Cover Unveiled for Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

Cover Not Final

Throne of the Crescent Moon is Saladin Ahmed's debut novel and my early bet on debut of the year for the Fantasy genre. Ahmed is part of the new guard bringing back Swords & Sorcery with a vengeance. Ahmed has been a finalist for the Nebula Award in the short story category and was just nominated for the John W. Campbell award for best new Fantasy writer amongst his many other accolades.  He has also written a few short stories in this world including the just released for audio “Judgment of Swords and Souls” that is well worth checking out. Here is the blurb for Throne of the Crescent Moon:

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, "the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat," a fat old man who’s grown weary of chasing down monsters and saving lives, wants nothing more than to finally marry his old flame and spend his days sitting around his favorite teahouse. But a series of mysterious murders makes it clear that Adoulla’s beloved city still desperately needs his monster-hunting magics. To make things worse, Dhamsawaat is in the midst of a power struggle between the Khalif and a mysterious Robin Hood-type figure known as the Falcon Prince.

Adoulla and his uptight assistant, the holy warrior Raseed, soon learn that the murders and the political upheaval are connected. Adoulla, recruiting the help of old companions and new, discovers a sorcerous plot that threatens to turn his city and perhaps the world itself into a flaming, bloody ruin. And only he and his friends can stop this from happening.

Throne of the Crescent Moon will be released in February from DAW books as a hardcover. Here is the unadulterated art by Jason Chan, which shows a lot more of the epic detail than the slightly low-resolution version above. This is the first on my immediate read list for 2012.

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