Day: June 21, 2019

As promised, here is the second review in honor of the summer solstice and my birthday. This one is for Emaddin Adventures: A Sequel to the 1001 Arabian Nights, Book Two by Omar Pasha, the second novella in the series following the one I reviewed in my previous post.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EMADDIN ADVENTURES: A SEQUEL TO THE 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS, BOOK ONE

Aqrab had big ambitions: overthrow Sultan Omran, assume control of Baghdad and the rest of the kingdom, and marry Omran’s intelligent and beautiful wife, Bedor. Yet in his arrogance and confidence in his own cunning, Aqrab grew sloppy and his tongue loose. His plans were halted by the Sultan’s hoopoe—Masroor—and the philosopher Zeriab, and Aqrab was thrown into a prison tower to rot as a traitor. However, there is no keeping a villain down when those loyal to him walk free.

With the help of his men and the evil crow Nozar, Aqrab escapes to the Hemrin Mountains and takes up with the Jabaleen, a race of wicked dwarves who have joined Aqrab’s attempts to overthrow the Sultan. Now, the treacherous army is prepared to unleash every monster they have at their disposal upon Omran and his beloved Baghdad, from the blood-thirsty Batars to the fire-breathing dragon Tardan. With Omran’s most trusted general, Khaled, and his soldiers flying the Jamjals against the Mongols in India, is there any hope for the City of Peace? Or will the streets be bathed in ash and blood?

Emaddin Adventures, Book Two is a worthy successor to Book One. In fact, I would argue that it is even better. Much of what I liked in the previous installment, such as the storytelling feel, still continue into this book. More than that, they are actually improved upon. The magic and intrigue that filled the first novella are taken to greater heights with the introduction of new magical beings, more in-depth exploration of magical beings from the first book, and deeper development of already wonderful characters like Emaddin and Lamar. Pasha has clearly put more thought and creative energy into this installment of Emaddin Adventures, and this effort pays off.

The plot, while still recognizable as a continuation of Book One, drifts further away from the cookie-cutter plot in which this story originated. Although only twenty pages longer, it is more complex and less predictable. More action has been added, and more of it left me wondering what Aqrab could possibly try and do next. (It also managed to make me hate Aqrab more, too, and that is something that I had not thought would be possible.) The ending in particular has me wanting to continue with the next book, hoping to see how everything will continue. I do wish that more attention had been given to building up the tension in these battle scenes and that the readers could feel more of the anxiety associated with the situations—although one scene involving Emaddin and his mother escaping a fire does pretty well with that—but I suppose that is to be expected with the storytelling motif. Even so, this book does better in playing on the action and tension than its predecessor.

While the story still focuses more on the Sultan, Aqrab, and efforts to stop Aqrab’s schemes, Emaddin and Lamar—the daughter of the Sultan—both start to come into their own in this work. They contribute in surprising ways to the fight against Aqrab, and their bond with each other and Emaddin’s bond with their teacher, the philosopher Zeriab, take on greater depths that are also heartwarming. I would have expected both this book and the first one to be more about Emaddin based on the title and the descriptions on Amazon, but it’s enough for me that Emaddin and Lamar are maturing and growing stronger before the readers’ eyes.

Even with these improvements, some of the faults from the first work still exist. Namely, the writing still needs polishing and editing. Emaddin Adventures, Book Two is written a bit better than Book One, including putting more emphasis on action and tension. However, these problems have not fully been eradicated. Many potentially exciting scenes are still rushed and/or fall flat, and some of the dialogue confuses me as to whom is speaking when. The major issue still involves numerous grammatical errors that can bog down the narrative. As with the first work, though, this could easily be fixed with another round or two of editing.

Overall, I think that Emaddin Adventures, Book Two by Omar Pasha is more thoroughly developed and better written than Book One. I loved seeing more of the magic and magical beings of this world as well as the exploration of characters and their relationships. I hope that the third installment will prove to be even more fleshed-out than this one. However, the issues with the writing still persist, and I think that working out these issues would take these stories to the next level.

You can buy Emaddin Adventures, Book Two by Omar Pasha as a Kindle book on Amazon.

