4.5 stars

This is a story about the power of stories.

You have the siege of Constantinople in 1453, a library in Idaho in the present day, and the inhabitants of an interstellar ship in the future. How on earth would any of these settings have a connection at all?

Because the stories are so wildly different it almost felt as if reading this was trying to solve a mental puzzle while reading 4 books at the same time.

I loved each story on its own merits, even Omeir’s which I was not as taken with initially (but he won me over at the end).

For me the ultimate magic was the way the author connected all the stories together at the end and that’s why I rounded up to 5 stars.

What an ambitious novel and I have to say the author pulled it off.

Highly recommended

I really wanted to write a review that this stunning book deserves, but it’s just not possible. How a writer can weave the tale of so many apparently disparate threads & characters into such a beautiful, meaningful & powerful story is a mystery, but Anthony Doerr does, and then some. It just shouldn’t be possible to jump between 15th century Constantinople, the Korean War, modern day Idaho & the futuristic Argos , time and again and not leave the reader utterly lost. But there’s so much warmth in each thread, such humanity, and such a clear feeling of forward motion towards a predetermined future that I was enthralled within a few chapters. Even days later I’m still thinking about Konstance, Seymour, Omeir, Anna and Zeno, and this fable about a fable.

How to sum up this extraordinary book? It defies categorisation, but is still one of the most fantastical and sublime pieces of writing I have ever read. The story is several stories really, over a huge time span, from the Middle Ages, to the later 21st century. Each of the threads is a complete narrative on its own, with characters so beautifully drawn, that the reader drops in an out of their lives with little difficulty - setting the scene for each story at the start was just a little confusing, but that will not prevent me giving this book 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 as the scene setting had to happen at the start for the book to make sense. The thread that joins all the narratives together is an ancient Greek codex (book) containing a bizarre and enchanting story, but to say any more would give too much away, so read this epic novel for yourself - it deserves to become one of the great books of the decade.

“Hope is a pillar that holds up the world” we are told in Cloud Cuckoo Land, which is one of many different threads weaving its way through this epic novel, that helps to draw the lives of five disparate characters together.
Octagenarian Zeno Ninis in Idaho is our first character in the story. He is directing a play for some children in a local library when they are interrupted by our second character, Seymour Stuhlman, who appears in the library with explosives to blow up the place. Travelling back several hundred years we meet our third character, where Omeir is on the verge of being conscripted into the army for the great siege of Constantinople in 1453. Nearby is our fourth character, seamstress Anna, who is taking care of her dying sister, Maria. Finally we travel forward to the 22nd century where our fifth character, teenager Konstance is travelling in the Argos ship which is leaving the ruined earth behind to a inhabit a new planet, Beta Oph2.
Each character is linked together by the journey of the fragments of a manuscript of Diogenes’ translation of a fictional Greek text by Antonius Diogenes Cloud Cuckoo Land whose main character Aethon reflects the experiences of the characters in different ways. It is a complex story that addresses environmentalism, the power of literature to unite people, hope and the Utopian dream. I loved this book, but there were a few vulgar episodes which to be fair are briefly described and not overemphasised. That being said, I would still recommend reading it. If you have read All the Light You Cannot See you will recognise the author’s style, but it is sufficiently different to make it a new and exciting read.

I really wanted to love this, there were times whilst I was reading that I was intensely reminded of Cloud Atlas. All compliments intended. However as the story plodded on there was just none of the joy of those interconnected stories. I think that because of the similarities I did fairly early on guess where things were going so maybe that deflated the conclusion for me a bit. Overall I just feel that the massive potential for such an epic story was a little wasted and the final act was dissatisfying.

I liked Cloud Cuckoo Land, but in another life I would have adored it.

Cloud Cuckoo Land covers so many things and tells so many stories that it's quite difficult to write a summary - suffice to say that there are five main characters, split over three timeframes - the 15th century, present time and the future, and that the stories includes many genres (fiction, historical fiction, sci-fi and fables). The amazing thing about this author is that although this is most definitely a piece of literature and is beautifully written, it's never feels like hard work reading this epic novel. I loved each of the storylines, and fell in love with his characters, human and animal. it is also rare to read a book with so many stories where I equally enjoyed each of them.

