This is a good book. I see that it was short-listed for the Hugo for best novel and that was enough to nudge me over the edge and decide to pick it up. 
 It was about as short of a Fantasy novel as I've ever read. I thought there was a bylaw that those things had to be 800 pages or more before they'll let you publish one. So I'm happy that Saladin proved you can still write an entertaining story in a Fantastical world that can still be read in one or two extended sessions of reading. 
 Of course, I grade on a curve, if I'd discovered this in a thrift shop and it was something I'd never heard of, I'd be giving it infinity stars and shouting from the rooftops that you have to read it now. But it appears that everyone in the universe has already been doing that. So, with that weighty Hugo nom hanging over its neck I put on my half moon glasses, slide them down to the end of my nose, and start getting high-falutin in my appraisal. 
 One, it's paced a bit oddly, as there is an introduction, a skirmish, recovery, epic end-battle and then the novel is over. I think I praised it early for being such a short read, but c'mon, that was way too fast. 
 Two, this felt smaller in scope that a lot of fantasy novels I've read. It, for the most part, is not a travelogue of mystical lands.... hmmm, that might not be a complaint, we'll just call that an observation. 
 Actually, I believe that his is really classified as a Sword and Sorcery tale, which is a distinction worth noting, I'm not entirely sure I need that sub-class of fantasy to be made clear for me, but I don't come from a long history of reading in the genre and this is knew to me. 
 All told, excellent book, well told, and not too long, heavy, or serious. Worth reading for anyone interested. 
 Oh, almost forgot, this isn't about white people in a medieval european setting, not nondescript characters either, but is actually set in a fantastical Arabian influenced world. I would like more of this.