Chris reviewed Open Sesame by Tom Holt
None
4 stars
Tom Holt has been at it as long as Terry P. and writes in a very different vein - more the interruption of the fantastical into our world (thus an inversion of the standard Fantasy trope of an Earther at the court of the Dark Lord). In Open Sesame it’s the turn of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, who cross the Line that divides our world from Storyland, and land in Southampton. There’s a bandit called Akram who without the constraints of his story is able to go straight and show Ali Baba for the villain he is; there’s a girl called Michelle who was raised by domestic appliances; and there’s a Fairy Godfather who grants people wishes they can’t refuse - which works better than it sounds.
Tom Holt has been at it as long as Terry P. and writes in a very different vein - more the interruption of the fantastical into our world (thus an inversion of the standard Fantasy trope of an Earther at the court of the Dark Lord). In Open Sesame it’s the turn of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, who cross the Line that divides our world from Storyland, and land in Southampton. There’s a bandit called Akram who without the constraints of his story is able to go straight and show Ali Baba for the villain he is; there’s a girl called Michelle who was raised by domestic appliances; and there’s a Fairy Godfather who grants people wishes they can’t refuse - which works better than it sounds.
