You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bob_muller 's review for:
Empire of Lies
by Raymond Khoury
This well-researched and riveting thriller is hard to classify: is it alternate history? Time travel? A political thriller? A fantasy?
I think those who love thrillers are going to be the ones who get the most out of it, particularly anyone interested in speculating on the impact of a true Islamic caliphate in the West. There are quite a lot of editorial comments by the narration on this, leaving little doubt as to Khoury's theme and political preferences. (Which I am in complete agreement with :) ). A terrific read that is hard to put down.
As a strong fan of alternate history, and as a strong fan of time travel fiction, I find myself torn. The alternate history, while well researched, has two problems: too much backstory that slows the pace, particularly in the first part of the novel, and not enough alternate history story. Everything focuses on the particular events that changed history. The modern world that results is relevant only in that it produces the characters and their stakes in dealing with that original event, I won't say more. What I want from alternate history is a set of characters interacting in the alternate world, with the plot driven by that world.
So, turn to time travel, which is the basis for the change: somebody changes the past. That's where Khoury has spent most of his effort, figuring out what would need to change and how to maintain the change over centuries, and he's done a magnificent job. But any fan of time travel knows about the paradoxes, and they don't enter at all. And most fans of time travel prefer a more hard-science-fiction treatment of the time travel. What Khoury gives us is a sort of mystical, magical spell and a few "rules" that apply (nothing but the naked body travels, no travel to a time in which you already exist, travel is to exactly the same spot on earth from which you leave) without exploring some of the paradoxes, contradictions, and deeper implications of the premises.
So that leaves fantasy, and the magic involved. It might have been better for Khoury to just talk about djinn, as some current Islamic fantasies have done, going completely religious and magical and fantastic, but that would have interfered too much with the thriller aspect (and that aspect, being the best part of the book, shouldn't be interfered with too much in my opinion).
So: loved the book but had serious reservations about some of its premises. And I agree with the protagonist's conclusion that we're probably better off with our own history, spotty and apocalyptic and delusional as it may be.
I think those who love thrillers are going to be the ones who get the most out of it, particularly anyone interested in speculating on the impact of a true Islamic caliphate in the West. There are quite a lot of editorial comments by the narration on this, leaving little doubt as to Khoury's theme and political preferences. (Which I am in complete agreement with :) ). A terrific read that is hard to put down.
As a strong fan of alternate history, and as a strong fan of time travel fiction, I find myself torn. The alternate history, while well researched, has two problems: too much backstory that slows the pace, particularly in the first part of the novel, and not enough alternate history story. Everything focuses on the particular events that changed history. The modern world that results is relevant only in that it produces the characters and their stakes in dealing with that original event, I won't say more. What I want from alternate history is a set of characters interacting in the alternate world, with the plot driven by that world.
So, turn to time travel, which is the basis for the change: somebody changes the past. That's where Khoury has spent most of his effort, figuring out what would need to change and how to maintain the change over centuries, and he's done a magnificent job. But any fan of time travel knows about the paradoxes, and they don't enter at all. And most fans of time travel prefer a more hard-science-fiction treatment of the time travel. What Khoury gives us is a sort of mystical, magical spell and a few "rules" that apply (nothing but the naked body travels, no travel to a time in which you already exist, travel is to exactly the same spot on earth from which you leave) without exploring some of the paradoxes, contradictions, and deeper implications of the premises.
So that leaves fantasy, and the magic involved. It might have been better for Khoury to just talk about djinn, as some current Islamic fantasies have done, going completely religious and magical and fantastic, but that would have interfered too much with the thriller aspect (and that aspect, being the best part of the book, shouldn't be interfered with too much in my opinion).
So: loved the book but had serious reservations about some of its premises. And I agree with the protagonist's conclusion that we're probably better off with our own history, spotty and apocalyptic and delusional as it may be.