Harem (Epic Adventure) Paperback – February 7, 2018

Another great one from Colin Falconer. Though I don’t love the perspective he took, as Hurrem being a bad person. But, that is writers license! It is rich, and so well written. Love this author.

I really enjoyed this novel. Knowing nothing about the Ottoman Empire, other than having heard of Suleiman the Magnificent, I had no idea what to expect. I looked him and the novel's main female character up on Wikipedia and learned that this story is actually plausible. Meanwhile, the remaining characters are also intriguing, given more or less space according to the reader's likelihood of finding them interesting and/or sympathizing with them. In all, who wouldn't want to spend a little time as a fly on the wall of a harem?I would like to add something for those who down-starred this because there are debatably no heroes. First, I thought some of the characters were rather heroic; but they weren't necessarily the main characters. Second, I believe the story all the more plausible because the behavior of the "bad guys" was greatly influenced by the cultural environment which included: Tyranny, slavery, misogyny, polygamy (with the outcomes of extreme competition and violence), a religious interpretation that condoned murder even of one's family, and religious bigotry in general. I think this is much of the author's point in the novel. It's a little like an Ottoman "Game of Thrones."

Sultan's Harem / 1-4000-8312-5"The Sultan's Harem" is a spectacular tale of hatred and revenge, as Falconer weaves the tale of a single woman - a slave of the most powerful man in the world - who tears down a powerful empire by careful manipulation of the man who loves her. This one woman, Hurrem, manages to take down an entire empire, all while only ever being seen by a handful of men - the sultan and his personal eunuchs.Falconer makes it difficult not to admire our cold-blooded heroine, who staunchly refuses to be a good little harem girl and concubine to the man who bought her from her parents. She despises the man who tore her from her home as just another bauble to add to his vast harem, and whom she must amuse endlessly lest she be tossed callously aside for another girl in the harem. If she must play the game of harem politics to survive, she will play it - but survival is too meager a goal for her. Carefully and coldly, she devises a plan to bear a child, remove the Sultan's favorite, entice him to fall in love with her, and then secure her freedom and unprecedented marriage to the emperor. Even as a wife, she is still a slave in everything but name, and she ruthlessly turns her mental hold on her husband to send him spiraling into madness while the kingdom collapses slowly around him.Falconer carefully treads the personal and the political here, as with all his novels, and we see sympathetic glimpses into both the main players (sultan and sultana) and into the lives of the hapless girls living silently in his lavish harem. Each girl has her own history, her own loss, and her own sadness, and - faced with the realities of the harem, and of the monogamous sultan - finds her own pastimes and petty jealousies. Are these women better off than the ones on the outside? They are safe and pampered baubles in a collection of sex slaves that are almost never "used" by their relatively monogamous master. But the silence and loneliness gnaws at their souls and the passage of time weighs heavily on all involved. Is our dark heroine really so unusual in her hate and cruelty, or are her sisters in the harem just as enraged but powerless to act out?Gripping and suspenseful, "The Sultan's Harem" is a compelling read - I could not put it down. I agree with another reviewer in that the story would make a wonderful movie, should anyone ever acquire the rights. Like other Falconer novels, the writing is frank and does not shy away from the facts of life, but the writing is never lurid or vulgar.~ Ana Mardoll

I was very entertained by the wonderful descriptions of Constantinople in general and the insides of the various palaces of the Sultan in particular. The desperate moods and indolent lifestyles of the harem women is also compellingly presented. I found no problem with the historical settings and main events.Characters are well drawn and multi-faceted, from the loathsome, conniving and cruel Hurrem, and Suleiman the Great, shown here as a weak, petulant and pathetic figure, that stretches the imagination somewhat given his significaant actual lifetime acheivements. These two are nicely counter-balanced by the Sultan's mother, the Valide, who's loyalty and nobility are certainly a breath of fresh air in the Topkapi palace. The noble-hearted Abbas is also an inspirational yet luckless figure. I was less impressed by the simpering, fearful, heroine Julia and hope she finds some much needed courage in the sequel. Be that as it may, one does become very satisfactorily interested and involved in the outcome of each and every one.The book is essentially dedicated to the main individuals' trials, tribulations and in many cases, sufferings but I did feel the absence of a significant, major, overall plot was a disappointment. The Ottoman Empire sort of goes on as a side-show to the juicy palace internal intrigues.Disappointed by a number of mis-spellings that really should have been proof-read out at whatever level of publishing this book went through. What do you mean "She was weary nothing"?Will certainly give The Seraglio a spin.

A great read.

This is a beautifulhistoric fiction set in a golden era of the ottoman empire. The plots are good and intriguing a curios mind being tepid to imagine it's all true. Good work colin

Outstanding, readers will get transported to Istanbul in an era which marked the most glorious phase of world history. Written with immaculate detail and it goes to the credit of the author that this fictionalised history appears more real than the history itself. I rate it as one of the ten best book.

Excellent historical fiction highlighting palace intrigue, this novel reads easily with a dramatic ebb and flow. I give this enjoyable work five stars...

This book was really very interesting. I liked all plots and intrigues and how the author recreated the atmopshere of the time.