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The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands: A Novel
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For fans of Piranesi and The Midnight Library, a STUNNING HISTORICAL FANTASY set on a grand express train, about a group of passengers on a dangerous journey across a MAGICAL LANDSCAPE "BREATHTAKING...Abounding with mysteries and marvels." --Samantha Shannon, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of The Priory of the Orange TreeIt is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.
There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train's last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train's secrets. Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands itself. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can't help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?
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Community Reviews
‘The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands’ by Sarah Brooks is an entrancing novel set in the Victorian era, that follows a colorful collection of characters as they traverse through the Wastelands on the grandiose Trans-Siberian Express. The Wastelands is used to describe the fantastical and often dangerously thought of area between Beijing and Moscow. We primarily follow two leading ladies, the first of which is Marya, a woman who is seeking answers surrounding what happened on her father’s last journey that ultimately lead to his mysterious & devastating end. The second woman, is a young employee who goes by Weiwei. Weiwei makes an unusual friend and begins to question everything she knows about herself and the train which is the only home she’s ever known. In general, I couldn’t put this book down. I was so enchanted with the characters and the vivid descriptions of the Wastelands. This novel was well written and draws you into the unique and unexpected wilderness of the Wastelands that you simply won’t be able to resist.
I received a copy of this book as a giveaway prize from Flatiron Books.
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