Anthony Doerr did an amazing job in bringing these stories together in the end. A magnificent novel about the power of stories, books, nature, journeys and homecomings. Highly recommend if you enjoy something a bit different.

Firstly I would like to thank Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC.

This story is actually an experience in time travel, a rich golden thread that links three stories in different times to one belief.

Not a book to be rushed, the stories of Anna and Omeir in the mid fifteenth century, Seymour and Zeno in the early 21st century, and Konstance several decades in the future, are told to us in the format of their time starting with a very old tome.

I highly recommend Doerr’s most recent book, with a pot of tea and a lots and lots of time to while away …

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr is epic.

It’s a tricky sell which is an entirely immersive experience. Cloud Cuckoo Land is an ancient book within a book which ties together the threads of 5 other threads spanning centuries.

Taking them chronologically Anna lives in 15th century Constantinople, surrounded by nuns embroidering the robes of priests, but she is a girl with a lot more zest for life and curiosity than her peers. Omeir lives in the same timeline but as a boy with a facial disfigurement, his early life is rural before he is consigned into the military.

Zeno is a man who has lived a full life through the 20th century; a veteran of the Korean War, a man trying to find his place in life while pulled to engage in ancient texts by the (unrequited) love of his life. Seymour is a neuro-diverse boy struggling in a loud and brash world where his obsession with owls indirectly leads him down a tragic path. Finally Konstance lives in a future where the world (as we know it) has been ravaged by climate change and a band of brave volunteers have chosen a path to potential alternatives.

Not only are there multiple POV but several are told across switching timelines, making Cloud Cuckoo Land one which can only work is masterfully told, which it is. My only pause is that so many threads means that I wanted to see how each story unfolded but I didn’t necessarily care about any of the characters (save for the heroic Zeno).

Not as wow as All The Light We Cannot See but this is a very different book and is highly recommended.

Thanks to 4th Estate, William Collins and Netgalley for an ARC.

Anthony Doerr's latest beautifully written offering is ambitious, imaginative, crossing centuries, dipping into multiple genres, whilst paying homage to libraries and the power of stories in turbulent times. With a plethora of classical allusions, it is Aristophane's The Birds, here attributed to Antonius Diogenes and his Cloud Cuckoo Land which echoes through time, and this novel, with the shepherd Aethon wanting to become a bird and his efforts to reach this perfect utopia, but humanity, as it is, is far from perfect. This story links the characters, past in the 15th century, the present in the United States, and the near future on a interstellar craft, Argos, seeking another planet when human life collapses on earth. Doerr is morally driven, thought provoking, weaving an intricate and vibrant tapestry of lives in different times and different places.

He reflects on our contemporary global woes and anxieties when it comes to the precarious nature of earth's ecosystems and the environmental destruction, comparing other devastating and despairing circumstances confronting people through history. Young seamstress Anna is in the ancient city of Constantinople with its libraries, under siege from the Ottomans, and Omeir is a country boy with his cleft lip, who finds himself conscripted to the Sultan's army. The escaping Anna and Omeir meet and fall in love, intent on protecting the manuscript. In Idaho, a man in his 80s, Zeno Ninos, has adapted the play that is being rehearsed by schoolchildren, outside is the troubled and autistic Seymour, an 'ecoterrorist' with his gun and the bomb in his backpack. 14 year old Konstance is on the Argos spaceship in the future, with the AI Sybil and its library, remembering her father's bedtime stories. There are a myriad of connections between them, along with the story of the paradise that is Cloud Cuckoo Land.

This is not a perfect read, there are flaws and contrivances that can seem perhaps a little too mechanistic, but what stood out for me is the wonderfully sublime prose, and I admire Doerr in taking on such important global themes through different time periods through the disparate characters he creates. The narrative weaves back and forth in time, revealing the lives of the characters, a novel I became completely immersed and engaged in, as it touched on issues of love, the complexities of what it is to be human, consciousness, survival, and manages to be full of heart and hope. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is brilliant. The book is divided up into parallel stories with paired narratives that eventually intersect, bookended by the ancient and future timelines. Each timeline is beautifully crafted and could stand alone as an individual short story, but are heightened by the juxtaposition of a contradictory point of view. Clearly the author in part is writing a missive to the art of the book as seen in the central string of annotations from the titular book by Diogenes from which the other narratives are pegged. The art of writing, translation and custodians (Libraries/Librarians) of books are all explored and honoured. As a historical work of fiction Doerr has once again proved his deft touch, transporting the reader to the ancient world of the siege of Constantinople, the Korean war and 1970s London alongside present day social activism in the United States. The ills of the modern society are explored via environmentalism, online recruitment and terrorism, but at it's heart this book is concerned with relationships. Relationships between individuals; between societies; between the past and present; between reality and unreality; between truth and lies; and ultimately between the written word and the imagination.

