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The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
Written by Ted Chiang
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Average Score:
80(4)
In medieval Baghdad, a penniless man is brought before the most powerful man in the world, the caliph himself, to tell his story. It begins with a walk in the bazaar, but soon grows into a tale unlike any other told in the caliph's empire. It's a story that includes not just buried treasure and a band of thieves, but also men haunted by their past and others trapped by their future; it includes not just a beloved wife and a veiled seductress, but also long journeys taken by caravan and even longer ones taken with a single step. Above all, it's a story about recognizing the will of Allah and accepting it, no matter what form it takes.
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Book Details
Science Fiction
Hardcover,
62 Pages
Published
by Subterranean Press on July 23, 2007
ISBN-10 1596061006
ISBN-13 978-1596061002
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Reviews
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Boomtron
| Neth
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Review Rating: 80
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Chiang shows remarkable skill as he immediately engages the reader while continually building a sense of anticipation[...]
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SF Site
| Steven H Silver
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Review Rating: 80
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[...] it is a book that every fan of excellent writing should track down to read.
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Strange Horizons
| William Mingin
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Review Rating: 80
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The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is wise, thoughtful, graceful, and even enlightening, in its ability to make the nature of our predicament clearer, and at the same time, transform it from predicament to, simply, life.
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The Internet Review of Science Fiction
| Jason Erik Lundberg
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Review Rating: 80
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Chiang's narrative style is wonderfully evocative of The Arabian Nights, and much of the novella has that particular impression as if it had been translated into English from another language--one with a strong oral storytelling history.
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