Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel

⭐ 7.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

I was really looking forward to finally getting into this one after loving all the other ESJM books I've read, plus this one being more sci-fi focused. I'll admit straight away that I was a little disappointed. This book is pretty classic ESJM style, with lots of interwoven POVs, bouncing around in time. However, this one really bounces around, ranging from a century ago to a few centuries in the future, and you're not quite sure what the connections will be. I think this is a slight spoiler, so beware:

I think my main disappointment is that this book deals with time travel, and time travel never ever makes any sense. What's the deal here? Are they making a multiverse every time they travel? Does anything they do effect anything, and to what degree? She kinda dances around these issues a few times, but it never satisfied me. You know that the main guy's choices have consequences, but we never really find out what they are. I'm just a firm believer in leaving time travel alone in any serious story because it never works.

Aside from this, my other major gripe was just how underdeveloped some of these characters felt, especially the main character. He makes an absolutely WILD decision without much of a thought process. Buddy has one job, and instantly does the opposite of that for no other reason than that it makes the story work. I get that characters have to make bad decisions to create conflict, but his decision just felt so strange from an author as tight as Mandel.

Alright, one last gripe. I love Mandel's writing, more than almost any other modern writer I can think of. However, this book spans 300 years, and her writing style remains the same throughout. So like, one small thing I thought about is the fact that time travellers can communicate flawlessly with olden day people. I couldn't even talk to someone from 1910, and I'm from 2023! But her 1910 guy talks like me, who talks like the guy from 2300. I just thought there would be a little more craft here. I think Mandel is a terrific writer, but I think she kinda showed her lack of versatility here. She really has her signature style and that's it.

Anyways, this review makes it sound like I hated this book. That's not true at all. I thought it was almost always good, and at times great. The setup and building of intrigue is amazing. The prose, the dialogue; all of that was exactly what I hoped for. I guess I just expected a bit more in other places. This book felt a little rushed for something of this scope, and almost seemed to use some recycled content from her other books (or else she was getting too cute with referencing her past work). The world never really felt real to me, and there was never much of a commitment to building a unique future besides the fact that they have airships.

I think most readers would love this one. It got terrific reviews (compared to Glass Hotel, which I loved), and has cool sci-fi elements. It's easy to read, and doesn't demand much of your time. Just not my favorite of hers.