I probably didn't have enough patience to try to connect how all three stories came together to give a complete picture of the plot, but there are still too many pages and I got bored....

Probabilmente non ho avuto abbastanza pazienza per cercare di collegare come tutte e tre le storie si unissero per dare un quadro completo della trama, ma ci sono ancora troppe pagine e io mi sono stufata....

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Initially confusing this novel has three timelines, the 1400s in Constantinople, the 20th/21st centuries and the late 21st/22nd century. In each we follow different people in different settings– Anna a seamstress in the Byzantine world, two young people in a library in Idaho in the 20th century and a spaceship in the future. There are small things that link the different narratives together. In the end each section comes together.
It is about stories, and how important human stories have been and will be throughout time. In itself it is a great story and an excellent read.

Cloud Cuckoo Land follows three storylines that exceed time and space limits. Anna and Omeir during the 1453 siege of Constantinople, naturelover Seymour and kind Zeno in an attack on a public library in present day Idaho; and Konstance, on an interstellar ship in a future.

They all have something in common, the story of Aethon, who wants to become a bird and fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Anthony Doerr is a master storyteller and the book is magnificent. The characters are enchanting and the book soothes the soul.

There are no bounds for dreamers and outsiders. Hope and love find their way even in a great danger.

Highly recommended!

What an amazing adventure I went on alongside the characters. The characters are from different centuries and countries are linked together by a book. Each of them either finds, reads, translates or is inspired by a book called Clud Cuckoo Land written by Antonius Diogenes for his ill niece. In this book a humble shepherd, Aethon, is travelling to reach a mythic, paradise city and is transformed along the way into a donkey, fish etc.

Chronologically first is Anna in 15th century Christian Constantinople. She is a poor embroiderer of priests' robes but by good fortune learns to read and finds the book. The other side of the city walls we meet gentle Omeir who has been made to bring his twin oxen to serve in the Sultan's army as they besiege the city.

In the 20th/21st centuries we meet two residents of Lakeport, Idaho. Zeno Ninis who is connected to the book through an encounter during the Korean War. Equally poor Seymour lives in the same town and his link to the book is more dramatic.

Lastly there is Konstance who is on a spaceship escaping Earth's environmental destruction who comes across the book through her father.

The structure of the book follows the characters in an alternating way, but also doesn't always tell each story in a linear way. This sounds complicated but isn't as each character and setting is so vividly realized.

The author leaves the reader to see these parallels between the characters, even beyond their connection to the book. Each character is an "outsider" in many ways from their own culture. Anna is set outside her small ecclesiastical community by her literacy, Omeir by a physical difference (a cleft palate.) Seymour has autism and Zeno is different because of his sexuality. Konstance's "outsider" status is done in a more intriguing way...

Each character is also touched by war, although the wars of Seymour and Konstance are different from the others. Poverty is yet another parallel with Zeno and Seymour coming from a sector of American society where long hours are worked for low wages and everyday life is a financial struggle

As well as being connected by these themes, the novel also explores "green/climate change/emergency" themes. Omeir's original life is a rural one and he has a special bond to his oxen. Anna learns more about non-city life as she grows older. Zeno is perhaps less linked to this theme, which is most overtly connected to Seymour. His early life is dominated by his close relationship with the forest which is destroyed for "rich" houses. Konstance 's father grows the plants aboard the spaceship (under the guardianship of the omniscient computer Sybil) The spaceship is equipped to cross many light years to reach a planet which will sustain human life. However Doerr's handling of theses themes is never "preachy"

There are certain motifs which crop up- owls for example. Read to the end to find out more about this.

