Invasion of the Sea, Jules Verne
Verne's last whole novel, only recently translated into English. Interesting
idea - the French digging a channel to make an inland sea in Tunisia and
Algeria, partly to increase trade and prosperity in the French style, partly
to confound the Tuareg banditry, probably from nineteenth-century
fascination with technical possibility, and with total indifference to the
destruction of the existing date groves. Unfortunately, the characters are
stock characters and sketchy at that - I think the characterization in
Beau Geste is deeper, and drives the plot more. This would be okay
if there was more force given to Clash of Civilizations, or Forces of History, but
there isn't.
Machina ex deus, actually, which is weak for a
scientifiction novel.
However, it's short, vaguely topical, has a colorful final scene, and is
well-illustrated. Contemporaneous photos of earth houses and date palms
alternate with contemporaneous engravings of dashing Frenchmen on feminine
horses.
So wrote clew in
SF&F.