became predictable.

3.5 going to 4, because it was a bit too long, but I enjoyed the writing style as much as the story.