Fire in His Hands

Note that this is now back in print as part of the omnibus edition A Fortress in Shadow, covering the 2 Dread Empire prequels. This book traces the origins of some of the primary characters from the dread empire trilogy, as well as the early story of El Murid and how he founded his empire. Origin-stories of Haroun bin Yousif (who got almost no page-time in the original stories) and bragi ragnarson are covered as well. The story clearly is describing the rise of islam, possibly in the context of the 7th century founding of islam. this and the follow-up story are well worth reading on their own though having read the prior novels is a good idea.

The Fire in His Hands is set in Cook's Dread Empire millieu and provides some of the early back story for that series. It tells details the meeting Bragi and Haroun, and of their encounters with the prophet El Murid. The book is a must read for those who have enjoyed the Dread Empire series, but it also stands alone a an entertaining novel. The rise of El Murid has obvious overtones of the historicla Islamic expansion, and Cook provides a fast-paced, enjoyable book which manages to pull together political intrigue, religious fanaticism and military conflict and turn them into a pleasant diversion. Cook has a fine talent for breathing life into characters, and he puts it to good use here.