A review by kindredspiritreads
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

My in-person book club voted to read this novel for our science fiction month.

Two centuries after Edwin St. Andrew has an odd experience in the British Columbia wilderness, the same experience is described in a book written by Olive Llewellyn. Then, detective Gaspery-Jacques Roberts begins to investigate an anomaly in the Canadian wilderness. Gaspery-Jacques has a decision to make. Will he leave things as they are, or disrupt the timeline of the universe?

I will start by saying that I am not a sci-fi reader. I did enjoy the author’s writing style which is what helped me get through this book. It is beautifully written. I’m afraid I just don’t have much interest in pondering whether we’re living in a simulation or what time travel might look like and how it might affect our lives. I also didn’t enjoy the pandemic aspect of the story because, honestly, I just don’t want to read about pandemics.