هيدرا

Book title: Hydra.. Odyssey of the Courtyard and Immortality Author: Ahmed Al-Sadq Publisher: Dar Al-Ain for Publishing Number of pages: 336 About the book: The novel that won the Encouragement State Prize in Literature 2021 It is a first-class human novel, and a philosophical epic, trying to answer the existential question, and the purpose of man in this life, by posing another question: "What if man became immortal?" and embodying that question practically within the chapters of the novel; as the novel goes further, depicting the first primitive human, who was struck by the question in his mind, the question whose echo continues in the chapters of the novel, where its time periods diverge, and they connect through their immortal heroes. The novel deals with the sharp class division that arose between the mortals and the immortals, where the immortals became the masters, and the mortals were the slaves, and racism spread over the years in the souls of the immortals, until one of them declared himself a god. Meanwhile, the space-time journey "Hydra" aims to explore everything, returning to the first primitive human in ancient history, and moving towards the distant future, where the edge of human time is, to discover what happened to humanity after enjoying immortality throughout their lives on earth, and the question becomes "Did they really enjoy it?" The novel is filled with symbolism, and reflections on reality, and dramatic tension that creates more curiosity and passion, along with an innovative narrative structure based on an eternal camera that captures scenes and enters the minds of the characters to reveal their innermost thoughts, with subplots that align with the main plot, and interconnected chapters that make the novel resemble a collection of pivotal stories, and a new history written for humanity.