This was a super fun creepy ish book!

It started off a little slow but I could see the author was trying to building the world on the train and the characters before getting into the meat of the story

This is a personal preference but I would have loved the creep factor to be rocked up 1000%. But it by no means took away from the story.

The characters were all a dream to read from, the way they were told and appeared on the page I felt like I was in the book with them.

The world, the wastelands were the best part. So well done, the ways the prose (which is beautifully written!) just emulated the world making me feel a part of the story and not just consuming it.

The aspect of the wastelands I loved. The not quite sure what it is, the I’m not sure if what the characters believe is true. It was so compelling.

The later half of the book is my best when we got into the heart of the story. I loved each character decision, how the tension ranked up and consequences were had. Loved it!

Overall it’s one I recommend. A solid book especially for a debut.

This story is set on the Trans-Siberian Express in an alternative Victorian 19th-century world which is a mix of steampunk, gothic, dystopian and teetering on the brink of futuristic change in many ways, with industrialism spreading. Swathes of the world have become Wasteland, where people dare not enter. To travel across these areas, enter the Trans-Siberian Express. The train can make the crossing, while full of risks, those who need to make the journey, or who want to experience the thrill of it, do so.

The train is built to carry cargo, both people and goods across continents and has been built to be impenetrable. But something happened on its last journey. This is its first journey since then, so the crew have some nerves. As they travel from Bejing to the Great Exhibition Moscow they have a complement of passengers, from a seemingly grieving widow with something to hide, to a disgraced naturalist trying to redeem his name with a secret mission on this trip, through to the famous train child, born on the train, and now a part of it, working as crew.

As the train makes its journey it starts to unravel. The whispers begin, the train is not safe. The Wastelands begin to invade. Can the passengers survive the invasion, and the incoming wave of change?

This book was a mix of steampunk, magic, mystery and fiction. The story is a slow burner, and not at all what I expected. It is full of unexpected twists, crazy spins off into the world that is being unveiled to us, and a lot of emotional turmoil to sift through. It is a book about people, and change, and the world we live in. The impact we have on it, and our willingness to look at ourselves and the impact we have on the world. There is a lot to take on in this story, with a very varied cast of characters, each bringing something to the table. Each is superbly written and offers a lot to the story.
The final ending is poignant, meaning full and full of emotion. I did feel like I wanted more, something bigger, however, after all the anticipation and build-up. However, the story builds up the tension very well, with the train rolling along the tracks fast to the point of no return, where we anticipate the final unveiling of the creeping dread that has been gripping us from almost the beginning. A slow-burning read, which you may get frustrated with at times, wishing the pace could pick up. Nonetheless, a fantastically well-written read, offering something different from the norm for sure!

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

3.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/06/27/the-cautious-travellers-guide-to-the-wastelands-by-sarah-brooks-review/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Liked not Loved This One

TCTGttW is undoubtedly a well written and interesting story that offers readers a historic, gothic style  setting with a fascinating mystery.  It's a good read, if a little slow, but, I think my expectations had misled me a little  - which is totally on me because the description isn't misleading at all.  

As the story begins we meet a number of passengers as they ready themselves before embarking on what is undoubtedly a dangerous journey. The Trans-Siberian Express travels from Beijing to Moscow.
I loved the setup to be honest. The introduction to a number of passengers, some of them with very personal reasons for making the journey, who are keeping secrets. We particularly follow a grieving young woman travelling under a false name and a young girl who was born on the train and has been adopted into the hearts of the train and crew. On top of this we have a couple of characters known as The Crows who seem to stalk the train and passengers keeping everything under tight control.

As the journey begins you become immediately aware of the dangers faced. The wastelands are an ever changing and adapting unknown entity that seem to drive people crazy.

I don't really want to say too much more about the plot because of spoilers.

My feelings whilst reading went from loving the writing, the characters and set up with all the anticipation that was initially created to one of feeling that very little was really happening and eventually becoming a bit frustrated.