There are many refractions, reflections, common themes but like Aethon, each character is transformed . Their relationship with Cloud Cuckoo Land is a quest like his towards understanding.

A richly imaginative, immersive book in which the reader too goes on a transformative journey.

An excellent read from the author of All The Light We Cannot See. A time spanning, genre bending book about the power of stories and the way we relate to them.

It's been a while since we've heard from Anthony Doerr. But to cut him some slack, the Pulitzer Prize winning All the Light We Cannot See is a tough act to follow. And to be fair he has tried to do something completely different with Cloud Cuckoo Land, an audacious, sweeping effort that spans time and space.

There are multiple storylines within this sprawling novel. In the present day, 86-year-old Zeno helps a group of children to stage a play in a smalltown library. What he doesn't know is that a teenager with eco-terrorist leanings is waiting to set off a bomb in the building. In 15th century Constantinople, Anna is a failure as a seamstress but ends up under the spell of books. Late at night she leaves the city to explore abandoned buildings, in attempts to acquire rare and valuable tomes. Meanwhile, Omeir, a farmer's son who is ostracised for his cleft lip, looks after his two oxen, not realising that his peaceful life is about to be upended. And in the future, a teenage girl named Konstance lives on board a spaceship travelling to a distant planet. What unites them all is an ancient Greek manuscript, containing a story by Diogenes about a shepherd's journey to a utopia in the sky.

So what is the message in Cloud Cuckoo Land? Something about the power of storytelling, I gather, though it's all a bit vague. The problem is that there is too much going on here - the narrative, especially at the beginning, is very unfocussed and jumps around so frequently that it becomes frustrating. Patience is eventually rewarded, and there are some wonderfully affecting scenes, such as Zeno's sad acceptance of unrequited love. A twist in one storyline caught me surprise but also left me wondering what the point of it was. There are some neat ideas in this lengthy novel, and I must commend Doerr's ambition, but it didn't quite come together for me.

Epic storytelling that needs to be savoured! This is a simply magnificent book that is very hard to describe or summarize - just wow. A story that spans centuries, and is so imaginative - it will leave you speechless.

I was hugely excited about this title as a big fan of Doerr's previous novel. I wasn't disappointed. Once I got into the story and characters, I was transported by the beautiful writing and vivid settings. It's a joy, and I didn't want it to end. My favourite book of the year so far.

In his latest novel Anthony Doerr takes even greater risks than he did with All the Light We Cannot See, a novel that enchanted the world. There are several different strands, set in three different time periods: the past, the present and the future. In the past there is the story of Anna who stitches for the priests in the Byzantine world of 1453 just at the time of its fall and the present in Idaho where a library provides a setting for another troubled youth and the future, on a spaceship where another person, Konstance finds life transformed by a book. And the book is the key link, The Cloud Cuckoo Land that points the characters into a direction that hadn’t expected.

The tone and narrative have tones of fantasy and allegory woven into a literary umbrella that takes the reader and challenges him to find the various levels of what it reflects of the world today. It’s a hopeful novel at the same time it reminds us that there is so much to be learned from the past if we are to have a future. It’s not always an easy read and one that can seem a bit of too clever at times and some will not find it the read that All the Light We Cannot See was.

As Doerr says himself, this is an ode to stories and how important it is to guard human stories through time. The story of Aethon is the thread throughout this long novel.

I enjoyed reading this and found it was a great story to read while actually in Greece (!) considering it’s about an old Greek story. However, I do think there was just too much going on, especially at the start. It took me over 100 pages to figure out who was who and what was actually happening, so the setting of the story wasn’t done as well as it could’ve been.

We follow a donkey, two people in the 1400s in Constantinople, two timelines of two people in the 20th/early 21st century and then the story of a girl in the late 21st/22nd century. That’s a mouthful because it is! I think this book should’ve left the 1400s timeline out of it.

Despite the confusion, once you get into it, it is easy to read and enjoy. I particularly liked the environmental element, and we saw a lot of Doerr’s musings on climate change and what that might mean for future generations. I also loved the future storyline in the ship; I found this made up world so easy to read and very interesting.

All in all, a good read! All the Light We Cannot See is one of my favourite books of all time, and whilst I didn’t connect with this book as much as that one, I will continue to read what he brings out!