The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands - Sarah Brooks

Category: Adults, Fantasy, Thriller
Language: English
Keywords: Relationships Trans-Siberian Express Travel

Written by Sarah Brooks
Read by Katie Leung, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release date: June 18, 2024
Duration: 09:15:43

There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. The train is never short of passengers, eager to catch sight of Wastelands creatures more miraculous and terrifying than anything they could imagine. But on the train’s last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train’s secrets.

Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers. Among them are Marya Petrovna, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist looking for redemption; and Elena, a beguiling stowaway with a powerful connection to the Wastelands itself. Weiwei knows she should report Elena, but she can’t help but be drawn to her. As the girls begin a forbidden friendship, there are warning signs that the rules of the Wastelands are changing and the train might once again be imperiled. Can the passengers trust each other, as the wildness outside threatens to consume them all?

“–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, whom they will 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.”—Library Journal