Customer Reviews

Empires of Sand

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Here is the skinny on this one: it is a novel about a couple of Parisian lads who have adventures in war-torn 1870's Paris, then grow up and meet each other as enemies in the Sahara desert. It's a lengthy, epic, page-turning adventure tale which ultimately overcomes some early clumsy writing and ends up being very enjoyable.

The book is almost evenly divided into two halves, the first taking place in Paris. The two lads in question--Paul and Moussa--are cousins, with one of them the son of a Saharan Tuareg woman. (Moussa's father, a count, met her while exploring North Africa.) They live together on the count's estate and get into some interesting adventures, particularly after the advent of the Franco-Prussian war. The author is terrific at creating scenarios and maintaining dramatic tension. For example, there are the boys spying from the attic on an elegant party; there are the boys hunting rats in the tunnels underneath Paris; there is Paul's father, a colonel, leading a cavalry charge against brigand French.

Good stuff, but the first half, at least, is marred by some absolutely horrible, out-of-place, modern-day colloquialisms. The author describes Bismarck's boldness by saying he had, well, a common English epithet for male genitalia. A wounded French soldier speaking to the colonel says, "Gosh, Colonel, sir, I've never been this close to a real officer before," and, "we whomped them," in speaking of a meeting with the Prussians. Since when does a bumpkin from Huckleberry Finn show up in the French army? And sure enough--you can see it coming--one of the French officers insults another by resorting to the standard ignorant comment: "... you." Come on, we're reading about the French in 1870: can't the author at least try to create a little verisimilitude? These are good examples of sloppy writing, and are very off-putting. Several times, and despite the compelling plot, I was on the verge of giving this book the old heave-ho.

But oddly, after a couple of hundred pages or so, these jarring anachronisms pretty much disappear. And the second half of the novel, the part which takes place in the Sahara, becomes even more exciting than the already-interesting Parisian adventures. Moussa, you see, has to flee there with his mother after some difficulties with the French authorities, and becomes a leader of the desert-warrior Tuareg tribe. Paul becomes an officer in the French Army, and sure enough, is sent to the Sahara with the historical ill-fated mission to seek a railroad route to central Africa. As with the first half, exciting and numerous adventures abound. Most exciting to me were the descriptions of a desert ostrich hunt; and also the slave camp, in which the slaves are forced to dig long tunnels and work underground to get at what little water there is in the scorching desert. There are also some terrific battle scenes between the French and the Tuareg, and of course, the tale culminates in the inevitable meeting between the two long-lost cousins under very trying circumstances. It's very exciting.

There do continue to be a few minor problems, however. Some of the characters--most notably the nun, the bishop, and Mahdi--are a little too one-dimensionally evil, and the ending fits together just a little too neatly. But I can forgive it these faults. It is a romantic adventure after all, in the style of Dumas or Robert Louis Stevenson, and one must expect at least a little of this sort of thing. It ends up being a very satisfying read. Too bad there wasn't an editor around to clean up the earlier parts a little bit.

Everything you read in the other reviews about cliches, stereotypes, and a hoaky storyline is true. Believe me. The first three chapters are horrible. I only kept reading because I kept hoping it would get better. And amazingly enough, it did! Not that the characters got more three-dimensional, no, I just got completely absorbed in the story. Once Ball's caught you, it's getting harder to notice the shortcomings of this book. Maybe it's because it's so simple: You've got your three or four evil characters, you're rooting for Moussa to win and for Paul to come to his senses again, and everything is set in faraway lands... you could easily make this book a successful Hollywood motion picture. The formula is there. All in all, if you look for a book with deep moral struggles or an excellent, believable plot, look elsewhere. But if you have a few hours left and want to fill your mind with pictures of exotic places and people, read the book. It reminded me of the wonderful adventure stories of my childhood and left me wishing for more.

Okay, so there's some predictability, but David Ball has written a novel so completely fun and absorbing that one simply doesn't care. From 1870's Paris to the limitless expanse of the Sahara, Ball takes the reader on a remarkable journey that is truly extraordinary.

The novels main characters, cousins Moussa and Paul DeVries, battle invading Prussians, corrupt clergy, treacherous relatives, and merciless bedouins in an attempt to establish lives separate from the tragedy of their youth within the French nobility. Moussa, his father a French count and his mother a Taureg noblewoman of the Sahara, is forced to flee Paris for Africa with his family. His cousin Paul is left behind with his own ghosts to exorcise. The two find each other again years later caught in the confrontations endemic to the European colonization of Africa. What ensues is a purely spellbinding tale of love and hate, life and death, beauty and utter ugliness.

Empire of Sands is an excellent novel. I thought of it often between the times I was forced set it down until my next opportunity to continue. For anyone who enjoys a captivating historically-based tale they will find few books far better than this. As a huge fan of historical fiction, I give it my highest recommendation.

A conversation with my father(a great lover of books) way back when I was in high school and disdainful of anything to do with history, led him to give me a book (over the whispered protests of my mother because of the sex scenes)called the Golden Hawk by Frank Yerby. Talk about swashbuckling adventure! great romance, and exotic lands I'd payed only vague attention to as a student. And in the process of devouring this great story I found myself actually enjoying learning about the history, geography, and the culture. Wasn't this cheating? Well, ever since, I have been hooked on historical fiction...Leon Uris, James Clavell, Pearl Buck, M.M. Kaye, Steven Pressfield...the list goes on and on. I add to it now the name of David Ball, first-time author and storyteller extraordinaire. Start to finish, I enjoyed every word, loved every adventure. This guy can write. And his love and knowledge of The Sahara and Africa is obvious - I was transported. I am one of those (rare?) people who likes a good, long story. My only criticism would be that he didn't entertain me with a few more years of the deVries family saga. This is historic fiction at its best.

