Incredible book. An intriguing eye-opener. So many ways to live and so many ways to die. A pandemic book that is tastefully written for our time and the future. All the stories intertwined, as do our lives without us even knowing. How one person touches another who in turn touches another. No matter who we are, where we live or the language we speak, we are all connected in the dark.

I've been trying to figure out how to review this book for weeks and still haven't come up with the right words to describe this beautifully crafted, yet utterly gutting, near future dystopian novel. Just thinking about the novel brings back swells of emotion and a sense of stillness, similar to just having a therapeutic cry.

The novel is built around a pandemic from a virus released after climate change has melted the permafrost, but it's not a book about the pandemic or climate change for that matter, but about our reactions to the devastation of so much human loss. Each section is like a short story but interrelated, one tumbling into another, similar to Cloud Cuckoo Land, but with more storylines. A full cast of excellent narrators differentiates each storyline for the audiobook. There are notions from this book, like a euthanasia amusement park for children, that will haunt me for a long time.

This could he a huge book in 2022 if enough people have the courage to read it.

Rarely do I want to read a book multiple times, but after finishing this book, I found myself going back to the beginning to read through it again! How High We Go in the Dark is disastrously beautiful in its ability to capture humanity's response to tragedy. Hope is the last thing I would expect to feel after reading a book about a plague considering our current times, but somehow I left this book feeling hopeful and excited about the many possibilities we hold for our future. I believe that those who love short stories will find the structure of this book especially intriguing. I'm so glad this is one of the books I started the new year with! Here's to unfailing love and possibility in 2022!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins publishers for the opportunity to read this book prepublication through an uncorrected E-proof.

4.4 stars

CW(*): death, organ harvesting, euthanasia, and animal experimentation.

WHAT DOES A PANDEMIC REALLY MEAN TO HUMANKIND?

Reading is a great form of escapism and during the Covid-19 pandemic difficult times, instead of uplifting stories, we may feel drawn to pandemic and other dystopian/apocalyptic stories; perhaps because we want to imagine ourselves or our heroes overcoming similar hardships. What would we do in extraordinary circumstances? Could we survive a dystopian world?

If you find yourself in this reading mood and craving another character-driven literary dystopian like Station Eleven . Then this is the book for you!

You’ll love these slow-burn, character centered stories that explore the human dimension and the “what if”s of apocalyptic events.

What happens to our consciousness or our souls when we are in a coma or suspended animation?

What happen to us, humankind, deep down when faced with the possibility of the end of "life as we know it"? What are our deepest fears and how do we cope with them? What kind of people do we become? How far are we willing to go to survive?

Would you grow and harvest organs from animals if it meant to save your loved ones? Would you help your loved ones end their lives to end their suffering?

You most likely enjoy this book if you enjoy reading books like Station Eleven, Cloud Atlas, Piranesi, The Road, Blindness, Bird Box and books of these categories:

DYSTOPIA/APOCALYPTIC | FAMILY | LITERARY FICTION | METAFICTION | PHILOSOPHICAL | SCI-FI | SPECULATIVE FICTION | SURVIVAL

From euthanasia theme parks to robot dogs and doomsday cults, “How High We Go in the Dark” manages to handle absurd situations with a great deal of heart. It remains grounded in both the pain and the comfort of loss while also evoking a keen awareness of the infinite.

When scientists stumble across an ancient cavern buried in the arctic ice, they unwittingly unleash a plague that will devastate the world for decades if not centuries to come.

Written as a series of short stories, this book tells the tale of a global pandemic from many different perspectives. The characters are all loosely connected to one another, and most of the narrators are either Japanese or Japanese-American, but each has a unique experience and perspective to offer and each sees the pandemic through a different lens. Some are scientists, some artists, some are just trying to find work in a world where death care is the new #1 industry.

I appreciated that the plague depicted in this book is nothing like any plague we've experienced before. It eludes scientists for many years-they aren't even sure how it spreads-and the way it affects the human body is very unusual. For those reasons it did not remind me too much of our recent pandemic experience. In fact, I would venture to say that this is the only pandemic-themed novel I've had any interest in reading over the last couple of years. Most of them just veer too close to reality for me.

