A little more dystopian than I generally prefer, and I think I would have been better served reading the first book before I went into this one, but very interesting world building. I really started to get into the story once all the storylines started to come together!

Hugh Howey is hands down one of my all-time favorite science fiction/futurist authors, and it was well worth the six-year wait for his latest book, which continues his Sand Chronicles. You don’t have to, but I would recommend reading Sand first, as this new book jumps in where the first novel in this series left off.

Generations far in the future, the cities of Earth have become buried deep under sand. The rugged survivors of humanity located in former Colorado either cluster in a smallish new city on top of the sand or live out in the desert sand-diving to bring up spoils of humanity’s past civilization and sell these. Some of the barely surviving desert dwellers head into the city seeking refuge but instead become brutally enslaved and forced to mine for ore. Animosity runs deep between the two factions of humanity, to the point of seeking to destroy each other.

Howey’s tale focuses on two families: a talent dessert sand-diver clan of four surviving siblings and their mom, having lost both their father and oldest sister who were two of the greatest sand divers ever. One of the brothers discovered the buried city of “Danvar” (Denver eroded over time) and the youngest brother has a unique talent for restoring old technology. The other family: a father and daughter from the city, where the father both oversees the mines and also goes on mysterious assignments, and the daughter has befriended one of the prisoners.

City and desert dwellers collide in a thrilling adventure – from swashbuckling times riding sand surfers to being sand-imprisoned by tech-wielding sand nomads – all with a looming threat of catastrophic destruction. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and marveling at Howey’s great capacity for powerful world building.

Thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

I enjoyed this book, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been nearly a decade since I read the previous novel, Sand, though. I found myself spending much of the first third trying to remember what happened, who people were and how much time had passed.
I recommend brushing up before diving into this one, but when once you do you’re in for a hell of a ride.
As Across The Sand is a sequel much of the world building and intricacies of the physics, tech and logistics of sand diving takes a back seat to character growth and development.

While there is a big adventure at play in this cris-crossing ensamble story what it all really comes down to is a story about family and loyalty to one another.
The world of Hugh Howey’s Sand books reminds me of the nineties classic(?) Waterworld except, you know, the opposite… the lives these people live are small but fulfilled and the societies are all build to living in the conditions that exist. Diving for scrap from the world bellow is profitable, but no one is longing for anything more, potentially because they’re unaware of anything different.

Plot wise I felt an influence of the video game The Last Of Us Part 2. This is a story that follows its own path but is set in motion by the sins of our fathers, or brothers, or sisters. The different points of view we see throughout the book paint a clear picture that no one is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but that those concepts are simply a matter of perspective.
With a filmic pace and structure I was kept turning the page constantly in the second half of this book and because it had that tone I wasn’t completely surprised by the after credits scene at the end, I only mention it hear in case someone misses it.
With that in mind I can only asume Howey has more to say in this world, I just hope it comes sooner than this sequel.

Hugh Howey always seems to deliver! Great read but I do recommend reading Sand first. I always enjoy his story lines and this one when it all connected at the end was fabulous! Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for the review copy!

Hugh Howey is the master of science fiction world - building. Across the Sand is an excellent sequel to his masterful Sand, featuring the same family of protagonists. Set in the harsh dystopian world where a family of sand divers search for scrap in the buried skyscrapers that were once part of Denver. Across the Sand is sure to satisfy Howey’s fans. Highly commended for sci- fi fans wishing for more background on the political structure of Howey’s epic Sand.

Unfortunately, I was unable to load this book onto my Kinde Fire tablet. I tried reading it using my iPhone, but it’s not comfortable for me and I couldn’t stay focused on the story. I have a Kindle for a reason, mostly for NetGalley, to be honest. I tried downloading other apps, but the Kindle Fire is just not compatible with the NetGalley Shelf app.

I’ve read everything else Hugh Howey has written, and would have liked to have read Across The Sand. My reading time is precious to me when I get it and I don’t want to spend my time trying to mess around trying to find and load a workable app on my eReader. I’d rather spend that time reading a book that lets us use Kindles.

I’m so sorry. If you change your mind and decide to release a Kindle friendly version, I’m there. Let me know. Until that time, I’ll be marking this book as a DNF due to the availability of formats.

TW/CW: Violence

RATING: 3/5

REVIEW:

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Across the Sand is the sequel to Sand, which I read a couple of years ago. I would suggest that if you haven’t read it, you might read that first and then read that one. Even if you read it a few years ago like me, it might be worth it to have a refresher.

So, the good first.

Howey is excellent at building worlds. He really brings the world to life, a whole culture with what feels like more under the surface. New tech, new cultural mores, new ways for people to interact. It’s all in there, making what I feel is the most interesting part of this book – the world itself.

Howey is also a good writer. If he wasn’t, there was no way I would have made it through this book.

And the bad…

I’m sorry to all the people who seem to like it, but this book was so boring! At 50% I was still trying to figure out what the plot was, and really nothing happened except in the last 10-20% of the book? And even the final resolution was a bit anticlimactic. He may be great at creating worlds but plots? not so much.

Unless you’ve JUST read Sand, the characters are hard to keep apart. He pretty much just assumes you’ll know them without giving you much of their background, and there were places I was very much confused as to who was who.

Overall, this book is okay. It is well written, which kept me limping along, waiting for things to get interesting, which they only slightly did in the last 20% of the book. If you like sci-fi books with good worldbuilding but snail-slow plots, this is the book for you.

4 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Two sets of young people try to make their way in a post-apocalyptic, desert landscape while their home communities are at odds.

