The Wanderers

Combining literary styling with genre elements, The Wanderers is very much a slipstream novel. It weighs far heavier on the side of literature than it does science fiction so if you are expecting action and adventure you would be advised to choose a different book. Even as a fan of slipstream, I found The Wanderers to be unbearably dull.

Three astronauts - Helen, Sergei, and Yoshi - are participating in a seventeen-month training simulation in preparation for a real trip to Mars. They have been specially selected for this experience and because they are the absolutely perfect candidates... well, nothing happens. They get along and they do their jobs.

Interspersed through the book are peripheral stories about various family members, as well as one of the people monitoring the simulation. These additional characters are cliché and forgettable.

If an author is going to write a novel that is purely a character study (as this one is) then the characters need to be likeable and interesting and relatable. I did not care about any of the characters in the book. At all. It was simply a huge yawn fest.

The Wanderers was included in many Best of 2017 lists so I was surprised at how much I disliked it (and disappointed to start off the new year with a bomb book).

2 Stars