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Ashamet, Desert Born
A desert world. A warrior nation that worships its emperor as a god. But for Ashamet, its prince, a future filled with danger...
Ashamet is confident his swordsmanship, and his arranged marriage, will be enough to maintain the empire’s peace. But when a divine symbol magically appears on his arm, closely followed by an attempt on his life, he no longer knows who to trust. Worse, the strange attraction he feels toward a foreign slave could be another trap. As events unravel, too fast, Ashamet must find out if this innocent young male is a tool for his enemies--or the magic key to his survival.
"Ashamet, Desert-Born" is a debut adventure fantasy with an exotic Arabian-style setting and elements of same-sex romance.
Ashamet is confident his swordsmanship, and his arranged marriage, will be enough to maintain the empire’s peace. But when a divine symbol magically appears on his arm, closely followed by an attempt on his life, he no longer knows who to trust. Worse, the strange attraction he feels toward a foreign slave could be another trap. As events unravel, too fast, Ashamet must find out if this innocent young male is a tool for his enemies--or the magic key to his survival.
"Ashamet, Desert-Born" is a debut adventure fantasy with an exotic Arabian-style setting and elements of same-sex romance.
330 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 19, 2016
Ashamet, Desert Born is a marvellous book. It's full of intrigue and adventure; it's intelligent and engaging; it's romantic and exciting!
The book is narrated by the Ashamet of the title - a prince whose father bears a holy symbol that Ash lacks, though both suspect is just the result of jiggery-pokery by the priests. Ash is happy to be a soldier, and we meet him on his wedding day. Descriptions of him and the various peoples come to his great celebration indicate they are a humanoid but not necessarily human people, but all the potential awkwardness I saw in that never eventuates, because Terry Jackman is a subtle and clever writer.
This is certainly an alien world, and its creation shows influence from Arabian Nights tales, but it unfolds as its own thing. Various cultures, social mores, rituals and practices unfold with slow grace, all from Ashamet's perspective, so the reader is never overwhelmed with tedious infodump.
Ashamet's world is one in which males outnumber females to a huge degree - and actually my only criticism of the book is that with females so completely elided in the story, I find myself wondering how such a biologically awkward thing has come to pass. I'd very much like to see more female characters in any follow up (and I very much want to read a follow up!).
This leaves us with a complex society in which same-gender relations are the norm. So when Ashamet receives a rare slave as a wedding gift - a male who is rather old to be a virgin, but clearly an innocent and so prized - his relationship with the unusual Keril becomes the central theme of the book, affecting as it does both Ashamet's emotional life, as well as his social and political ones - and Keril's too, of course.
We already know from the very first paragraph that assassins have tried to kill Ash. From there, an intricate story is woven of court politics, family relations, complex alliances, and traditional social expectations.
Ash narrates with humour and depth - a smart male, politically savvy and spiritually sceptical. The odd things that begin to occur, including a itching sensation on his arm that begins to form into a sign of heavenly blessing, alarming because he doesn't believe in such powers.
Jackman manages to build a narrative in delicate layers that reveals a world without lecturing, that reveals Ashamet to us through his thoughts and deeds, and then weaves more and more complication into the story until we reach the action-packed denoument. Because we only know what Ashamet knows, some elements still come as revelations, because they haven't been heavily foreshadowed by the writer.
In the end, I found Ashamet, Desert Born beautifully paced, filled with characters of depth and texture, with enough action balanced with enough thoughtfulness and a thread of tension to reveal a fully developed world. The enigmatic, innocent and yet perceptive Keril is balanced beautifully with the wit, courage, strength and heart of Prince Ashamet. Their love story is interwoven flawlessly into the wider tale of political and religious intrigue.
Of course I wish there were more of a female perspective - but with enough mystery left at the end of the story (which is otherwise well concluded) I have hopes that a second book in this world will give us more of a look into the female experience of these fascinating cultures and people.
I will certainly be looking for more work from Terry Jackman, who writes with such intelligence, emotional depth and subtlety.
The book is narrated by the Ashamet of the title - a prince whose father bears a holy symbol that Ash lacks, though both suspect is just the result of jiggery-pokery by the priests. Ash is happy to be a soldier, and we meet him on his wedding day. Descriptions of him and the various peoples come to his great celebration indicate they are a humanoid but not necessarily human people, but all the potential awkwardness I saw in that never eventuates, because Terry Jackman is a subtle and clever writer.
