I received a complimentary ARC copy of The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. One part travelogue, one part dystopian rail trip set at the turn of the century (the twentieth century, not some far-flung future time) the Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands is an odd, quirky little book. As an odd, quirky little reader, this largely appeals to me. Brooks' writing is somewhat unsettling in what I found to be relative sparseness and replete with idiosyncrasy.

Much like steampunk stories, Brooks weaves two disparate ideas - a futuristic wasteland outside the train, which seems intent on killing those inside the train and a turn-of-the-twentieth century sensibility within the locomotive. Both worlds work but this reader never truly felt grounded in either place. The characters are vivid and yet largely incorporeal as is the setting itself for much of the novel. The reader knows we are taking a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad from China to Siberia, knows that the Company controls the train and those who work aboard it, knows that the world outside is a dangerous place, and knows there's an interloper, a free-rider, aboard the locomotive, but much like wading through a fog enshrouded world, details are sometimes hard to make out and it's challenging to find one's footing.

If this reviewer makes it sound as if he didn't enjoy the journey as a fellow cautious traveller, that's not quite right. Indeed, it's the journey, not the destination, that makes this trip worth the price of the train fare. At the end of the novel, this reviewer is glad to have taken the excursion, even if it was sometimes a strange journey.

Sarah Brooks’ book had me interested as soon as I saw the title. Then a little dive into the synopsis and it became clear I was destined to like this novel. I cannot pass up anything with a turn of the century style setting and then being placed on a train through a wasteland. Yes, please!

I will say I was happily invested in the stories of Weiwei, the child of the train, and Marya, the determined daughter looking for justice. The rest of the characters seem to be a bit shallow and took a backseat during the story, even though some of them had very important parts to play as the story moved along.

The way the author depicted the train and the wasteland was well written. I do believe you could feel yourself immersed in the movement of the train and the wild happenings inside the train and outside in the wasteland. My only complaint is that the book tended to travel slowly through most chapters. For some reason I expected a faster tempo, but all in all not a disappointing read.

I recommend this book highly if you liked the adventures of Snowpiercer, meshed with What Moves the Dead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron for the opportunity to read this book in digital form.

Incredibly cool premise that does not live up to the blurb I fear! At first glance the story seemed rich with promise: late 19th century continental Eurasia is thrown into turmoil when a swath of land from Moscow to Beijing is transformed overnight into a strange, alien land (hello, Annihilation!). A protected train is build to traverse "The Wastelands", and passengers & crew live in uneasy harmony as they risk their lives and their sanity on each crossing.

Unfortunately, the plot & characters rapidly fall short of this intriguing concept. The cast could have been plucked directly from an Agatha Christie novel (minus an airtight plot to shore them up), falling neatly into archetypes that lack nuance & compelling backstory. The only narrative threads I was interested in following were those of the crew member Weiwei and the enigmatic cartographer Suzuki. The plot landed closer to slow and pensive rather than drawn-out and tense, bogged down by repetitive scenes of Weiwei dashing through the train or Marya wringing her hands about the inevitable discovery of her shabby false identity. The novel also lacked a strong visual component crucial to building atmosphere - I could not properly visualize the train, the passengers, or even the Wastelands itself. Brooks' writing, while strong, was not evocative enough to make me fear the Wastelands, and therefore much of the growing tension built by the Encroaching of Vague Weird Nature was lost on me. The last 1/5 of the novel felt a bit of a mess - very little is ever really explained about the Wastelands despite hints being dangled throughout the story. I've seen similar concepts pull this off to good effect (see again, Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation) but the speed at which Brooks attempts to wrap up the story leaves it feeling unfinished and ultimately unsatisfying.