I think I wanted more from the wastelands really. This is an element of the story that felt under explored for me. I was expecting goosebumps and a few chills. Instead this feels a little like a gentle warning about the price of progress and the effects such progress can have on the natural environment. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t feel like a story that is trying to preach, but, at the same time it felt a little tentative, like it was on the precipice of throwing caution to the wind and bringing to us something quite fantastical or remaining a bit more calm. I think I was hoping for a bit of chaos and some dark psychological goings on as the passengers started to lose control. Also there was a certain passenger who for me was just a huge ‘spoiler alert’. I can’t say more though without being a big spoiler alert myself.

Anyway. This probably sounds a bit more critical than I intended so to back up a little. The story is really well written, there’s a great sense of intrigue and a creeping dread of what might actually happen. And, who doesn’t love a story set on a train? 

Just, if you’re planning on picking this up be aware that it is a slow burn and don’t make my mistake and start hoping for all sorts of creepy critters in the dark.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 beautifully written stars.

A captivating journey that blends vivid world-building with a deeply engrossing narrative.

I was thoroughly enchanted by the vivid descriptions and the richly imaginative world that Brooks has crafted. The narrative is both fulfilling and leaves you longing to uncover more about the Wastelands and its inhabitants. The sense of longing and discovery is palpable, making the journey both emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, but it completely exceeded my expectations. It’s a spellbinding blend of intrigue, suspense, and profound storytelling that fans of speculative fiction will adore. If you enjoy stories that transport you to another world and keep you hooked from start to finish, then The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands is a must-read.

It’s 1899 and passengers are boarding the Trans-Siberian Express, a twenty-carriage luxury train which will take them from Beijing to Moscow in time to attend the Great Exhibition. The four thousand mile journey will travel through the Wastelands, an abandoned wilderness where the landscape and wildlife seem to be undergoing strange changes and mutations. Since the changes were first recorded several decades earlier, Walls have been built to separate the Wastelands from the rest of Russia and China and passengers are not allowed to leave the train in the area between the Walls. On the previous journey, something went wrong: the glass in the windows cracked, exposing the train to the dangers of the Wastelands. The Trans-Siberian Company blamed the glassmaker and have assured passengers that the train is now safe, but doubts still remain.

The story of the 1899 Trans-Siberian crossing is told from the perspectives of several of the passengers. First, there’s Marya Petrovna, who has boarded the train under a false name and disguised as a mourning widow. At first we don’t know who Marya is or why she is hiding her identity, but we do know that she believes an injustice has been done and has come on this journey in search of answers. Then there’s Dr Henry Grey, an English naturalist whose latest theories have been disproved and who hopes to restore his reputation by studying the Wastelands. Finally, Zhang Weiwei is a sixteen-year-old girl known as ‘the child of the train’ because she was born in the Third-Class sleeping car and has spent her whole life travelling backwards and forwards on the train. There are many other people onboard the train, but these are the central three around whom the novel revolves.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands is an unusual, imaginative novel and there were many things I enjoyed about it. I’ve read several other books set on trains, but usually, even in Murder on the Orient Express, the train simply provides a way of bringing a group of people together in close confines or of getting them from one destination to another. In this book, the train itself is an important part of the story and could even almost be viewed as another character. Sarah Brooks’ worldbuilding is very impressive; the novel has been compared to Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and it did make me think of the latter in particular. So much attention to detail goes into describing the various carriages and compartments, the history of the train and its earlier crossings, and the fictional travel guide which gives the novel its name. The Wastelands themselves are less clearly described and although it’s suggested that life there has become tainted in some way, we don’t really know how or why, and much of the mystery still remains at the end of the book, which I’m sure was deliberate – but quite frustrating!

However, I felt that the setting and atmosphere came at the expense of the plot. The pace was very slow, with more than half of the novel devoted to setting the scene and introducing the characters, and it seemed to end just as things were starting to happen. I also would have preferred an explanation for what was happening in the Wastelands and was left wondering what we were intended to take away from the book. Was there a message in there about climate change and the environment – or migration, with walls being built to keep people out (or in)? I think we’re definitely supposed to question whether it’s best to travel cautiously or curiously, embracing change or turning away from it.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide… is a fascinating alternate history novel, then, with lots to think about and debate. I didn’t find it completely satisfying, but I’m sure the right reader will love it.

