The perfect blend of history, action, and politics! I didn't know much what to expect when I started this book. I'd never read an alternate history before and the premise behind this book--a Europe that fell to the Ottomans in the seventeenth century and remained under that flag until the present--seemed a bit of a strange place to start. The Battle for Vienna in 1683, around which the majority of the book is arranged, is not the first place I would think to go if I wanted to change the past. But in a way, that's exactly the point.

It's not easy to review this book without giving too much away. It's filled with time travel, "what if" style history, well-rounded characters [I couldn't tell for the longest time who the main characters would be and who were just side characters. It was kinda awesome.], a romance that surprised me with its heart string tugging, and some of the most honest views of today's politics that I've ever seen. I can't explain the politics side without ruining a big portion of the book, but there is something about this author that he seems to see the world around us in a clearer way than any other author I've read. I noticed that as well in The Sign regarding the 2008 US elections (or at least the primaries) and I've come to the conclusion that even if his books aren't high falutin' literature, I need to read every one because he says things that need to be read/heard.

This book may sound strange. It is. But read it anyway. You may not know if it's necessarily your kind of book. It doesn't matter. Don't spoil it by reading too many reviews. Read it anyway. If you start it off and can't tell where it's going, persevere. It is a bit confusing in the beginning, but it will all make sense in the end. It's worth it.

The Empire of Lies is an incredibly detailed alternative history. What if a time traveler helped the Ottoman Empire win the 1682 Battle of Vienna? How would it impact present day life?

The answer is it would be a completely different scenario. A Sultan rules over the entire world except in Christian America. Islam is the official faith. Woman are segregated in public. Honor killing of them, for eloping or unmarried pregnancy, are on the rise under the new and more rigid Sultan.

The time traveler returns to our modern day Paris to receive medical treatment. He kills a man for his clothes and goes to a charity hospital. His doctor is suspicious of the tattoos on his chest that explain how to time travel in an ancient language. The time traveler is pursued by Nisreen, an outspoken female activist; Ramazan, her anesthesiologist husband; and Kamal, the doctor’s brother who has unrequited love for Nisreen as well as a job finding terrorists for the state. The three decide to use time travel to get civilization back on its original path.

For history buffs, this is clearly a five-star book. For others, like me, it a fun and different take on a science fiction thriller. I especially liked the ending. An intriguing story of what if, Empire of Lies is a compelling read. 4 stars!

Thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Khoury has written another masterpiece. I enjoy time travel books and this book checks that box.. The book has all the trademarks of a classic Khoury novel. The plot is fast paced and tightly woven. I liked the character development and the interplay of the characters in the story. I could not put the book down until I finished it. As with all great science fiction, this book makes you think about an alternative reality.

I. Love. Alternate. Histories. Empire of Lies is a particularly fascinating one. It begins by answering the question, "What if the Ottoman Empire defeated Europe and was permitted to expand?"

Most of the novel takes place in Paris in the year 2017, but this is not the Paris we're used to. Notre Dame is a mosque, the genders are separated in public life, and Turkish is the language spoken. Kamal is a highly respected police detective who is beginning to question his orders. The government is reacting to economic turmoil by imprisoning anyone who questions, criticizes, or satirizes it, and the woman Kamal loves, Nisreen, is being watched.

There's a great deal of prelude in Empire of Lies, but that's unavoidable. Raymond Khoury has fascinating changes for the world and powerful motivations for his characters to show us, as well as an odd, heavily tattooed man who makes some fantastic claims about himself while sedated. This is at least as much a procedural thriller as it is a sci-fi/fantasy novel. The tone struck me as somewhat similar to that of Jo Walton's "Small Change" series, another alternate history that hinges on a good police detective being asked to do terrible things by his government.

Then the time travel, and the real fun, started....

