“How High We Go in the Dark,” debut novel by Sequoia Nagamatsu was a fascinating book that is hard to “pin down.” It is a novel made up of interconnected short stories about the end of the world, a deadly pandemic. It falls in the sci-fi genre, but there are so many other themes and ideas of life, existence, community, family that swirl within each chapter.

The novel is well-written and includes a lot of depth for a debut. The parts that I found most interesting included the themes of family and the interconnectedness of world. It was hard though, to sit down and read through this book. As it deals with a deadly pandemic which mostly affects children and the elderly, the most vulnerable on earth, there is much sadness and bleakness conveyed. Besides the parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic, it also deals with the ever-worsening issues caused by climate change, without much offer of hope. It all hits very close to home.

The book wasn’t perfect but there was a lot of things to think about. It’s a great for any fans of sci-fi or post-apocalyptic literature.

Get a copy of “How High We Go in the Dark” by Sequoia Nagamatsu on Amazon here.