This novel is an absolute masterclass in storytelling from John Boyne!

This isn't time travel fiction like I had initially thought. It is a meticulously designed plot that continues to develop as we move forward through time. However, the genius is that it develops in different countries, at different points in time. We start in AD 1 and end up in AD 2080.

It truly is a very unique and creative format for a novel that challenges you to think "are humans learning from our mistakes?" The amount of research that must have gone into this is immense. Each portion of the story, set in different time period and place, had historically accurate references (in some cases well known characters) and every detail is spot on. From the behaviour, the environmental context, the political situations and even the names of the characters in each section, every detail was spot on.

The book is divided into 'parts' and I would say it took me 2 parts to really get into it. I couldn't quite see how it worked and then I got it and was hooked. Please persevere if you feel like this, it is totally worth it!

This must have taken huge amounts of patience, time and determination to write, but I think this novel could be huge in 2020. I'm already recommending it to everyone and I hope it gets the recognition that is so deserved.

Released in the UK on 23rd July 2020. Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse @doubledaybooks for the opportunity to review!

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Wow, this is a really unique and special novel.

The unusual narrative structure has been described more accurately by other reviewers but the way the author manages to retain the flow between each chapter along the timeline is really quite something. The character names and settings change as it moves across time and place but they are easily recognisable and it is fascinating to see what changes as each new chapter unfolds. There must have been an enormous amount of research and work involved in connect up the settings from chapter to chapter but it really does work.

I found that I moved quite slowly through the early part of the book but I became more and more interested as time went on and it moved towards the present day, and I absolutely loved the epilogue.

A book of enormous scope, intelligence and wit that once again displays John Boyne's versatility and skill.

This is an epic read, spanning millennia, families and lifetimes. And yet it all stems from one family and decision made that will have consequences for over 2,000 years. Dealing with love, death, murder, grief, revenge, the places and times change but the themes remain the same. An ambitious read but one I feel deserves to be read in one go, if possible. I was absolutely captured by it and how it reached its conclusion. One of my favourite reads of 2020 without a doubt.

This is a novel with a seemingly simple story whereas, in fact, it is a voyage of discovery for a small group of characters. It spans 1BC to 2080 which is an epic period of time during which our characters - in something like Groundhog Day - reprise major incidents in their lives amidst different cultures and in different countries. Do they acquire wisdom or do they just repeat the same mistakes? John Boyne would have us believe the answer lies in the stars. See if you agree.

Over recent years I feel that John Boyne has established himself as one of the master storytellers of our time, so I was hugely excited to pick up his latest, A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom.

Boyne his hit it out the park with his last couple of novels, The Heart's Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky, both 5-star books for me.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is perhaps Boyne's most ambitious work yet, an epic tale spanning two millennia. The story follows one man, or versions of that man, in different time periods and geographical locations. This conceit brings to mind David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas but whilst Mitchell was subtly exploring the links between lives and reincarnation, Boyne's story reads as the life of one person. In virtually every chapter, the slightly tweaked characters and situations hook the reader. Boyne is able to quickly drag you into each setting and leave you hoping that each one won't end. There are multiple memorable moments and images as we travel through history, experiencing the ups and (mainly!) downs of our hero's life.

However, the structure was a slight problem for me. It often felt disorienting and, in all honesty, there were several junctures where I wished that the story was structured in a more straight-forward manner within one location/timezone. However, I appreciate the author's ambition here, and the point he wants to make about how the basic needs and emotions of humanity are consistent across time.

I also found one chapter towards the end, focusing on a recent political figure, somewhat out of place, both in terms of it's overt political message and slapstick nature. Whilst my views on this figure are likely in line with the author's, this section just didn't fit with the rest of the book for me.

Overall, a hugely enjoyable page-turner, with fun characters, humour and pathos. Boyne aims high with this one, and while the format caused some issues for me, it was a great ride.

