History Literature / TheFangsOfKaath

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Abbas consistently psychologically abusing his lover Captain Sarwah [[spoiler:and eventually butchering him after being turned into a Shifter]] is supposed to help establish him as an utter bastard; however it's hard to feel bad for Sarwah since he is thoroughly complicit in Abbas's attempts to have Raschid killed and apparently severely beats a servant girl who Abbas raped out of jealousy.

* YouDirtyRat: Emir Caïd is a rat. He's also a slaver, an embezzler and a traitor who tries to assassinate Raschid after Farasche and Maru bribe him with sex.

* YouDirtyRat: Emir Caïd is a rat. He's also a Slaver, an embezzler and a traitor who tries to assassinate Raschid after Farasche and Maru bribe him with sex.

She meets and falls in love with the bookish scholar Raschid and has several adventures with him in the capital city of Sath. Later to her outrage, he turns out to be Prince Raschid Al Dinaq, second son to the Shah himself, and she rejects him. Despite secret forces determined to keep them apart, Sandhri later forgives the heartbroken Prince and, with a little help of Itbit the clever mouse harem servant girl, finagles her way into the royal court to become his concubine although the Shah refuses to allow them to marry. Meanwhile, a mouse slave dancer named Yariim struggles to keep her virtue in the royal harem even as the Prince and storyteller hope to help her.

However, the Prince is assigned to deal with nomadic raiders in the desert and Sandhri insists on accompanying him, expertly helping him organize the expedition to that end. On that excursion is danger and betrayal as the heroes find enemies and friends they never expected and return in well earned triumph. However, Sandhri, Raschid and Yariim unlocked the final puzzle for a far more diabolical scheme that holds the world the balance.

* DanceOfDespair: The protagonists are so touched by the sadness of Yarim's dance that they rescue her from its perverted audience, although doing so is politically unwise.

* DepravedBisexual: Abbas, who brutalizes harem girls and sleeps with the captain of the guard. And Fatima and a few of the other girls in the upper ranks of the harem. On the other hand, most of the harem girls [[spoiler: and Sandhri and Yarim]] are bisexual but not depraved.

* GambitPileup: The climax of the first book comes about when [[spoiler:the K'aath cult assassinate the Shah, abduct Sandhri so she can be possessed by K'aath and turn Abbas into a Shifter so everything will be blamed on him. The Grand Mullah then takes the opportunity to accuse Sandhri and Yarim of the Shah's murder and stage a Putsch. [[LaserGuidedKarma This leads to both faction's plans being scuppered]]]].

* MarryThemAll: [[spoiler:That is Sandhri's solution to learning that Yarim has grown to love both Prince Raschid and herself.]]

%% ** Type 8 with Raschid, Sandhri and Yarim.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: You Gotta Have Blue Fur. Yarim's fur is magically dyed. The enslaved species that are mainly rodents and lapines have their fur dyed before being sold at the slave markets of Osra.

** The first one comes when [[spoiler:Sandhri and Raschid come to save Yarim from being tortured by Abbas and easily take him down]].
** The second is at the climax when [[spoiler:Raschid and Yarim show up just in time to save Sandhri from getting killed by K'aath's followers]].

* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: When out on campaign, Raschid is forced to get tough with his haughty subordinate commanders, such as reprimanding them for screwing up a simple march through the city through their own childish pushiness and taking their sons as hostages and threatening to execute them in case of further arrogant incompetence. When they get the message of how much trouble they are in and kowtow to the young prince, Sandhri is seriously aroused at how tough her lover has become exercising his power. However, she quickly realizes how wretched Raschid is feeling being forced to do that, and comforts him accordingly even if she still wants a good roll in the hay later that night.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Apparently, we're supposed to be more sympathetic towards [[spoiler:Shiraj than Farasche, for being Raschid's mother, despite the fact that Shiraj's deeds were ultimately far worse. Being a better parent doesn't count for much when you're also raising that child to be the Antichrist.]]

* GambitPileup: The climax of the first book comes about when [[spoiler:the K'aath cult assassinate the Shah, abduct Sandrhi so she can be possessed by K'aath and turn Abbas into a Shifter so everything will be blamed on him. The Grand Mullah then takes the opportunity to accuse Sandrhi and Yarim of the Shah's murder and stage a Putsch. [[LaserGuidedKarma This leads to both faction's plans being scuppered]]]].

* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler: An ambiguous situation for K'aath in the climax. She's dragged off ''somewhere'', and implied not to be killed, but it's unclear if it's Hell, or possibly ''Heaven'' (presumably to be punished).]]

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Accommodation and genocide are equally valid tactics for its policies. The twist is that even the good guys of the story, Raschid and Sandhri, even while repelled by its brutalities, will readily admit that the court is a fun place be in when it is in a peaceful mood.

* YouGottaHAveBlueHair: You Gotta Have Blue Fur. Yarim's fur is magically dyed. The enslaved species that are mainly rodents and lapines have their fur dyed before being sold at the slave markets of Osra.

