The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

A Novel

By: Sarah Brooks

Narrated by: Katie Leung, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

This program is read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films.

For fans of Piranesi and The Midnight Library, a stunning historical fantasy novel set on a grand express train, about a group of passengers on a dangerous journey across a magical landscape

“Breathtaking…Abounding with mysteries and marvels.”—Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.

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?

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

©2024 Sarah Brooks (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

A Most Anticipated Book (Publishers Weekly, CrimeReads, The Nerd Daily, FanFiAddict, Historical Novel Society)

“This book is steampunk perfection!…Brooks brings a Mieville-esque mentality to her novel, with some terrifying creepy-crawlies and an even more terrifying capitalist conglomerate.”—CrimeReads

“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…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…A nerve-wracking but empathetic first-class read for lovers of the strange and uncanny.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Secrets abound…Brooks’ novel presents the reader with a late nineteenth-century Asia and Europe both familiar and bizarre…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. An immersive fantasy with a complex and driven heroine.”—Booklist

Wonderful

I’m so excited to write the first review! I’m not sure how to describe this book- it’s fantasy, a sort of alternate history of turn of the 20th century industrialization, imperialism, and science, with an engaging mystery, wonderful characters and a very satisfying ending. Strongly recommend.

Unexpected and marvelous

A lively and unexpected trip of a book. The world building and characters were almost fairytale with a huge dash of creepy whimsy

Post apocalyptic murder mystery

Intriguing mystery with apocalyptic monsters just outside. The story was great. Unexpected Twists and a good ending.

Astounding,

Engaging, exhilarating, sometimes baffling, always thought-provoking.; in fact, everything speculative fiction should be. Also, it's beautifully written and read.

Remarkable and Transporting

What a confident and enthralling debut novel. The imagery and the prose are endlessly inventive and memorable. The characters are compelling. The setting is vivid, unique, and the real star of the book. I also appreciated the subtext examining what happens when great, colonizing civilizations realize that they themselves are being colonized, in this case by nature itself. The audio performer was also excellent. Note that there were some technical issues with the audiobook, particularly with the opening syllable of many of the chapters being cut off. If there is a chance to upload a corrected version, that would be great. but that is the my inly quibble. This is an accomplished, completely unique novel. I will be riding this train again and again and learning new things from it for a long time.

Narration cadence too clipped

Could not get into this but pushed myself to finish it anyway. The narration felt clipped with phrases delivered almost in the same hurried/staccato cadence. It was strange because the narrator’s delivery of dialogue was good. But the main narration just kept flying past me.

Basically Snowpiercer with a little eldritch horror

see title, but also there were random intersections of a different narrator at different times that were jarring.