At different points, this reminded me both of Agatha Christie and of the Doctor Who episode “Midnight.” And if that’s not a combination that grabs your attention, I don’t even know what to say to you.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks follows the passengers on a Trans-Siberian express train that runs between from Beijing to Moscow across what has now come to be known as the Wastelands—a dangerous landscape, filled only with creatures that always seek to encroach upon the train. As for the passengers, there’s Zhang Weiwei (the girl raised on the rails, who knows nothing but life upon this train), Marya Petrovna (a woman using a false name, seeking answers to her father’s death), Henry Grey (a scientists attempting to recover his tattered reputation by studying the Wastelands), and Elena (the mysterious stowaway trying to keep her real identity secret). These people, and all the rest riding this train, are unprepared when the Wastelands begin to change. To survive, they’ll need to trust each other, if they can manage it.

First, before I actually start talking about the book, why did the audiobook production request that Katie Leung not use her native Scottish accent? Almost none of the characters in this book are English, so why ask her to be? What does the world have against Scottish and Irish accents?! (Yes, my David Tennant fan is showing; don’t judge me.)

Anyway, this story had such an intriguing premise. To set this in 1899, but in a version of it where the environment has already been seriously damaged in a sort of mystical way, was so clever. And then to place the characters in such an enclosed space like a train was a great way to increase the tensions as things start to go wrong.

I liked Marya’s storyline the best, probably. The themes about the ways that major corporations can cover up their own wrongdoing are scathing, and I ate it up. There’s a lot of good stuff here about unchecked capitalism and monopolies, and how they can negatively impact the environment. It’s worked into the plot very well.

As for Zheng, she was a wonderful character too, but I admit that I wanted a bit more development with her. And her friendship with Elena was fine, but I wasn’t nearly as invested in it as I think I was supposed to be. So when the stakes heightened, I didn’t care as much as I should have about their alliance. That said, Elena was a cool, mysterious, intense character. I sure liked her more than Henry Grey, who was just… there. I had sympathy for him losing credibility in his field, but he was also kind of annoying.

I’m not sure what it was about this, but something about the pacing of the ending didn’t quite work with me. Maybe if I reread this, I’d get more out of it, but I just didn’t feel it was as impactful as it could have been. Or maybe I just wasn’t as engaged as I should have been in general? I really don’t think it’s the author’s fault. This truly is an impressive debut novel.

In the end, while I didn’t entirely love The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands, it’s still a good book. The magical/supernatural elements feel gritty and eerie, the characters are pretty well-rounded, and the setting is stunning. The themes about corporations and what we owe to the natural world were excellent. While this wasn’t an entirely fulfilling read for me, I’ll definitely look for more books from Sarah Brooks in the future!

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands is available now!