2022: Mandel is 3 for 3 with this one!

This was one of the books I was most excited about coming out this year. I absolutely fell in love with Mandel when I read [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451446835l/20170404._SX50_SY75_.jpg|28098716], and it has stuck with me ever since 2016. I was equally into [b:The Glass Hotel|45754981|The Glass Hotel|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564199892l/45754981._SX50_.jpg|57817644], and it was so fun encountering some of the same characters in this universe. You absolutely do not need to have read Hotel in order to appreciate this book, but much like recognizing a character in a [a:David Mitchell|6538289|David Mitchell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248688p2/6538289.jpg] novel, you'll like it that much more if you do.

A big head's up here that a majority of this novel takes place during times where there is a pandemic (1918, 2020, and in the future too). One of the major through lines is how society deals with rebuilding itself after a pandemic (classic!) So be warned if you're looking for an escape in this fictional book - you might not find it here! I found the pandemic rebuild to be okay, but it was almost too stressful reading about the colonies we had to build on the moon because we ruined Earth -_-

I thought Mandel was masterful in her intertwining of different timelines and characters, and I was never lost or confused. I definitely want to circle back and read some of her earlier works after finishing this one!