Book Review: Arslan

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Arslan     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
M. J. Engh
Class/Genre:   Fiction   Military
Orb, Jul 2001, $13.95, 304 pp.

When the name General Arslan is first mentioned on American TV, no one has heard of him and very few people can locate his nation Turkiston. His country happens to be a small central Asian country boarded by China and Russia. Not long after making the news for the first time, Arslan decides to begin his plan to save the planet from the spiral of corruption and destruction that its leaders seem to desire. He quickly becomes the Deputy Command in Chief of the US armed forces and behind that, conqueror of North America without a drop of blood spilled.

Arslan comes to strategically unnecessary Kraftville, Illinois to bivouac. In the small town, General Arslan meets Principal Franklin Bond who takes the new world leader on a tour of the school. Here in this tiny little spot where Arslan meets someone treating him like an equal not a conqueror, the young General sets up house.

Is the premise of a General from a country smaller than Brooklyn conquering the United States seems a stretch on first thought? Absolutely that is until you read M.J. Engh’s fabulous science fiction novel. The two key characters, ARSLAN and Franklin seem real as they form a special bond between them. In the vein of The Mouse That Roared, this political science fiction tale lives up to what readers have screamed since its initial release five years ago: classic.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner