Nor did I find the “Islamic” aspect of this empire very convincing. The characters are a fairly standard lot, and the plot brings no surprises. I found a simple color-flip of master and slave less than persuasive.
Islamic cultures have certainly practiced slavery, but color did not determine whether a man was slave or free. One of the things that made Southern slavery a “peculiar institution” in all senses of the word was its insistence that black men were not human beings. The key problem not addressed is the difference between slavery in the American South and slavery in the Islamic world. The author has plainly worked hard to create this alternate world, but in the end, I did not find Bilalistan convincing. Lion’s Blood is loaded with fascinating ideas that don’t quite come to life. War comes, drawing all into its battle, slave and free-a war that changes Kai and Aidan’s lives forever. And on the western borders of Bilalistan, fierce warriors of Azteca wait their chance to take back their lands. Rivalry for the love of the beautiful half-black slave Sophia causes a rift between Aidan and Kai. But as the boys become men, the disparity between free and slave grows. Aidan slowly adjusts to life as a slave, and becomes the friend of Kai, the Wakil’s younger son. Shipped to Bilalistan, Aidan is purchased by the Wakil Abu Ali.
In 1863 (in our chronology) the Irish boy Aidan is captured by Viking slavers. America was colonized by this black empire known as Bilalistan, its South is also an agricultural slave-holding culture.
Lion’s Blood takes place in a world in which an Egypto-Carthaginian alliance prevented the rise of Rome, creating a black empire in Africa and leaving Europe a land of primitive tribes-and, eventually, Islam as unquestioned religious master of the world.
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