
Slaves of the Shinar by Justin Allen
This is the debut novel for Justin Allen, and its whole title is Slaves of the Shinar: An Epic Fantasy of the Ancient World. The title is misleading, because I am of the solid opinion that this book is not fantasy, but is rather historical fiction, and pretty good historical fiction at that. Perhaps it is classed as fantasy by the publisher because of the creative manner in which Allen sets his story in very early (I assume pre-Hammurabi) Mesopotamia, at the pre-dawn of civilization.
It is an interesting story of people uniting against a common foe, but by being set in an ancient, bronze age (probably copper age, actually) era, it is very different from what most fantasy fare offers.
I usually read the typical medieval fantasy, and this was a really nice change. However, I believe it should be marketed as an historical novel, not a fantasy. The only fantastic e... Read More