Exploring themes of loneliness, isolation, and loss, this book can be quite difficult to get through, especially in the beginning. However, the core message of the book is one of hope and I encourage you to persist through the descriptions of fractured families and deteriorating bodies (living and dead). Through the child euthanasia theme parks and telepathic pigs, and let the story take you to where it's going. Because the core of this story is worth it, and while I would not describe the journey as “fun” per se, I did find the presence of the unusual, the strange, the-dare I say-whimsical, to provide enough levity to help me through the more difficult, emotional scenes.

I listened to the audiobook, and found that the book leant itself very well to the format. Featuring 14 different narrators across 15 stories, each new voice actor tells us the story from a new perspective. Many of the narrators are men, but there is a mix of voices throughout the book.

This book takes its topic seriously and does not sugarcoat the realities of living through a pandemic. Trigger warnings include children suffering and dying, and detailed descriptions of decaying bodies.

This is a stunning book that traces a worldwide pandemic (and fortunately, looks nothing like the one we are currently in) through the lenses of different people. I enjoyed the audiobook allowing different narrators to tell each story, as it enabled me to be drawn even more into their unique perspectives. I was moved to tears several times. This book is a meditation on the trajectory of humanity and how we make connections, and it will certainly be a talked-about book in 2022.

This book was so interesting and well done but also sad and slightly terrifying in its realism. It seemed so plausible that this could come true and I needed a lighter book. I will definitely come back to this one when I’m in the right mood for it. I loved it so far.

This debut novel in linked short stories delves via speculative fiction and science fiction into death, grief, and the different ways in which we deal with loss. The stories progress from the near-future, in which a global plague overtakes humanity, toward a hopeful future both on Earth and among the stars. But along the way, the stories/chapters deal with climate crises, ethics, and other heavy and immediately-topical themes. Though there is light here and there and at the end of the novel, this is a heavy read in general. Worthwhile but heavy. Elements include a talking pig, funerary skyscrapers, euthanasia theme parks, elegy hotels. The world becomes ripe for the funerary and grief industries to dominate commerce and culture. I felt gutted by each of the stories, particularly by "Pig Son," as it is performed in the audio version. I shed tears even now thinking of the story, and a lump in my throat forms as I revisit the overall arc of the novel. I loved it 4, maybe 4.5, stars' worth. 

[Thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy in exchange for my opinion.]

If you can stomach the devastation and get through to the end (which I will admit, I almost didn’t), you’ll look back and marvel at the creativity in this book. Talking pigs, euthanasia rollercoasters, a black hole living in someone’s mind…all things that seem crazy but also somehow grounded in our current reality.

At moments, this book made me feel physically ill with sadness, but I somehow still don’t regret reading this.

Take a imaginary mind bending trip in Sequoia Nagamatsu's science fiction debut novel "How High We Go In The Dark".

In 2030, Dr. Cliff is grieving the loss of his daughter Clara. Complicating the sadness, Clara leaves behind a young daughter named Yumi. To honor Clara and deal with his grief, Dr Cliff goes to the Batagaika Crater in Siberia. This crater is the location of Clara's death and Dr. Cliff wants to finish Clara's research. When Dr. Cliff arrives at the crater, he encounters a ancient perfectly preserved thirty-thousand year old little girl that has died of a mysterious virus. Clara's has lovingly named the little girl Annie. This archeological find brings on a plague that will change the course of mankind for many years to come. This is Dr. Cliff's chance to find a cure, but what will happen on his quest?

In some ways this book is a series of short stories involving the character's Dr. Cliff, Maksim, Yulia, Dave, Cliff, Skip, and Dennis. The author beautifully intertwines the characters lives and connects the stories.

I was privileged to read the book on Kindle while following along with the Audiobook. Both be published January 18, 2022. The audiobook is narrated by a full cast for maximum listening pleasure.

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Audio, William Morrow and Custom House for the e-book and audiobook.

A great new voice for sci fi. It was an interesting story that spans decades. I liked how the author tries to tell a tale of how humanity can try to rebuild after a climate crisis.

