Praise for Escape from Baghdad!
"Saad Hossain's perplexingly weird debut novel, Escape From Baghdad!, captures the pure insanity of the Iraq War. At the same time, it's not a war novel. Instead, it's a skillfully constructed literary IED that brings together the sharpest aspects from multiple genres. It's a Tarantino-esque Heart of Darkness set in war-torn Iraq, filled with absurdism and dark humor, a mash-up of satirical Joseph Heller-style comedy and sci-fi fantasy with a gratuitous mixture of good old-fashioned ultra-violence." — Colby Buzzell, VICE
"Set in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, Bangladeshi author Saad Hossain’s debut novel is a riot of mordant humour and gonzo storytelling… The Gulf war may just have found its Catch-22." — James Lovegrove, The Financial Times
"Saad Z. Hossain’s Escape From Baghdad! may be the hippest, weirdest, most creative and visionary book yet to emerge from the full-on debacle that was W’s still-simmering Iraq war. Hossain's unique blend of satire, mythology and speculative fiction makes Escape a hold-onto-your-hat tilt-a-whirl joy to read. And, quite possibly, a future classic in its own right." — Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight, Happy Mutant Baby Pills, I, Fatty
One of Library Journal's Key Spring Titles for 2015
"Hossain daringly shows us that war isn’t just hell but absolutely insane." — Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
"Saad Hossain has given us a hilarious and searing indictment of the project we euphemistically call 'nation-building.' With nods to Catch-22, Frankenstein, The Island of Doctor Moreau and the Golem myth, Escape from Baghdad! weaves fantasy, absurdity and adventure into a moving counter-narrative to the myth of the just war." — Daniel José Older, NPR
"It’s a marvelous mix of genres, blending the visceral atmosphere of a war movie with the casual nihilism of Catch-22 or the original M.A.S.H. complete with an Indiana Jones–style treasure quest… A gonzo adventure novel that shreds the conventional wisdom that pulp can be pigeonholed." — Kirkus Reviews
"Escape from Baghdad! is a virtuoso performance, both utterly heartbreaking and riotously, laugh-out-loud funny... I wanted to stand up and applaud when it was finished, but I didn't want it to finish. I could not recommend it enough." — Lavie Tidhar, World Fantasy Award winning author of Osama.
"Saad Z Hossain’s upcoming Escape from Baghdad! (The Unnamed Press, March 2015) is the sci-fi and fantasy writer’s debut novel, characterized as an Arabian–Nights–esque thriller. Having set the book in modern-day Iraq, Hossain started off his research reading blogs written by American soldiers in Iraq, and then braided together Norse and Greek mythologies." — Ploughshares
"Saad Hossain is the author of Escape from Baghdad!, an engrossing cross between Zero Dark Thirty and Raiders of the Lost Ark that takes a sobering look at America's troubled legacy in Iraq."— Bookslut
"A delightful fantasy adventure with a YA spirit, a PG rating, and a rich introduction to Arabian mythology." —Kirkus Reviews
"Hossain’s rich, vivid, straightforward prose propels the story at a quick clip. Darkness looms on every page, yet he offsets the serious stakes with Joss Whedonesque quips... With man-eating wyrms, invisible airships, and eccentric genies, this fantasy-adventure will appeal to fans of The Golem and the Jinni (2013) and the Bartimaeus trilogy." —Booklist
"Hossain blends picaresque fantasy, supernatural politics, and genetic science into a whirlwind of a tale... an imaginative, talented storyteller with a knack for both dark comedy and harrowing tragedy." —Publishers Weekly
One of The Guardian's Best Books of the Year
"Bangladeshi author Saad Z Hossain’s Djinn City is set both in his home country and the realm of the Djinns. It’s a richly evocative adventure about a father and his half-Djinn son searching for one another – a sort of dark-fantasy Finding Nemo, as charming and funny as it is inventive and strange." —The Guardian
2017-08-06
A boy in Bangladesh with an unusual heritage finds himself enmeshed in a secret society of supernatural creatures.Hossain's debut (Escape from Baghdad!, 2015) was a delicious mashup of pulpy adventure novel and sarcastic war satire, so why not follow it up with a supernatural adventure steeped in Eastern lore? It begins with a boy discovering his true calling. Ten-year-old Indelbed is a smart youngster living under the shadow of his eccentric father, Dr. Kaikobad. Dad keeps his son in the dark about most things, including school and the fate of his mother, whose death certificate says only "Death by Indelbed." But when Dr. Kaikobad falls into an "occultocephalus coma"—the beginning of much jargon-laced worldbuilding—Indelbed's family is forced to confess that his mother was a djinn, a supernatural creature in Islamic culture anglicized to "genie." His older cousin Rais is not impressed: "And you guys all believe in magic? Like Harry Potter-type magic?" he says to another cousin, the Ambassador, who tells them the news. It turns out Indelbed is a half-breed, now the subject of a hunt by a violent splinter group of djinn. After his father's lawyer, Siyer Dargo Dargoman, sells Indelbed to psychopathic djinn Matteras, he winds up in a "murder pit" with exiled Ifrit Givaras, who has the unenviable task of teaching Indelbed the ways of the djinn and keeping him safe from the carnivorous rock worms that roam the pit. "You came here a frightened little boy," says Givaras. "I have indeed made you a monster. You said you wanted to survive. This is the price. There are no knights in shining armor in this world, boy. When fighting monsters, what else can you do but become one?" What follows is an epic fantasy adventure with spellcasting duels, steampunk-ish vehicles alongside flying carpets, and a battle of wills between virtual gods and a hero with the heart of a dragon.A delightful fantasy adventure with a YA spirit, a PG rating, and a rich introduction to Arabian mythology.
