Yes, yes, yes. Everything about this book was 100% bang on the money. From the personable characters, to the disparate settings, and the story of Aethon, who longs to become a bird so he can fly to the utopian city in the clouds, that was so carefully and creatively woven through the book's numerous storylines. 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' reached far beyond my expectations. I cared so deeply about the characters' journey and was so intrigued by how they were all connected. From 15th century Constantinople, to modern day Idaho, and a spaceship on course for an expo-planet, Anthony Doerr takes the reader on a journey that weaves back and forth between sci-fi and historical fiction. He discusses issues of gender identity, climate change, and pandemics but utilises the central story of Aethon to drive the plot forward. I devoured this book over the course of a few nights, I could not put it down. Don't be surprised if you see this author up for another prestigious award, he most definitely deserves recognition for this masterpiece. Two weeks out from the publication date and I have already started recommending the book to customers. I think this will be a popular Christmas gift.

(Unbiased, unpaid review from an Indigo bookstore employee in exchange from advanced reader copy).

This is the best book that I have read in a long time. At the beginning of it, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I ended up reading a large portion of it every day and got pulled into all of the different storylines. This book made me laugh, engaged me and connected with me emotionally. I firmly believe that a book like this comes along only once in a while and it was an honour to read it. It will be on my best books of the year list as it left me changed. It's that good.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land in exchange for a fair review.
I found this to be a very interesting read. It is a story that is centred around the scrap of a novel found in Ancient Greece. The story fluctuates between three eras—Constantinople in the 1400’s, present day Idaho and a time in the future somewhere on a space ship.
In all three eras, a love of books and reading really proved to be one of the most important aspects of life.
This is a very complex story, melding together something of historical fiction, family life drama and science fiction. Did it work? I’m not positive!
At first, I fund it difficult to get into the rhythm of the book but after a while, it grew on me. As is usual with Anthony Doerr, the characters are very well formed and developed. There were times that the story seemed quite disjoint and I was tempted to put the book aside but I stuck with it and was rewarded with a satisfying conclusion. Overall, I gave this book a 3 star rating.

📕 Cloud Cuckoo Land 📕
By Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Scribner (Sept 28. 2021)

This may break my heart writing it but I can’t lie. I just didn’t like it. I thought the mash up of genres (sci-fi, contemporary, historical, fantasy…) was too chaotic. I liked each part of the story singularly but I couldn’t get the connection till the very end.

Yep, it just didn’t work for me. And I had high hopes as his other book All The Light We Cannot See was a 5 star, binge-worthy book.

This book is a masterpiece! I cannot stop thinking about it and wish I could reread it over and over again with fresh eyes. Beautifully layered between stories woven with generations of people, centuries of history, and the very best and worst of humanity all coming together to create a narrative that is just sublime. This is a story that sticks to you like a fond memory.
A wonderful ode to the power of books and all those that love them!
My very favourite book of 2021!
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster publishers for this ARC.

*Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing access to the ARC through Netgalley.*

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book but I was interested to read it nevertheless. I know there has been an increase in popularity for All the Light We Cannot See, thanks to BookTok, but I have yet to read it. Therefore, I was going in completely blind to Anthony's writing style.

I had some difficulty figuring out what exactly was going on to start with but soon I could see how the characters from different times on this Earth all interconnected.

This was a well-written novel about how books travel through various lifetimes and connect us all to the very first, ancient texts, that allowed us to preserve facts, fables, myths, stories, etc. for centuries to come. It's eye-opening reading how easy it was for texts to be destroyed and lost forever and the importance of scribes and translators to help preserve them.

I loved that this book was dedicated to librarians!

...I am so confused. I adored All the Light We Cannot See, it was exactly my kind of lyrical writing. This, however, made not a single ounce of sense to me. I got to page 100 and gave up, because I still had no idea what was happening in any of the seemingly countless plot threads.

Perhaps I am dumb, perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood, but this was not a good one for me.

4*- I have not read any books by Doerr previously and not going to lie, the blurb seems random at best but the timelines in the story blend and weave in a pretty magical way and the end result is as much a coming of age story as a meditation on the power of the written word.

This review containers spoilers.

"Part fairy tale, part fool's errand, part science-fiction, part utopian satire".

This is one description of the anchoring Cloud Cuckoo Land story and I guess it's an apt description for whole book as well.

I am having a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Having read a few other reviews, I can see that I'm not alone in that. Part of this may be the sheer volume of storylines and main characters. There are just bound to be some that are less compelling and appealing. I enjoyed Konstance's story the most and many parts of Zeno's story.

The first half of the book was very hard for me to get through. The structure was distracting. Despite the constant change in storylines, I didn't have trouble keeping track of the story but the book did not hold my attention. By the time I got a bit invested in one story, it switched to another, and I would be tempted to pick up my phone and check social media (which I rarely want to do when I'm reading.) If I wasn't reading an ARC I might have given up before the halfway point.