This mesmerizing and thrilling historical fantasy will delight seasoned steampunk fans and serve as a gateway for newer fantasy readers.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands
Imagine hearing the chugging of the train while sitting in a car with a strange set of characters.
This story is multifaceted…it touches on so many genres: Historical Victorian fantasy with magical elements, a dash of thriller,mystery and a touch of steampunk. With a hint of love. Brooks’ descriptions in this book play out like a movie. In fact this would make a fantastic film…
To travel across the Wastelands, one must board the Trans-Siberian Express… Something awful happened on the train’s last journey…and not a soul can remember.
Can a disgraced naturalist’s curiosity about the flora and fauna of the Wastelands derail the journey? Does the Wasteland want to take back the land around the tracks and rid itself of the train?
I loved this story. So much fun to read and I just kept wanting to read more and not miss a thing. 4.5 stars! Please make this a tv series or film! I’d love to read more from Sarah Brooks. She is such a wonderful storyteller. A massive THANK YOU to Netgalley and Flatiron books for the complimentary digital advanced reader copy for my honest review.

This was one of the weirder books I’ve read in quite some time. I would describe it as a mix between Piranesi, A Letter to the Luminous Deep, and Mexican Gothic.

Set in an alternative nineteenth century Asia and Eastern Europe, the Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands follows a cast of characters travelling by train across a treacherous stretch of land between Beijing and Moscow. As they travel, the barriers between the safety of the train and the supposed danger of the Wastelands come down.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and the way the mystery of the Wastelands unfolds throughout the story. Unfortunately, I never quite felt fully connected to any of the POV characters and wish there had been a bit more explanation for the Wastelands. I’d still recommend it though as probably the most unique book I’ve read so far in 2024, and I have a feeling it’ll stick with me.

This was a beautifully written book that blurred the lines between what's real and what isn't, the industrial world and the natural world. Brooks weaves a rich tapestry of characters and sweeping landscapes, and each traveller entices the reader with their own story unfolding differently along the endless tracks.

This made me think of The Fall of the House of Usher and Murder on the Orient Express, with lots of social commentary and touching moments.

This is a slow burn novel that takes a bit too long to get to the point. I read it on a Kindle, and it was over 60% into the novel when I was just about to give up on it, when finally, things started happening. The story was interesting and different than the usual, and that is what I look for in fiction - something different. I didn't love it, but it wasn't bad either. I found only a couple of the main four or five characters had depth, the rest were fairly flat. Once it got going though, it seemed to rush to the ending, although it occurred to me that this pacing might be deliberate as the movement of a train - starting slowly and gaining momentum. Overall, an OK read, rounded down for the too-long, and in some spots just plain boring build up to when the action begins.

A deliciously surreal fantasy adventure that’s perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer, Erin Moregrnstern, and Susanna Clark.

The Great Trans-Siberian Express is the only train brave, or foolish enough to traverse the shadowy and surreal Wasteland, formerly known as Siberia. Walled up centuries ago due to unexplainable and terrifying changes to the landscape. The train itself is supposed to be impenetrable, but what of its passengers?

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands is a brilliant debut by Sarah Brooks. Filled with a variety of characters and a setting that leaves you simultaneously unsettled and dying for more. While having a slow start, the story starts changing almost imperceptibly into a surreal fantasy that leaves you wanting more. This is a fantastic story for those who love Piranesi or The Southern Reach Trilogy. Thank you to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for providing me with an Advanced Copy in exchange for my honest review.

This richly imaginative book will take you on a journey through the Wastelands, the lush, miraculous, and terrifying expanse once known as Siberia and now known only to the bold travelers how venture on the Trans-Siberian Express. Join Zhang Weiwei, a young woman who was born on the train and has lived there ever since, and a mysterious group of passengers in this sweeping historical fantasy novel.

As a fan of fantasy more so than historical fiction, I found this book slow to start, investing significant time in developing the characters and the lore of the train, but as the journey ensues and danger threatens both inside and outside the train, I found myself eating up the pages, much as a train eats up the track.

I enjoyed the settings, characters, and writing style. The book takes place in 1899 and is organized by days on board over the course of the train's journey across the Wastelands. As a historical fantasy, the story has the perfect balance of magic with an alternate reality that feels all too possible. The writing style is poetic and vivid, and the imagery from several scenes will stay in my head, particularly the descriptions of how the train and the Wastelands are interacting with one another. Several of the characters on board the train have their own secrets, which is combined with the overall mystery of the events of the last crossing. I liked the exploration of our relationship with the natural world, which feels just as relevant today as it did in the 1899 setting. Most of the character arcs were satisfying (including a slight mystery in one), but I did want more closure/details for some. The ending paragraph leaves a beautigul image and really speaks to the meaning and responsibilities of exploration and what it means to be connected with the land. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys naturalism, train settings, or historical fantasy.

