The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

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Trigger warnings

Positive tags

Hero archetypes

Heroine archetypes

Protagonist archetypes

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Themes

Synopsis

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 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?

Tags

Is The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands appropriate for my child?

Suitable for most readers 13 and up.

This literary fantasy features mysterious dangers on a magical train journey with peril and tension, but violence is implied rather than graphic. Themes of grief, memory, and trust in dangerous circumstances.