How High We Go in the Dark is a profoundly prophetic debut novel that follows a whole host of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years, as humanity tries to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague – a work for the sci-fi readers amongst you that intimately explores character.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, to interstellar star-ships, Sequoia Nagamatsu pulls readers on an original, epic and compassionate journey. It’s a journey spanning continents, centuries, to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, imaginatively delving into existentialism, humanity and relationships.
The vignette that stands out most is set in a theme park designed for terminally ill children, where an employee falls for a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son, it’s one that hammers home the human element to Nagamatsu’s otherworldly tale. Despite the premise, the novel, for this, is surprisingly warm and life-affirming and will beguile as to where it leads next, you’ll want to read on.
How High We Go in the Dark was published 18th Jan by Bloomsbury