Somewhere after the halfway point I started getting desperate to collect the breadcrumbs of connections between the stories. By then, my digital ARC expiry was looming and that helped me push through. At that point, the short chapters and switching back and forth was still annoying because it felt like the story was being withheld (which, when you think of the anchoring story, I see what you did there.)

I'm glad I did make it through to the end because the last third of the book had a lot of payoff. You can start to see not just the connections but the purpose of those connections.

I often will re-read books shortly after finishing them and I can tell that I would enjoy this much more on a second read if I could convince myself to dive back in. I have not read Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See. I can see his skill and a novel as complicated and interwoven as this is quite an achievement. I appreciated the themes of the resilience of children and the underlying message about climate change. There was a lot of sadness but it was not devastating. I think that it would be an interesting book for students to read and dissect and analyze.

Spoilers:

I was disappointed that the two main characters without a happy ending were the <spoiler> kid presumably on the spectrum and the gay man. </spoiler>

The ending of Aethon's story reminds me a lot of the last few episodes of the TV show <spoiler>The Good Place</spoiler>, the way Aethon learns that his experience in the clouds <spoiler> though heaven-like, is not all it's cracked up to be.</spoiler>

Finally I found that the twist about Argos was apparent long before the reveal, it felt inspired by the movie <spoiler> The Village directed by M. Night Shymalan. </spoiler>

I received an Advanced Review Copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a complex, beautiful book that I think will find a passionate audience. It took me a while to get into all the different storylines and characters, but it's hard to say if that has to do with the book or with my own state and the fact that I wasn't able to sit down and read for long periods of time. However, once everything 'clicked' for me, I really enjoyed it, and I'll definitely recommend it to those who enjoy sweeping stories across time with multiple POVs.

This book! So many feelings. It demands a lot of its reader - time and attention in particular. What it gives in return are unforgettable characters, stories that feed your soul and existential questions that will stay with you long after you've closed the book.

I admit I felt slightly overwhelmed as I started reading Anthony Doerr's highly anticipated new novel. Multiple story-lines, set in different time periods and all connected by a really old text that's presented in a somewhat fractured way. Goodreads description does an amazing job of summing it all up without revealing too much so I am not even going to attempt to cover all the elements of the story. Doerr takes his readers on a journey through past, present and (a beautifully imagined) future, all the while leaving a trail of deep philosophical questions about life, destiny, interconnectedness of things and the value of storytelling. All of the characters came to life for me but I found myself especially emotionally connected to the stories of Konstance (set in the future) and Zeno who made me feel like I want to reach through the pages of the book and just give him the biggest hug.

This work of literary fiction will resonate with different audiences but I think it will speak the most to those who appreciate complex stories combined with beautiful writing.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me an advanced copy of this wonderful book.

Imaginative and stellar book, with lots of imagination at play. As with worldbuilding, there is a lot of set-up at the beginning of the book which then picks up afterwards. This is in true Anthony Doerr fashion and I assume will be loved by many this year!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the earc in return for an honest review.

This book is beautifully written and genius though sadly far beyond my focus at this moment. I intend to give it another go when I am better able to intensely engage with the text.

An incredible journey of an ancient manuscript and the lives it touches as it traverses our history, present, and ultimately space. Doerr handles the transition between narratives effortlessly giving the reader a memorable experience.

Wow, what a beautifully written story that ties several seemingly disparate stories together. One of my top picks for this year.

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed Cloud Cuckoo Land -- although it is a slow burn and took a third of the novel to really get into it. I was interested and engaged in all five of the narratives that are woven together, even though it was jarring to switch from one to the next at times. I would have loved to have had more of Konstance's story at the end: what kind of world was waiting for her? Thank you to the publisher for this advance reader copy.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing a free digital ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land in exchange for an honest review.

Following up his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr has written a radically different epic. Five protagonists, across past, present, and future, are bound together by the titular book within the book: Cloud Cuckoo Land. Pulling from Aristophanes's The Birds, Doerr considers how the 21st century space race has its roots in classical desires to escape a "corrupt" world and start anew. Historical, speculative and literary fiction come together here, inviting readers to escape into worlds within worlds, it's a full-fledged embrace of the belief that books are themselves portals.

Cloud Cuckoo Land begins in a distant future. We are first introduced to Konstance, a young girl aboard an interstellar ship bound away from Earth. Think High Life but G-rated, while part of a mission, Konstance has much to uncover about what exactly that is and what it means for her. Our contemporary protagonists are Zeno and Seymour. Zeno is swept up into war, heartbreak and heroism in a way that absolutely gripped me, he was probably my favourite character to follow. Seymour meanwhile becomes entangled in radical movements. Finally, Anna and Omeir are our bridges to the past just ahead of the fall of Constantinople.

