Ian Watson is one of the largest English writers working at the intersection of science fiction and fantasy and had a significant influence on the development of these genres in the 90s. Suffice it to say that Clive Barker’s famous “Imagica” owes a lot to him. The action of the novels about the amazing fate of the girl Yalin takes place in a world divided by a river that cannot be crossed due to the mysterious Black Current. This river split human civilization into the East, which exists according to the laws of “feminist” democracy, and the West, with a traditional “male” theocracy. These two worlds knew almost nothing about each other until the Black Current, guided by the incomprehensible logic of the inhuman mind, allowed Yalin to cross the river twice...