The cautious traveller's guide to the Wastelands

Brooks' novel presents the reader with a late nineteenth-century Asia and Europe both familiar and bizarre. The direct route between Beijing and Moscow rests on one train line due to all-encompassing mutations that have made Siberia and the surrounding region incomprehensibly dangerous to cross. Pressure from the Company pushes the train into a voyage it is ill-prepared for, coming after a crossing that killed three passengers but left the survivors no memory of how. Secrets abound on the train: from Marya Petrovna, traveling under a false name to clear her dead father of wrongdoing; to Dr. Henry Grey, a naturalist desperate to regain his reputation even if it means risking everyone's safety; to Zhang Weiwei, a child of the train, hiding a mysterious stowaway. While malfunctions, weird creature attacks, and uncanny weather plague the voyage, the true terrors are human greed, fear, and desire for power. This is ultimately a story about connection, friendship, and the importance of being unafraid of change. Highly recommended for its many mysteries, fascinating cast of characters, and beautifully strange Wastelands.

DEBUT If a luxury train raced through Jeff VanderMeer's Area X, filled with the cast of Frances Hardinge's The Lie Tree, it would be something like the Trans-Siberian Express of this story. It's a tense journey through a landscape so incomprehensible that even gazing at it through a window can incite madness. Braving the danger are a widow with a secret mission, a religious naturalist desperate to regain his renown, and an orphan tempted to betray her bond to the train. Each character's schemes provide the reader with data about the Wastelands' true nature as it tries to infiltrate their transport. Brooks skillfully doles out clues at a steady, satisfying pace--but always alongside new questions, ensuring that tension remains high. As the train approaches Moscow, readers will wonder if the travelers are going to reach their destination, and if they do, who they'll be. Ultimately, this journey through the unknown provides ample opportunity for musings about the power of travel to change people, while examining humans' relationships to the environment, to capitalism, and to each other. VERDICT A nerve-wracking but empathetic first-class read for lovers of the strange and uncanny.--Matthew Galloway