Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashartus
I didn't find it particularly romance-heavy or dwelling into current sociopolitical situations. Drawing more on middle eastern mythology.
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We got it and read it for the Hugos. Frankly, I found the 'Urban Fantasy' tag to be misleading; it starts as historical urban fantasy (supposedly Napoleonic era Cairo), but quickly becomes a straight fantasy (albeit set in a hidden city in the real world). I found it disappointing, it seemed to me to be rather unfocussed. We've got the other 2 - himself picked them up and read them, I haven't so far - there's books more to my taste higher on the TBR pile.
I would have enjoyed it more if the action stayed in Cairo with the occasional foray out of Cairo; to me that would made for a much better book and storyline. I will say it was a better read than the Bradley Beaulieu
Song of the Shattered Sands series which to me was a clear case of cultural appropriation.
A good Middle Eastern urban fantasy is Judith Tarr's
A Wind in Cairo, along with her
Alamut and
The Hound and Falcon series. I also enjoyed George Alec Effinger's
Marid Audran and John Courtney Grimwood's
Arabesk series.