This is certainly an alien world, and its creation shows influence from Arabian Nights tales, but it unfolds as its own thing. Various cultures, social mores, rituals and practices unfold with slow grace, all from Ashamet's perspective, so the reader is never overwhelmed with tedious infodump.
Ashamet's world is one in which males outnumber females to a huge degree - and actually my only criticism of the book is that with females so completely elided in the story, I find myself wondering how such a biologically awkward thing has come to pass. I'd very much like to see more female characters in any follow up (and I very much want to read a follow up!).
This leaves us with a complex society in which same-gender relations are the norm. So when Ashamet receives a rare slave as a wedding gift - a male who is rather old to be a virgin, but clearly an innocent and so prized - his relationship with the unusual Keril becomes the central theme of the book, affecting as it does both Ashamet's emotional life, as well as his social and political ones - and Keril's too, of course.
We already know from the very first paragraph that assassins have tried to kill Ash. From there, an intricate story is woven of court politics, family relations, complex alliances, and traditional social expectations.
Ash narrates with humour and depth - a smart male, politically savvy and spiritually sceptical. The odd things that begin to occur, including a itching sensation on his arm that begins to form into a sign of heavenly blessing, alarming because he doesn't believe in such powers.
Jackman manages to build a narrative in delicate layers that reveals a world without lecturing, that reveals Ashamet to us through his thoughts and deeds, and then weaves more and more complication into the story until we reach the action-packed denoument. Because we only know what Ashamet knows, some elements still come as revelations, because they haven't been heavily foreshadowed by the writer.
In the end, I found Ashamet, Desert Born beautifully paced, filled with characters of depth and texture, with enough action balanced with enough thoughtfulness and a thread of tension to reveal a fully developed world. The enigmatic, innocent and yet perceptive Keril is balanced beautifully with the wit, courage, strength and heart of Prince Ashamet. Their love story is interwoven flawlessly into the wider tale of political and religious intrigue.
Of course I wish there were more of a female perspective - but with enough mystery left at the end of the story (which is otherwise well concluded) I have hopes that a second book in this world will give us more of a look into the female experience of these fascinating cultures and people.
I will certainly be looking for more work from Terry Jackman, who writes with such intelligence, emotional depth and subtlety.
Did Not Finish
May 8, 2015What could have been an intriguing fantasy fell flat; the world building was uninteresting and the pace was excruciatingly slow. But what prevented me from enjoying this was the rape scene and the attempt to pass it off as something normal - to the point where it's seen as seduction and not assault. I was unable to finish this book. DNF at 55%.
July 8, 2015
I edited this book for the publisher.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I got the impression that the author, Terry Jackman, has spent a while living in the fascinating desert world that she has created where the dominant species have evolved from felines. I think she has a great gift for world-building and her characters are all three-dimensional.
Set in a world where the sexes are segregated most of the time, the story revolves around Ashamet, a young Princeling who is more comfortable being a warrior and 'hanging out with the guys" than his destiny to be ruler of his father's domain. He has no time for the theatrics of the priests who seek to wield power behind the scenes. He's cynical about their 'smoke and mirrors' to control the masses despite what is happening to him.
His approaching marriage, to both produce an heir and cement relationships with another clan, sees him receiving wedding presents from all and sundry, including an exotic male body-slave whom he falls in love with, but the 'slave' has a mission of his own, and becomes a most trusted companion as Ashamet's world descends into a turmoil of warfare and political intrigue as someone close seeks to overthrow his regal line.
I think his is a well-crafted first book, and think this author has a great future ahead of her.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I got the impression that the author, Terry Jackman, has spent a while living in the fascinating desert world that she has created where the dominant species have evolved from felines. I think she has a great gift for world-building and her characters are all three-dimensional.
Set in a world where the sexes are segregated most of the time, the story revolves around Ashamet, a young Princeling who is more comfortable being a warrior and 'hanging out with the guys" than his destiny to be ruler of his father's domain. He has no time for the theatrics of the priests who seek to wield power behind the scenes. He's cynical about their 'smoke and mirrors' to control the masses despite what is happening to him.
His approaching marriage, to both produce an heir and cement relationships with another clan, sees him receiving wedding presents from all and sundry, including an exotic male body-slave whom he falls in love with, but the 'slave' has a mission of his own, and becomes a most trusted companion as Ashamet's world descends into a turmoil of warfare and political intrigue as someone close seeks to overthrow his regal line.
