Review: Ibrahim Unites by James Lee Nathan III

I love, love the cover. I do my own covers for my books so when I saw the cover I was thinking, man this must be an awesome book with a cover like this. The author's name is a little pretentious but I wasn't going to let it get in the way of a book with an awesome cover like that.

This is definitely a thinking man's book with philosophers thrown in right at the start. And also a lot of time travelling. The excess use of bold is distracting but that is merely a technicality. Otherwise the cadre of characters remind me of Anne McCaffery's series with Talents and we follow a few characters as they move around in this rich universe. Traci Harding's series is similar to this book. The dialogue is a bit confusing to follow but I'm familiar with this foible as I have the same problem in my own writing this does improve as you read further and you get a feel for the way each character talks.

The writing is very thought provoking and worth sticking it out. My favourite bit are the characters. The names are also ingenious but they don't stand out for being different as there are characters as well with normal names. We have Raheem and Zion and people like KG, just to name a few. They are all interesting characters with real depth to them which you sometimes miss when you have an ensemble cast like this book does. Its one real downside is that it jumps too much from scene to scene without a way to move into the scene with any really smooth flow. Which is very disappointing as the rest of the story is very enjoyable. Rich world, rich characters and some girls who can kick butt.

This is a dark story with political intrigue and plots to take over the world. A conspiracy theorist will love this book but it was a little too convoluted for me. I like my stories a little more simple or the very least a bit more accessible. There is definitely people who will love this book as there is much to be loved but I wasn't one of them.

I give this a 3.5. The things which knock it back are the jilted nature of the book and the dark nature. The things which make it worth reading are the rich world and characters. The .5 is for the cover alone. It is awesome.