Monday, August 05, 2013

A new student review of The Scorpions of Zahir by Christine Brodien-Jones

alison_S posted a new student review of The Scorpions of Zahir by Christine Brodien-Jones. See the full review.

The Sahara blazed across my mind's eye with Brodein-Jones's breathtaking imagery. The Scorpions of Zahir's pacing, like Zagora's desert expedition, starts out leisurely before plunging the reader into chaos; though a bit plodding at the outset, before I knew it I was whirling along on a hair-raising adventure. Brodien-Jones's Morroco has a richness of detail in which the reader can luxuriate, and the plot enthralled me with its complexity. Though chilling, the chief antagonist pursued her goal with such passion that at times I found myself cheering her on. I have a few small quibbles with the wording (you don't need to specify Nar Azrak had an unearthly glow, that's implied by it's being a planet other than earth),but thankfully these didn't make The Scorpions of Zahir any less of a vividly imagined thrillride.