A charming Arabian Nights fantasy in which a barber discovers he is the chosen one destined to carry out the title feat and remove a mystic talisman of great power from Shagpat's hirsute face. Lush, colorful language adds to the fun, though Meredith (whose previous book had been poetry) has a few to

This is a Victorian pastiche of the Arabian Nights, and as these things go it isn’t half bad. It doesn’t, true, live up to its initial promise as parody but, having read, waded and occasionally floundered through much of Burton’s translation of the Nights themselves, I can say that he’s imitating th

150 year old Arabian Nights pastiche -- almost unreadably florid prose. To quote from the very first page:

Now, the story of Shibli Bagarag, and of the ball he followed, and of the subterranean kingdom he came to, and of the enchanted palace he entered, and of the sleeping king he shaved, and of the

Meredith's imagination is much more powerful a lot of his contemporaries, and seems to be so overpowering that he is often distracted from the narrative to describe even the most banal details of his world. Frequently writers of the Victorian era (Thackeray, Eliot, Dickens) wrote in a style we'd now

A wild ride. Beautiful prose, noteworthy poetry, and gripping narrative. As other reviewers have stated, it is very Arabian Nights-esque, but the (2) short stories are fun and interesting (unlike many in the Arabian Nights).

I highly recommend reading this, even though it may take some getting used

Interesting Victorian psychedelia, at times wearying in its Arabian Nights conceit, but on the whole surprisingly entertaining.

"…for the mastery of an Event lasteth among men the space of one cycle of years, and after that a fresh Illusion springeth to befool mankind, and the Seven must expend the

Noorna-bin-Noorka is Shibli's HGA. She helps him fulfill his true will. When Shibli deviates from her guidance he gets thwacked. That is my Thelemic perspective on the book.

Filled with wild, magical imagery. I really enjoyed this book but found it difficult to follow. The baroque/comic Arabian Nights language can be hard to unravel but definitely worth the effort.