Trilogy by Weis & Hickman
Quasi-short version is that it's a fantasy set mainly in an Arabic style region. There are twenty Gods who each control a facet of existance. They vary somewhat in power based on the faithfulness and quantity of their followers but it's pretty much in balance. Except now one god (Quar) is starting to gear up to destroy the other deities and become The One True God (title made up by me but you get the idea).
So back to the "earthly" realm -- one of the gods is some desert nomad type who is 'followed' by the desert tribes. The god gave most of his earthly authority over to his djinn and gave his djinn to the tribal leaders and the net result is that he can be largely left alone which suits the god, the djinn and the nomads just fine. Except now he sees the machinations of Quar and commands two of his tribes to join through marriage so they can defend themselves against the followers of Quar when the time comes. Naturally, the two tribes hate one another and the princess and prince hate each other and it'll be a theme through the books, etc.
There's also a young wizard who comes from a European style country across the ocean whose god is a Jehovah style deity with attending angels, seraphs, etc (who don't directly act in the mortal realm). His ship is wrecked en route and he eventually winds up with the tribes. He is gay which plays a role in how he gets to where he is but isn't anything harped on or beaten into the ground as a plot point.
Along with the earthly realm plot is a side plot involving the djinn and their attempts to investigate what is happening to the attending minions of the deities (who have been disappearing).
I found it interesting partially because I don't come across many modern fantasies set in an Arabic milieu and I liked the way the world was drawn out. Not the best books in the world but, if you like easy reading fantasy, you might like it. People's opinions on them seem to be fairly mixed though.
Edited, Aug 28th 2007 10:18pm by Jophiel
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
