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goodthingsread's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness
A large part of the story centers around a pandemic. The effects of the disease are not explicit, but it can still be upsetting.rianreads's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexism, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, and War
itsheyfay's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
This felt like a more speculative and hopeful version of 12 Monkeys. Some characters were stiff (but maybe that was due to the audiobook), and some plot points were confusing, but it was a quick read all things considered.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Confinement, Abandonment, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: War, Racism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident
beckyraines's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness
veronicatabor's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Terminal illness
Minor: Death
anarchist_al's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
An extremely disorienting read, but I suspect that was the point. Bouncing across time and space was difficult to get used to, but I did get used to the drastic switch in perspective and context eventually. The overall premise was very cool, and I think very well done. I love that the initial mystery is really a bait and switch. The characters all felt real and lived in. The settings were all gorgeous and very easy to picture, which can be difficult in a sci-fi futuristic context. I also found the character of Olive to be super compelling, and the autobiographical bits of her character were cool to see—St. John Mandel was clearly discussing her experience with Station Eleven and Covid-19. Really cool read, just a little hard to get into at first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness
horizonous's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Terminal illness and Colonisation
Minor: Murder, Sexism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Vomit
◦ Death = the theme of◦ Mental illness = PTSD
◦ Terminal illness = various pandemic diseases
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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? No
5.0
This is - without a doubt - the best book I've read this year so far.
I recommend it to everyone, basically.
And I think now is the perfect time to read it.
I won't say anything about the plot here, because I think it is best if you go into it blind. But I was blown away by the ideas and the discussions and the mystery and the setting/atmosphere and the writing! It's such a short book (surprisingly short given the contents) and you fly through it, especially the second half.
That being said, to get the most out of it, I recommend reading Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel first, since there are some subtle and some very obvious references to these two books.
If you don't want to read those book, that's fine, Sea of Tranquility will make perfect sense.
But if you think about reading the 2 books after Sea of Tranquility, be warned that there are major spoilers for both of them in this book.
I recommend it to everyone, basically.
And I think now is the perfect time to read it.
I won't say anything about the plot here, because I think it is best if you go into it blind. But I was blown away by the ideas and the discussions and the mystery and the setting/atmosphere and the writing! It's such a short book (surprisingly short given the contents) and you fly through it, especially the second half.
That being said, to get the most out of it, I recommend reading Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel first, since there are some subtle and some very obvious references to these two books.
If you don't want to read those book, that's fine, Sea of Tranquility will make perfect sense.
But if you think about reading the 2 books after Sea of Tranquility, be warned that there are major spoilers for both of them in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Medical content
Moderate: Colonisation and Terminal illness
Minor: Gun violence, Grief, and War
starrysteph's review
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Medical content, and War
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Car accident, Gun violence, Sexism, and Suicide
spaghettireads's review against another edition
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness and Death
Minor: Murder