I've been intrigued by 'Queen Ginga'. I'll be looking forward to your comments on this one. Also, I would like to know how you would rate it compared with the other titles you have already read by this author.
Yes, I did read "A General Theory of Oblivion" (it was good), "The Book of Chameleons" (it was fantastic!), "Creole" (it was OK) and now "Queen Ginga" (it's OK too). Main problem of the book (IMHO) is huge disproportion between its volume (130 pp or something) and density of its action. I can't say "plot", it's more like just action. The protagonist visited Africa, lost faith, found friendship, lost friendship, found love, lost love, found love again, visited Brazil, visited Africa again, spent some months in captivity, spent some time at the court of queen Ginga, etc, etc. When all is said and done, it's like kind of Dumas-pere novel about adventures in exotic milieu. Authors just lists "big topics", there is no development of ideas or characters. It's easy and quick read, interesting (not veeeeery interesting, but interesting), not great. The same I can say about "Creole". But maybe "Creole" is a little bit better. After "The Book of Chameleons" I was very enthusiastic, but now I think Mia Couto is stronger voice from this cultural area.