This book takes you on such a fascinating journey and not just in the literal sense of the word. It gifts us an intriguing and varied group of characters, many with secrets, and a world outside of the train that is mysterious and dangerous. This is a wonderfully written, unusual story that brings together unlikely friends and allies in a week-long train ride through the wastelands. I enjoyed getting to know the different characters through their own narratives, and through the eyes of others. It’s clear that it’s not only the passengers hiding things, but also the suspicious Company that runs the train. What exactly happened on the last crossing? Why will nobody talk about it? What do they have to hide? I never quite knew where this story was going which I liked, and its strangeness was compelling in a way that’s difficult to describe. If you’re looking for something a little outside of the ordinary, with fantasy elements and mysteries then this is a great read. I look forward to seeing more from Sarah Brooks!

From the first page this book totally absorbed me. The writing is beautiful, evocative and entertaining. Though others have commented on it being slow pace, I found the opposite. I enjoyed unravelling the mysteries of each of our main characters and the way their own lives cross paths in an Agatha Christie-esque mystery.

This book was philosophical at points, concerning itself with life’s mysteries as well as the ones of its characters. Ambitious, but pulled off exceedingly well.

Thank you to the publishers and negalley for an e-arc of this book! I’m incredibly grateful!

What a weird and wonderful book!

I was ready for a book that took me to unexpected places and The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands absolutely did that.
This is an adventure story, a story of travel, a historical mystery with some magical realism entwined. It's a multi genre book in some ways, but the author has managed to hang it all together very convincingly.
The pacing of the book really did feel as if it was dictated by the speed of the train and as we had plenty of time at the beginning of the journey to get to know the characters and get a real sense of the train itself, I felt at home with the idea of where the book took me as things sped up into the strange and otherworldly.

An immersive read that draws you in and holds you there. Beautifully done!

Thank you to Net Galley, to Sarah Brooks and to Orion for the opportunity to read this advance copy.

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Let me start this review by saying that I don’t think I was the right audience for 'The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands'. This was most definitely a case of “it’s me, not the book”.

In fact, there are quite a few things to like about this story. First of all, there is the array of different genres that the author manages to weave together seamlessly. Part historical fiction, part mystery, part steampunk and fantasy, with some magic to finish things off. Maybe it sounds a tad messy, but it really isn’t. There is the Victorian feel to the train journey, slightly reminiscent of the Orient Express. And then there is the mystery of this vast and mysterious land the train travels through.

The year is 1899. A train is travelling from Beijing to Moscow. The route takes the passengers through the Wastelands. For many, it is the journey of a lifetime. On board is a young woman with a fake name who is on a mission to find the truth, a young child who calls the train home, and a man who desperately wants to restore his standing in the scientific community. It is through these three that the reader will uncover the secrets of the Wastelands, and the ruthlessness of the Company that runs the train.

This is where my issues with this book began. I found it remarkably hard to warm to these characters. None of them were able to pull me into the story, to become invested in what was going on, or to throw my support behind them. In fact, one of them irked me no end. The relentless pursuit of knowledge, not out of curiosity but out of a longing for recognition, blinds this character to everything and everyone else around them. Even if it puts them all in danger. This also goes for the Company. Their influence reaches far and wide. Greed and money is all that matters to them, and those who come too close to whatever it is they’re trying to hide, should most definitely watch their backs. 

It is the simple beginning of a rather beautiful friendship that will set events in motion. A connection between different worlds that shows sometimes it’s nicer to be curious instead of cautious. Fear of the unknown makes people do questionable things sometimes. But if you open your eyes and your mind, who knows what amazing discoveries you will make. Maybe, behind the difference in first and third class, standing, colour, whatnot, we aren't so different after all.

