Exceptional, impressive and outstanding are just a few of the words that I would use to describe Mark Hodder’s new novel, “The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi,” and those words might not be strong enough. It’s that good.
Published by Pyr on July 9, this 290-page novel is the fourth book in Hodder’s rip-roaring “Burton & Swinburne” series of adventure novels. The third book in the series, “Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon,” was released in January 2012, and the second book in the series, “The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man,” was released in March 2011. The first book in the series, “The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack,” which won the 2010 Philip K. Dick Award, was released in September 2010.
The main characters in all four books are make-believe versions of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne. In real life, Burton was so larger than life that he was almost a force of nature. Best known for discovering the source of the Nile River, he was also a tough-natured adventurer, diplomat, explorer, soldier and writer. Burton, who spoke nearly 30 languages, was sort of like 007, Bear Grylls, Henry Kissinger and Ernest Hemingway all rolled into one.
In Hodder’s “Burton & Swinburne” series, Burton, a special agent to the king, is assisted by his trusty sidekick, the famed redheaded poet Algernon Charles Swinburne. More often than not, Swinburne is “three sheets to the wind,” but this doesn’t keep him from being Burton’s capable and comical comrade. (In real life, Swinburne was such a good poet that he was nominated for the Noble Prize in Literature six times.)
“The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi” is set in 1859, in a version of history that’s been set on its ear due to the assassination of Queen Victoria. (In real life, this never happened, and she lived to the age of 81.) Victoria’s fictionalized assassination altered the course that history was supposed to take and in the aftermath the British government finds itself being guided by a mysterious character named Abdu Eli Yezdi. Just when things were clipping along nicely, Abdu El Yezdi is silenced and a number of England’s most prominent citizens have gone missing. Enter Burton and Swinburne, who have to sort the mess out and preserve the peace.
Throughout the novel, Burton and Swinburne cross paths with a number of remarkable real-life Victorian characters, including Prince Albert, Charles Babbage, Aleister Crowley, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Disraeli, Sir Francis Galton, Thomas Lake Harris, Richard Monckton Milnes, Laurence Oliphant, John Hanning Speke and Bram Stoker.
Remember that this book is the fourth novel in Hodder’s series and while you don’t have to read the first three books to enjoy the latest, I highly recommend that you read all four so that you get the most out of Hodder’s highly entertaining series. In the end, I really enjoyed “The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi” and highly recommend it to readers who like adventure, alternative history, fantasy and science fiction with a heavy dose of time traveling. This book is the best book that I’ve read so far this year, by far, hands down. It’s not even close.
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