Sea of Tranquility
by Emily St. John Mandel · first published 1999
100% recommend
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best
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I read Station Eleven after Sea of Tranquility, and I really liked the connection in that direction. So I don't think the ordering is so important. Really looking forward to reading The Glass Hotel as well! Emily St. John Mandel may be my new favorite…
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗…Scalzi: Kaiju Preservation Society David Brin: Kiln People Emma Straub: This Time Tomorrow Ursula K Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness Dennis E Taylor: We are Legion Emily St John Mandel: Sea of Tranquility William Gibson: The Peripheral Dan Simmons: Hyperion Elisabet Moon: The Speed of Dark Alastair Reynolds: Eversion Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children Of Time Andromeda Romano-Lax: Plumb…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…Little Life - challenging to read but exceptional Sci-fi Three Body Problem trilogy - forget the Netflix series the books are excellent, in my opinion #2 was the peak. The Glass Hotel, Station Eleven, Sea of Tranquility - anything by Emily St. John Mandel - hard to place but her distinct writing style transports me. Non-fiction: American Moonshot - fine The Path to Power - anything Caro writes is worth reading
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗Fiction: Victory City- new Salman Rushdie book. Great retelling of the history of one of the great medieval South Indian kingdoms. Not his best, but his writing is still top notch. Sea of Tranquility- speculative fiction from Emily St. John Mandel (of Station Eleven fame). It's a series of interconnected stories spanning centuries from the near past to the near future. Beautifully written. Read when…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