I’d never heard of this author, but one of his books was recommended by George R.R. Martin on his website (http://georgerrmartin.com/reading.html) - so I picked this one up.
It’s actually NOT the book that Martin read (that was Ironfire, about the Knights of Malta), but I think he’d like this one as well. What an enjoyable book! Ostensibly, this is an historical novel, based on a true incident – a failed 19th-century French expedition to suss out the possibilities of building a trans-Saharan railroad. However, the book has only a marginally less tenuous connection to reality than, say, George R.R. Martin’s books. (still reading A Feast For Crows, btw) Empires of Sand is first and foremost a grand adventure-drama, and if historical reality falls a bit by the wayside – who’s missing it?
The book focuses on the relationship between Paul DeVries and his half-French, half Tuareg nomad cousin, Moussa. The first half of the book takes place against the backdrop of Paris during the French Revolution, and establishes their relationship as boys. The second half of the book is set in the Sahara. Paul is now an officer in the French army, but Moussa has gone back to the desert and reclaimed his Tuareg heritage… they must meet again, this time on different sides in a terrible conflict.
Along the way, there’s plenty of violence, passion, daring escapes, rape, enslavement, cannibalism, miserable deaths, betrayals, revenge… all that good stuff! And plenty of it… it’s 770 pages long. It’s got enough manly/military type action to satify fans of that kind of thing (Bernard Cornwell, perhaps?) – but also strong female characters and enough romance for those more into the soap-opera dramatic epic kinda thing (Melanie Rawn?). A good balance. The historical background is richly panoramic, but the story itself is always about the personal relationships between the characters, which is something I personally like in this kind of epic fiction… Definitely recommended!

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