Sea of Tranquility was written by award winning novelist Emily St John Mandel and was published in 2022.
It was a huge hit with both readers and critics. It was the winner of the Goodreads Choice Award and also featured on best book of the year lists in the New York Times, The Washington Post and The Financial Times.
Even Barack Obama is a fan and featured it in his annual summer reading list.
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Plot
Sea of Tranquility revolves around four main characters and their interconnected experiences across different time periods. Edwin St. Andrew is the first character, banished from his upper-class life in England in 1912. While journeying into the wilds of Vancouver, he encounters a strange anomaly that involves a dark space, the sound of a violin, and a swooshing noise.
Mirella, the second character, attends an audio-visual performance in 2020 to search for her missing friend Vincent. During the show, she sees a video clip recorded by Vincent in a Vancouver Island forest. This recording also included the dark space, the violin, and the swooshing noise.
Olive, the third main character, is a bestselling author touring Earth from a moon colony in 2203. As she travels, a pandemic spreads, and during an interview, she is questioned about a passage in her book that describes a character in a spaceport being transported to a lush forest by the sound of a violin.
Lastly, Gaspery resides on another moon colony in 2401. Feeling trapped in a dead-end job, Gaspery learns about a time-travelling mission conducted by the Time Institute, where his sister works. Intrigued by the opportunity for adventure, he trains at the Institute and undertakes a journey through time. However, he makes a split-second decision during his mission that profoundly affects both the past and the future.
Throughout the novel, these four characters’ experiences and encounters with the violin, the swooshing noise, and the dark space interweave, revealing connections and consequences that transcend time and reshape their lives.
Sea of Tranquility Book Review
I really enjoyed this book…eventually! It definitely took me a whole to get into it. I was initially drawn in as we were introduced to Edwin St. Andrew but as we moved onto other characters with little warning, I wondered whether this book was for me. I felt as soon as I got into one characters’ story we were thrust forward into the next.
However as I read on, I enjoyed how the pieces of the puzzle slowly slotted into place. Any confusion is resolved when Gaspery is properly introduced and his story helped me make sense of how everything was connected. I liked how everything was explained through his story and I particularly enjoyed the ending.
Science fiction certainly isn’t my usual genre. I’ve started to read a bit more fantasy, such as Sarah J Maas and VE Schwab but I don’t tend to venture into sci-fi. I did find the time travel and simulation theory really interesting. Thankfully the narrative wasn’t bogged down with too much scientific explanation as it likely would have gone straight over my head! I found the idea of living in a simulation fascinating and I enjoyed the exploration of whether it would impact how people would live their lives. If you have love, fulfilment, a life you enjoy…does it really matter?
For a relatively short novel there was so much depth to it. There was human emotion perfectly intertwined with scientific theory. The prose was lyrical in places but also really descriptive. I could visualise the colonies on the moon and how earth would change over the centuries.
I felt the transitions not only through centuries but also from earth to the moon, were handled really well. For someone who doesn’t usually read this genre, I managed to grasp what was happening and I never confused any of the characters.
Oveall, I can see why Sea of Tranquility was such a massive hit. I personally found it to be a really interesting introduction to science fiction as it blurred the lines between sci-fi and literary fiction, which was perfect for someone new to the genre.
What to read next
For another captivating story involving time travel and second chances, you might be interested in reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi or The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
For a book with a similar science fiction theme, I’d also recommend The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart.