I am so mad that I finished this awful book. I was hoping the life of pi style story would lead to redemption, not horribleness. I started with three stars, since i liked it until the last 50 pages, but i am changeling it to 1 star ( )

A wonderful, creative novel, intertwining two road journeys, with two related journeys spiraling through time. Byrne writes well, weaving her stories persuasively together, culminating into not the happiest of endings, but certainly a plausible one. Totally worth the read, and an author to track, her ability is such that she will hopefully produce more of this quality. ( )

When it comes to this book am I glad that I'm reviewing books because it made me analyze the book's story both during the reading and after and I think it made me appreciate the book a bit more than if I only had read it without having to think about what to write.

One thing I reflected on was that the blurb on the book was very vague and it made the reading a bit difficult because the book is not making much sense in the beginning. The book started with Meena, but then the book shifted focus to Mariama and then I felt even more lost. So, I checked up the book on Goodreads and read the blurb and some reviews there and then I got a more sense to the story. Still a bit confused, but now at least I knew that there was to different stories set in different times and I knew more about Mariama.

We have Meena in a futuristic world, she has just woken up with five snake bites on her chest and she doesn't know how she got them or why, but she feels that she has to leave India for her birthplace Ethiopia. She decided to take the Trail; an energy-harvesting bridge that spans the Arabian Sea to reach her destination.

Mariama story takes place some time before Meenas. Mariama is a young girl that witness her mother being raped and flees away with a caravan that is transporting oil through the Saharan Africa. She also meets Yemaya, a beautiful and enigmatic woman.

Through the book get to know both Mariama and Meena and towards the end, their stories are linked together. I think both stories are about repressed memories. Mariama has repressed her memory of why she has to flee and Meena has repressed the memory of her mother's rape. It's interesting that both chooses snakes, Mariama has been bitten by a snake and Meena sees a blue snake in her mother's tent. But I can't say that I found the book easy to read or understand and I found the ending a bit confusing.

What made the book work for me was the futuristic take on the world. I was intrigued about the Trail and how it worked, apparently using metallic hydrogen you can in the future build an energy-harvesting bridge that you can walk on. I just wish it had been more explained how wide it was, first I visualize it to be quite thin then when people showed up on it during Meenas travel did it suddenly felt a lot wider.

In the end, I could not give it more than 2.5 stars (gave it a half star more while writing the review). I found much of the story confusing while I read it, some things I still find confusing after I have read the book. I couldn't really connect with the story and its characters. I think for the right person is this book probably really interesting.

I would have liked a more straightforward story with the main point being a futurist world with its social, religious and culture differences to our time. The Trail was such an interesting idea that I would have loved the focus more on that. But instead, we have a story about as I see it two damaged women that have suffered traumatic experiences and we get to know as the story progress what is the cause of it.

But I do find it also in a way fascinating, it was different from what I usually read and it's always nice to broaden your view.

2.5 stars

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

I've been slogging away at this book for months, and I just can't get into it. The realities keep shifting, all the chracters are continually hallucinating (I think) and even though I appreciate a book with main characters of Asian and African backgrounds and settings, I just don't have it in me to follow this sort of literary fiction. Not my cup of tea. ( )

Meh. I wanted to like this so so much. A science fiction novel featuring protagonists that are female as well as non- caucasian and non North American or European, a real rarity. The first chapter or two, Meena's story, had me riveted.

Unfortunately we leave Meena and go to a completely different story featuring a young girl. The risk of having two different stories is that one is far less compelling than the other. Unfortunately, this is the case here. This other story kind of has the feel of a fable but it is just not that compelling. I lost interest.

i got just past the halfway point and my own personal rule is that if i quit after the 50% mark, it counts as read. After all, i gave the book a more than fair shot and a lot of valuable time. I rarely quit a book that late, so don't often have to invoke that rule. Usually you have long since made the decision whether to commit to finishing by the halfway point.

This is Byrne's debut novel and I certainly would not be opposed to trying a subsequent novel by her, because there is talent there. ( )