This is the sister album to Steven Barnes’ book, “Lion’s Blood”. It combines her standard Celtic fare (always excellent in itself) with some fascinating Middle Eastern rhythms, tones and instruments. The lyrics to a number of the songs are mentioned in the book, so if you want a complete picture of the story, definitely consume both!

I read this book because I had already listened to its sister album, “Insh’Allah” by Heather Alexander. It’s a fascinating alternate history of North America, if Alexander the Great had taken just a slightly different path of conquest.