Across the Sand
-
-
4.3 • 75 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
“Hugh’s imaginative worlds and tales within them never fail to entertain!”
—Andy Weir, New York Times bestselling author of Project Hail Mary
The first original novel from author Hugh Howey in six years, Across the Sand takes us back to the world of Sand, to a far future many generations after a disaster has destroyed civilization as we know it, where four siblings struggle to build their futures amid the harsh wastes of endless desert
The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes, a land of howling wind and infernal sand.
In this barren home, siblings Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet daily carve out a future. They live in the shadow of their father and oldest sister, Vic, two of the greatest sand divers ever to comb the desert’s depths. But these branches of their family tree are long gone, disappeared into the wastes beyond, leaving the younger siblings scratching in the dust, hopeful for a better life.
On the other side of No Man’s Land, Anya was born beside the abundant mines knowing her prospects would be to marry, have a family, and work in ore, in service to the Empire of the East. But when an atomic bomb delivered by a stranger destroys most of her town—murdering all her friends and community—she follows her father to a strange land of dunes to bring vengeance to their enemies.
Two families collide across the sand, and nothing for a thousand dunes will ever be the same.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Howey's standalone sequel to 2014's Sand delves deeper into a world where the remnants of modern civilization lie buried beneath hundreds of meters of sand. In the mining city of Agyl, resourceful Anya discovers the dark secret behind her father's business trips when an atomic bomb destroys her town. Meanwhile, across No Man's Land, four siblings rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a tragedy: Conner longs to take the family West, away from the depressing routines of survival, while Palmer's desperation to live up to their missing sister Vic's accomplishments as a sand-diver—specially trained people whose suits allow them to travel beneath the sand to salvage buried technology—places the youngest, Violet, in danger. Though the sand-divers face constant pressure to recover ever greater spoils, this is a world where very little is known about the past. The only character who expresses any curiosity is Rob, whose fascination with old-world tech leads him to create an amazing new tool for controlling the sand. Well-paced writing and myriad intertwined narratives build momentum as Anya's and her father's quest for vengeance places them in conflict with the sand-divers. Marrying a propulsive plot with fascinating worldbuilding, this postapocalyptic epic proves well worth the wait.
