The Desert of Souls (The Chronicle of Sword and Sand, #1)

by Howard Andrew Jones

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I knew that this book was going to be the first book I read in 2018, and tbh I really hope the majority of the remainder of the books I read this year provide me with at least as much enjoyment as this one did.

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It’s very interesting reading about how a Christian depicts his Muslim characters, while there are some who make fundamentally wrong settings for these characters; there are some like Howard Andrew Jones who accurately do it. The amount of research that went into the development of this book is amazing to read, from the way they dress to the way they talk to how the way the society runs is a treat to read about if you already have a background on the situation. Add the fact that his characters get to have many chances to show their faith is just a nice little gift to have.

I’m not praising it because he’s so unique in doing that (he’s not, I read about Samira in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase series and Rachel Caine’s Khalila in the Great Library series), but the difference here is that this universe is largely a Muslim universe where I don’t have to read about how someone subtly thinks they’re oppressing a gender or expecting way too much of a gender while seeing Muslims be Muslims with everything the religion entails.

Best part is that it’s not just portrayed by religious practices or activities but instead in thoughts, writing and temptations as well. Other than that I liked how Dabir and Asim went about their journey in this one, it’s dangerous for sure and I enjoyed that Howard Andrew Jones didn’t water it down at all. I do wish that he made some of the side character more memorable for me to care a little bit more about them, and gave the side villains a little bit more purposes in the story to be formidable. He did to an extent for all of the previous wishes but again, I wished for more. The story is fast paced, things move quickly from one area to another through multiple events and while it doesn’t make it hard to follow in the latest, it makes the previously wished for things a little too difficult to deliver.

Slowing it down would’ve probably ruined it, so I’m glad he took this approach with it despite my earlier complaints... it’s a tough position to be in lol. The main characters were interesting, for sure it’s easy to spot the stereotypical molds he kind of fit them in but the banter that went on between them while moving on from acquaintances to friends was a nice bonus. The main thing was probably seeing how the two of them had different thoughts about the same thing, how they dealt with them and how they tried to support each other in their own separate ways. If I had a slight thing I want to add here is probably a bigger focus on Dabir’s side of things; the novel is mostly told by Asim so some of the things Dabir goes through aren’t always in full display.

The induction of magic is the aspect I believe I liked the most, on one hand I haven’t really seen it utilized in this way in a long time and on the other hand it gave yet another easily seen testament to how in-depth Howard Andrew Jones went into his research of this religion before writing a book. The romance in this book was how it should be, I can’t really go into details without spoiling too much but really, this is how it should be. Or at least that’s what I think anyways 🙃

Final rating: 4/5