Review
Hugh Howey’s one word titles (Wool, Silo, Shift, Dust, Sand) were originally eye-catching. Now, however, I seem to have trouble telling them apart, though I’ve only read two. Also, perhaps because the stories were originally released in installments, I have difficulty remembering how they fit together. Wool, for example, is the first installment in the Silo series, but later packaged with further installments into a single volume, also titled Wool, and followed by the book Shift, which also comprised several installments, and Dust, which was a more monolithic volume in the series.

Because of all this, I (mis-)understood that Across the Sand, was the start of a follow-on series to Sand, which I have not read. Now that I’ve finished Across the Sand, though, and done some more checking, it looks like Sand was a compendium of installments, to which Across the Sand is a monolothic sequel. Rather than picking up the start of a second series, then, I picked up a current series right in the middle, which I’m loth to do.

The sequencing showed. While Howey takes some steps to let this book work as a standalone, he doesn’t really succeed. It’s always clear that there’s substantial backstory, and that the book would work better for readers who knew it. Even – and perhaps especially – at the end, I was substantially confused by two or more sets of inter-related children, all of whom seemed to have partially absent fathers with secrets. I had only the faintest grasp of who was whom and how they all fit together. To make matters worse, the book starts and ends with references to a specific result of the prior book (or installments).

Despite all that, the book is well written, with Howey’s usual firm hand and interesting, engaging characters facing difficult decisions. I wavered between 3.5 and 4 stars, but settled on the high side because the book generally moves well. It’s got interesting concepts in it as well, but they’re never really explained; presumably the first book does so in detail.

All in all, a good read, but only recommended for those who have read the first book.

I want to start off with a big thank you to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager and Hugh Howey for an eARC.

Hugh Howey is am amazing author and story teller. After reading Wool I have been hooked ever since. Across the Sand was another great story that keeps you turning the pages. While I didn't enjoy this one as much as the Wool stories, it was great. Howey's world building is top notch. From Wool and all the Silo series books to Beacon 23 and The Hurricane. You can't go wrong with Hugh Howey.

My only compliant would be about Netgalley (sorry) with this one. This was the first book I have been approved for that would only let me read in the app. At first that was hard to get used to, but got better as the story went on. Now I know what to look for when requesting future books that may only be allowed to be read within the app.

Book received for free through NetGalley

Oh my goodness!!! It’s been years since I read Silo and Sand but oh my. Once I got into it and the story started coming back I couldn’t put it down. It’s completely crazy in all the good ways and amazing!! Thanks for continuing the story.

I love Hugh Howey books Wool and Beacon 23 but with the title not releasing to kindle on netgalley I can not read it. I would love too for my followers, but it 's Hugh Howey and will read it eventually. I would rater you send this book to someone who can review it.

Was a fantastic book. I enjoyed it very much. It was interesting and caught my attention from the very start and I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. Definitely recommend everyone read it.

This is a sequel to Sand, published 8 years ago. While I enjoyed this dystopian novel, I wish I had re-read Sand before diving back into this world.

Hugh Howey has a remarkable writing style that is so abrupt, so focused, you never have a chance not to become immersed in his worlds. This one though, is tricky because the original book "Sand" was put out 8 years ago so, yes this book can just be picked up and read but, it would be better if you re-read Sand first because this is, in fact, a direct sequel. Which I did not because I just wanted to get into the world.

This entry is a little more sentimental but well worth your time.

Hugh Howey's style is easy to read. I do not find his storytelling particularly original. There are plenty of ideas in his books to sustain my interest, but the writing lacks flair and the characters are not always approachable.

I read "Across the Sand" not knowing that it was a sequel until the afterword. While the book worked very well as a standalone novel, I think I would have had a deeper experience if I'd read the first novel, Sand. I plan to read Sand next.

I picked this novel up because I love apocalypse stories, and Hugh Howey told one of the best I've ever read in his Silo Saga. The Wool omnibus, in particular is a masterwork of apocalyptic fiction. Across the Sand seems to be set in the same universe, but the connection is loose, and it very much has its own unique feel and tone.

This novel is science fiction, but it has a fantastical element that I enjoyed. The cast of characters experience realistic, appreciated growth throughout the story, and the different points of view weave together in a wonderful way.

I highly recommend this book, and while I wish I hadn't read out of order, I'm glad I have another in the series to enjoy.

The 6th book in the Sand series is typical and wonderful Hugh Howey tale. Dystopian world, this time buried in sand, with rivals fighting out how to survive. It has been some time since I last read this series, so I requested this review copy to see how well the book reads after a long break of the story lines and characters. At first I struggled to remember how all the pieces fit together and felt I was missing a lot of context for the actions of the characters. I put the book down for a few days, and when I returned, I dove back in, excited to see how the story unfolded. I raced to the finish as the characters raced across the sand. For Hugh Howey fans, this is a definite must read. I would recommend rereading the earlier Sand series books for a fuller understanding. As a stand alone book, it was worth the read, but I feel I connected with it at a more superficial level, missing out on the complexities that makes Howey's books so engaging.

Howey's Sand books have long been some of my most favorite dystopian novels. Now, he returns to that world, generations later and things don't seem to have improved much for the descendants of the characters from the first books. Yes, Howey's books are bleak, but they offer a glimpse of hope in the form of his characters, flawed but with a core of strength and genuine decency.

Howie delivers another post-apocalyptic masterpiece with Across the Sand. For those who have read his amazing Wool books, this is slightly different in story but equally brilliant in plot and big ideas. I just love reading Howie's books because I know he is going to give me a wild ride while injecting some of his trademark suspense and mystery as well. If you like your SF dark, sometimes violent, but with out of this world intrigue and characterization, this one should be on the top of your list. A more complete review will be going up on the blog shortly!

High Howey is great as ever. However, I got a review copy only available on the NetGalley app and pages were missing which made the story hard to follow and give a complete review of the story.