This book spans a millennia and is not like any other book I've read before. I have read all of John Boyne's books and he is my favourite author. This book is a little confusing at first but once you get into it, it's an excellent read. It deals with the themes of family,life, love, power and abuse. John Boyne's style of writing is excellent and this book is unique. Thanks to Netgalley for the sample book.

How do you describe this book....
It took three sections for my thinking to adapt to how John Boyne was structuring the book- it can only be described as unique. The historical detail in relation to events, lives and artistry is incredible. The narrative concerning the principal character was interesting but it was the next context that the story ventured into that had me hooked. I could imagine this book being used to explore so many aspects of human development / progress with students. The oppression of women and the violence to overcome / deal with life’s aggressions was at times shocking but the world / humankind has never been good to itself
The final section 2016 somehow did leave a bitter taste .....and i wondered how much the book needed 1961/2016
This is a book that will either have you hooked or bewildered. Monumental and epic and a triumph in so many ways..

The beginning few chapters confused me but once I understood what was happening I enjoyed the travel through history. And can see how our past can follow through time. I hope this book won't become the next Dr Zivago in America. The travel through history gives you a idea how situations are universal and makes you think on how they impact on people's lives. I'm glad I read this book and know it will have a place on book shelves for years to come.

With his latest novel, John Boyne proves once again what a talented, creative and versatile author he is. 

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is unlike any other book I've read. Spanning over 2000 years and set in countries all over the world, it might seem at first that the individual stories are not related, but they are all intertwined. The narrator might be a different person each time but his voice is the same as his life story repeats and he seeks his vengeance over the course of 21 centuries. 

I can't imagine how long it must have taken JB to research all the historic periods this book is set in, but it's obvious he's done a really great job. This is a unique book that I really enjoyed and would highly recommend.

5★
“Indeed, Marinus was as likely to be found in a virgin’s bed as her grandmother’s, and on the rare occasions when his advances were rebuffed he assumed the woman suffered from a disorder of the mind and took her anyway, for he recognised no one’s rights but his own and those of his peers within the Roman legion.”

A family saga of the Family of Man, humankind from the first year in the Christian calendar, AD1 in Palestine. Roman legionnaire Marinus is the father of the family in a story that opens with bloodshed.

“On the night that I was born, my father, Marinus, left our home while my mother was in labour and, over the eight hours that followed, slaughtered a dozen infant boys, the sons of our neighbours and friends, each one under the age of two years.”

Whether the story of Herod killing babies is myth or truth, is not for the likes of me to decide. This is an epic tale that transcends truth, and (dare I say?), wisdom.

Boyne has done the impossible. I know nothing about the Gates of Wisdom, (because I am ignorant) or the philosophy or religion/s which may incorporate or refer to the concept (as I said, because I am ignorant). No matter, it isn’t necessary.

Have you ever stood in a lift/elevator that has multiple mirrors where you extend into infinity? This reminds me of that. Might my ancestors or all my other selves from way back when be informing my current self?

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned: Infinity mirror

I expect there will be people who will be reminded of Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, some of the works of James MICHENER, or more recently, Annie Proulx’s recent far-reaching Barkskins, but nothing I can think of can touch this for breadth. Moving at the pace of roughly a couple of generations, John Boyne takes a family around the world to live its story in a different place at a different time.

What seems confusing at first becomes compelling reading, as you quickly catch on that the father’s name begins with M, the mother’s with F, the sister’s with A, the brother’s with a J, and so on. As I recall, the first few stories pretty much repeat themselves, with only a little embellishment, but as it moves forward and the reader becomes more accustomed to what’s happening, more details are added.

The circumstances of the time and place alter people’s responses . . . somewhat. Wars, colonisation, slavery are commonplace. Enlightenment? Not so much, although art, in all its forms, continues to fight its way through.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned: A truncated version of evolution, from self to selfie

The narrator is an artistic boy, “the boy” or “little brother” or similar. He grows up over the course of the novel. His father is a macho sort of fellow, his mother is loving and artistic, his sister is conniving and murderous, and his older half-brother disappears from home when the narrator is still young. The circumstances change, the names change, but the thread of the story picks up each change and nuance all the way to the year 2080.

