Book Review: Across the Sand by Hugh Howey

This is the first book by Hugh Howey I have read, meaning I have yet to read the first book in this series: Sand, The Sand Chronicles. And I will after reading this one. The story is about this strange world taken over by sand, told from multiple points of view. The point of the book seems to be to explore the world where people dive into the sand to find artifacts from the old world buried underneath it. The plot is somewhat loose, but nevertheless, it was interesting to witness how it all came together. The book follows siblings Conner, Rob, Palmer, and Violet and their lives on the sandy dunes. They make their living following their father’s and oldest sister, Vic’s steps by sand diving. Then there is Anya, born in a mining city, thrown into the pursuit of her father in the No Man’s Land (dunes) after a bomb destroys her city. She is set for revenge.

I don’t know how to review the book. I don’t have anything interesting to say about the characters, yet I liked them despite them being cliche. The plot was there, I guess, and it was like any other plot I have read. The prose was simple, well-written, and gripping. The world was strangely familiar. Nothing revolutionary there. Yet despite everything being familiar, nothing new, and somewhat a cliche, I liked the book. It was like that cozy read where you could enjoy the ride. That being said, it touched heavy subjects like alcoholism, loss, and inequality, but they were there like in a normal world where we walk past them as something that exists.

So here I am, again, trying to figure out what to say or how to review the book. Not everything has to be revolutionary to be good. It just needs to have all the right parts to make it a great book to enjoy when everything in the real world seems abysmal. Across the Sand was that, a great book to be enjoyed.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day ❤