* MarryThemAll: That is Sandhri's solution to learning that Yarim has grown to love both Prince Raschid and herself.

* PottyEmergency: As if Raschid didn't have enough trouble dodging the amorous and sexy Harem Matron coming on to him, he also had to drain his bladder and privies seemed utterly inaccessible.

* ForgotICouldChangeTheRules: Justified early in the story with Raschid pondering all the reforms he could do by arbitrary fiat if he were Shah and then ruefully reminding himself that he would be assassinated by the nobility and/or the bureaucracy within a day if he tried. [[spoiler: Conveniently, they all get killed off in the succession crisis so nobody stops him when he does become Shah.]]

Tropes:

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: The second book.]]
* BadassBookworm: Raschid and Tsau-yi Meng.
* BedlahBabe: Sandhri is given one after getting cleaned at the palace's bathhouse.
* BellyDancer: Hanna and Yarim.

* CourtMage: Hassan the (senile and half-deaf) sorcerer.

* UsefulNotes/FurryFandom: Proudly a part of that fandom.
* TheGoodChancellor: The Grand Viser
* IHaveYourWife: Tsu-Khan's main tactic to bring Raschid to heel, it doesn't work.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Sandhri.

* NotWithThemForTheMoney: Sandhri

* PowerOfLove: A critical factor in the first book. And the second.

* RoyalHarem

* TheStoryteller: Sandhri.

* TriangRelations: Type 8 with Raschid, Sandhri and Yarim.
** In Book 2 Itbit is involved in a type 3 with Meng and Tulu-Behg and a type 6 with Raschid Sandhri and Yarim.
* TheWisePrince: Raschid
* [[YouGottaHAveBlueHair You Gotta Have Blue Fur]]: Yarim's fur is magically dyed. The enslaved species that are mainly rodents and lapines have their fur dyed before being sold at the slave markets of Osra.

* SlaveLiberation: Raschid buys a small army’s worth of slaves, arms them with match-lock muskets, and promises to free them after just a couple years if they fight for him. [[spoiler: After they help him win the succession he frees all slaves in Osra.]]

* CreationMyth: Most believe in the story presented in Gion he frees all slaves in Osra.]]
* SomethingWeForgot: After the climax, when everyone is calming down, [[spoiler:Shifter-Abbas, forgotten since much earlier, comes back suddenly to attack Sandhri.]]
* SorcerousOverlord: Tsu-Khan, the {{Necromancer}} type. [[spoiler: Sandhri's tales claim that thousands of years ago four sorcerors from Earth came to their world when Earth lost its magic and conquered it. Three were killed in the inevitable revolt; the fourth became the Tsu-Khan.]]
* TheStoryteller: Sandhri.
* SuccessionCrisis: Abbas is the shah's first-born son but his mother is only second wife, while Raschid is the first wife's son, both have claims and multiple factions backing them, most of them aren't above assassination. [[spoiler: Once the shah dies it's mere hours before Raschid is the last member of the royal family left alive.]]
* TriangRelations: Type 8 with Raschid, Sandhri and Yarim.
** In Book 2 Itbit is involved in a type 3 with Meng and Tulu-Behg and a type 6 with Raschid Sandhri and Yarim.
* TheWisePrince: Raschid
* [[YouGottaHAveBlueHair You Gotta Have Blue Fur]]: Yarim's fur is magically dyed. The enslaved species that are mainly rodents and lapines have their fur dyed before being sold at the slave markets of Osra.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: In the end of the first book, [[spoiler: Raschid simultaneously bans slavery nationwide, decides to nationalize the army, intimidates a neighboring state ''and'' gears up for war with a rival state not for any economic reasons but simply moral indignation. All while the country is just recovering from a devastating putsch/civil war.]] In reality, this would almost certainly have caused the economy to collapse like a house of cards, especially in a state as large as this one.

