I just finished this novel by Milton Davis this morning, and as much as I want to give props to a fellow Sword & Soul writer, I am sorry to say that while I enjoyed it at first, ultimately it disappointed me a little.
I'll get the biggest and most fundamental problem out of the way: I didn't see any connection between the story suggested by the book's blurb and any of the three Kitabu within. The blurb makes you think this is going to be a tale of Changa's seeking revenge against the sorcerer Usenge, yet that is not at all the overarching theme of the actual Kitabu. We do see Changa confront a completely different evil magician, seek out a mysterious spice, and get caught up in Chinese/Mongol politics, but none of those plots seem to have anything to do with Changa's vendetta against Usenge. The impression I got was that Changa was actually putting his past behind him to pursue a life as a Swahili merchant, which reflects poorly on his character.
Speaking of characters, I was also bothered by the handling of the supporting characters. Neither Panya and the Tuareg get much if any backstory whatsoever, leaving us to wonder what they and Changa are doing together on the opposite side of the African continent from their native homelands. Nor does Panya, a supposed sorceress, get to demonstrate her magical powers very often if at all. She should have cast many more spells.
Then there are the editing errors. Not only are there scattered typos, but Davis seems to use "Chinese" and "Han" interchangeably when he should have stuck with "Han". In addition, the glossary at the end is incomplete because it doesn't list many of the ethnic terms used in the Kitabu (exactly what are a bahari and a bwana?).
None of the above is meant to say that this book is irredeemably terrible. The concept of an African hero exploring the Indian Ocean is definitely novel, as medieval Indian Ocean civilizations have definitely been unfairly neglected by storytellers, the prose is generally decent despite the aforementioned editing issues, and the numerous action and battle scenes are fun. It is for these reasons that I'll give the overall book a fairly positive rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
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