The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
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3.3 • 3 Ratings
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
The breathtaking historical fantasy set onboard the Great Trans-Siberian Express
'Imagine a crossover between Murder on the Orient Express, Game of Thrones and Paradise Lost . . . Brooks has serious talent' SUNDAY TIMES
'I was completely transported by this book . . . I urge everybody to pick up a copy' STUART TURTON
'Breathtaking . . . Abounding with mysteries and marvels' SAMANTHA SHANNON
'Exceptional. Strange, addictive, immersive, it's a steampunk Piranesi meets His Dark Materials' JENNIE GODFREY
'Mysterious and clever and brilliant' NATASHA PULLEY
It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.
It is the end of the nineteenth century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous as the Wastelands: a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow.
Nothing touches the Wastelands except the Great Trans-Siberian Express: an impenetrable train built to carry cargo across continents, but which now transports anyone who dares.
Onto the platform steps a curious cast of characters: Marya, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Weiwei, a famous child born on the train; and Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist.
But there are whispers that the train isn't safe. As secrets and stories begin to unravel, the passengers and crew must survive their journey together, even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in . . .
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In her intriguing fantasy debut, set in the 19th century, Sarah Brooks drops straight into the mystery that shrouds the Trans-Siberian Express—a train which transports a cohort of upper- and lower-class passengers through the Wastelands between Beijing and Moscow. Onboard for this fateful journey are two passengers with agendas: Marya Petrovna, the grieving daughter of a glassmaker blamed for a horrifying incident when the train last made its excursion and Elena, a stowaway who belongs to the Wastelands so feared by the train’s crew. Marya and Elena are the pivotal players in an ensemble cast that make up the slow, creeping dread of the plot as the train hurtles on to seemingly certain doom. Brooks has built out an intricately detailed world and tightly woven lore that to reveal too much here would spoil the thrill of discovering the story as it unfolds. Suffice to say, The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland is a pageturner that delivers all passengers who climb aboard to a truly satisfying destination.
