EMPIRES OF SAND

David Ball is not so much a writer as a caster of spells. George Guidall's voice gives depth and force to the magic. Ball paints on a vast canvas with bold, dramatic strokes. Look too closely and you may see the artifice. Relax and you will be sucked inextricably into the story. The historical background has been painstakingly researched, but the facts don't interfere with the romance. Built around two cousins, boyhood friends, the drama delivers beautiful desert women, a wicked bishop, a wild boar, a cruel nun, and poisoned dates. And armies. There are armies. Men die for honor on the rainy fields outside of Paris and in the driest, deepest reaches of the Sahara. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]