Sarah Brooks - The Cautious Traveler's Guide To The Wastelands

Posted on May 26, 2026

Rating: 4/5 Worth a re-read
Pages: 316

A fantasy that takes place entirely on a train! What could be better?

I definitely enjoyed this. The main character was interesting, there was a mysterious mystery to uncover, and there was danger that the characters had to address together.

There were a few contradictions in the story that I just let slide. For example, the train is passing through the wastelands, where there is nobody on the ground, and it’s likely death to exit the train, yet somehow the train was able to change routes. Who threw the switch to allow that? I think there were ways this could have been handled, but the author would have to had to explain how this train was different from the typical train in being able to do this.

Ah well.