text: Slaves of the Shinar: An Epic Fantasy of the Ancient World
  Justin Allen, . . Overlook, $25.95 (429pp) ISBN 978-1-58567-916-4
  Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations clash in Allen's promising debut. Uruk, a thief and warrior from the jungles of Africa, and Ander, a slave escaped from the brutal Niphilim people, cross paths in the megalopolis of Kan-Puram, where Uruk has gone seeking a friendlier place to ply his trade and where Ander has gone to rally opposition to the coming Niphilim onslaught. The “fantasy” label is perhaps misapplied; Uruk and Ander fight their battles—brutal enough for an Erikson set piece—with mundane weapons, brawn and brains, and only the wholly fictional Niphilim society prevents it from being legitimate historical fiction. No part of the story involves any significant supernatural element. Yet despite the lack of wizardry, gods or strange beasts, something in Allen's writing raises the mundane to the level of the fantastic, and the feel of magic crackles through the pages, even if it's nowhere to be found in the words.
  Reviewed on: 05/21/2007