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satedbuffalo's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
cupiscent's review
3.0
First and lingering impression is that this is Gibson/Stephenson lite. The day-after-tomorrow alterni-future setting did its usual best to confuse and frustrate me (I never know whether the words being dropped are concepts/gadgets that exist or are being made up, which makes getting my head around the worldbuilding difficult) but it was rich and exotic and interesting... sometimes possibly too much so; I felt like occasionally the author was wallowing in atmosphere, and then paring back his action, which made the pacing oddly syncopated for me. Moreover, the rich world stuff - not just the setting, but the accoutrements of the hero and his sidekick - wasn't actually central to the story, which was an unsettlingly simple murder mystery thriller-whodunnit.
That said, I did enjoy the story, and often the telling, even in the wallowing or paring. And if not seated in what Ashraf is, at least who Ashraf is is quite important to the story (and a thing worth talking and thinking about for 300+ pages).
There were POV changes mid-sentence, but for once I didn't find that at all troubling, possibly because it was never confusing. Unlike the author's penchant for sentence-fragmenting lengthy run-on qualifying clauses, which tripped me up every single time and meant I had to re-read whole paragraphs.
For example: Hani was worried about something but asking her directly about it hadn't worked. Though he'd tried that several times, starting when he'd got back to the madersa after [character name] flat-lined.
Every time I came across this construction, I read the second sentence like it was starting with a conditional clause, and every single time I got to the end of the clause and found the fullstop and realised it had been a follow-on conditional from the previous sentence. Which I then had to re-read. Every. Single. Time.
That said, I did enjoy the story, and often the telling, even in the wallowing or paring. And if not seated in what Ashraf is, at least who Ashraf is is quite important to the story (and a thing worth talking and thinking about for 300+ pages).
There were POV changes mid-sentence, but for once I didn't find that at all troubling, possibly because it was never confusing. Unlike the author's penchant for sentence-fragmenting lengthy run-on qualifying clauses, which tripped me up every single time and meant I had to re-read whole paragraphs.
For example: Hani was worried about something but asking her directly about it hadn't worked. Though he'd tried that several times, starting when he'd got back to the madersa after [character name] flat-lined.
Every time I came across this construction, I read the second sentence like it was starting with a conditional clause, and every single time I got to the end of the clause and found the fullstop and realised it had been a follow-on conditional from the previous sentence. Which I then had to re-read. Every. Single. Time.
tdeshler's review
3.0
Found this one in the Goodwill before a long trip. Being part of a series, the main character is not fully realized in this volume. Also, the alternate history elements weren't very well incorporated into the story. However, the writing and characterizations were smart, so I think I'll continue reading the series.
joannawnyc's review
3.0
Great premise--noir cyberpunk alt history set in a 21st century Ottoman Empire!
Not so great execution. It just goes ... nowhere. Though protagonist Raf and his motley crew are quite charming.
All style and no substance, alas.
Not so great execution. It just goes ... nowhere. Though protagonist Raf and his motley crew are quite charming.
All style and no substance, alas.
graculus's review
4.0
I've read standalone novels by Grimwood before but never been able to get hold of this, the first of his Arabesk trilogy of books.
The protagonist in Pashazade is Ashraf, recently returned to Alexandria and replete with all the trappings of a rich man's son in a world where the Ottoman empire never fell. The problem is, Ashraf is a phoney, more at home in the American prison he recently left than dealing with the hierarchical society of Egypt and a potential arranged marriage to a girl who's equally unimpressed with the idea.
The alternate history is well thought out, as is the world-building, and though Ashraf is quite ruthless at times, he's also a sympathetic character who is out of his depth and knows it. I'm not really sure where the rest of the trilogy is going to take these characters, but I'm looking forward to it - the next book in the series is [b:Effendi|368858|Effendi|Jon Courtenay Grimwood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg|2704923].
The protagonist in Pashazade is Ashraf, recently returned to Alexandria and replete with all the trappings of a rich man's son in a world where the Ottoman empire never fell. The problem is, Ashraf is a phoney, more at home in the American prison he recently left than dealing with the hierarchical society of Egypt and a potential arranged marriage to a girl who's equally unimpressed with the idea.
The alternate history is well thought out, as is the world-building, and though Ashraf is quite ruthless at times, he's also a sympathetic character who is out of his depth and knows it. I'm not really sure where the rest of the trilogy is going to take these characters, but I'm looking forward to it - the next book in the series is [b:Effendi|368858|Effendi|Jon Courtenay Grimwood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181277s/368858.jpg|2704923].
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