Book Review: The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

This swashbuckling tale is told by Asim, chief guard to Jaffar, a subordinate of the Caliph in eighth-century Baghdad. Asim is friends with Dabir, a scholar who teaches Jaffar's niece Sabirah. Jaffar, Asim, and Dabir go out into the city for an adventure but stumble upon a man fleeing from robbers. The man's valuable treasure is a highly-decorative door handle. But it's not just any handle, it is part of a pair that opens a portal to another dimension in the lost city of Ubar, a place of fabulous wealth that was destroyed by divine powers hundreds of years before. It happened so long ago people consider it more of a legend than a real place (like Atlantis). When a Greek aristocrat and a strange Magi show up demanding the return of object. the adventure begins in earnest.

The Arabian world is rich and detailed, having realistic geography and mythic fantasy to keep the story exciting and grounded. It moves along like an Indiana Jones story, with reversals, chases, a bit of scholarship, dastardly villains, and lots of other fun stuff. Asim is a good choice as narrator. He avoids any long expositions and is able to get himself into various places reasonably. He's a hero easy to root for. The plot is interesting and gives a good excuse to explore a lot of the well-crafted world. This book is fun reading.

Recommended.