The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones (EPUB)

Description

The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew JonesIn 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East.Stopping the thieves—a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi—requires a desperate journey into the desert, but first Dabir and Asim must find the lost ruins of Ubar and contend with a mythic, sorcerous being that has traded wisdom for the souls of men since the dawn of time. But against all these hazards there is one more that may be too great even for Dabir to overcome…Advance Praise for THE DESERT OF SOULS:”The Desert of Souls is filled with adventure, magic, compelling characters and twists that are twisty. This is seriously cool stuff.” — Steven Brust, New York Times bestselling author of the Vlad Taltos series”A grand and wonderful adventure filled with exotic magic and colorful places — like a cross between Sinbad and Indiana Jones.” — Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of The Map of All Things”Like the genie of the lamp, Howard Jones has granted this reader’s wish for a fresh, exciting take on the venerable genre of sword-and-sorcery!” — Richard A. Knaak, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Legends of the Dragonrealm”Howard Andrew Jones spins an exciting and suspenseful tale in his historical fantasy debut. A rich, detailed tapestry — part Arthur Conan Doyle, part Robert E. Howard, and part Omar Khayyam, woven in the magical thread of One Thousand And One Nights.” — E.E. Knight, Author of the bestselling Vampire Earth”An entertaining and enjoyable journey into a world of djinns and magic far darker than expected, yet one that ends with hope, both for the characters… and that there will be yet another book.” — L. E. Modesitt, Jr, author of the Recluse Saga, the Imager Portfolio, and the Corean Chronicles”A modern iteration of old school storytelling. Highly recommended to anyone in search of a fun run through strange lands and times.” — Glen Cook, author of The Black Company Series”Howard Jones wields magic like a subtle blade and action like a mighty cleaver in his scimitars and sorcery tale, weaving together Arabian myth, history, and some honest-to-gosh surprises to create a unique story that you’ll not soon forget.” — Monte Cook, author of The Dungeon Masters Guide, 3rd Edition”A rousing tale of swords against sorcery. Howard Jones writes with wit and flair. His world is involving, authentic and skilfully evoked. The best fantasy novel I have read all year.” — William King, Author of the Space Wolf trilogy and creator of Gotrek and Felix”A whirlwind tale of deserts, djinn and doors to other worlds, told in a voice perfectly pitched for the style and setting.” — Nathan Long, author of Bloodborn and Shamanslayer”An Arabian Nights adventure as written by Robert E Howard. It is exciting, inventive, and most of all fun.” — Dave Drake, author of The Legion of Fire

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Howard Andrew Jones has achieved something that’s rare today. A compulsively readable, first-person, essentially swords and sorcery fantasy adventure novel. Moreover, he’s done so not in the usual clichéd pseudo-medieval English or European milieu, which is what almost every single other high fantasy or swords and sorcery low fantasy novelist has been doing for the last fifty years, but he is gone back to fantasy’s early roots – and the Near Orient. The world of ancient Arabia, the High Abbasid caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, the world of the 1001 Arabian nights, the world that entranced HP Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe, and countless other fantasy writers.If you like Fritz Lieber, or Robert Howard, or Harold Lamb, or early Michael Moorcock, I think you would really like this book.The characters are well developed, in a mature literary way. Jones doesn’t dumb down his character, which is what many authors do in many first-person fantasy novels today. The narrator is deceptively complex, has layers, and grows as a person throughout the story. In some ways, the narrator and the main protagonists of the story share and almost Sherlock Holmes and Watson like relationship. They are in the middle of a mystery. And that mystery has layers.The action scenes are great, and the fantastical themes like magic and sorcery are handled very well actually. And the plot moves quickly, except for a mid novel desert interlude that is laden with philosophical implications. Some critics didn’t like this part of the novel, I liked it, it’s integral to the growth of the protagonists and strangely enough echos Lovecraft and his Cthulu mythos for perceptive readers.In other words, this isn’t your typical poorly written modern fantasy doorstop. The author is thoughtful and very good at his literary craft. Will this challenge some readers who are used to poorer material? I hope not, I think that anyone who has read good fantasy for a while would find this book at his or her level.This fast-paced, sword and magic filled adventure, is set in an ancient Middle Eastern backdrop drawn with a good deal of verisimilitude. And I say that as a lifelong student of classical Arabic and Aramaic, and Middle Eastern lore.How does that play out in an age of issues like cultural conflict, terrorism, and cultural appropriation? Well, I’m not sure how relevant that question is. The fact is that Jones manages to write a very readable, entertaining, well-paced, and thrilling fantasy, that is in a well researched cultural world. He doesn’t shy away from aspects of Middle Eastern cultures that are different from our Western cultures. But he succeeds at respectfully and empathetically staging his novel in a very different culture than modern Anglo-American ones.Which is the culture and world of Arabia a thousand years ago. Layered with intrigue. What’s a shame, to me, is that this world electrified and inspired many generations of fantasy writers. HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, even Lord Byron (who in some ways was a fantasy or speculative fiction writer, for his age ). But because of modern political anxieties and tensions many people shy from fiction themed and set in that world.Read it, it’s a quick and entertaining and immersion of a read. You will feel like you are on distant shores, at a distant time, in the bazaars palaces and and temples of a long-lost age.

⭐Many of the blurbs for Howard Andrew Jones debut novel, The Desert of Souls compare it to, among other things, Sherlock Holmes, The Arabian Nights, and the works of Robert E. Howard. Having just finished the book I can see where those comparisons come from. The scholar Dabir is somewhat like Holmes in his ability to discern information from physical evidence. Obviously the setting, 8th Century Baghdad, is going to bring to mind the Arabian Nights, what with all the Viziers and Caliphs and such. And certainly there is quite a bit of the sort of sword swinging action that we expect from Robert E. Howard, not only the father of sword & sorcery, but also quite the teller of historical adventures. However to call Desert of Souls a mish mash of other authors or other genres is to do the book a disservice. Souls is a very original book, a tale of historical sword & sorcery with a setting very different from the quasi-European background so prevalent in today’s fantasy novels and a narrative viewpoint unlike any other in current fantasy fiction. What struck me about the protagonists of Desert of Souls, Dabir the wise man and Asim the soldier is how likable they are. How real. These are characters you’d like to hang out with. (I should also point out that despite the above descriptions, the pair is not neatly divided into brains and brawn. Asim is quite clever and capable, and Dabir will wade in with a blade when he needs to.) The plot gets rolling with “whickering blades” as Dabir and Asim attempt to rescue a man pursued by a group of armed attackers. The man dies but not before leaving the pair with a cryptic dying message and a strange artifact, a golden door pull inscribed with weird markings. Soon Dabir, Asim, and their master Jaffar learn the hard way that they should have obeyed the old adage about Greeks bearing gifts when some visitors show up seeking information about the door pull. Things go awry and dark sorcery is employed to steal the door pull and its mate, owned by the Caliph, and Dabir and Asim find themselves turban deep in swords, sorcery, monsters and mayhem. There’s also romance, mystery, and suspense, all told in an engaging voice by Jones. All this and a lost city too. I read Desert of Souls in two sittings. If I hadn’t had to go to work I’d have read it straight through. Anyway, if you’re tired of the latest Lord of the Rings clones and looking for something different, or if you just enjoy a well-told story of adventure, romance, and magic in an exotic setting, then pick up Desert of Souls. Highly recommended.

⭐A clean, compact, action-packed, witty story with enough of a fantasy and a wondrous hint of scifi.Enjoyed it.

⭐Nice plot, nice “world building”.

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