Aside from the characters not being able to convince me, and despite not quite being able to picture the magical fantasy phenomena,  and despite the pace in the first half of the book being way too slow for me, The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wasterlands' is not at all a bad book. For fans of the (many?) genres, I’m sure there will be something to like. I enjoyed some of it, even found some bits unnerving in a good way. There is even a delightful sense of doom. But I must admit there were quite a few times where I considered not finishing. I’m glad I kept going and I thought the ending was really well done, but all in all, like I said at the start, I wasn’t quite the right audience for this one.

I have always fancied travelling on one of those luxury train journeys. Stepping into the footsteps left by explorer Michael Palin (or perhaps less so ex-Conservative MP Michael Portillo), the idea of sitting in comfort whilst travelling to a new destination, watching the world go by with perhaps a book (or books!) and tea for company, is a favourite daydream of mine.

So this book, set on a journey made by the Great Trans-Siberian Express in 1899, sounded like it might be just my sort of thing. A journey on a great steampunk-y train, all brass and steam, sounds wonderful.

The book begins with the train setting off from Beijing Station (although (pedant’s point) of course had it been 1899, it would have been Peking Station, I guess.) From Beijing in China to Moscow in Russia will take fifteen days. Run by the mysterious Company, whose agents known as the Crows police the train, it is not only an important means of transport for people of all classes, but is an essential means to transporting goods and cargo that keeps commerce running. Readers of the film and TV series Snowpiercer may think this sounds familiar.

We are told the story initially through Marya Petrovna, although other characters are also given – Zhang Weiwei is a young child who was born on the train and has never really left it, Henry Grey is a naturalist who seems to have recently been disgraced and who is determined to prove his worthiness to the scientific community, for example.

However, what I thought might be a steampunk version of an Agatha Christie-esque trip of opulence and pleasure soon becomes something odder. We discover that the landscape between the train stops is known as ‘the Wastelands’, and just travelling through it can have effects on people. Strange things are seen outside the carriages, there’s supernatural figures often glimpsed in the corridors and people can be prone to fainting, hallucinogenic visions and fits as the journey progresses. The trip is not without dangers, but travellers are willing to take the risk – albeit cautiously, as the title suggests!

The tension is raised as Marya explains that a disaster befell a previous journey, although details of what happened are rather vague. There are whispers that the train isn’t safe. No one, not even Weiwei, can remember exactly what happened on the previous trip.

To add to this, we find that the train has a stowaway, and that some of the passengers can’t remember anything beyond the train itself. The Company itself may have secrets of its own on board the train that some are keen to discover, and the Crows, the train’s military police, are determined to keep secret.

So, as you can see what begins as a rather sedate train journey soon becomes something more. As secrets and stories begin to unravel, the passengers and crew must survive their journey together, even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in . . .

By the end of the novel, the reader may feel that this is rather like one of those metaphorical mind-trips that SF was so fond of in the 1960’s, or perhaps something akin to Jeff Vandermeer’s stories. Although Curious Traveller’s Guide is fantasy, personally I was reminded of Stanislaw Lem’s science fiction novel Solaris, as the journey becomes one of the mind as well as one of a physical nature. As I read further, questions were raised – Is the journey a metaphor for life? I liked the point that the train appears to be a microcosm of society, in that the passengers on board range from peasants in the 3rd class carriages to the elite in the 1st, each showing varying ways of coping with the journey.

Towards the end, we realise that the travel is not just to Moscow but actually somewhere else rather more esoteric. The enigmatic conclusion leaves things rather unclear, as the effects of this journey go beyond the train itself.

In summary, The Cautious Travellers Guide to the Wastelands is a real mind-bender of a book. It’s imaginative and well written, memorable for those readers who like weird stuff. Be warned – readers, you may lose connection with reality as the story goes on and end up somewhere very odd indeed.

