Customer Reviews

Effendi (Arabesk Trilogy 2)

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It is a world where no one blinks if the Chief of Detectives does drugs in public. It is a world where children are engaged in guerilla warfare. It is a world where America doesn't pull all the strings. It is a world that is like a hall of mirrors; a fun house without the fun; a carnival where the roller coaster drops endlessly down, down, down. Grimwood lets the reader into this world one step at a time, with blinders on. Facts are revealed slowly, and sometimes out of sequence, creating an off-kilter feeling. I've never read anything quite like it.

Chief of Detectives, Ashraf Bey, finds that his knowledge of both sides of the law is essential to performing his duties. His unorthodox methods of crime solving and his personal habits are a source of amused consternation for his superior, General Pasha. Pasha tells him, "...as Chief you have three main problems. The first is personal. The way life works is public virtue, private vice. You keep doing it the wrong way round." Even the corrupt General recognizes the way things should work; even if he, too, fails to follow the law.

Bey's one anchor, and my favorite character in this otherwise dark world, is his niece, Hani. Her sense of humor allows us to see another side of Ashraf Bey. Precocious, intelligent and clairvoyant Hani assists her Uncle in surprising ways as he works to discover who is murdering female tourists.

Although this book is the second in a series, it is easily read as a stand alone book. While not to my taste, this novel is well crafted and is recommended for anyone who likes cyberpunk, speculative fiction or alternative histories.

This is the second book of Grimwood's Arabesk series. Do not read this if you have not read the first one, "Pashazade." While it may be theoretically possible to understand everything that has gone on and the relationships between the characters from just this book, I wouldn't recommend trying it.

Ashraf Bey is an unlikely man to whom unlikely things happen. He acts as a political wildcard and detective in the slightly alternate future version of Alexandria, here called El Iskandriya. His relationships with his nine year old niece Hani and Zara, the beautiful daughter of a gangster industrialist, are complex to say the least.

This book fleshes out more of the relationships and backgrounds of the major characters, while also obliquely illuminating the political situation that Iskandriya finds itself in. We learn little more about Asraf's background, but more about how he chooses to act now.

The best thing about these books is the air of the exotic and the illustration of a place very, very different from our own, even if the time is very close to ours. This is especially true in the way that Grimwood depicts the reality of child "warriors" in the armies that fight the wars in Africa. He gives us an up close and personal portrayal of the kind of life these conscripted children lead, and it is sobering.

This is not a light book. The plot is confusing and sometimes it seems that there is much, much more going on behind the scenes than Grimwood chooses to show us. However, the characters and the setting are definite strengths and keep one hooked throughout the entire novel. I recommend this, assuming you have read the first book, and I look forward myself to reading the final book in the trilogy, "Felaheen."

His Excellency Pashazade Ashraf "Raf" Bey has been selected as the detective chief of El Iskandryia at a time when the Ottoman Empire is divided between religious fundaments and secular nationalists. However, Bey tries not to concern himself at the moment with extremists from either side though he knows not to ignore danger that might follow from zealots. Instead his focus is a brutal serial killer who mutilates his victims.

Clues point towards businessman Hamzah, owner of Hamzah Enterprises. Complicating the case for Raf is that he falling in love with Zara, the daughter of his prime suspect starting from the moment she gave a coat to his ward Hani. However, while struggling with an investigation that increasingly looks like he will arrest the man who he would like as his father-in-law, Raf also must deal with assassinations, explosions and abductions terrorizing the residents of El Isk.

EFFENDI, the sequel to the delightful police procedural PASHAZADE is quite different in plot design as the who-done-it shares billing with terrorism and political and religious intrigue. The key to why this novel and its predecessor are worth reading lies in Jon Courtenay Grimwood's ability to paint a realistic futurist alternate universe in which the Ottoman Empire is the superpower as it has been for centuries. Raf is a terrific protagonist struggling with his personal life interacting negatively on his official duties. With cross genre appeal, EFFENDI is a strong work of speculative fiction.

Harriet Klausner

Sequel to Pashazade, second volume in the Arabesque trilogy set in the alternate history Ottoman Empire. Started off a lot slower and less generally engaging, to the extent that a hundred pages in I was sharing some of the reservations I had on End of the World Blues, and was beginning to question Grimwood as a novelist. After that the story improved a lot, different elements of the backstory and unfolding action became stronger. For all that the initial glamor with entering this universe has worn out it proves itself to be a quite interesting and engaging story. Down plays the mystery format for a more thriller oriented setup, with lots of international intrigue that indicate not just the alternate Ottoman Empire but also how other powers impinge on it, making for an interesting layout. Has a better conventional climax than Pashazade, and by the end might be a bit more satisfying. I'm quite interested in the third volume.

At point I felt that Grimwood was leaning too heavy on the darker aspects of his invented setting, showing a society too violent, too corrupt, too dysfunctional to really be invested in. On the whole the picture works, but I feel it could benefit from down playing the classic cyberpunk angle a bit, and perhaps uncovering a type of hard-ridged uneasy optimism along the lines of Morgan's Woken Furies. What we get in terms of an energetically violent and ruthless but not amoral protagonist is good, and the continued integration of past history into the course of events is good. The work lacks a bit of extra force that would make the polity really feel unique and plausible, and at times I grew a bit tired of the characters' violence and struggles. Grimwood is still at least a major second tier science fiction writer, however, and he shows indications that he may attain real greatness.

Better than: Pashazade by John Courtney Grimwood
Worse than: Evolution's Shore by Ian McDonald