This is a book for readers, librarians, and lovers of books. It is not an easy one to read, five main characters, spread through more than one century, all struggling with a challenge. It can be confusing until you understand their connection, it is not a book to read when you cannot pay attention (read at midnight!).
I wish I could say that I loved it as much as All the Light You Cannot See. Although the words Doerr uses are magnificent and thought-provoking, I found the book long and the 'future' scenes somewhat confusing (not my genre).
I would recommend this book for someone who is committed to a long, powerful read and not in a rush to get to the end. It can be extremely sad and dark in places but always has a ray of hope which does keep you reading.
A book shared by many, understood and experience by many, binds all that encounter it. To that end Cloud Cuckoo Land did the job.
I have deliberately been vague as to the nature of the characters/settings as there are some good surprises.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy and my honest review.

This one was just okay for me. I found it to be very slow moving, and I was having trouble seeing how the characters were interconnected until the end of the story. I enjoyed the Konstance plot line the best of all and the ending sealed that for me. I was impressed at the end, however, how the story was wound together and resolved.

A good piece of writing, but not enough action for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have no words to describe how absolutely amazing this book is! I have a "floating top ten" of the books I have read and this will be firmly part of my permanent top ten. I have to admit I was ready to be disappointed, thinking that no one could follow the brilliance of All The Light We Cannot See, but somehow Anthony Doerr has not only equaled it, but surpassed it.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

I was excited for this book simply because I read All The Lights We Cannot See when it was first published and I remember loving it.

Now Cloud Cuckoo Land, I loved the stories. They were beautifully written, but I didn’t love the book as a whole. It felt almost as if they could have been separated almost.

Book Review: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Posted byRebeccaAugust 4, 2021Posted inUncategorized
And this my friends, is I think, what we call the power of literature.

Book Review
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
5☆☆☆☆☆ for a beautifully woven saga, strong female characters and plastic sachets full of food for thought

Let me begin by saying that if you pick up this book solely because of Doerr’s previous masterpiece All the Light We Cannot See (2014) you shouldn’t be disappointed. If you haven’t read any of his previous work and are wondering what all the fuss is about, pick up this read and all his 2014 work to your TBR. It will be the perfect fall companion for bottomless pots of tea and crisp days when reading a book and watching leaves fall (should this happen in September and October in your hemisphere). Or perhaps the tea and leaf watching is the perfect companion for Cloud Cuckoo Land. Either way, do it.

Set in 1453 in Constantinople, present day (or thereabouts) Idaho (USA) and alongside young Konstance who lives on an “interstellar ship” far into the future, this book not only challenged but intrigued me from its first pages.

Interspersed with Doerr’s prose is another saga of epic proportions that I cannot begin to pretend I understand. What I do know is that the two sets of words are woven together in a way that you cannot ignore, you cannot fully understand and you cannot be sure of. This is not a light read. It’s going to leave you, as it left me, with probing ideas and questions about what we seek in this life, what we seek in others, and how we rush to fill gaps.


Image shows a Kindle e-reader with the cover of a book. The book is an advance reader copy of Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. RM.

I was trying to think about who my favourite character is but can’t quite put my finger on it. Each time I choose one of the figures who drove the plot forward I can’t help but hold up another and say, but without one there is no other. Or at least not in the way that we find them meshed together in the pages of this work. And yet each character acts so much on their own, takes charge of their life, of their future, works alone, walks alone.

I have to wonder if there is significance to the strong female characters being not of this time, but instead of tomorrow and yesterday, as compared with the male characters being of today (relatively so). But then again there are whispers of strong female characters in the children who, inexplicably, yet understandably, are at the very center of it all. I won’t linger too much on this but it did come to me as I reflected on the stories.

My usual genre is historical fiction. Right now a huge trend in that genre seems to be the multiple perspective format through which we live a story in the “present” and the “past.” In Doerr’s work he uses multiple characters and periods to bring a story about perseverance, loss and love, to life.

Those of you who are a touch more philosophical than I may read even deeper into this work. I think I would benefit from a second reading but also know that my current TBR list and other priorities won’t permit that. So I’ll relive it in my mind, playing through various scenes and acts, just as if it were a play being acted out on different stages but for the same audience. Understanding only at the end how the people, the places and the story, come together. Piecing together the pieces, only just as the characters do. Learning their secrets. Learning who else was in on it. And wondering, all the while, about the gaps. Doerr masterfully gives us just enough information to be both satisfied and unsatisfied. To want more, and be okay with the work as it is. To know that it, in its 24 chapters further subdivided by people and places, is enough. How could it not be?

And that my friends is what I think we call the power of literature.

DNF at 50%.

I just could not get into this storyline whatsoever. I gave it my all and really tried to push through but I think at the half way point I should really just give up hope. I can’t see myself enjoying it at all, even if I did finish.

