Markriss Denny lives in the poor area around Dinium’s Outer City with his mother Willow and little brother Ninka. He dreams of the day he will one day make it to the Ark, the superstructure that only the best and brightest are permitted entry to. But there are unseen forces at work in both this plane of existence and others, and Markriss must use his newly discovered power of astral projection to save humanity as he undertakes a journey of self-discovery unlike any other.

With a promising alternate history concept based around the idea that colonialism never happened, A River Called Time gets off to a strong start in terms of its worldbuilding. Newland’s prose is rich and well considered, his descriptions of people and places conjuring up strong mental imagery. The crime ridden streets of Markriss’ town come to vivid, sordid life, with the wealthier areas feeling lavish and bustling.

It does feel a little like some of these earlier scenes are slightly disconnected, as if they’re vignettes stitched together rather than one flowing story, but this is possibly intentional, as these events are often revisited through parallel viewpoints through astral projection, sometimes with slight changes and sometimes wholly rewritten. This does mean it can be a little difficult to follow at times, with Markriss switching between different parallel realities and versions of himself; these versions only having memories of their reality and not everything that we have seen so far in his other existences. The first time this happens is very discombobulating, even if the preceding chapters have set it up, but it is inarguably a unique approach.

The astral projection scenes themselves, which link the sections featuring parallel Markrisses, are as well written as those which take place in more conventional settings, the prose working hard to grasp at the intangible yet without demystifying it to the point that it becomes predictable or mundane. These are very big concepts that Newland is dealing with though, which are discussed at some length at times. Some readers might find them quite a lot to take in alongside everything else, as there are a few chapters which have a lot of information about what might be unfamiliar ideas to many.

The overarching narrative, which sees Markriss attempting to track down another person with his ability - referred to as the Rogue - often fades into the background, and in fact is largely forgotten about for much of the novel’s extensive length. The various trials which Markriss faces in his alternate lives take precedence, and these are wildly varying in their stakes. They don’t always have much in the way of payoff either, which can be frustrating; it’s a little like they’re a number of unfinished stories hung together with some very opaque musings on mysticism, especially seeing as the overarching narrative doesn’t conclude especially satisfyingly either.

These multiple Markrisses make him a difficult character to get to know too. The first parallel version of him which we’re introduced to is so radically different to the one we begin the story with that we have absolutely no idea what he might do from one moment to the next. Consequently, this carries over into the other versions of him which we meet too, all of whom seem completely different in significant ways. It feels like they’re different characters who happen to share the same name rather than different versions of the same person.

Ultimately, this is a collection of some beautiful components that don’t always come together all that well but are fascinating nonetheless. Newland’s approach to narrative never feels like novelty for the sake of novelty, but can feel (perhaps in an intentional moment of irony) a little like you’re being swept along through rapids, struggling to keep your head above water.

This sprawling fantasy is done something of a disservice by the cover, I think - it would be more likely to reach its perfect audience with a more stereotypical fantasy cover, as cynical as that may sound. The story was not my cup of tea at all, but I read it to assess for acquisition and recommendation to readers, and I certainly think it will appeal to some - most likely male SFF readers as there's rather a lot of sexism.

Thank you to netgallery and canongate publishers for allowing me to read this book.

I highly enjoyed reading this book as it was a different view of a post apocalyptic world (potentially destroyed by war. Not really sure?). The book follows the protagonist Markiss through his life as a young boy growing up.
As much as I did enjoy the book it's pacing made it a bit of a struggle to read at times but overall the story made up for it.
I liked the plot weaving the different threads together, and provide interesting commentary on the powerful themes. But I feel if your not a plot driven reader you might struggle a bit.

A River Called Time is an epic literary speculative fiction novel about an alternative world where colonialism never happened and Africa's influence upon London is vast. Markriss Denny grew up in the 'Outer' city, part of Dinium cut off from the Ark, a specially built inner city where only the elite may now live. He becomes, however, one of the few who are granted a job and home in the Ark, but he has a secret: his spirit can leave his body and travel beyond it. And then it turns out that time isn't quite what he thought, and he's going to have to go up against it to stop another with the same kind of power.

The concept and scope of the book are amazing, plunging you into a world full of African cosmology and a reimagined London but yet still with a lot of power injustice and media coverups. The philosophical side of it, with complex time and multiverse theory and astral projection and more, was fascinating, if probably went over my head somewhat at times. As someone who doesn't read much sci-fi or speculative fiction, I found it a lot more interesting than expected thanks to the ideas involved and the approachable writing style. From reading Newland's afterword, it's a clear a lot of research went into the ideas and narrative, and there's a lot to draw out of it.

The novel is split into four parts (explaining how is too much of spoiler) and I did find it difficult to get into and understand the second part, taking a while to work out what was going on. By the third section, however, I was prepared, and it is a clever way of bringing out some of the resonances in a more familiar place, and then the fourth part is more of a conclusion. I wasn't always entirely sure what was going on (I tend to find this with novels using multiverse ideas), but I could always get back into it.

A book that asks big questions and doesn't always give straightforward answers, A River Called Time is a complex piece of speculative fiction with a sharp look at social inequality and how the present could be different if the past hadn't involved colonialism.

The imaginative world-building at the start of this novel captured my attention, and I was excited to travel with the main character Markriss into the "inner sanctum" of an elite wall-off London to find out if this promised land was all that it seemed. I then quite literally lost the plot, as the story slowed. I had been strongly drawn to the book description of a vision of a world where British colonialism had never happened.