Rose of the Prophet
Rose of the Prophet is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Cover art and interior illustrations by Larry Elmore.
Reception
Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch has lauded the series for its progressive, inclusive characterization and its nuanced setting, while faulting its plot and dialogue; ultimately, Shurin judged it to be "yet another epic fantasy" — "silly and inclusive; diverse and dumb; enjoyable, commercial, and utterly ordinary" — whose value is its mediocrity.The series
The novels were originally published in the United States by Bantam Spectra, the Science-Fiction division of Random House.Plot
The Rose of the Prophet series is set in Sularin, a fictional world ruled by a slate of twenty gods, each a facet of the central god, Sul. In the normal course of events, common to fantasy literature, the values of the gods balance each other out; however, as the series begins, the gods have turned away from the Sul and the world is in peril of falling apart. Each god is worshipped by people on the mortal realm and their strength corresponds with the strength and faith of their people. At the start of the series, each god and their foil rule over certain areas in the mortal realm.One god in particular, Quar, the god of city dwellers in a Middle Eastern style land, has decided to move to seize more and more power. Akhran, the foil of Quar, learns of Quar's ambitions and warns the rest of the gods because upsetting the balance will affect them all. The other gods mostly ignore him, unconcerned because Quar's mortal domain is far away from their own. Akhran does not have the safety of distance and decides to take his own precautions and orders the djinns of the Sheiks of the two largest nomadic tribes to marry off their children to unite the tribes. Unfortunately for all involved, the two largest tribes have had years upon years of animosity and hate each other with a passion.
The story follows Khardan, the son of one of the tribes and Zohra, the daughter of the other as they seek to save their people from Quar's ambitions. Joining them is Mathew, a traveler from a distant land and a follower of Promenthas.
Main characters
- Abul Qasim Qannadi: "The Amir", General of Quar and King of the city of Kich.
- Achmed: Khardan’s brother and follower of Akhran.
- Auda ibn Jad: Dark Paladin of Zhakrin; slave-trader.
- Feisal: Known as "The Imam", priest of Quar and fanatical mujahideen.
- Khardan: Calif of the horse-herding Akar and son of Sheikh Majiid, prophet of Akhran.
- Mathew: Young wizard and follower of Promenthas.
- Zohra: Daughter of Sheikh Jaafar, of the sheep-herding Hrana, follower of Akhran.
Immortals
- Asrial: Immortal of Promenthas, also Mathew’s guardian angel.
- Fedj: Djinn of Akhran devoted to Jafaar al Widjar, Zohra's father.
- Kaug: 'Efreet of Quar and main Immortal antagonist.
- Pukah: Djinn of Akhran, Pukah is the young and impetuous servant of Khardan.
- Raja: Djinn of Akhran, he serves Zeid al Saban, Sheykh of the Aran
- Sond: Djinn of Akhran, he serves Majiid al Fakhar, Khardan's father.
- Usti: Djinn of Akhran, he serves Zohra.
The Gods
In the world of Sularin, there are 21 gods: Sul is the light of truth, and the other 20 are facets of the Truth. The nature of each god is informed by an icosahedral jewel composed of 20 triangular facets the 12 vertices of which represent divine philosophies. This structure creates three categories of god: Good, Evil, and Neutral. The powers a god has depends on how many followers that god has as well as their level of devotion. Every god has his or her own plane of existence that resembles who they are. Akhran, the god of the desert nomads, mostly rides on his mighty horse in a desert he made himself. When a god grows less powerful, his plane of existence also starts to disappear.Many of these gods seem to be patterned after the gods of various Earthly cultures.
;Sul
;Akhran
;Quar
;Promenthas
;Zhakrin
;Evren
;Benario
;Kharmani
;Hammah
;Shistar
;Chu-lin
;Hurishta
;Inthaban
;Astafas
;Mimrim
;Uevin