I am absolutely dumbstruck. Sarah Brooks’ The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wasteland is one of the most fun and atmospheric books I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a long time. It’s brimming with adventure, surreal fantasy, hairraising tension, and characters I quickly fell in love with. This book is such a strange amalgamation of heartwarming and horror, but I devoured every bit of it.

The journey follows three passengers aboard the Great Trans-Siberian Express, a rail line stretching from Beijing to Moscow through the transfigured, alien world of the Wastelands: Marya Petrovna, a widow returning to her native Russia, or at least that’s the easy lie she tells to her fellow passengers.

"She will be sly, and watchful, and all the things her mother taught her not to be."

Henry Grey, a disgraced scientist who will do anything to save his reputation, and believes his chance might await him aboard the train.

"He has always felt it– the natural world waiting for him, challenging him. When he looks Heavenwards every bird is writing on the sky in words he longs to understand."

Zhang Weiwei, the child of the train, born and raised amidst the bustling carriages, who knows every secret of the train. Except, some secrets are harder to keep than others.

"She puts her fingers to the window. It calms her, the eager, hungry pull of the engine, the rhythm of the rails, as though the glass is charged with energy, dancing beneath her skin."

Watching these characters descend into the unearthly landscape of the Wastelands was a ride in and of itself. The train truly felt alive, crowded with an amazing ensemble of characters and creatures. Unraveling the tightly written mysteries of the train, and its passengers, was so enjoyable to read, and by the end I really didn’t know what to expect. This is honestly an odd story to pin down, but it is enjoyably reminiscent of Annihilation, if it took place in Siberia on a steampunk train in 1899. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those looking for a weirdly fantastical, alternate history adventure with an incredible cast of characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks was an incredible debut novel that I could very much see myself returning to due to its vast richness. The story takes us through the travails and travels of the Trans-Siberian Railway, traversing between Beijing and Moscow at the end of the 19th century. Along this railway is a landscape called the Wastelands, filled with imagined horrors the traveller is encouraged to not attend to for fear of devolving into insanity.

Each section is offset by portions of the eponymous guide written by a trip advisor years earlier. Within each of these portions are chapters written from the perspective of a diverse ensemble of characters. Though I enjoy this type of story, it did take some effort to recall which character was which, but this didn't detract from the bulk of the story.

This book didn't hurt for thematic content. Critiques of globalization, colonialism, capitalism, and xenophobia abound. Yet themes of searching for identity through twin pursuits of individuality & community, ecological stewardship, and what it means to be human are sprinkled throughout just as liberally.

Brooks deftly combines the best elements of Jeff Vandermeer, Ursula K. Leguin, Susanna Clarke, and Josiah Bancroft in this wonderful book. It hit all my magical realist needs in a wonderfully diverse historical fiction setting. All in all a 4.25/5 star read. Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC edition in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this title in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited for "The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands" after the blurb compared it to Piranesi, which is one of my favorite books. Unfortunately, Cautious Traveller was a miss for me. The first 60% of the book was very boring; basically all that happens is the characters look out the windows of the train and talk to each other. Also, none of the POV narratives or their characters were interesting to me, although Wei-Wei had the most potential. Actually, "had potential" is a good phrase to sum up my review. Aspects of this book like the varied backgrounds of the passengers, the train crew's invented language, and the said to be poisonous Wastelands had a lot of potential to be interesting but we didn't get anything from the first two things on the list, and we only started to get Wastelands action at the 60% mark. I would have DNF'd long before this point if I wasn't reading for NG.

