first volume out of three of a collection of tales from the Šāhnāme, in a german translation. i really enjoyed the adventures in verses, maybe sometimes a bit too much of a fairy tale by telling of character and emotion only in the broadest terms. on the other side, i'm not trained in the richness of this classic. as an ongoing story of a kingdom between light and darkness, endangered from without and within it is quite capturing and adds a loose but intriguing bond to the separate tales.