To be honest, I struggled to get into this book for AGES! I had gotten half-way through not sure if I liked it at all. And then it bloomed and I found myself turning page after page to see what happened next. There is a lot of set-up to get through and Doerr's prose is at times wordy yet empty for me. I have some misgivings about the archetypal treatment of Seymour and at times, Zeno. Yet, there was something truly compelling once it all fell in place and I really came to enjoy this. This isn't going to be one for everyone but I think it'll truly hit its chord with its niche.

Too long and too disjointed make this book, a chaotic read. It is written from the perspective of 5 different characters through three different time periods with a tenuous connection via an ancient Greek script featuring a shepherd who journeys through various forms (a crow, an ass, fish etc.) in his quest to find a utopian world. We find characters embedded in the future (on an interstellar space ship), in the past through a historical event (the fall of Constantinople), and in the present where there are struggles about one's identity and in another case, the struggle for the preservation and sustainability of the planet. The author attempts a complex theme through a fantasy world, science-fiction, historical elements, and present day challenges. In trying to weave through that maze, the book reads like disparate story lines. The characterization is however the most engaging.

Here is a brief description of the cast where each character tries to make sense about the world in which they inhabit:

In the beginning, the reader is introduced to Konstance in a vault aboard a space ship later referred to as Argos, a structure with "no windows, no stairs, no way in, no way out...a self sustaining tomb". Konstance is told that their existence in Argos "represent the future of the species, they exemplify hope and discovery, courage and endurance, they're widening the window of possibility, shepherding the cumulative wisdom of humanity..." As Konstance grows in this environment so does her curiosity.

Anna is an orphan living inside the city wall of Constantinople. She and her sister are in a convent where their days are spent doing needlework and embroidery on the vestments and other apparel for priests. They are expected to be industrious and their fate is akin to forced labour and poverty. Anna, too, is curious about what lies behind her walled existence and she yearns for a better life and the ability to read.

Omeir lives outside the city wall of Constantinople. Disfigured by a cleft lip, his existence is sad and immersed in hard work. Omeir learns through the experience of his grandfather who also speaks of faraway places and sights. Having no other option, Omeir and his two oxen - Tree and Moonlight - join the Sultan's army where loyalty and perseverance are to be rewarded once the city is won. Omeir is a sweet tender soul who treats his animals kindly and grapples with his "otherness" seen as ugliness or a bad omen. Omeir's journey is one of enlightenment through actual experiences while he worries about the family he has left behind.

Omar flees the Sultan's army and Anna flees the convent. Predictably their paths converge. A bond is forged and they are both ultimately entrusted to protect the aged transcript of Cloud Cuckoo Land which Anna finds in an abandoned priory and takes with her as she leaves the convent on the cusp of the collapse of Constantinople.

Seymour and his cash-strapped mom, Bunny live in present day. We meet him as a child suffering from a hearing disorder characterized by an increased sensitivity to environmental noise. Seymour find solace in his relationship with an owl he dubs Trustyfriend and so began his passion to save the planet. By the time he is aged "seventeen, he'd convinced himself that every human he saw was a parasite, captive to the dictates of consumption."

When the reader meets Zeno, he is living with his father who subsequently dies in the war leaving Zeno an orphan entrusted to the guardianship of his father's lover. Zeno enlists for the Korean war and winds up a POW where he meets Rex, a British professor. His relationship with Rex leads to his identity struggles as well as his quest to translate and preserve long lost texts written in ancient Greece.

The saving grace for me in this book is the characterization where it is easy to become invested in the lives and the outcomes of the characters. My favorites are Omeir’s, Anna's and Zeno’s storyline which I find most engaging. All these characters are somehow connected to a fool-hardy story in an ancient book and there is all encompassing theme about the value of learning brought about by books and libraries.

The reader traverses a trajectory of superstitions and primitive living to more modern achievements such a self-driving bus to a landscape of terrorism, suffering and violence, droughts and famine, migrants and present day challenges relating to the environment. Towards the end, the author attempts to connect all the dots in a way that seems contrived. I gravitated to this book because of the author's stellar work in All The Lights We Cannot See. However this one is simply not the wow of his earlier work. Three stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This was an odd, but great book. I have some mixed feelings about the different perspectives. For one, it was difficult for me to keep them all in my head in the beginning. However, as the story continued, I liked seeing how the perspectives were intertwined. It's challenging to make this work, and I think Doerr succeeded (as long as you keep going!).

The characters were engaging, and I liked how the story was spread out through time. I would recommend the book.

what strikes me the most about this book is its overall creativity. there are so many different elements to the story that it's impossible to get bored. there's the story but then there's the setup--different stories that start out separately become woven together so sneakily it makes you realize all the small clues you didn't pick up along the path. instead of being three parallel stories, they are three parallel worlds, seemingly so disconnected yet intertwined that this novel ends up saying much about the nature of time; how it folds in on itself, repeats itself, and duplicates itself. it's like a piece of paper folded over into three sections with a hole punched through it--if each storyline is one section, the pierced hole is this book.