Barzakh: The Land In-Between x Moussa Ould Ebnou, Marybeth Timmermann (DRC)

236 pages.

First published October 17, 2022 (Iskanchi Press)

SF.

A trippy journey through the Sahara and through time in this novel from Mauritania.

Barzakh: The Land In-Between opens with a prelude from the far future: archeologists excavate the memories of Gara, who lived in Barzakh, by processing crystals extracted from his skull. The rest of the book consists of flashbacks from Gara’s perspective (his memories), as he lives as an enslaved boy, and then jumps nine centuries forward, and then to sometime in our near future. Gara, disillusioned with—and driven by his hatred of—humankind, travels through time as he searches for a better version of humanity, having assumed that humans can evolve away from brutality and cruelty. It’s not a spoiler to say that he never finds what he hopes.

I enjoy reading around Africa, and particularly in SFF, because of the unique perspective each culture brings to the genre. Barzakh evokes the life of desert dwellers and nomads, and explores slavery, racism, and the desert economy, and is really wonderful on that level. The science fiction aspects are really unique, with an imagined future dystopia in a desert nation, and also that interesting concept of extracting memories from bone. Ould Ebnou’s style and pacing are meditative and slow, adding to the feeling of traversing the desert of time (whether deliberate, I don’t know); and that’s part of what makes the narrative feel trippy.

Recommended for those who enjoy unusual perspectives in SF. You won’t read many books like this.

Thank you to Iskanchi Press and to NetGalley for access.