I did expect this to be more historical fiction based but it truly ended being way too heavy on Greek mythology and science fiction. The overly descriptive writing style made it read more like a textbook rather than an actual story.

The book is told in three timelines. The Past, Present and Future. Each timeline having multiple different characters and points of view. I didn’t feel any connection with any of the characters. Very emotionally detached from the story.

The chapters are almost too short and change too often, leaving the reader confused and scattered. The writing has so many metaphors in it , making me feel like I can’t just read the story for how it is, but instead I have to look deeper into what the author is truly telling me, making it an extremely complex read.

I do not think this book is for everyone. I definitely think you have to have some pretty specific topics of interest and really enjoy extremely detailed literature. Will be interesting to see how people perceive this book once it comes available in stores.

Thanks so much Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out September 27th, 2021.

This ARC was provided by Scribner, and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

It's not every day where you find a book that makes you wonder why we need to categorize and organize by genre–while delightfully playing in the conventions and tropes that can only exist when there's a set of rules to follow and rules to break. Anthony Doerr weaves together an array of genres into a tightrope that he walks nimbly from beginning to end. Ambition is found on every page of Cloud Cuckoo Land–every bit as fantastical as the famed book tying every story together.

To delve too deeply into the plot is to take away some of the magic of the story Doerr crafts. Across generations, nations, and ages, the disparate assortment of characters is each touched by the mythical tale of Cloud Cuckoo Land and the sole surviving manuscript–even if it's in less than pristine condition.

Ensembles can be a challenge to pull off. There might be a character or two that come across as extraneous–or maybe their voices are too similar to stand as individual parts of the tale. The worst thing in a large cast is to know there are chapters waiting in the wings that you can't wait to skip. Doerr, of course, avoids these pitfalls, and each character feels instrumental to the novel. Even the POV character I had no affection for was as compelling as every other voice in the book–in some ways, more so given our differing opinions of humanity and the world. Doerr imbues nuance and humanity into his cast, never opting for an easy trope when there are further internal complications to examine. For a novel that plays with the conventions and cliches of historical fiction, sci-fi, lit-fic, and mythology, his true-to-life characters are remarkable.

With the assortment of genres Cloud Cuckoo Land is juggling, you'd think there would be issues with the consistency of the tone–but the novel handles the mythic and the mundane with great aplomb. Aside from direct breaks in the story, which foreground each chapter, questions of AI morality stand easily alongside accounts of weaving in ancient Constantinople and of a lonely man's daily routine with his stepmother. Most importantly, as a reader, both the fantastical and everyday are a delight to read.

Coming into Cloud Cuckoo Land, I wasn't expecting a David Mitchell-tinged take on matters of mythology, storytelling, and human connection, but Anthony Doerr has made a novel with enough heart to carry its grand and lofty genre expectations.

I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley, in conjunction with the author and Simon & Schuster Canada. Thanks for the early read opportunity, in exchange for my review.

Multiple timelines with multiple characters, all tied together by an ancient book - written by Anthony Doerr? The premise ticked all the boxes for this fan of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Atlas.

Two things kept me from loving this book as much as I'd hoped:
1) The short chapters - It's kind of funny, because short chapters really worked well in All the Light We Cannot See and The Music of Bees, which I recently read. But where there were 2 or 3 characters in a single timeline in those two books, there are three fairly extended timelines with five main characters between them in Cloud Cuckoo Land. The mental overhead required to keep everything straight took away from my enjoyment of those characters' stories, particularly over the first half to two-thirds of the book. Over the last third of the book, the short chapters worked very well, as I was keen to know what happened next in each of the storylines.
2) My need to work through how I could relate to the main characters, each of whom has a unique aspect to their appearance, their interests, their worldview, their sexual identify or some other trait. Early on, I had the thought that these characters were almost caricatures of those unique aspects. But Doerr's writing ultimately showed me how the characters and their experiences were shaped by those unique features, and I perceived them as fully-developed and complex individuals.

As for what I really liked/loved, here are three that don't involve spoilers:
1) The thread that ties the timelines and characters together is an ancient codex containing the minor Greek tale of Aethon, a shepherd who wants to reach a magical land in the clouds. As an avid reader myself, I appreciated how each of the characters related to Aethon's difficult journey to Cloud Cuckoo Land - in some ways similarly and in other ways quite differently. And I enjoyed discovering how the physical form of tale of Aethon was itself a part of the story;
2) That each timeline and its respective characters is rich enough that it could be a satisfying, stand-alone read; and
3) The surprise ending to Konstance's journey on the interstellar ship Argos kept me thinking about this book long after I closed the cover of my e-reader.

Take your time reading the first half to two-thirds of this book. Make notes if they'll help you keep the timelines and characters straight. But whatever you do, stick it out to the back half where what 'til then is mostly a 3-star novel slowly transforms to 5+ stars.

