A review by katieinca
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

4.0

In order of excellence: worldbuilding, then characters, then plot. The city has kind of an ancient-Baghdad feel, the magic is ... holy-ish, and (minor spoiler) there's a girl who can turn into a lion. There is much swording. Terrific. Then you've got a kernel of of old friends who know just how to insult each other and allude vaguely to dangers survived in their younger days, but also teenage apprentice types to shake things up. And then you've got a super evil bad guy attempting world domination. By means of evil magic, rivers of blood, etc. Of course.
The ending was a little abrupt, which I'm hoping to later be able to dismiss later as "ah well, first book in a trilogy, you know."