I think his is a well-crafted first book, and think this author has a great future ahead of her.
July 8, 2015
Terry Jackman's Ashamet, Desert Born has an exciting plot that gets buried under superfluous descriptions of clothing and rooms while barely detailing characters (besides very brief, and quite confusing, mentions in the first few pages) or the world they live in.
The reader gets a sense in the first chapter that there are a variety of races of men in the desert land but the characterization stops there. The different races are named and referred to throughout the book but never described for me to get a true sense of the differences (which seemed to be important). The first person narration of the novel, however, gave insight into Prince Ashamet's character, which was self-centered and apathetic. He also rambled on about the walls of rooms and what clothing everyone was wearing to a point of complete disinterest on my part. I started skimming paragraphs after about 1/3 into the book.
There is a huge absence of female influence throughout, which accounts for the the lack of variety and depth. It is a male-dominated world where females are only used for breeding. It was billed as having same-sex elements when actuality, it is essentially a same-sex romance novel.
The ending was satisfying and nice point to start a sequel. If Jackman can tone down the excessive descriptions and play up the more exciting plot, the sequel will be quite good!
The reader gets a sense in the first chapter that there are a variety of races of men in the desert land but the characterization stops there. The different races are named and referred to throughout the book but never described for me to get a true sense of the differences (which seemed to be important). The first person narration of the novel, however, gave insight into Prince Ashamet's character, which was self-centered and apathetic. He also rambled on about the walls of rooms and what clothing everyone was wearing to a point of complete disinterest on my part. I started skimming paragraphs after about 1/3 into the book.
There is a huge absence of female influence throughout, which accounts for the the lack of variety and depth. It is a male-dominated world where females are only used for breeding. It was billed as having same-sex elements when actuality, it is essentially a same-sex romance novel.
The ending was satisfying and nice point to start a sequel. If Jackman can tone down the excessive descriptions and play up the more exciting plot, the sequel will be quite good!
July 30, 2015
From Netgalley for a Review:
Oh man, I have such mixed feelings on this one! I both liked and disliked it, really I am quite torn on my opinion. I will say this, the characters and books are well rounded and have a very defined presence, you never really get confused as to who is speaking and what is going on.
The story itself is fascinating, court intrigue set in a world that seems inspired by ancient Middle Eastern culture, but clearly its own world with some very fascinating takes on gender and sexuality. There are a lot of small, slow reveals about the culture and people that I won't spoil, but there were several times I said to myself 'well, that is new!'
I found the first person perspective a bit odd, mainly because our protagonist gets a bit rambling with his description of things in his mind, so it seems a bit stilted, but that can be a problem with that perspective. At times it worked wonderfully, and at times it just seemed off.
I think my biggest complaint with this book was its length, a lot of the book was description of setting and clothing and such that just seemed unnecessary. When the plot moved along, it really worked, all the little plot threads led somewhere and fell into place, I just wish there would have been a little less chaff between the epic goings on.
Oh man, I have such mixed feelings on this one! I both liked and disliked it, really I am quite torn on my opinion. I will say this, the characters and books are well rounded and have a very defined presence, you never really get confused as to who is speaking and what is going on.
The story itself is fascinating, court intrigue set in a world that seems inspired by ancient Middle Eastern culture, but clearly its own world with some very fascinating takes on gender and sexuality. There are a lot of small, slow reveals about the culture and people that I won't spoil, but there were several times I said to myself 'well, that is new!'
I found the first person perspective a bit odd, mainly because our protagonist gets a bit rambling with his description of things in his mind, so it seems a bit stilted, but that can be a problem with that perspective. At times it worked wonderfully, and at times it just seemed off.
I think my biggest complaint with this book was its length, a lot of the book was description of setting and clothing and such that just seemed unnecessary. When the plot moved along, it really worked, all the little plot threads led somewhere and fell into place, I just wish there would have been a little less chaff between the epic goings on.
June 10, 2015
I found this book very engaging. Great world building and fascinating characters. The societal rules/development in a world where women are in short supply is well done and believable. I particularly enjoyed the gradual development of the relationship between the two main characters. An excellent read that I can highly recommend.
June 16, 2015
The beginning was a bit confusing... the lack of description for the characters makes it difficult to get a picture in your head.
Want to Read
June 30, 2015Review in progress...
June 6, 2016
Even though the magical elements in this, were understated, I still found it to be intriguing even if it was very much out of my comfort zone.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews