Sarah Brooks’ book had me interested as soon as I saw the title. Then a little dive into the synopsis and it became clear I was destined to like this novel. I cannot pass up anything with a turn of the century style setting and then being placed on a train through a wasteland. Yes, please! 

I will say I was happily invested in the stories of Weiwei, the child of the train, and Marya, the determined daughter looking for justice. The rest of the characters seem to be a bit shallow and took a backseat during the story, even though some of them had very important parts to play as the story moved along. 

The way the author depicted the train and the wasteland was well written. I do believe you could feel yourself immersed in the movement of the train and the wild happenings inside the train and outside in the wasteland. My only complaint is that the book tended to travel slowly through most chapters. For some reason I expected a faster tempo, but all in all not a disappointing read. 

I recommend this book highly if you liked the adventures of Snowpiercer, meshed with What Moves the Dead. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron for the opportunity to read this book in digital form.