Friday, September 18, 2015

Al-Kabar, By Lee French



I have to say, Al-Kabar by indie author, Lee French has one of the best covers I've ever seen.


The Blurb:

Without a Sultan, corrupt Fire Dancers and their pompous Caliphs abuse power and wage fruitless wars across the parched sands of Serescine.


Fakhira wishes her family could afford to solve their problems with magic. Sometimes, wishes come true. In the worst possible way. A simple peasant, she'll have to find the strength to survive and shoulder her fate before the desert is bathed in the blood of innocents.


The Fires blaze in dozens of wild, capricious Dancers.

The Waters anoint only one champion, one Al-Kabar to serve--and save--the people of the desert.



My Review:

This is a complex tale about complex characters. Fakhiri has many layers, and is made of stronger stuff than she imagined. Al Kabar teeters on the brink of becoming that which he fights to over throw, and Tahjis the Rat tries to hold everything together. Korval becomes what he always believed he was, but not without a struggle.

The setting is vivid, and the action is pretty much non-stop. There are several places where twists I hadn't seen coming made their appearance, which made it a real reading adventure.

This is a good, immersive, stand-alone fantasy novel. I give it 5 stars and look forward to reading more novels by Lee French.

1 comment:

Sabrina A. Fish said...

You can really tell when an indie author puts the time and money into finding a decent artist. I'll have to check this one out.