I apologise to the author for the following illustration. I don't mean to suggest that this is another Dr Who, just that it's only the 'new' doctor we see today.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration captioned: Dr Who nesting dolls in 14 incarnations

There are many things this is not. It’s not time-travel, not time-shifting, not sliding doors, not alternative universes or the matrix. It’s a bit more evolutionary than that, more like different, slightly updated versions of a basic story.

I have also not read Ovid's classic Metamorphoses, which I understand includes the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, itself drawn from an old myth, which we would recognise as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and later the more modern musical, West Side Story. I will say this is kind of like that, each story appropriate to its own generation. Thwarted lovers must be a universal theme, no?

In some of the later stories, there are echoes from the past – designs that recur, patterns that feel familiar to a character. In the eighth century in Bulgaria, a dying father recounts to his son (our narrator) how he won his wife after fighting off enemies in Cappadocia.

“‘Cappadocia is in the Ottoman Empire, Father,’ I told him. ‘You have never travelled as far as that.’ . . .


‘I have travelled further than you know. As have you, my son. My journeys might be at an end now, but so many lie in wait for you. Do your memories never surprise you? Do you not dream of the past and the future and recognise both with equal clarity?’ . . .


‘Your shadow falls both behind you and before you while you stand between the two pretenders, a mask across your eyes.’”

What do we inherit? Whose influence is so pervasive that we aren’t even aware of it?

This is the most layered, multi-faceted story I think I’ve ever encountered. The base layer is the Roman legionnaire, and the tracing-paper layers build up on top of it, each layer covering the bottom but extending a bit around the edges as the characters acquire depth and the story itself extends and moves forward.

There is just enough bending of reality to make it still feel real. It’s as if you could put a needle through the centre of each layer and string them together, like the necklaces one of the narrator’s artistic selves makes.

It is amazing. I dare not think about the layouts and drafts that Boyne must have designed to incorporate world history, major events, and real people. Tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, the Plague, Shakespeare, all as they happened, where they happened. Crete, Guatemala, France, Norway, England. But also China, Russia, Mexico, Argentina. Babies, elders, blind prophets.

There are more than 50 countries/places (I think), with narrative language that suits the times without being historically accurate. It mostly “sounds” right, which is the point.

It’s hard to avoid the word “universal”, but that word sounds too dry to me. This is not dry history. It’s an ambitious, clever, intelligent novel, and it’s a lot of fun. Straight to the favourites shelf, or as Aussies would say “straight to the pool room”.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House (and John Boyne!) for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is due to be published in July 2020.

This book is so unlike anything I've ever read before that it is difficult to review.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is one story, spanning 2080 years, following characters that change in each new chapter, while also somehow being the same characters that we already know. This can be confusing at first but stick with it and it will become clearer. You'll be fully absorbed in the saga before you know it.

As the book progressed through time and space, I found myself in awe of the amount of planning that went into it by the author. While the story at the heart of the novel is entertaining, all of the glimpses of different time periods and locations are what make this book really special.

Thank you, #NetGalley and Random House UK for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

‘Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose’ could hardly be better applied than to the events told here. Over 2,000 years, we see humanity at its worst, people behaving to one another in all sorts of vile ways and it doesn’t make for happy reading. To show this, John Boyne employs a smart, entertaining structural device that kept me riveted. Short chapters follow one another in quick succession and I couldn’t wait to see where we were going next. I can’t fault its effectiveness and admire the amount of historical research that must have gone into segueing from one place and time to another seemingly effortlessly. We reach the present day and dare to look a little beyond. Is there hope for us there?

The nature of the story means there isn’t enough time or space for any real character development (something I would have said was John Boyne’s strength as a novelist so a disappointment there). Still highly recommended, though, for its sheer gusto.

