Book Review: Engraved on the Eye - Saladin Ahmed

This is a modern Arabian Nights. Eight Middle Eastern tales of adventure and magic, infused with a startling modernity.

I loved the world-building in this. The creeping horror in some of the tales was offset by the delicious exploration of what it means to inhabit a world with Djinn.

Interestingly, it seemed very scripture-heavy to me- with characters reciting little prayers and quoting from the Qur'an. Would I noticed that if the characters were Christians? It shows just how deeply embedded cultural norms are and how they sometimes serve to separate us.

The first few stories take place in the generic past. By which I mean the ghouls, spirits, and barbarians don't need to be definitively placed in time. It's enough for us to know that we're firmly in sword-and-sorcery territory. It's easy to see how any of the stories could become chapters in a Game Of Thrones style epic.

The stories gradually move into the present and then into the future, which leads into to some truly world-class sci-fi:

The creature stood still on the split cement, watching Ali. Nanohanced tigers had been more or less wiped out in the great hunts before the Global Credit Crusade, or so Ali had heard.

Lush!

I'd gladly have read a dozen more stories in that style. I suppose my only complaint is that it would have been nice if there was more of a link between stories. A few of them seem tangentially related, but I was kind of expecting something more cohesive.

Nevertheless, for 99p from Honest Jeff's House of Books, this is an absolute bargain.