Book Review: The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

In order to turn his Master's thoughts away from a recently deceased and beloved pet, Captain Asim of the guards suggests a clandestine walk through the streets of the city. The Master agrees and orders Asim to bring one or two guards along with them; Asim immediately thinks of Dabir, the tutor of the Caliph's daughter, knowing him to be quick-thinking and good with a weapon. On a lark during their outing, the Master suggests stopping by a fortune teller whose prophecies appear to have mixed up the futures of Asim and Dabir. Still puzzling over the strange, a stranger crosses their path, pleading with the small group to safeguard an ancient relic from those whom he is fleeing.

Back at they palace, the Maters tells Asim and Dabir of a similar relic in the treasury of the caliph. So while Dabir attempts to translate the strange markings on the relic, Asim fetches the other relic. Soon, the two find themselves traveling across the 8th-Century deserts of Iraq, trying to locate the site of the ancient city of Ubar, believed to have been destroyed by God. But the evil sorcerer Firouz has already set out on the same journey, and Dabir and Asim must stop him before he uncovers the secret of Ubar's destruction and uses that on the city of Baghdad.

The Desert of Souls is an interesting take on the Arabian Nights fantasy, mixing the sword and sorcery with a hint of Sherlock Holmes. That may sound strange, but Dabir the tutor approaches things with a clinical eye, looking for any possible leads, any minute piece of evidence -- such as the lack of blood on Asim's sword and hands after slaying an attacking bird -- and using those clues to piece together a mystery. And like Sherlock Holmes, Dabir presents his findings so as to keep Asim from jumping the gun and making a wrong decision. As a fan of mysteries, I enjoyed that aspect of the story.

Something else I enjoyed were the scenic descriptions, especially once Dabir and Asim entered Ubar. Their reactions to the strange environment and to what they encountered -- from the ghostly visions of a city's destruction to the Keeper of Secrets and his mystical constellation chart sparkling in the sands -- lent themselves well to the fantasy side of the story.

One item nagged at me continually throughout the story, though, and that was the importance placed on the supposed misreading of fortunes. The results seemed to throw most of the characters -- from Asim and Dabir to the Master and the caliph's daughter -- into turmoil, and it was mentioned often within the tale. But I never learned why it was important, and not knowing (or perhaps, not understanding) bothered me as I read.

Yet, the Sherlock Homes-style investigating combined that with the appearance of a soul-stealing djinn and the magicks proffered by Firouz result in a fine tale that any reader of sword and sorcery or tales of the Arabian Nights will enjoy.

The Desert of Souls
by Howard Andrew Jones
Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-0-312-64674-5
hardcover, 309 pgs.

book received from publisher

Image from Stomping on Yeti.