I was excited to read another novel by John Boyne after having read “A Ladder to the Sky”. In ‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’, Boyne takes the reader on an epic 2080-year journey where the places and names change but the characters remain the same. Each chapter is set in a different place and time and the characters have changed names but they are recognisable as the same characters.

I have to say, this is a little confusing, especially in the beginning and I found it somewhat distracting throughout. Boyne’s writing makes everything come alive on the page but although it kept me interested, I never found myself fully absorbed in the novel. The novel reads as a series of vignetters or an anthology of short stories that progress chronologically. There is a lot of detail in each chapter in order to make each story specific to its time and location. I didn’t feel like that level detail added a lot to my enjoyment of the book.

‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ is definitely an innovative and interesting take on historical fiction that a lot of readers will find refreshing but I don’t think that I was extremely fond of the book. However, Boyne is a great storyteller and this is the perfect novel for anyone looking for historical fiction with an edge.

With thanks to the publisher for the digital arc.

Kills me to write this because I am a big Boyne fan, and The Hearts Invisible Furies remains one of my favourite reads of ther last decade. However this one really didn't work for me. Boyne tells a timeless story by literally hopping through time., but at the expense of a particularly interesting plot and absolutely NO characterisation. Imagine Cloud Atlas (without the self-conscious pretentious mechanism) meets Forest Gump as one storyline weaves through time, touching on momentous historical characters and events. EXCEPT, you never get to know the protagonist(s) as his character is never developed, or grows. And the different landmark events are never brought to life with new detail, or insight, The book takes us into the future and I stuck with it in the hopes Boyne's vision of the future would provide some escapism and enlightenment, but... nope.
All said, he is still a lovely writer so i made it to then end, I just felt so frustrated when i got there.

Hmmm… This is a narrative dressed as autobiography, of a man who survived the Slaughter of the Innocents as a newborn, and grew up over the next two thousand years. It's an odd story, however readable, that skips decades and localities with never a blink. One moment our hero's father is a Roman warrior, the next he is defending Romania from the very same – only for the switch to be made back again. And again. Throughout, what seem to be the same characters get new names every chapter, and throughout the threads of the hero's life build and reinforce – whether the son of a Praetorian Guardsman, or a fisherman, our guy is too effeminate and juvenile to please his father. Every episode then has a kind of Easter egg in it – a reference to someone or something we've seen elsewhere. There is often a loathsome fat bloke, there is quite regularly a sisal rope, and so on. Handicrafts and dreams recur, visions come to pass. But we do see over these pages the full story finally emerge, with both its intimate morals and moments and its inescapable epic feel.

I think that's the best quality of this book – the way, just by playing this saga out over millennia it has forcibly been made to gain a timeless, almost semi-mythological mood. But I think the book too easily allows you to miss that. If you don't read it that that is part of proceedings, or dislike that scope, or think it artificially in place, there is too much here that is easy to dismiss. It feels at times like an extended list of 50 Prequels to the #metoo Movement, for we get it drummed into us that a lot of men are rapists (this is a very 'earthy' book), and women never got a say in anything until the most recent chapters. Part Two is just there to be About Slavery, and a bit too much of it (and a bit too much of the characters' sexualities) are there for the 'triggerati' to prove their Wokeness.

That said, there is an ineluctable narrative drive, as things go from one situation played out in one time and place to the sequel to its variant from another place and time, and so on. Heck, we even, in this melange of Zelig-styled, Gumpian cut-and-paste, get the usual cross-references to Boyne's previous novels, giving the later pages here almost a best-of, career-rounding-up feel. Not bad for someone still in their forties and at the prime of their talent. That said, not even that talent – and the inordinate amount of knowledge and research so lightly put on show – can make me think this is the author's best, whether you look for cleverness, message or entertainment as your benchmark. It's silly to dump a star rating on something this rich, but for my appreciation of what I read I think three and a half is the closest.

