This was a DNF (did not finish) for me, and that’s okay! This book pushed the boundaries between historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, Greek mythology and thriller. There’s three different timelines - all with multiple characters in them. I think this book could be really interesting, but I didn’t have the focus to read it yet. The descriptions and the depth of this book deserve quiet time and processing, and that’s not something I have in my current stage of life. I’ll probably try again later, but it was a lot.

As my first Anthony Doerr book, I didn't know quite what to expect with his writing, world building, etc. besides the positive reviews of All the Light We Cannot See, but I can officially state that it was incredible. I didn't know how these multiple POVs over centuries of timeline would fit together (in a good way at that), but again, Doerr pulled it off.
By far, Konstance just stole my attention with her experiences within space (or is it? haha) and her dynamics day to day. It was the most unique and different of the POVs because space is something I'll never experience, and while the end definitely throws some wrenches into our perception of her time within the Argos, I cannot wait for others to read it.
The other POVs held like a dual perspective in many ways of one event from Anna and Omeir to Seymour and Zeno. Doerr's plotting prowess really shines through all of these individual stories. It was magnificent to watch unfold.
Now something I wasn't quite expecting to be so heavily centered within this world was, indeed, the discussion over climate change. It mostly occurs during Seymour's POV, but it was interesting and enthralling to read his perspective, especially when we come to 2020. It is before COVID truly hit the US, and I think it gave me a new appreciation and viewpoint of this period because really only COVID is discussed within the scope of the year. There's only a few other topics that come up, but I remember the fires and other natural events that shook our world from the start. I like that more fictional books are entering the discussion of climate change, and I think Doerr definitely leaves his own feelings and interpretations by comparing Seymour to even Konstance.
Obviously, the thing I want to discuss most is the ending for Konstance and Cloud Cuckoo Land. All I can reference to it, without spoilers, is the pure satisfaction at the revelations. It was interesting and truly something I didn't see coming till the actual actions were made.
I'd recommend this book to anyone from historical fiction fans to sci-fi and even activists. It has such a wide audience and will definitely steal a lot of readers attention.

In the first few chapters of Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land, I wasn't quite sure about the book: how did all these disparate stories, set centuries apart, come together? That turned out to be the beauty of this novel. As I kept reading, I began to see each story's separate thread weave together into one stunning tableau. Each narrator's story was told so vividly — I really felt I was climbing into crumbling towers in Constantinople with Anna and stuck inside the futuristic walls of the Argos with Konstance. The undercurrent in each character's story was the lost Greek comedy of Diogenes. Seeing how one text rescued from a moldering tower impacted each character's life — decades or even centuries later — turned out to be a moving meditation on the passage of time.

Anthony Doerr's new book is an absolute tour-de-force. It addresses alienation, human desire, climate change, and the redemptive power of stories. He deftly juggles one story in present day Idaho, one unfolding during the 1453 siege of Constantinople, another aboard an interstellar spaceship years in the future, as well as the survival of an ancient Greek manuscript. This novel of ideas has compelling characters and is an homage to the humble, brave custodians of the written word, Cloud Cuckoo Land is big in scope and big in heart.

Too blessed long and not interesting enough. The writing is amazing of course but I found myself not caring what happens next.

It's been 7 years since AD's massive success, ‘All the Light We Cannot See,’ so I was immensely interested in seeing how this next novel would follow up to that kind of pressure and expectation.

While there is a lot about this that reminded me of my reading experience with ‘All the Light We Cannot See,’ it's very apparent this story feels drastically more ambitious. And I think a story like this has to be. Such an ode to the art of storytelling and the profession of storykeeping deserves to be a grand gesture.

While reading, I was definitely drawn to some POVs more than others, particularly Anna and Omeirs. It wasn't until the end, when I could see how everyone was connected, that I fully appreciated the other characters and their chapters. It was such a rewarding feeling witnessing how a simple story could be spread throughout time, impacting individuals and, in turn, impacting others.

Overall, I think fans of literary fiction and lovers of stories will really value this particular novel.

The Magical Story of Aethon

This is a story of a magical ancient Greek storybook that passes through many hands and translations. It involves three different time periods and four main characters.

It starts in 15th century Constantinople when a young girl named Anna finds it in an ancient ruins. The story continues the trail of the book with Zeno a Vet of the Korean War and Seymour a young man in Idaho, and finally a young girl named Konstance in a stellar spaceship named Argos.