I was thrilled to get an ARC of this book, having read All the Light We Cannot See and enjoying it immensely, I was eagerly looking forward to this book. And I was not disappointed. There are some similarities in writing style with this book and All the Light We Cannot See, the story is told through various individuals, in this case five, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno and Konstance, each chapter is fairly short. Konstance is on an interstellar ship on her way with a number of others, to a distant planet after Earth has become inhabitable. Anna and Omeir are on opposite sides of a battle for the city of Constantinople, Anna within the walls of the city, Omeir part of the army trying to break down the walls. Seymour and Zeno both live in Idaho in present day, Zeno is a retired municipal worker, Seymour is a youth that has gotten caught up with a militant type group that wants to cause havoc. In between the chapters there is the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land from a book that dates back (probably) hundreds of years, the story was written on the hide of an animal and is about a fool who wishes he lived a better life, he may have gotten his wish when he is transformed into an animal, this is where the saying, be careful what you wish for would apply. The author does a brilliant job of building the backstory for each individual and setting the stage for interactions between the characters, Cloud Cuckoo Land the bridge to each character interaction, the ending is an absolute stunner. Highly recommend and I look forward to the next work, hopefully it will be soon! Biggest thanks to the publisher Scribner and Netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this novel! Difficult to describe, but a joy to discover. I loved learning how each of the characters was connected to the manuscript and to each other.

It's slow paced, but I didn't mind that at all. It gives the characters a chance to breathe and there are a lot to meet here. But none of them feel superfluous and each serve a purpose to the overall narrative.

Some may quibble with the ending, but I liked it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Shuster for this ARC. I’m really very sorry, I started this and could not finish. I had a very hard time following the storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land
A Novel by Anthony Doerr...published by Simon & Schuster Canada
I was surprised by this novel, as I have read All the Light we Cannot see and absolutely loved it. I was so excited to be chosen to read this novel. Well I feel I am in the minority when I say I did not enjoy this book. It was written about 3 very different time periods and character experiences, I could not comprehend at first what was going on and it seemed to be based on another book, work of fiction or underlying theme that I was not aware of or familiar with. I found the story very confusing and gave it my best attempt. It was just not my cup of tea. Overall I would not recommend this novel

I had very high expectations for this book before I grabbed it but I was disappointed. I am very comfortable with sci-fi, fantasy books in general. I can follow complex narratives but it took a lot of effort for me to follow this book, with so many stories happening in different time periods at the same time. The timelines were changing, chapters were moving on before I was able to grab what just happened here. The writing was great but this book is not for me.

Each of the main characters in this book could have been the protagonist within their own novel; however, the author creates a common thread that connects their stories in the form of an Ancient Greek tale of Aethon, a shepherd who wants to reach a magical land in the clouds. The tablets, papyrus codex, translated book, and finally the copy made from the virtual reality library aboard the futuristic Argos spaceship, are the means of passing this tale on through the centuries. The characters and storylines are all well-developed and, if you enjoy reading novels that skip back and forth between time, space, and characters, this book is up your alley. Although many of the characters are children, because of violent and mature content, I would rate this as young adult/adult and probably not appropriate for younger readers.

I loved this novel! The book was so visual. The stories, the structure and the characters in each time period were phenomenal - all interconnected through the love of stories and the need to pass them along to future generations.
Each plot felt like it's own stand-alone novella with 5 main characters in the novel. It was truly superb writing and Doer is at his finest!
I hope Cloud Cuckoo Land will be recognized for it's brilliance and beauty.

I really tried hard to like and understand this book. I couldn’t keep track of what was going on and I still don’t understand it.

I was so intrigued about how these different timelines were going to weave together. It was a rough start for me, but I soon felt the stories pulling me along deeper into the novel. Each character and timeline is so unique, I never once was lost or confused. This novel left me wanting more. A remarkably well-woven story that spans not the earliest of EArth's history, but a future world as well.

I was excited to read Doerr's latest book after the thrill of reading All the Light I Couldn't See, which was my all-time favourite novel.
Cloud Cuckoo Land took me a while to get into due to the structure of four protagonists, which switched constantly. I was glad I had some background in Greek mythology and Greek writers otherwise I would have been quite confused, even lost.
I'm glad I persevered to the end when Doerr brought everything together.
There is a strong throughline of morality, social justice, and environmental concerns. Symbolism abounds.
I appreciated Doerr's skill but found that Cloud Cuckoo Land did not wow me in the way All the Light did. I will read it again and, no doubt, will enjoy it even more as I discover more layers and ideas.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't all it was chocked up to be, at least not for me. I didn't even finish it.

This book was totally ans utterly confusing and quite frankly I haven't the slightest clue what it was about. I sat down excited to read a novel that would sweep me up and instead it left me wondering how anyone could get through it and keep track of the characters and storyline.