This debut novel takes the majestic glory of the Trans-Siberian Railway and turns the journey into a horror show, a devastated land of mutated flora and fauna akin to the Strugatsky brother’s Zone and Jeff Vandermeer’s Area X. 

The Greater Siberian Wastelands is inimical to human life. The only way across is via the Trans-Siberian Express, a massive feat of engineering linking Russia with China, both countries bordered by walls, keeping the denizens of the Wastelands at bay. Like the railway, the train is an extraordinary achievement, an armoured behemoth on the outside but a luxurious experience on the inside (well, for those who can afford it). The narrative centres on three of the passengers. There’s Henry Grey, a disgraced academic who believes the mysteries of the Wasteland will redeem him; there’s Marya Petrovna, a grieving widow with a secret; and there’s Zhang Weiwei, who was born on the train and has lived there ever since, and who is the first to discover a stowaway, the enigmatic Elena, unlike anyone Weiwei has encountered before. 

Brook’s prose has an elegance and eye for detail. We get a real sense of the train’s operations and the dangers of the Wasteland, helped along by extracts from the titular Guide. The characters are well drawn, the set pieces are suitably dramatic, and the narrative takes a couple of interesting turns that surprised me; the climax, in particular, is bold and unexpected. You can read the novel as pure escapist adventure, with monsters and invasive, tentacle-like flora. Or you can read it as a commentary on class and especially how multinationals and powerful men will sacrifice everyone and everything on the proverbial altar of profit. Whichever way you go, you will have fun with this novel.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland is out in June.