Each of the stories unfold with the events of that era that take place with the characters in that time period and the magical story of Aethon.

You will travel through different time periods and different changes in the land, the people and the environment. The story carries you through war and peace, Love and hate, and never far away from the magical story.

The book was very well written and a magical story in itself, It was easy to navigate between the different time periods, and although each was a story in itself they all fitted together. In that being said, the book was very long and the words were also very long. I did have a hard time reading it. I feel like I have memorized the story from it being read over and over again in each segment of the book, a bit repetitious with that part of the story.

Thanks to Anthony Doerr, Scribner Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy of the book for my honest review.

Such an immersive story. I loved the different story lines and how it made me think deeply about the environment and our purpose in life. I highly recommend this book.

I haven't read any other Doerr book so this book may have tarnished his other books for me. Because this book was convoluted and confusing and a bit irritating. Some of the storylines were very boring and didn't feel like they were necessary to the plot even though I know that Doerr was trying to show the passage of the root story within this book. It was so boring. I liked following Seymour and Konstance's stories best, Seymour's because he had the longest, hardest journey (though a theme between all three storylines was hard lives and being outcasts) and Konstance because it was really jus the most interesting being futuristic and all. But overall, this book was pretty boring and bland and I was disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy. Anthony Doerr’s book, All the Light We Cannot See is one of my favorite books so I was thrilled to read another one of his books. I wanted to love this book but I found it challenging to read. There are several storylines happening at once and it took the majority of the books to understand what was happening. I enjoyed all of the characters and their stories, I just wish it hadn’t been so challenging to follow along.

(Review posted in Goodreads)

Thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

Cloud Cuckoo Land is one of my most highly anticipated 2021 reads! Anthony Doerr’s last book, Pulitzer prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, is typically one of the first books I recommend if people ask for a good read. This latest, which releases on September 28, recycles familiar elements of that book and takes them in a more complex and ambitious direction: instead of just two character perspectives, we follow five points of view. Instead of sticking firmly to one time period (WWII), we’re traversing through three: past Constantinople, “present” Idaho, future spaceship.

I wish I could say that I loved this book from beginning to end! Maybe my expectations were just astronomically high. But I found that the middle plodded along too slowly; it took me over a month to make my way through it. Some of the character perspectives were more engrossing than others (Konstance’s was my favorite, since being “at the end” of the timeline, there was an expectation that the rest of the characters’ stories might somehow relate or converge together here mysteriously). Some might find it difficult to follow since Doerr’s transitions from one period to another weren’t always seamless. This is a book that demands patience from its readers, the willingness to wait for the pay-off. And perhaps that is part of the point, mirroring the journeys the characters seem to go through themselves? The commonality between these different perspectives is that they are seemingly linked by an ancient Greek text, an old story about a man who seeks a castle in the sky, a realm of birds who also experiences many missteps and obstacles.

That being said, when the threads do begin to emerge and connections are revealed in the last third, the book reaches the level of poignancy I hoped for. While the execution wasn’t flawless, I can get on board with the book’s exploration of the power of stories to unify us despite our many differences, to comfort and encourage the outsider. I think through the complexity of perspectives woven together over time, the book is able to convey just how astounding it is that these stories even survive through the centuries, echoes from the past that continue long after the original hearers and readers have faded into history. I come back to Doerr for the beautiful sentences he uses to deliver these truths, the lovely miniature portraits he paints through words, and that was no less true in this novel.

I did not enjoy this book at all. I found it way too wordy and very confusing. I stopped reading at 30%.

I struggled with this book. The nonlinear timeline for multiple characters set in the 1400s, modern day, and sci-fi futurism eventually intertwine through a retelling of Aethon, but I struggled with each change of the narrative and never emotionally connected to any of the characters. I'm afraid this one is not a match for me, because the parts are better than the whole. Recommended with reservations due to the nonlinear timeline, multiple storylines, and length of the text (600+ pages).

Advanced copy provided courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just reviewed Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published September 28, 2021.

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, consider yourself warned. I should have paid more attention to the book’s summary because looking back, it sounds confusing.

At 640 pages, this was a huge book with so much going on. 5 characters, 3 very different eras and a strange fairy tale that tries to bring it all together.

I definitely enjoyed some characters more than others and it picked up slightly towards the end, but still not enough to give it 3 stars. I’ll be curious to see the reviews when this gets published. I thought it was long and confusing and frequently boring.

