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A review by haukka
Secrets of the Sands by Leona Wisoker
4.0
Anyone interested in desert themed fantasy stories should probably put this on their reading list. You get a fantasy world made of the lush green lands north of the desert, and then of course a vast golden desert with a culture and ambience all its own.
For a fantasy this book has echoes of modern feelings towards sex and gender politics, subjects which are constantly mentioned but not the focal point of the tale. You have a gaggle of sexually aware girls/women of many ages who live under the scrutiny of a patriarchal and conservative world view. I only mention this because many fantasy tales with sexually open female characters involve some obligatory goddess figure, or some fertility motherhood factor. In this book the brief mentions about woman’s sex was more focused on personal pleasure instead of struggling to attain motherhood or fulfil some coming of age goddess rite. You have a posse of different characters, all somehow open and sexually liberated, but no one is “getting any,” which is fine since this fantasy adventure is not an erotica.
This book also has many of the tried and true, somewhat stereotypical fantasy elements that you come to almost expect in a good story: There is traversing the lands on foot or animal, the constant stops at the different quality inns; saucy buxom serving wenches, the mouth watering local inn foods that make you hungry while reading and very amplified class and life quality distinctions. There is the drunk and horny sailors, double dealing political spies and a couple of characters you switch between trusting and not.
The story moves ahead chapter by chapter and I appreciate how many naïve and realistically flawed characters grow and come together for a conclusive end of tale, which still leaves you excited for the rest of the series.
For a fantasy this book has echoes of modern feelings towards sex and gender politics, subjects which are constantly mentioned but not the focal point of the tale. You have a gaggle of sexually aware girls/women of many ages who live under the scrutiny of a patriarchal and conservative world view. I only mention this because many fantasy tales with sexually open female characters involve some obligatory goddess figure, or some fertility motherhood factor. In this book the brief mentions about woman’s sex was more focused on personal pleasure instead of struggling to attain motherhood or fulfil some coming of age goddess rite. You have a posse of different characters, all somehow open and sexually liberated, but no one is “getting any,” which is fine since this fantasy adventure is not an erotica.
This book also has many of the tried and true, somewhat stereotypical fantasy elements that you come to almost expect in a good story: There is traversing the lands on foot or animal, the constant stops at the different quality inns; saucy buxom serving wenches, the mouth watering local inn foods that make you hungry while reading and very amplified class and life quality distinctions. There is the drunk and horny sailors, double dealing political spies and a couple of characters you switch between trusting and not.
The story moves ahead chapter by chapter and I appreciate how many naïve and realistically flawed characters grow and come together for a conclusive end of tale, which still leaves you excited for the rest of the series.