Throne of the Crescent Moon

What a fun book. This is the first fantasy-ish book I've enjoyed since the God's War series by Kameron Hurley, which it reminded me of, a bit. Just enough world-building to not get in the way of the quick-ride plot. The characters, while somewhat familiar types, interact in ways that are fun and allow for a bit of development.

I particularly like that much is left to the reader to know how this world came about, what its larger components are–there is religious magic, “ghuls” and shapeshifting going on here, and none of it needs to be explained; it's all there for the fun of the novel.