Title: The Thousand Names
Author: Django Wexler
Published: July 2013
No of Pages: 513
Having read quite a few books recently outside of my usual wheel house, I thought, with it being Christmas I would return to my usual stomping ground, and I have to admit that this book did not disapoint.
The Thousand Names, is a fantastic fantasy epic full to the brim with incredible details and spectacualar battles across a severe desert environment. Wexler accuratley depicts a number of elements common in such times of war, such as political intregue, tension, and corruption within the ranks.
With these elements and Wexler’s control of language, he creates accurate visual depictions of these battles and the poor footsoldiers involved in them. He perfectly captures the tension of daily life of these poor souls in a pre-industrial war.
The plot is well written and paced, and has its fair share of twists and turns to keep you on your toes, it really was a riveting read.
Khander, the word within this books pages is a desert setting, and could be compared to the mid 1800’s during the french foriegn legions early involvement in the middle east. The book being an eastern fantasy makes it a rarity in itself, as to my knowledge there are not many out there. The world itself has a deep and rich culture, and Wexler goes into a lot of detail when depicting the battle sequences and the tactics involved, including volley firing, unit formations, and the chemistry and plapable anxiety in the air between each soldier involved in the foray.
Now here is something that you may not have been expecting, this is first and formost a battle heavy fantasy, and in itself is a fantastic read. But, what makes it an utter joy to read is the characters and not just any characters THE WOMEN CHARCTERS! (I bet you didnt see that one coming). Within the story there are three main protagonists two of which are male, but it also feature four key female characters, all of whom are very well thoughtout, strong and remarkable women (in my opinion) non of their characters or dialogue feel forced and they have not just been shoehorned in or have any jarring forced opinions in order to pander to the masses reading them, which in itself given the theme of the book is a remarkable achievement.
I really dont want to go into much more detail on this one, as i feel that its something that you should really read for yourselves, the political intreague, betrayals provide alot of twists and turns to keep this one very interesting, especially to any Military and war fantasy fans!
Until next time, read more books!
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