|   Slaves of the Shinar — (2007) Publisher: The storied land of Shinar can be both brutal and forgiving. For two men making their way under its harsh sun, it is a land of fate, blood, and strife. Uruk is a nomadic thief from the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa braving the hard walk across the desert. His destination is nothing less than the fabled city of Ur, its temples swollen with riches. Ander is a slave, and has been since youth. But when a chance at freedom presents itself, he strikes, vowing to destroy his captors by whatever means necessary. As these two men navigate the world they share—an ancient world, which first-time author Justin Allen has painstakingly researched—their stories converge in a tale of destiny, triumph, and death. Slaves of the Shinar is the story of a land consumed by war, of a people trying to survive, and of two men in the middle of it all, redefining themselves and their futures. Set against the chaotic and bloody backdrop of the Middle East's first great war, this fantasy epic—part Homer, part Tolkein, part R. Scott Bakker—brings us into a gritty, realistic world where destiny is foretold by gods, and death is never more than a sword-stroke away.
  The American — (2008) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Finally!—the myth and legend that is America has arrived. The American is literary fantasy at its very best—a novel that delves into our myths, legends, hopes, and fears; a coming-of-age fable set in our most fondly remembered (if mostly fictional) past; a story constructed to speak to both the young and anyone who has ever been young; and an adventure more than capable of setting your hair on end.
The American tells the story of Yen Tzu-lu, a child of immigrants unwillingly pressed into service beside a gang of roughnecks, bent on stealing a gold mine from a shadowy villain deep in the western wilderness. Along for the ride are Jack Straw, a famed gunslinger and mystic, Henry Jesus, a former Union soldier and freed slave turned buffalo hunter and marksman, Chino, a Mexican outlaw from California whose very country was yanked out from under him, John MacLemore, a Confederate ex-patriot gone west, and his daughter, a true wild child of the western frontier. They must cross the continent: through desert, plains, canyon and forest; survive run-ins with Union soldiers, Indians both friendly and vicious, wild animals, deadly storms and suspicious settlers. If they make it, they'll be rich. If they don't, they'll almost surely be dead.
With Tzu-lu as our guide, we experience a landscape of legend, stand toe to toe with those larger-than-life heroes and villains of our shared American mythos, and learn the inescapable facts that have both enriched and plagued our nation from its inception. Even as Tzu-lu struggles to come-of-age, learning what it means to be a man despite the most dangerous of circumstances, so too do America's own triumphs and challenges come into greater focus.
Equal parts Mark Twain and Larry McMurtry, this is a book of fabulous adventure and deep resonance. Allen gives readers, both young and not-so-young, a picture of how America sees itself. In so doing he offers up both a heroic vision of the past... and hope for the future.
|
