QUEEN NZINGHA AND SOUL TRAVEL

A surrealistic account of a 17th-century Southern African leader.

In this debut work, Sanders focuses on the historical figure of Queen Nzingha Mbande, who ruled the 17th-century Ambundu Kingdoms of Ndongo in what is now the country of Angola. She ruled for 37 years, and the author gives her emotional and family life a sense of dimension in this work. In this telling, Nzingha’s great grandfather, Jaga King, is concerned with the marital politics involving all his descendants, not just the young and independent Nzingha. However, her adventures while masquerading as a boy during one stretch give the book, which features long discussions of world history, a good deal of narrative zest. That said, the entertainment value of Sanders’ text is significantly hampered by her repeated contentions that the tale is historically accurate, without convincing proof. In a foreword, for example, the author states that mythical places like Lemuria and Atlantis, which appear in the story, were real; that the ancient African Kingdom of Melnibora, whose king Nzingha meets, ruled the world millions of years ago and was populated by people who stood 12 feet tall, had flying machines, and lived for centuries; that King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table existed and that they were called “knights” because they were “Black as night”; and other assertions of fact. Had the author cast this chronicle as a work of historical fantasy, some of these elements might have been easier to accept, but as it is, many readers will have difficulty suspending their disbelief.

An alternate history of Africa, hampered by questionable claims.