I loved this book and just happened to pick it up upon the advice of my brilliant librarian. It was the kind of book I couldn't put down, yet hated to finish.The highlights have been discussed in previous reviews but Ball's storytelling skills are phenomenal. And, the history is fascinating; I'd never heard of the Flatters Expedition despite my M.A. in History. I've discovered Ball has a website at empiresofsand.com. Check out the web site and book. What a find.

David Ball's first novel, "Empires of Sand," is an explosion of adventure, history, and good old fashioned storytelling. Spannin several years and two continents, "Empires" tells an epic-yet-intimate story of family caught betwixt and between two dynamic cultures.

Most of the first half of the novel is set in Paris in the 1860s. The Count Henri deVries has shocked French society by marrying a beauty from the Sahara: Serena, a princess of the Tuareg, the infamous "blue men" of the Sahara. Their son, Moussa, romps across the Parisian countryside with his beloved cousin Paul, son to an overly proud military man and an overly ambitous socialite.

Together, Paul and Moussa get into any number of scrapes, although it's not clear whether a mammoth wild boar is more dangerous than their fourth-grade teacher, a caustic nun named Sister Godrick. Or, quite possibly, the most virulent threat to their happiness is a deceitful bishop who sits astride Paris like a monstrous, bloated spider, spinning webs and dispensing poison.

Paris is shattered when the French allow themselves to be goaded into a war they cannot win against the Prussians, and some of the novel's most powerful scenes come from the epic Prussian siege of Paris. After considerable mayhem, duplicity, treachery, and a dollop of murder, tragedy befalls the deVries family and the action shifts to the Sahara and leaps forward several years.

Now living among his mother's desert people, Moussa learns a truth that was prophesied when his mother first announced her devotion to Henri deVries -- he will forever be exiled from both his French and Tuareg heritage. While Ball has some fun showing the Tuareg reactions to some of Moussa's eccentricities (such as bathing), in general Moussa's mixed parentage is a heavy cross to bear. Still, Moussa is finding his way, with difficulty, in this desert paradise.

Things will soon come to a boil, however, as the French are seeking to assuage their national shame at the hands of the Prussians by building a monumental railroad across the Sahara. Paul is eager to visit Moussa's homeland, even though Moussa and Paul mistakenly believe each other are dead. Paul eventually signs on to the real-life and horrendously ill-fated "Flatters expedition," which is virtually wiped out by the violent Tuareg. Scarred by the horrific carnage on the expedition, Paul becomes the most feared enemy the Tuareg have ever faced.

Ball balances all these major elements of war and political intrigue with several intimate storylines of love, family and friendship. He shows a real gift for capturing the youthful perspective of Paul and Moussa as children and then giving each character a realistic, more mature voice in their later years. Battle scenes are handled exquisitely, and Ball is equally at home describing the bucolic French countryside as he is describing the harsh beauty of the Sahara.

Chock full of details, "Empires" is a well-researched work of historical fiction that rivals the best of the genre. Action, love, heartache, humor, and historical detail are all in full bloom, and "Empires" becomes virtually impossible to put down. A must read!

Rarely do I stray from the ranks of the mystery/thriller genre, unless it is one of those great epic adventure stories like The Far Pavillions, some of Mitchner's books, the Clan series and others... I picked this book up just to give myself a break and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. It is an adventure to read with descriptions that make you think you are there. Do yourself a favor and take the time to read this book. You will not be sorry.

A good book. Not a great book. In dangerous need of an editor. 700 pages is just too long to get to the ending we all knew was coming; reunion, boy meets girl, messes up big time, gets her back, bad guys get serious medieval retribution for their treachery, redemption and family values. But where was that red pencil and a pair of scissors? What happened to the "cut and paste" icon?

Here's the important thing. I would buy Mr. Ball and read him again. I would just do it when I was facing a long train ride.

David Ball has been one of my favorite historical fiction writer after I read his novel: The Sword and the Scimitar / Ironfire (same novel, different titles written after Empires of Sand).

In Empires of Sand, David Ball also exploited his research and previous personal experiences passing through the Sahara. Frankly speaking, I was somewhat disappointed in the initial part of this novel since it had many resemblances on his later novel. The way characters were aligned and plotted looked familiar. But this effect only lingered awhile for the remaining 95% of this novel is superbly written with two main backgrounds, one being in Paris and the other in the Saharan desert in the late 1800s at the height of the Prussian superpower in Europe.

A profound job in the writer's researches were evident from the way he described the way people lived in France and Sahara during those pre World War I periods. Their customs, the way horses, camels and balloons were handled were superbly written. FYI: the French invented the hot air balloon.

A must read five-star historical novel. Waiting for David Ball to write another historical novel...

I cannot say much more that other reviewers haven't said already. I was surprised about how good this book was. Hard to believe it was Ball's first novel. An interesting mix of historical fiction and rip-roaring adventure; informative and very well researched and written.

Once you get into it you will not put it down.