Emily St. John Mandel has cemented herself as one of my favorite authors. I adore this universe she has created that’s a little bit science fiction, a little bit dystopian, and a little bit real life. Her narratives are sweeping and epic and move back and forth in time, but are never confusing. Her books are heartbreaking and serious, but also hopeful. 

 

I also love how her last three books are interconnected, but not really. You don’t need to have read Station Eleven to read The Glass Hotel, and you don’t need to have read The Glass Hotel to read Sea of Tranquility, but if you have, there are lovely tiny details that ties these three very different books (and worlds) together.

 

Sea of Tranquility is definitely a new favorite. We get real characters with real emotions and experiences (I particularly enjoyed Olive, whose experiences I can only assume come directly from Mandel’s own life), and we get just a hint of Matrix-y sci-fi. But at its heart, like all of her books I’ve read, Sea of Tranquility is about love, relationships, and searching for meaning in life regardless of place or circumstances. She’s definitely an auto-buy author for me, but I just have to wait for the paperback so they all match!