3.5*

Described as a steampunk, dystopian fiction that feels like Piranesi, meets Babel meets Murder on the Orient Express, I knew I needed to read this book as soon as I heard about it and it sat high on my anticipated books list. I love a hybrid genre read and with this you have historical fiction, magical realism/fantasy, and horror touches. And overall I am really glad I read it but it didn't quite hit the heights for me as I hoped.

There is no denying this is a beautifully written debut. The words used, the sentence structures, the growing sense of unease and dread, the slow and languid build up - all gorgeous. But unfortunately, for several sections of the book, it was also a bit dull.

The story focuses on the passengers and crew aboard the great Trans-Siberian Express at the end of the 19th Century, on the first crossing since an unfortunate incident occurred a short while before. The journey is risky and filled with danger as they cross The Wastelands, a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow and one which seems to be changing rapidly which the train seems unable to cope with.

We follow several characters as they hope to survive the journey and uncover the secrets and stories of the train, the crossing and the land beyond.

Overall, such a wonderful premise but a few things just didn't quite land for me. Some of the characters felt underdeveloped, especially the male academic types, and the main thing was that I wanted more about the Wastelands. I didn't feel like I could picture fully what it was. We had the perspective of the character's but not enough widely from a world building perspective outside of the train.

I really liked the first and final quarters of the book, and even though I hadn't fully connected with the characters I felt really satisfied as a reader by how it closed and the potential for what could come in the future.

I feel that understanding now the pacing - the slower character focus instead of faster paced action, will help in the future with a re-read. There's so much potential here based on the writing skill alone. I really do appreciate a beautifully written book and that is what has stood out most to me along with the premise. I love a journey and I love a found family which I feel like there's the making of with the story and I think that this is a book that will grow on me and I'll want to come back to again and I think a second reading will be all the richer knowing what I know now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group | W&N for a digital review copy of "The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

After a slow start I was slowly captivated by the Agatha Christie-esque fiction, it is a book I would recommend to adventure enthusiasts who are looking for something new.

I became invested in the characters and was definitely taken on a mysterious journey.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

The Great Trans-Siberian Express is traversing the Wastelands to get to the Moscow Exhibition. After the last disastrous crossing, The Company is quick to reassure passengers that this journey will be safe – but are they correct?

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands has been one of my most anticipated reads of my TBR this year. The blurb seemed exciting, and I was looking forward to a bit of fantasy set on a large, overnight train. The setting is a bit of an odd one, the story is set at the end of the 19th Century, but in an alternate timeline, where almost supernatural Wastelands have developed between Moscow and Beijing. No-one is able to cross the Wastelands without a ticket to the train, controlled by the mysterious Company who want to keep their profits high, regardless of the cost. I must admit that I wanted a little more worldbuilding on this aspect- I wanted to understand how the supernatural side of the Wastelands came into being and perhaps more about the Company itself. We are given a lot of information in really small drips (such as information on the last crossing), but I actually felt this was detrimental in some respects as some things never really felt very clear in my mind. I also thought that the Wastelands in particular were quite vaguely depicted, although I understand the reasoning behind this, but it felt more like they would shift and change on a whim rather than actually feeling solid and realistic.

The story is told from a few perspectives, but they all felt well-defined from each other. Weiwei, a child who has grown up on the train was by far my favourite character. I felt that there were perhaps too many older scientific men, who were all written quite similarly so when someone was referred to as ‘The Professor’ I was unsure who they were referring to.

This is quite a slow read – there are some beautiful descriptive passages, but the plot only really gets going right at the end and then it’s all over. I would have liked some more detail on certain elements, particularly in regards to the Wastelands themselves.

Overall, The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands is a fantastic premise, but was a little too slow-going for me. Thank you to NetGalley & Orion Publishing Group – W&N for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very interesting book. I enjoyed the setting on the train and thought hat the characters were well drawn. I found the passages set the wastelands a bit vague. I guess this aspect is being saved for a sequel.

A unique and quite different read that was at times
Hard to plough through yet at others I found myself fully absorbed though often left with a feeling that there was very little happening.

There is a creeping and uncomfortable feel throughout as the story builds and the train and its cast of differing characters move deeper if the wastelands that the book focus on.