A Vandermeerian tale with notes of The Night Circus and What Moves the Dead, The Cautious Traveler’s Guide to the Wastelands stands unique and tactile, at once astonishingly vague and crystal clear.
The story follows a train in the late nineteenth century that traverses a path throughout regions unknown and terrifying, ever since an ecological mutation years before. It has run since its conception without issue, carrying the curious and the ambitious, travelers on a journey full of potential unknowns and windows to a strange and ever altering world. This journey, however, is different. Something changed on the last crossing, and none of the crew can remember what, exactly, it was, only that the mysterious Company that rules the line is keeping secrets and the Captain has been uncharacteristically absent.
The daughter of the man blamed for technical malfunctions last crossing dons a false name in order to clear him of guilt. The child of the train feels the discrepancy in her memories and is determined to seek out the truth. The disgraced scientist, certain that he is being pulled toward a new Eden, is in search of discovery. These, and more, all have their parts to play, and their journey is a lingering and colossal thing unlike, in its entirety, anything I have ever read before. Pick this book up on June 18th and you will not regret it.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for a digital arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/154985516

If you're looking for a strange, alternate history adventure on a train that travels through an otherworldly landscape with solid character development and strong writing, this could be a book for you! Take 18th century class divides, a powerful colonial trade company, and put it on the Snowpiercer train through Annihilation's landscape, and you get this book, and I really enjoyed it! While the summary describes it as a cross of Piranesi and the midnight library, I found it was more of a cross between Murder on the Orient Express, Snowpiercer, and the works of new weird authors such as Jeff Vandermeer or China Mieville.

The book largely follows several POV characters riding on an alternate history Trans-Siberian railroad that drives through a wasteland that has opened in Siberia. Each of the POV characters is on the train for a different reason, and the mystery of what the wasteland is and does to those who pass through, and some strange occurrences that occurred on the last ride the train took that ended in disaster drive the plot forward. Overall I thought each POV character had a strong distinct voice and offered interesting (and sometimes twisted) perspectives on the strange occurrences around the wasteland and the train.

My favorite part of the book was the atmosphere itself. The author did an excellent job creating a fascinating world filled with equal parts wonder and dread in trying to understand what is happening. The overall setting on the train was a great choice, and really gave a strong sense of space.

While I have no major critiques of the book, there were some parts towards the end where some of the events occurring get a bit confusing, but it did not detract from the reading experience or the somewhat strange yet satisfying conclusion to the book. I would definetely recommend this book to fans of the new weird genre and I look forward to reading over novels from the author.

Received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The descriptive expressions in this book were charming, all aboard a unique passage on the trans-Siberian Express.

Sometimes, I have difficulty slowing down and concentrating on the minute details, but the language used to write and orchestrate this plot was lovely. It has a bit of an interesting vibe—a setting full of mystery and intrigue, with a bit of supernatural horror underlining. There are also some confusing plot points, which left a bit of confusion as to the actions of a couple of characters in the story.

While it was a smidge slow, it was a intriguing mysterious tale. I immensely enjoyed the uniquely clever journey.

The synopsis for this book originally intrigued me because of the mystery surrounding the wastelands but it ended up falling a little flat for me. The first couple chapters felt a little slow with the introduction of several characters. Some of them had interesting backstories and reasons for being on the train but their characters ended up feeling stagnant. The initial suspense and mystery of the wastelands ended up losing momentum halfway through and didn't deliver after the rising tension. Lastly, some of the events felt disconnected or led the reader to believe they were later going to serve a greater purpose but did not.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland was a very unique book. The story did not go where I thought it would so the ending was unexpected. A very interesting concept.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this going in, as a the blurb I got on Netgalley was pretty sparse. I love an alternate history fantasy, and I’m really glad I read it. The characters, especially Marya, Weiwei, Elena, and Suzuki, were compelling. The Wastelands were interesting and reminded me of Annihilation (the movie) in the sense of landscapes being changed/altered in an unnatural or chaotic way.

I think I liked the first half more, and I was expecting it to lean a little more into horror than it ended up doing. I also thought it would lean into the corporate conspiracy stuff a little more (I want to know more about what the Company was hiding!). The last 20 pages or so felt a little rushed and the epilogue felt a little too neat for my liking, but overall I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more from this author!