Book Review: The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands

The Cautious Travellers Guide to the Wastelands
By Sarah Brooks
Review by Mida

This book is set at the end of the 19^th century and takes place almost entirely on a train as it travels through the Wastelands: An eerie, moderately supernatural stretch of wilderness that stretches between Beijing and Moscow. The train is marketed as the best that money can buy; but that doesn’t make it invincible.

Encompassing many genres, this book pays tribute to gothic, steampunk fantasies, historical fiction and Agatha Christie-esque mysteries. There is a strong sense of suspense as we travel across the Wastelands – the crew of the train know that the land has turned hostile and sour, while the rich, foolhardy First-Class travellers are sure that nothing will go wrong if they keep up their microcosm of polite society.

Despite taking place almost entirely on the train, the environment never grows stale. With the landscape outside changing every day, and hidden spaces to explore, the train is simultaneously larger than life and claustrophobic, insignificant. The oppressive Siberian landscape creeps in on the story, contrasting the hubris of the mysteriously Company.

The only books that could come close would be The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern or His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman but this book establishes so much in a single cohesive narrative that it feels disingenuous to let it be anything other than its own thing. With poetic, lyrical prose, a delightfully thrilling story and an experimental feel, this debut novel has something for everyone.