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kltemplado's review against another edition
5.0
mlore95's review against another edition
4.0
What follows is a tale of coming of age and a little romance, though I'd hesitate to call it young adult at all. The writing is timeless, and holds up even today, and the characters are rich and real. Zamaniyah is her father's heir and raised as a boy would be raised, learning the arts of war and indeed riding to war. The sultan Saladin features heavily, and in this novel we see him as a youngish man, intelligent and wise and lordly, all of the traits that made him the greatest of the medieval Muslim kings and respected even in the West.
Judith Tarr certainly knows her horses. A good chunk of the book revolves around Zamaniyah training Hasan and bonding with him. At certain points it became a little much for me, but it never became a slog. This is a brisk novel, and the prose is elegant without ever becoming dense.
A Wind in Cairo is a bit of a departure from what I normally read. It's a bit hard for me to relate to a young girl as a protagonist, especially one belonging to a foreign religion. But for all that it was an enjoyable read, the historical setting is vivid and interesting, and it didn't overstay its welcome. Some may have have an issue with the ending, but to me it was thoughtfully and gracefully handled.
wildhorses's review
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, and Slavery
trish204's review
5.0
Egypt is under Muslim rule. Hasan is a young prince and as arrogant as (supposedly) pretty. He commits many crimes - gambling being the least of them. Eventually, his father wants to reign him in by giving him to a Beduin he knows but before he can, Hasan runs away, rapes the daughter of a mage and is punished by being turned into a stallion. No special horse (which at first stings the most) and bound to follow the will of a female rider. Thus begins a tale of redemption that also takes the reader through a wonderful description of Muslim culture back in the day.
We get the horrible way Hasan conducts himself, we get the different ways families are ruled, we get the political turmoil between different factions (Turkish and Syrian forces amongst others), we get a girl raised as a boy (unthinkable then as now amongst Muslims).
I liked how no character was a sterotype, how the author managed to accurately describe the Muslim culture and melting pot cities, how the magic is there but never in the forefront, how it is a story about growing up but not in the bland way we know from most modern books. The tale is complex and multi-coloured as well as multi-layered.
Moreover, the author has a wonderful writing style, making the story rich and powerful, bringing me to tears but also making me laugh. In general, the tale just felt real. I didn't even mind the merciful way Hasan was punished and - upon concluding the book - am convinced it was a much more effective punishment as cutting off his manhood would have been.
The most fantastic thing about this book, though, is that it is as great now as it was when it was first published. Timeless writing is the mark of true greatness and this book has it.
declaired's review against another edition
4.0
The rub comes from our second POV character, who is essentially a rapist on a redemption arc. (he was a man, now he is a horse.) And while the book doesn't gloss over the consequences of his actions or let him off lightly, it's still -- uncomfortably present. YMMV.
brownbetty's review
3.0
I trust the 'oh dear' is implied.
This book takes place in medieval Egypt and the middle-east, slightly before the third crusade, if I have my figures right. Salah ad-Din Yusuf (Saladin) appears as a character in this novel. The main characters are almost all Muslims within an Islamic society. My knowledge of Islam is cursory at best, but Tarr has a PhD. in Medieval studies, and includes notes in the back matter about the historical facts she has altered in the novel for the sake of her story, and which in absence of better authority does incline me to trust her.
[Author:Tarr] is perhaps better known for her [b:Avaryan Chronicles], which are fantasy, but this is one is not, particularly, aside from the magic that transforms the (rapist) protagonist into a horse in the first chapter, and that magic seems to me more or less "historically accurate," in that it would have fit within the worldview of that age's inhabitants.
Right, now on to an explanation for my inability to leave the rapist bit alone: Hasan, our protagonist, if not quite hero, is transformed into a horse after he rapes a magus' daughter. Hasan manages to be contemptible, but does not quite inspire hatred since he is basically so self-centred that it never occurs to him any woman might not want to have sex with him. When he realizes he has had sex not with the mage's servant, but with his daughter, Hasan makes the (historically) honourable offer to marry her, and the mage says he'd rather wed his daughter to a sheep, which made me like him.
But then we get this entire story about Hasan's growth. As a horse, he slowly learns that sometimes, he can't have what he wants, and sometimes, one chooses to not have what one wants because it might hurt someone else. He also learns, in a somewhat dim way, the enormity of his crime.
And of course, he falls in love with his owner, Zamaniyah. Zamaniyah is much more the story's hero than Hasan is. Her father's only daughter, Zamaniyah has been raised to fill the role of his son. She struggles with the demands this makes of her, both as a Muslim, and within her society, and is an appealing character. Her only female friends come from her father's harem, and she cannot really have any male friends, although her eunuch slave, Jaffar, is in an almost maternal role. Zamaniyah rides to war, navigates politics, makes friends, and eventually decides who she is.
The problem with the book is, Zamaniyah deserves much better than Hasan, despite the fact that Hasan does eventually grow up.
dearbhla's review
I decided to read this book based on the author's article where she talks about certain problems with C.S Lewis' The Horse and his Boy. She says
"Aravis reminds me of why I wrote A Wind in Cairo, which is partly about correcting the issues I saw in The Horse and His Boy, and mostly about girls and horses. And the Crusades. From the other side."
And lets face it, that sounds plain awesome!
And I loved the book. I think that if I had read it as a teenager it would have been one of those books I read and reread and then reread some more.
Tarr's writing is just so easy to read, and it is so evocative. You feel as though you are in the middle of the scenes.
But, there is a huge issue at the heart of this book. And that is, the crime Hasan is being punished for is rape. And I know a lot of people won't want to read the story of a rapist's redemption. It is a very understandable reaction.
I was very very worried that it was going to be a romance story between Hasan and the woman he rapes ((another unfortunate part is that she remains unnamed throughout the book)) but that is very definitely not on the cards. The reaction of the Hajji ((the woman's father)) when he discovers what Hasan has done is, thankfully, outrage, anger, and disgust at what Hasan has done. There isn't even the slightest hint of victim blaming.
Still, the story does revolve around Hasan learning just what a dick he has been and learning and growing.
But! but it is also the story of Zamaniyah and she is brilliant. I loved her character so much. After her brothers were killed in war he father decided that his only surviving child should be raised as though she were a boy. He doesn't try to pretend she is male, she dresses as a boy and is educated as a boy. She is aware of all the benefits this brings her, but it also makes her an outsider, both to other women and to men. They all seem to distrust her. I really liked the way Tarr wrote her. She wants to do her duty, to do as her father commands, but she also knows that she cannot go on that way forever, and she isn't really sure what she herself wants.
Despite the fact that Zamaniyah is being raised in a world of men Tarr introduces other women into the story. Some have just fleeting parts to play, others stick around for longer, like Wiborada, who is a Frankish prisoner/concubine. Her story is another that I'd love to see more of, but you can't have everything in a book.
I do wish that Hasan has committed some other lesser crime. But then again, would a lesser crime have warranted being turned into a horse? And the crime he committed is never swept under the covers or minimised. Hasan is made to learn just what he did and how wrong it was. It takes time, and his journey isn't smooth, but he does come to an understanding why his rape was so terrible.