Much like another recent release, Annalee Newitz' "The Future of Another Timeline", Khoury comments on world politics. Both novels grapple with the ideas of who should control the world, who gets to make history, and whether the future can be changed. The final chapter appears to leave an opening for a sequel. Whether or not that comes to pass, Empire of Lies is entertainment that will make the reader think.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My thanks to Net Galley, Forge publishers and the author, Raymond Khoury for sending me a free copy of “ Empire of Lies” to read and review.
“ The Empire of Lies” has been blurbed as a novel in the alternative history, time travel and sci- fit genres. Please do not that put you off from reading it. The well- written and deftly plotted novel is an exciting and entertaining blend of history, adventure and danger, with a bit of an unrequited love story added for leavening. “Empire of Lies” might be classed in the “ alternative history “ genre, but in my opinion it is far to well written and believable for that niche.Those novels, which begin with a twisting of history such as , “ If the South had won at Gettysburg,” or “ If Japan had invaded Hawaii after Pearl Harbor,” are one trick novels, shallow and lacking “ Empire of Lies”’s developed, interesting characters, it’s use of familiar, but changed locales and it’s serious content about the corruption of power versus the tumult of freedom and democracy make it a compelling story. The title, “Empire of Lies” is apt, for it is built on lies, corruption and repression.

A very brief plot synopsis follows.


The book begins in 1683, with the powerful army Ottoman Empire ( the empire of the title) attacking and besieging the fortress city of Vienna. If the city falls, the Ottoman army will be able to sweep through Europe and convert all of Christendom to Islam by force of arms. But a relief army is speeding to Vienna’s rescue.
All true. But here is the author uses the wrinkle in timeline of history when the villain of the book, Ayman Rasheed Pasha appears in the story. A jihadist of the Syrian civil war of 2016, he had taken refuge from aerial bombing in a cavern under the ancient city of Palmyra, where he discovers a secret that he could uses manipulate to change history. Using an incantation he finds carved into a wall allows him to go back and forth in time, he travels to1683 to give a great victory to Islamic caliphate of the Ottoman Empire. He worms his way into becoming an advisor to the general of the Ottoman armies Rasheed sets up a trap for the Christian relief forces. He has called for one last parley between the lines to offer an honorable surrender to the beleaguered city. But when the Christian princes leading the relief forces appear, Rasheed sets off multiple bombs hidden in what are supposed to be gifts to the city. The automatic detonation of dynamite, an explosive yet to be invented by Alfred Nobel 200 years later, destroys the Christian army. Rasheed has used knowledge of 2016 to build IEDs to change history. Mr. Khoury makes this totally a believable and very compelling start to a grand story.
Fast forward to Paris, 2017, to a Paris that has been Ottoman and Islamic for more that 200 years. Notre Dame, and all other churches are mosques. Instead of croque monsieur and wine; lamb kebabs and tea are staples at restaurants. Women are veiled, covered and sequestered.
Paris , on the surface, is quiet, devout and orderly and kept that way by the Islamic state police who are quick to investigate any whiff of heresy. One of these policeman is Kamal a decorated and devoted police officer. But he has a secret:he loves his brother’s wife, Nisreen. She is devoted to her family, but her desire for greater freedom from the strictures of The Empire will soon bring her under suspicion.
The sinister Ayman Pasha appears in Paris . His arrival changes the lives of Kamal forever. His brother, Razham, a physician and his brother’s wife, Nisreem. She is not quite committed to loyalty, and yearns for greater freedom for women. Kamal and Nisreem are at the heart of the novel and Mr. Khoury brings them vividly to life. They are swept them across Europe and across time. The Empire besieges them as it did Vienna , hunting them down a dangerous rebels and heretics. They must cling together , fighting for their lives against forces of a worldwide autocracy.
You will be swept along in their story to a climatic battle that was fought once three hundred years before and is to be once again. To paraphrase Faulkner, History is not dead, it isn’t even history- yet. “Empire of Lies” is an amazing book, well worthy of your reading time.
It is only my opinion, of course, but I think its deserves. every one of the four stars I gave it.
Recommended to all to love an engrossing story.

The alternative history premise of if the Ottoman Empire had not been defeated and now ruled most of the modern world was intriguing. When the narrative was on the actions of the characters I was interested, but there were too many long divergences into world building that threw me out of the story. I would much rather be shown than told how things got to where they are in an alternative history or epic fantasy in a way that's organic to the story.

Raymond Khoury creates a great alternative history thriller with Empire of Lies Basically a Persian Man in the High Castle-style thriller.