The writing is nice read, but the pacing is very very one paced and I just wanted and bit of an injection of pace.

It read a lot longer than the 384 pages but i did enjoy it and it was nice to escape on to a dark and unsettling journey into a world of the unknown

This extraordinary book reminded me in places of Jeff VanderMeers Southern Reach trilogy but I enjoyed this one so much more. The story has well drawn characters and interesting interactions between them. The tale is more of a journey than most books I have read recently, slowly building up the tension. I loved the ending.

At the end of the 19th century, the Great Trans-Siberian Express passes through a vast wasteland, walled off from the rest of China and Russia. Inside the wastelands, things have changed, and no one must set foot outside the train. It’s been a year since the last journey, when a terrible calamity occurred, and the windows cracked. None of the passengers can remember what happened, but the Company is quick to assign blame to the glassmaker.

Marya Petrovna is the glassmaker’s daughter, travelling in disguise as a mourning widow. Her father wasn’t the same after the glass broke, and she wants answers. Henry Grey is a naturalist, determined to regain his standing among his peers with a great discovery from the wastelands.

Zhang Weiwei is a child who has spent her entire life on the train. A child of the wastelands, the train is her home. The Captain is a woman revered. There are a bunch of other characters making the journey, including the Crows, the company men who lurk menacingly in the carriages, ready to pounce on anything unauthorised.

The wastelands themselves reminded me a bit of Southern Reach, and I wish more of the story was dedicated to outside rather than the safety of the train. What happened wasn't really explained, and for me there wasn't enough detail on the supernatural elements. I didn't care about the characters all that much. Perhaps because there were so many of them, it only scratched the surface of who they were. I was disappointed that the Captain was built up so much but then barely appeared in the story.

There's a lot of time describing the practicalities of being on the train, but when things started to get interesting, it was all over very quickly. I thought the resolution was a bit too easy too. A promising idea that might be more appealing to readers of historical fiction and magical realism.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy this book very much. Although it is undoubtedly a well-crafted, original, and inventive novel with an innovative concept that many will appreciate, I couldn't connect with the story or the characters, even from the beginning. The cover and blurb initially grabbed my attention, and I love the idea of a "road trip novel" set on a train, but I found the book to be slow-paced. I usually don't mind a slower pace when I'm interested in the plot, but this wasn't the case here.

Sarah Brooks debut is a highly imaginative, surreal, and multigenre fiction, with exquisite world building with its rich descriptions and pervading sense of horror, murder, class, power and profiteering, along with the details from the eponymous guide. A Victorian historical fantasy set in the latter part of the 19th century, it's the story of a Trans-Siberian Express travelling between Beijing and Moscow, cities with their walls intended to repel the Wasteland inhabitants. The service has restarted after a period of being suspended, little is known of what dangers and what precisely happened. There are a widely disparate set of passengers on the train, we find ourselves immersed in the perspectives of a particular group of characters.

There is a grieving, well off widow Maria Petrovna with her secrets, the disgraced, privileged, ambitious academic, Henry Grey, a naturalist determined to address and redeem his problematic reputation. The curious, resilient Zhang Weiwei has resided on the train ever since she was born on it, she finds herself linking with the stowaway she comes across, the distinctly different Elena. We have a strong and atmospheric feel of claustrophobia and menace through the vivid insanity of the worrying, dark, dangerous, sick, monstrous and surprising terrain of flora and faunaof the Siberian Wastelands. There are twists and turns in this disturbingly unsettling and uneasy narrative.

This is a terrifically well written and fascinating adventurous storytelling from the talented Brooks, with its magical qualities, touching on politics, and its wildly evocative spirit and nature of the Wastelands. This will appeal to readers looking for something different, weird and captivating, and I can definitely see it doing well and making its mark on publication. It has brilliantly developed characters, whilst the train and the Wastelands acquire their own characteristics as the novel unfolds. I look forward with great anticipation to whatever Brooks writes next! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.