The Shadowed Sun, by N. K. Jemisin

The Shadowed Sun, by N. K. Jemisin is another perfect novel from the author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms which I reviewed earlier (glowingly, flatteringly and with much enthusiasm).  It is the conclusion of the story told in the previous work The Killing Moon of a mad prince’s desire to make himself immortal at a terrible cost to all around him.

N.K. Jemisin’s world, very loosely based upon ancient Egypt, features a priesthood devoted to Hananja, the goddess of peace, and of dreams.  The priests themselves are kind of like Shaolin monks in that they are badass killing machines with saintly intentions (ruthlessly killing for peace), but are actually devoted mostly to making sure people are healed in their sleep, or die peacefully therein.  They are hugely influential in making Gujaareh the city of peace, and one of the few civilized places in this world.

I was utterly charmed by their religion (eat your heart out, L. Ron Hubbard) and by the struggles each character has to keep and foster peace in extremely unpeaceful circumstances (see badass killing machines, above). 

The Prince tries to make himself immortal using very un-peaceful means; stealing the magic of dreams and enslaving one of the priests.

Both are worth a read, both have audiobook versions, and both are also available on Amazon.com and at sfpl.org