My Five Word TL:DR Review : Liked not Loved This One

TCTGttW is undoubtedly a well written and interesting story that offers readers a historic, gothic style  setting with a fascinating mystery.  It’s a good read, if a little slow, but, I think my expectations had misled me a little  – which is totally on me because the description isn’t misleading at all.

As the story begins we meet a number of passengers as they ready themselves before embarking on what is undoubtedly a dangerous journey. The Trans-Siberian Express travels from Beijing to Moscow.
I loved the setup to be honest. The introduction to a number of passengers, some of them with very personal reasons for making the journey, who are keeping secrets. We particularly follow a grieving young woman travelling under a false name and a young girl who was born on the train and has been adopted into the hearts of the train and crew. On top of this we have a couple of characters known as The Crows who seem to stalk the train and passengers keeping everything under tight control.

As the journey begins you become immediately aware of the dangers faced. The wastelands are an ever changing and adapting unknown entity that seem to drive people crazy.

I don’t really want to say too much more about the plot because of spoilers.

My feelings whilst reading went from loving the writing, the characters and set up with all the anticipation that was initially created to one of feeling that very little was really happening and eventually becoming a bit frustrated.

I think I wanted more from the wastelands really. This is an element of the story that felt under explored for me. I was expecting goosebumps and a few chills. Instead this feels a little like a gentle warning about the price of progress and the effects such progress can have on the natural environment. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t feel like a story that is trying to preach, but, at the same time it felt a little tentative, like it was on the precipice of throwing caution to the wind and bringing to us something quite fantastical or remaining a bit more calm. I think I was hoping for a bit of chaos and some dark psychological goings on as the passengers started to lose control. Also there was a certain passenger who for me was just a huge ‘spoiler alert’. I can’t say more though without being a big spoiler alert myself.

Anyway. This probably sounds a bit more critical than I intended so to back up a little. The story is really well written, there’s a great sense of intrigue and a creeping dread of what might actually happen. And, who doesn’t love a story set on a train?

Just, if you’re planning on picking this up be aware that it is a slow burn and don’t make my mistake and start hoping for all sorts of creepy critters in the dark.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 beautifully written stars.