Exhalation: Stories

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

The first story is excellent. It concerns a method for consistent time travel and, unlike other stories, does not concern itself with modifying the past but simply observing it. The Arabian tradition of nested storytelling makes the structure feel natural.

Though fate constrains the past and future, the story argues that understanding and acceptance of one's fate matter most. Fuwaad ibn Abbas travels into the past but arrives too late to make amends, yet learns that his wife forgave and loved him—a principle applicable to the present as well.

Review not completed. Remaining stories in the collection are not yet written up.