Alamut by Vladimir Bartol

Location: Alkim's

When: Thursday March 25, 2010, 7:30pm

Alamut is set at the end of the 11th century, and tells the story of the legendary Hasan ibn Sabbah's plan to conquer, utilising the first 'Assassins'. Ensconced in the practically impregnable Alamut fortress, the Ismaili leader does not have great armies at his disposal -- but he does have a plan.

The novel begins by focussing on two young individuals who are among the many cogs in Hasan's plan. Halima is a young girl who had been sold off in distant Bukhara and has now been transported to Alamut, not knowing what awaits her. The buyer promised her previous master that she: "would live like a princess", and she does find herself in a sort of paradise. There are many other girls and women there -- and a few eunuchs to take care of their needs, and teach them -- and while there are a variety of lessons that fill much of the day, life there is almost idyllic. Even leopards and gazelles frolic together .... . But the girls aren't sure what they're being groomed for.
At about the same time as Halim arrives at Alamut a young man named Avani ibn Tahir also reaches it. He is an Ismaili whose grandfather was beheaded -- "the first martyr for our cause in Iran" -- and whose father has sent him to serve the Ismaili cause and avenge his grandfather's death. He is taken in and begins a rigorous training with a number of other young men to become fedayeen ("A feday is an Ismaili who's ready to sacrifice himself without hesitation at the order of the supreme commander").
Hasan remains far removed from most of the goings-on, helping add to the air of mystery about him. But he has grand ambitions:

He was the master of thirty armed fortresses. He was the commander of thousands of believers. He lacked only one tool to assume absolute power. To become feared by all potentates and foreign despots far and wide. That tool was the plan just now on the verge of being launched. A plan built on thorough knowledge of nature and human weakness. An insane and wild plan. A plan calculated in every respect.

He's embraced the idea that: "The truth is unknowable. Therefore we believe in nothing and have no limits on what we can do." But that doesn't stop him from using the teachings and the lore of Islam to get his way. His followers believe: "He's the prophet", first after Allah himself -- and so if he says it's okay for the girls to have some wine then they can enjoy some wine. http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/slovenia/bartolv.htm