Reviews with content warning for Murder - Sea of Tranquility

I tend to get confused in books that jump between different characters and time, but this ended well even if I was a little confused towards the start.

Content Warnings

starrysteph's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I'm a little torn on this one. I enjoy stories about time travel – and I enjoy stories about time travel with lyrical, dream-like writing and complex questions. But some of the actual content fell flat.

We cross huge spans of time in this novel, but the writing style stays the same. I wanted more differentiation between the voices of characters in 1912 and 2020 and far into the future. I also felt that there was a lack of creativity or perhaps "realism" when we go far into the future. Why are things EXACTLY the same as they are in 2020? Yes, people live on the moon, but there isn't any nuance here.

I also felt some frustration at the recklessness and thoughtlessness of Gaspery's decisions. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but the choices he made and the shifting of timelines felt too simplistic and didn't make sense. And in general, I didn't find myself making deep emotional connections to any of the characters. (And there was some content around Olive as a writer of pandemic stories that felt like a clear self-insert and was a little silly.)

Overall, I enjoyed the concept. I enjoyed the weaving together of the stories (though it became a little cliche by the end). I enjoyed the writing style. But once I zoomed in and thought a bit more critically about the material, I found myself disappointed.

CW: chronic illness, confinement, death, colonisation, murder, gun violence, suicide, war, alcohol, pandemic, sexism

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Title: Sea of Tranquility
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3.5
Pub Date: April 5, 2022

Thanks to Harper Collins Canada for sending me a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review.

T H R E E • W O R D S

Transportive • Reflective • Poetic

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Sea of Tranquility is a nested story spanning four time periods and four separate characters. Opening in 1912 British Columbia, Edwin St. John St. Andrew, exiled to Canada by his British parents, doesn't find meaning in any of the jobs he attempts. When he wanders into the forest, he experiences an extreme sense of dislocation. Fast forward to 2020, where Mirella attends a concert by renowned violinist Paul Smith, the brother of her former friend Vincent. Paul uses his sister's home movies on stage and there's one clip with an unexplained glitch, and Mirella wants to find out more about what happened to her relationship with Vincent all those years ago. Jump to 2203, and novelist Olive Llewellyn is out on tour promoting her latest novel, which contains a strange passage. When a pandemic breaks out, Olive chooses to stay on Earth, rather than returning home to the moon colony where her husband and daughter are. And lastly in 2401, Gaspery-Jacques Roberts is hired to investigate an anomaly, where he discovers a bunch of lives upended, and is given the chance to do something to disrupt the timeline of the universe.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Sea of Tranquility was my first novel by Emily St. John Mandel, and that's potentially where I went wrong. I've seen several reviews saying it's not required, but highly recommended reading i>Station Eleven and/or The Glass Hotel before this one, as several character arcs resurface. It's quite possible I'd have enjoyed this storyline more if I'd read either of those. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed my reading experience, it just didn't live up my own personal expectations.

There's no better place to start my review than with the writing! It is captivating and atmospheric, definitely the star of the show throughout, and clearly demonstrates Emily's unique gift. I was sucked in by the poetic nature of the words, even if I didn't always know what was taking place. I also felt the pacing was good, however for me the structure felt a little disjointed. Each new section seemed like a completely new story, and I wasn't a huge fan, even though everything eventually comes together by the end.

Additionally, I struggled with the lack of character depth, an underdeveloped plot, and the absence of emotional intensity I'd been anticipating. There's definitely a lot to dissect, and I likely didn't fully understand everything I was meant to. My biggest take away is the power of connections between people over decades, and how the past connects to the future through the present.

Overall, I was left slightly disappointed by the story, but don't let that deter you from picking up this book for the writing alone, and the reminder of the things that shape our lives.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Emily St. John Mandel fans
• time travel trope lovers

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"I think, as a species, we have a desire to believe that we’re living at the climax of the story. It’s a kind of narcissism. We want to believe that we’re uniquely important, that we’re living at the end of history, that now, after all these millennia of false alarms, now is finally the worst that it’s ever been, that finally we have reached the end of the world."

"It’s shocking to wake up in one world and find yourself in another by nightfall, but the situation isn’t actually all that unusual. You wake up married, then your spouse dies over the course of the day. You wake up in peacetime and by noon your country is at war; you wake up in ignorance and by the evening it’s clear that a pandemic is already here."

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spaghettireads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I started this immediately after finishing The Glass Hotel, and I think that this was a great companion novel. While you don't have to have read Station Eleven and/or The Glass Hotel to read Sea of Tranquility, I think that most of my enjoyment came from the themes and plot that are a continuation of TGH especially. So while the writing style of SoT is much more straightforward and has a different feel to TGH, I would recommend reading that one first to appreciate SoT to the fullest.

This was a pretty quick read and I liked all the different timelines and perspectives. They were each quite short so the story moved on fast. As someone who doesn't read a lot of SFF I liked that while there were aspects of SFF that are important to the plot, there was no time spent explaining any mechanics.

I liked how St. John Mandel included a perspective that seemed to self referential. Without giving spoilers, I really liked how she was able to discuss dystopian fiction as a genre, and the experience of being a popular dystopian fiction writer.

A 4 star read instead of a 5 star read because I wanted just a bit more from the book. It is quite short and in some ways I didn't feel like the back half fully lived up to the front half.

I would definitely recommend this, even if The Glass Hotel wasn't for you. This one is a bit easier to understand what is going on, but still has really cool connections and a lot to think about! Be warned though that there is a significant amount of pandemic content!

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oceanwriter's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I went into this book blindly. I saw the name and the cover and was sold. I never even looked at the description. Fortunately, this was a successful case of judging a book by its cover.

After the first time jump, I was disappointed to see we wouldn't be following Edwin through the entire story but I quickly got into the rhythm of the storytelling and the different people involved. Of everyone, I enjoyed Olive's portion the most even though I found Gaspery's the most fascinating.

The book picked up a lot in the second half and became impossible to put down. I did struggle through some of it though, the characters and settings all beginning to jumble together and getting my wires crossed. In hindsight, I would have aimed to have set aside time to read this in one sitting so everything remained fresh in my mind. Still, I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

I thought reading about pandemic life would be more difficult than it was. While it was central to the plot, it was more about the individuals and the loneliness that becomes the bigger plight. The essence of that was well captured.

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