Wow but Boyne is a prolific writer! His mind must be a constant swirl of stories and imagined lives and literary magic. This book is a definite manifestation of this.

I'm a big fan of the writer's work in general, and although I didn't enjoy this as much as The Heart's Invisible Furies, I can say it was a grand read. Gripping from the get-go and a pleasure to escape into.

The idea of a saga stretching over centuries and cultures might sound daunting but Boyne manages to make it one that is totally human and relatable. And fun too.

I can only presume that he did a huge amount of historical and anthropological research into subject matter and for someone like me, who only know's bits and pieces about the moments he writes about in this book, they are clever little vignettes. Perhaps the final chapters wrapped up a bit quickly, but I suppose a novel can't go on for ever.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is a great reminder how ultimately we are pretty much the same, no matter where we come from and what our beliefs are.

I'd wager that this is going to be a big success in book clubs. Thanks for the review copy.

John Boyne is a wordsmith of the highest order, and with ‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’, he’s surely created something quite unique. Its scope is immense, and the research needed to create this novel leaves me with unbridled admiration.

A strangely hypnotic read, relating the story of a man over the course of 2000 years, which though confusing initially, with the constant changes of both location and period in history, it soon becomes clear that intertwining themes such as family, love, loss, revenge, included in previous chapters, continue on into the next, leading to many escapades, and from there on in, I became completely absorbed in it.

This epic novel is really difficult to describe, so I can only suggest that you read it for yourself. I doubt you’ll have read anything quite like it.

Wow, how to give feedback on this book is challenging! Firstly I was delighted to receive an arc as I adore John Boyne's writing. I was aware it was going to be a bit different and I usually steer clear of books that can be described as 'mythical'. I am very much into realism. I almost gave up on it to be honest. But I started it again with fresh eyes after reading some reviews and suddenly it clicked what was going on.
The book features an unnamed narrator who is literally a time traveller. We follow his life in locations all over the world and beyond for over two millennia. Significant periods of history are covered with prominent historical characters appearing at relevant times. As a huge fan of history this really appealed to me and I enjoyed the insight into various cultures throughout time. The book veered between humour and tragedy, and as with all John Boyne's books it was extremely well constructed and cleverly written.
I have to add that Trump's demise was absolutely glorious!
I ended up loving this book and I persevered because of the brilliance of the author, but it was definitely not my normal read and I can imagine it will divide opinion.

I love Boyne, so I was super excited to get my hands on this ARC. But this is nothing like anything he’s written before. Structurally it’s ambitious and, after taking a bit of getting used to, I think he nails it. It has a mythical, old as time feel. Yet, for me, it was a tad too long and I got a bit restless in the middle. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but it was good rather than great. And I think that a lot of Boyne fans will be divided over how they enjoy it. It’s out 23 July, and I can’t wait to see what readers make of it!

I don't even know where to begin with my thoughts on this book. John Boyne has most definitely managed to do something special here and I admire him hugely for attempting to tell a story in this way. Initially, I didn't think it would work, but it absolutely did! I've read and loved every single one of John Boyne's books for adults and this one is no exception. The story begins in the year 1 AD and travels through the ages, up to AD 2016 and beyond in the epilogue to AD 2080. The characters remain the same throughout the story, as the time-frames change to different years and countries. Although, the characters names change for each chapter, they are easily recognisable, as their first letter of their name remains the same throughout. I was invested in their stories throughout. Somewhat confusing at the beginning, it doesn't take long to recognise each character as the story progresses and get into the flow of the way the story is told. I would imagine this was no easy feat for an author to connect up the characters, plot, time-frames, cultures etc from chapter to chapter but it is done seamlessly. I adored the nod to The Absolutist, one of my most favourite John Boyne novels and to Maude Avery!

This book will have John Boyne fans talking this year for sure, as it's so different to his other novels. It most definitely worked for me and I loved it for its pure uniqueness.

My thanks to NetGalley