Some books I’ll request just because of an author. I don’t even bother reading the description. That was the case when I requested Cloud Cuckoo Land, because of my love of All The Light We Cannot See. So, I was a bit surprised when I started this book and discovered its convoluted premise. It’s got three different story lines, from three different centuries, including the future, and three different places, including an interstellar starship. There are five main characters, two each in the past and present, and one in the future. The synopsis can give you a more complete outline. If you want stories that make sense and move in a linear fashion, this is not for you. This was more like reading multiple short stories that had been cut up and interspersed between each other. Yet… while normally this would have irritated me to no end, I found myself drawn in. I wanted to know what was going to happen to each of them - Anna, Konstance, Zeno, Seymour, Omeir. To be honest, it surprised me to no end. It’s beautifully written with characters that felt real. I could easily envision each scene taking place.
What binds it all together is a weird, historical Greek story called Cloud Cuckoo Land, written by Antonios Diogenes that envisions a shepherd trying to get to a mythical city in the sky. It’s described as “part fairy tale, part fool’s errand, part science-fiction, part utopian satire”. The shepherd is a model of perseverance and the characters of this book, in turn, are the same. Each is faced with hardships but each continues to put one foot in front of the other. It’s a message of hope.
It reminds us of the power of a good story to give meaning to our lives.
You might be put off by the sheer length of the book, 640 pages, but it actually was a quick read.
My thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book.

Anthony Doerr does it again, with an elaborate storyline and descriptive narrative that captures the audience. This is the story of three people in three different settings and timelines, seemingly independent of each other but beautifully intertwined in the end.

Cloud Cuckoo Land includes the stories of three people, set in the past, present, and future, and demonstrates how impactful one story can be. Konstance, a fourteen-year-old girl living on an interstellar ship in the future reads this story as an escape and comfort as it was told to her initially by her Father. Zeno, an octogenarian, and Seymour, a teenager, are both living in the present and utilize this story in different ways to pursue their dreams and goals. In the past, Anna and Omier in Constantinople find the manuscript and are set out to protect themselves and the story. Eventually, the connection between the characters and this story is revealed in a way only Anthony Doerr can do.

I gave it four stars because, as with All the Light we Cannot See, I felt it took me a while to get into the story. because I am familiar with Anthony Doerr and his writing, I knew it would be worth it to stick with the reading and I'm so glad I did. However, the initial buildup of characters and stories with constantly changing, short chapters is a style that is challenging for me to build that initial connection with the narrative.

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

I started Cloud Cuckoo Land with a little concern, not sure of what genre I was diving into. So it was slow for me at first and I had to keep a book log on this one due to the multiple stories and timelines. But having read and loved Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, I stuck with it and am so glad I did. I enjoyed almost everything about this book. First of all, Doerr is just a brilliant writer. I found myself immersed in the character of the moment and absorbed in their stories. Honestly my least favorite part was Aethon’s story itself.. But overall I found this to be a,solid 4 stars. I truly enjoyed reading this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored All the Light We Cannot See, and Doerr hit it way out of the park with this new one, Cloud Cuckoo Land. I adore books that play with structure to tell a story in a new way, and this book is super creative. There are multiple, very different timelines that, from the outset, seem to have absolutely no connection to each other - past, present, and future. We get little snippets from different characters at different times along with a translation of a book of old tales, perhaps the first novel written in Greek. The puzzle is slowly put together - this is a slow burn that goes faster page by page, and the last quarter of the book just flies by. This is a book about storytelling, fate, climate change, love, diversity, and linguistics. I very rarely purchase books for my favorites shelf, but I will be pre-ordering this. 5 stars.

From Pulitzer Prize winning author Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land was everything I imagined it would be - very well written literary fiction that I’d have a hard time getting into. I felt like my head was in Cloud Cuckoo Land for the first bit. This book is hard y’all! But once I got the various characters and settings down in my mind, it got easier to follow.

Doerr is a master at weaving together seemingly unrelated plots that span centuries while developing such vastly different characters.

This book is hard to explain but if you can stick with the 600+ pages, the payoff is worth it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A beautiful, heartbreaking, but also hopeful tale about the power of story to change our lives. Told in the past, the present, and the not-so-distant future, Cloud Cuckoo Land takes a journey to show us how we are more than the sum of our differences.

Fans of Cloud Altas will find themselves similarity transported.