In Baghdad, a cloth merchant named Fuwaad ibn Abbas is brought by a friend to an alchemist who has built a gate that allows travel across twenty years. Fuwaad listens as the alchemist tells how the gate works, then tells his own story and others, each showing a person who steps through to meet an earlier or later self. The story, framed in the manner of the Arabian Nights, takes up what can and cannot be changed by traveling in time, and how events fixed in the past still allow a person to act with understanding.
It is a short, elegant tale for readers of science fiction and for those who enjoy nested storytelling. Anyone who wants a thoughtful treatment of fate and regret in under a hundred pages of text will find it satisfying.
Deep; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2007
- Language
- EN
