I am delighted to share my thoughts on Revolution by Piet Hein Wokke today with you. This is a book that I chose to review, let me show you what it is all about…

Do we ever really fight over religion?

Or do we use religion to fight?

Escape to the Middle East in this thrilling tale about Khalid, Abdullah and Jalal – young men who try to shape the kingdom of Beledar.

While the nearest battlefields of WWII are hundreds of miles of away, on the streets of Mayasin, the capital of Beledar, Abdullah struggles to survive. In a remote village, Khalid sets out in search of his father, and must face the brutal laws of the desert.

Jalal, the young king, wants to break through nepotism and corruption, but in a conservative, Islamic country, change doesn’t come easy. That the western world preys on his country’s oil fields, doesn’t make his life any easier either.

In this exciting book, Wokke expertly and poignantly shows the roots of modern conflicts in the Middle East, through the people and ideas that inhabit it.

This is a wonderful story that pulls together ideals, politics and culture to create a story that is set in the Middle East. It charts the stories of Abdullah and Khalid two boys from different parts of the region who grow up to have very different roles and also of a man who is to become King.

This was such an interesting read and one that I found quite addictive. It has quite a lot going on and so I took a little more time with it. It covers many different aspects of life in the Middle East and uses politics and religion quite a lot to add intrigue and suspense to the story.

The lives of the two boys are really interesting as well. One is a a boy who is struggling to make enough money so that his family can eat. The other decides to follow his brother and leave school. While the man who becomes King has ideas to help the people of his country.

I loved the way the author made me feel completely immersed within this story and while I do not have a great knowledge of the Middle East I did understand all the things that were going on. Life in the royal palace was like a game, a very dangerous game. Distrust, spies, backstabbing and conspiracy were very evident. I liked this notion of not really knowing who could be trusted.

The cultural aspects were interesting and I liked the author showed the differences from where the boys started to where they ended up. Also the differences in how men and women where expected to behave and how some where trying to bring changes to a male dominant society.

The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Abdullah and Khalid. I liked how I was able to follow their own journeys and how they changed and reacted to various situations as the story gradually unfolded. Jalal also has a few chapters and seeing how he coped with power was really interesting.

The story delves into other aspects of human nature such as trust, loyalty, truth, expectation and a matter of faith. These become tested in various ways through the story and it is interesting to see how the characters deal with the challenges they face.

This is a book that I read over three days and was one of those books that I found I better grasped with the extra time I spent reading it. There are various plots and conspiracies going on through the story that I needed time to digest so I didn’t get myself confused. The author has a background in politics and also Middle Eastern History and I think this has definitely helped with the story-lines.

By the end of the book I found that many things had been answered and felt complete but, there were also some new questions that I had and I hope that there will be another book to follow on from this one. The ending of this one has an ending that just begs for another book and the story to continue.

This is a book that I think readers of historical fiction would enjoy and it is one I would recommend.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx