I must admit, I struggled with the beginning of The Expanded Earth. The opening chapters were confusing, and it took me a while to get a grip on what had actually happened to the main character, Giles. The perspective shifts in later chapters threw me off at first, too. The book follows Giles as he navigates a world where all humans have mysteriously shrunk, but it also jumps to other key figures: Elizabeth, the scientist responsible for the event, and much later, Matilda, who has ties to Giles's past. In hindsight, the structure makes sense now that I’ve finished, but early on, I had to push myself to keep going.

That said, once the narrative threads started coming together, I found myself far more engaged. The book has a dystopian Borrowers feel, with different groups of people figuring out how to survive at this new scale. Some of my favorite parts were the little vignettes showing how people adapted, like an island where prisoners and guards, now equally small, set aside their differences and built a thriving community. There’s also a village where one normal-sized human became a benevolent protector to his tiny neighbors, and a memorable moment with an astronaut who witnessed the shrinking event from space. These glimpses into the wider world made the book feel rich and expansive.

Giles’s core motivation is to reunite with his family, and after everything he endures, we finally get that moment... only for the book to cut off just before we see how it plays out. It felt abrupt, like I was missing the emotional payoff. After so much tension and struggle, I wanted a bit more resolution.

Despite the rocky start, I enjoyed The Expanded Earth once I settled into its rhythm. It’s fast-paced, imaginative, and packed with thought-provoking ideas. I’d be curious to see where the next book in the series takes things, especially if it picks up right where this one leaves off.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for providing me with an eARC copy of this book in exchange for this honest review.

I requested/downloaded this because it was marked as a graphic novel and the front art is really cool. It is not a graphic novel, so I won't be reading it. The concept sounded interesting though.

I really loved this. It was a bit bonkers but managed to avoid making me think too much of the Borrowers (some of the first books I owned). I didn’t see in advance how the stories would come together so it felt quite suspenseful as we led up to the descent. Definitely worth a read. Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy.

This was such an interesting read, nothing like I'd normally read but I'm glad I did (read it) because it was great!
a high-stakes adventure packed with jeopardy and life-affirming beauty: dark, witty, and wildly ambitious.