Thought-provoking premise, medium follow through
3 stars
The world's hegemonic culture is secularized Arab Muslim rather than secularized Euro Christian; and the forces of "modernity," immigration, and fundamentalist terrorism play out from there. Europe is corrupt, exotic, and underdeveloped. The Americas seem to belong to indigenous nation-states alone, although that is only implied.
A classic detective duo - the earnest senior partner and the rumpled, cynical, yet all-knowing sidekick - arrive from civilized North Africa to assist the authoritarian ... but religiously moderate ... Italian monarchy against the fanatical Aquinists. These terrorists want to revive what they imagine was a glorious premodern Christendom. And they really hate Jews.
The plot has a few twists and it didn't end how I expected. I loved some of the cultural puns in this alternate world. The writing, however, seemed barely edited. What I mean is some dialogue and descriptions were repeated almost word for word only a couple chapters apart, …
The world's hegemonic culture is secularized Arab Muslim rather than secularized Euro Christian; and the forces of "modernity," immigration, and fundamentalist terrorism play out from there. Europe is corrupt, exotic, and underdeveloped. The Americas seem to belong to indigenous nation-states alone, although that is only implied.
A classic detective duo - the earnest senior partner and the rumpled, cynical, yet all-knowing sidekick - arrive from civilized North Africa to assist the authoritarian ... but religiously moderate ... Italian monarchy against the fanatical Aquinists. These terrorists want to revive what they imagine was a glorious premodern Christendom. And they really hate Jews.
The plot has a few twists and it didn't end how I expected. I loved some of the cultural puns in this alternate world. The writing, however, seemed barely edited. What I mean is some dialogue and descriptions were repeated almost word for word only a couple chapters apart, and there were even a couple typographic errors. Not a big deal though.