Wow… this was a hard book to read. It was incredible, and so well written and executed, but also really tough because the entire book revolves around a plague and sometimes it felt like it was hitting a bit too close to home.
I honestly feel like I’ve been wrung out after reading this. Despite there being a lot of really heavy parts, there is also a lot of hope in it.
The book is a collection of lightly connected short stories, going chronologically from the discovery of the Arctic Plague in 2030 through to a bit further in the future, where some of the stories are about space travel and searching for a new earth. Thankfully the plague in this story is not similar to our current situation, in that it’s not transmitted in the same way, so there aren’t the same sort of precautions, and there aren’t many parallels.
While overall I think this is a hopeful book, there were some terribly sad chapters. There is one about a euthanasia theme park for sick children that just about broke me (so much ugly crying), and one where someone has decided to donate their body to science when they die, but then that kind of starts while he’s still alive once he gets infected (I cried for most of that chapter).
I was really impressed by the uniqueness of this book. It is beautifully written and the stories are so unlike anything I’ve read before. I can’t imagine coming up with ideas like a euthanasia theme park or eulogy hotels, and then so deftly weaving these stories in with the more mundane stories of personal relationships and also the more sci-fi stories of space exploration.

I’m not sure I can give this book enough praise. It’s by far my favorite thing I’ve read this year, and will linger with me forever. A collection of short stories within the same world, featuring interconnected characters, sometimes thousands of years apart —these touching, riveting sci-fi stories of normal people overcoming peril, brings out the best of what humanity has to offer and puts it on display with pinpoint precision and stunning beauty. Applause all around.

How High We go in the Dark will astound and captivate listeners with both the depth and urgency of the story and the high production value of the audiobook format, read by a diverse cast. The story begins in the Arctic Circle with a grief-stricken father following in the footsteps of his adventurous researcher daughter, traverses to a near future, plague-ridden Japan, then launches readers into the farthest reaches of the universe on a mission to flee a dying planet and colonize outer space, and quietly returns into a world of possibility, redemption, stasis and flux. Artfully crafted vignettes trace the evolution and lineage of the human race as children, parents, siblings, lovers, friends, colleagues, doctors, patients, adventurers, scientists, victims, profiteers, and visionaries partake grand voyages, observe the human condition, dream, and explore destiny and life after death. This story is highly relevant in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, but will continue to impact readers after the immediacy of our current situation passes because of the author’s graceful, poignant, and humorous depictions of interconnectedness, curiosity, and continuity. This book can be cataloged as a work of speculative, cautionary fiction that will enthrall readers who enjoy dystopias and technology, and will appeal to fans of epic science fiction. Depictions of robotics, cryo-technology, forensics and future entertainments ring of authenticity and the cast of characters are compelling and well-read.

Ahhhh-mazing! I loved everything about this audiobook: the narrators, the intertwined storylines, the way it all circled back at the end. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this.

I read this book before I listened to the audio version, and I have to say I enjoyed reading the book more than listening to it. That's not to diminish the wonderful cast of narrators who do a magnificent job of reading the story, it's just that this book was so intensely personal, so real to me, that I had already given the characters voices in my imagination. This is such an extraordinary book, I think it will resonate with both readers and listeners

How High We Go in the Dark completely lives up to the hype and the audiobook adaptation is excellent. An obvious first purchase for general fiction collections.

I was excited for this read given its comparison to Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven, a favourite of mine, but found the subject matter to be extremely disturbing and not what was anticipated.

The narration was done very well, and the writing style was enjoyable.

Appreciated the ambition concept and scope of this novel. Unfortunately found the focus on attempting to personalize every piece to be overwrought. The endless first-person narratives became drone-like for this reader. So much so that it became difficult to enjoy the actual storyline.

For fans of Station Eleven, Cloud Atlas, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and some of the novels of AS King. This is a beautiful and terrible look at the way a devastating plague might/will shape our communities and our world, even after the danger has passed. The possible realities of climate change, too, are represented here. So many of the events and trends depicted in the book are things I would not have thought of, but do make so much sense - I see how things could turn out this way for us.

This is my favorite type of science fiction: stories that explore the consequences of something with roots in science, through the lens of daily life. Events may be happening on a global scale or an individual one, but they are always relayed in a personal way, and I feel what it would be like to be every one of these characters. When listening, I cried, I felt overwhelmed, I missed the people in my own life, I sat with the characters' pain. I don't often do that in a book - call me clinical, but I am usually appreciating only the language or the plot, and keep a pretty clear division between myself and the characters. But this book hit me! Which is not to say that the language and the plot are not solid, because they are. But there is an impressive emotional depth that I think will resonate with most people, and which I think will shelve this book among my favorites.

Many thanks to @Netgalley for the advance audio copy, and to the author, Sequoia Nagamatsu, for appearing at Library Journal's Day of Dialogue! I heard you speak about this title and I clearly downloaded and listened to it right away :)