Do you know of a book you think I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!

Greetings, readers and writers! I hope that everyone had a great summer solstice. In honor of the longest day of the year—which also happens to be my birthday—I am bringing you two book reviews for a novella series titled Emaddin Adventures: A Sequel to the 1001 Arabian Nights by Omar Pasha. This post covers the first novella, simply titled Emaddin Adventures: A Sequel to the 1001 Arabian Nights, Book One.

Sultan Omran is a kind, selfless leader who always looks out for his people. Everyone in his kingdom, especially the capital city of Baghdad, loves him—everyone, that is, except for his most trusted advisor, Aqrab. The advisor, though well compensated and held in his esteem by the Sultan, has a twisted heart filled with greed, jealousy, and unrequited love for Omran’s wife, Bedor. He and his army of assassins, deceivers, and magical beings will stop at nothing to overthrow the Sultan and take both his kingdom and his wife. Yet for every traitor in their midst are many who will lay down their lives for the beloved Sultan Omran, and they are not about to let Aqrab win without a fight.

Will truth and justice prevail? Or is Sultan Omran too far gone to be saved from Aqrab’s spell?

The timing of me learning about this book could not be any better. I just recently saw the new version of Aladdin in theaters (I loved it, by the way), and it reminded me of how much I miss retellings and reimaginings of fairy tales and folklore. To find something that is a bit of a retelling of “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” but mostly just a revamping of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights seemed perfect after that. This story has certainly helped to fuel the fire that the new Aladdin reignited.

The plot is nothing spectacular for the genre: a kind ruler is being threatened by an underhanded advisor and someone outside of that relationship will have to save him. It is based in one of the world’s oldest written collections of fairy tales and folklore, after all, so one could expect it to use one of the cookie-cutter plots that comes from said collection. However, I am happy to say that how the Sultan is saved is not what I would have expected—a pleasant surprise that I will leave up to you to discover yourself by reading it. Furthermore, the ending leaves the book open for a continuation, even without the use of a frame narrative as in the original One Thousand and One Arabian Nights.

Pasha also does well in mimicking the oral storytelling of the original tales. The simple language, incorporation of Emaddin’s poetry, and quick pace all lend to the feeling of being told the story by the author himself. While it used to be our only way of conveying stories, this continuation of oral traditions onto paper do not always transfer so well, especially given the modern literary world’s tendency to prefer show over tell or, conversely, writers’ tendency to strictly tell without many—if any—descriptions when attempting to copy old storytelling. Pasha, however, manages to balance this aspect to closely imitate the feel of such stories.

However, there are ways in which this work could improve. The most important, though, is the writing itself. While the storytelling feel is engaging, is can also be the book’s greatest pitfall. There is so much potential for tension and action in this narrative, even when using the oral storytelling approach, and yet Pasha fails to follow through on them. Instead, the story rushes through these parts, recounting them very matter-of-factly and causing these crucial scenes to fall flat. The story also goes off on many tangents. Some of these relate some critical cultural and/or historical context for the reader, but other times they do not seem to relate quite as directly to the plot. In going on these tangents, Pasha takes his readers away from the heart of the story, and I’m afraid to admit that sometimes I had to reread portions in order to regain the thread of the chapter I was on.

More importantly, though, the book needs to be editing more. I noticed multiple grammatical errors through its fifty-six pages, including missing or misplaced punctuation. These mistakes became distracting, and there were even times when I was a little confused as to whom was speaking because the dialogue was not formatted entirely correctly. I think that even if the book went through just one more round of editing, it would improve greatly and make the story even more compelling.

Overall, I think that Emaddin Adventures: A Sequel to 1001 Arabian Nights, Book One by Omar Pasha is an entertaining read with a lot of creative energy put into it. It really reminds me of the stories I read from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights as an undergrad, and I think that the plot, characters, and setting are a worthy continuation of the collection. However, the writing could do with polishing and editing. Only then will it reach its full potential.

You can buy Emaddin Aventures: A Sequel to 1001 Arabian Nights, Book One by Omar Pasha as a Kindle book on Amazon.

Do you know of a book I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!