* CreationMyth: Most believe in the story presented in Genesis, though in the first book Sandhri reveals a different story passed down orally by storytellers. [[spoiler: After Adam and Eve were banished and made lords of the world the bats who remained in Eden thought they should eat the Fruit as well and convinced many other beasts to do the same. God banished the beasts who ate the Fruit to an AlternateUniverse formerly populated by demons (which he destroyed, except for K'aath) and took the bats' wings.]]
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Accommodation and genocide are equally valid tactics for its policies. The twist is that even the good guys of the story, Raschid and Sandhri, even while repelled by its brutalities, will readily admit that the court is a fun place be in when it is in a peaceful mood.
* DepravedBisexual: Abbas, who brutalizes harem girls and sleeps with the captain of the guard. And Fatima and a few of the other girls in the upper ranks of the harem. On the other hand, most of the harem girls [[spoiler: and Sandhri and Yarim]] are bisexual but not depraved.
* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler: An ambiguous situation for K'aath in the climax. She's dragged off ''somewhere'', and implied not to be killed, but it's unclear if it's Hell, or possibly ''Heaven'' (presumably to be punished).]]
* ForgotICouldChangeTheRules: Justified early in the story with Raschid pondering all the reforms he could do by arbitrary fiat if he were Shah and then ruefully reminding himself that he would be assassinated by the nobility and/or the bureaucracy within a day if he tried. [[spoiler: Conveniently, they all get killed off in the succession crisis so nobody stops him when he does become Shah.]]
* FourFingeredHands: When Raschid tries to teach Sandhri how to write it's shown that their numerical system uses base eight.
* UsefulNotes/FurryFandom: Proudly a part of that fandom.
* TheGoodChancellor: The Grand Viser
* IHaveYourWife: Tsu-Khan's main tactic to bring Raschid to heel, it doesn't work.
* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: When out on campaign, Raschid is forced to get tough with his haughty subordinate commanders, such as reprimanding them for screwing up a simple march through the city through their own childish pushiness and taking their sons as hostages and threatening to execute them in case of further arrogant incompetence. When they get the message of how much trouble they are in and kowtow to the young prince, Sandhri is seriously aroused at how tough her lover has become exercising his power. However, she quickly realizes how wretched Raschid is feeling being forced to do that, and comforts him accordingly even if she still wants a good roll in the hay later that night.
* NeverLearnedToRead: Sandhri.
* NiceHat: After his spectacularly successful military campaign, Prince Raschid takes to sporting a headdress given to him by his new friend and ally, a desert nomad warrior king. While Raschid thinks it looks great on him, his mother can't stand it and it marks the growing separation from his domineering mother.
* NotWithThemForTheMoney: Sandhri
* OurLichesAreDifferent: Tsu-Khan is an immortal necromancer [[spoiler: who can only be killed by destroying his [[SoulJar heart of stone.]] And he's actually a human sorceror from an alternate universe who took over an arctic fox's body.]]
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: [[spoiler: Shifters transform into hulking feral beasts that can only be harmed by silver, fire, or magic.]]
* PandaingToTheAudience: Tsau-yi Meng, a gentle wandering panda and monk from that world's equivalent of China. He's naive and cuddly, but he can do his part magnificently when things get tough.
* PottyEmergency: As if Raschid didn't have enough trouble dodging the amorous and sexy Harem Matron coming on to him, he also had to drain his bladder and privies seemed utterly inaccessible.
* PowerOfLove: A critical factor in the first book. And the second.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Apparently, we're supposed to be more sympathetic towards [[spoiler:Shiraj than Farasche, for being Raschid's mother, despite the fact that Shiraj's deeds were ultimately far worse. Being a better parent doesn't count for much when you're also raising that child to be the Antichrist.]]
* RoyalHarem
* SheCleansUpNicely: Sandhri is really impressed at what a good bath and talented tailors can do for her.
* SlaveLiberation: Raschid buys a small army’s worth of slaves, arms them with match-lock muskets, and promises to free them after just a couple years if they fight for him. [[spoiler: After they help him win the succession he frees all slaves in Osra.]]

* ForgotICouldChangeTheRules: Justified early in the story with Raschid pondering all the reforms he could do by arbitrary fiat if he were Shah and then ruefully reminding himself that he would be assassinated by the nobility and/or the bureaucracy within a day if he tried.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: In the end of the first book, [[spoiler:Raschid simultaneously bans slavery nationwide, decides to nationalize the army, intimidates a neighboring state ''and'' gears up for war with a rival state not for any economic reasons but simply moral indignation. All while the country is just recovering from a devastating putsch/civil war.]] In reality, this would almost certainly have caused the economy to collapse like a house of cards, especially in a state as large as this one.

* CreationMyth: Most believe in the story presented in Genesis, though in the first book Sandhri reveals a different story passed down orally by storytellers. [[spoiler: After Adam and Eve were banished and made lords of the world the bats who remained in Eden though they should eat the Fruit as well and convinced many other beasts to do the same. God banished the beasts who ate the Fruit to an AlternateUniverse formerly populated by demons (which he destroyed, except for K'aath) and took the bats' wings.]]
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Accomodation and genocide are equally valid tactics for its policies. The twist is that even the good guys of the story, Raschid and Sandhri, even while it is repelled by its brutalities, will readily admit that the court is a fun place be in when it is in a peaceful mood.

* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:An ambiguous situation for K'aath in the climax. She's dragged off ''somewhere'', and implied not to be killed, but it's unclear if it's Hell, or possibly ''Heaven'' (presumably to be punished).]]

* [[YouGottaHAveBlueHair You Gotta Have Blue Fur]]: Yarim's fur is magically dyed. The enslaved Species that are mainly rodents and lapines have their fur dyed before being sold at the slave markets of Osra.

* [[YouGottaHAveBlueHair You Gotta Have Blue Fur]]: Yarim's fur is magically dyed.

* TheWisePrince: Raschid