A tiger saves a young Sufi’s life from Hindu rebels to repay an old debt of friendship. A war rages across the world so intense that it reaches every layer of existence, bluring the lines between life and death. The Iroquois elect a new chief–an exiled Samurai warrior. A Chinese Buddhist woman and her Muslim husband come to a lake that is the most magnificent thing in existence. India becomes the most important nexus of world events. A young African eunuch and his companion, and old warrior, court death. Eternal companions meet and part in the Bardo. And I am only scratching the surface.
I can’t tell you how amazing and multi-layered this book is, and it’s from a genre I usually despise (alternative history, though it’s much more besides). A world where the black plague, instead of 1/3-1/2 of Europe’s population, killed 99%+ and set the stage for a world whose dominant cultures become China, India, and the Islamic world. The stories are brilliant, subtle, threaded together, spanning centuries and continents and yet very personal.
The book has a tiny bit of mistrust towards Islam, which doesn’t bother me much as Muslims are not dehumanized or treated as counterpoints to a ‘pure’ enemy, and the author clearly has studied Islam in some depth. The flaws in most religions and cultures are not ignored ,except for Christianity, which doesn’t appear much, being more or less a historical footnote. The development of this world is believable and detailed, and the spiritual aspect is conducted in a way that is appropriately huge and unfathomable but ties the story together. I really can’t recommend this enough. It’s one of those “If you buy one book” things.
(Hat tip to Abdul Halim.)
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