Emily St. John Mandel proves again to be an engaging novelist with a fluid, transparent style. In trying to categorize her, I find the term "old-fashioned" comes to mind – as a compliment, not an epithet. This, like her previous Station Eleven, is well-plotted and not especially concerned with "big ideas," although there are enough smaller ideas to keep the pot bubbling. The use of supernatural elements never feels artificial, which is hard to pull off, and cameo appearances by characters from the previous novel are satisfying. Again, Mandel constructs a tight, propulsive, and believable plot (despite its fantastic elements). Old-fashioned, then, in the sense that the popular novels published by, say, Alfred A. Knopf in the 1920s were somewhat challenging but mostly just fun to read.
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