The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands: A Novel

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The Cautious Traveler’s Guide to the Wastelands is a curiously genre-bending fantasy tale of mystery and intrigue. Part steampunk drama, part magical realism, with a dash of Agatha Christie and a smidge of horror thrown in for good measure, Sarah Brooks has created a vividly descriptive tale where the journey, rather than the destination, is everything.

The Trans-Siberia Company is the only railway company capable of carrying passengers across the unknown and dangerous Wastelands spanning the vast distance between Russia and China. But something on the last voyage went horribly wrong, and the passengers embarking on this journey are each seeking answers in their own way. A disgraced Naturalist, a mysterious widow, a child born and raised on the train itself; each with their own ulterior motives, each with their own price to pay.

Brooks has a hypnotizing style of writing that gently grabs the reader and refuses to let go. While the premise is refreshingly unique, the last third of the book fell off the rails for me. With so much emotional investment put into the cast of characters and the bizarre landscape of the Wastelands, the ending felt a little disappointing at best, and slightly haphazard at worst.


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Author Sarah Brooks
Star Count 4/5
Format Hard
Page Count 336 pages
Publisher Flatiron Books
Publish Date 18-Jun-2024
ISBN 9781250878618
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Issue July 2024
Category Science Fiction & Fantasy
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