Reviews - The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

1.47k reviews for:

The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

Sarah Brooks

3.75 AVERAGE

leebill's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

hello_sweetie11's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

nickdablin's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious fast-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

Very interesting high concept, engaging enough to keep you reading but ultimately a little underbaked. The basic concept, of a poisonous otherworldly wasteland that has mysteriously occupied 19th century Siberia and can now only be traversed by a luxurious high security train, is really excellent - at first glance, it's a sort of Orient Express meets Roadside Picnic. However the concept doesn't really develop in an interesting direction - it's not a mystery to unravel because ultimately you're left with as many questions as you started with. But it also doesn't have the depths of baroque, cosmic horror of something like Annihilation, where the unknowable nature of the alien environment is the entire point. Instead it sort of falls between these two directions and ends somewhat limply. The characters are entertaining, if not especially deep. Having three viewpoints muddies things a bit - the novel would probably have been stronger with a single clear protagonist, and like the central mystery of the wasteland, some of the character arcs feel a bit flat and underwhelming. The supporting cast is good, several of them I would have wanted to spend more time with. It's a wild ride with excellent descriptive language, and doesn't outstay it's welcome, but I was left wanting more substance.