This book is nothing like I expected. While an interesting read, it takes awhile for everything to come together.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Anthony Doerr for allowing me to read Cloud Cuckoo Land, in an exchange for an honest review.

The story of Aethon, who wishes to fly to a paradise in the sky, effects the past, present, and the future. During the siege of Constantinople, two teens, living on opposite sides of the city wall, read Aethon’s story for entertainment and a means of survival. Five-hundred years later, Zeno’s students are rehearsing Aethon’s story for a play in the library, unaware that Seymour, a challenged person, has hidden a bomb in the stacks. The future finds Konstance alone on a spaceship trying to piece together the story of Aethon, as her father told her. These characters have many adventures which cross each others paths, bringing the story to a satisfying end.

My heart is soaring, as is my imagination after finishing this outstanding book. "Part fairytale, part fools errand, part science fiction, part utopian satire"is the way that Doerr describes the tale within the tale and nothing is closer that that to describe this 600+ page novel. There is literally something for everyone: history, magic, science, nature, literature, classics. This is the type of book that one wishes they could read again and again for the first time.

3.5 stars rounded up - Do not go into this novel thinking it's another ATLWCS. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the length of the book spanning three completely different time periods but as I continued to read it was easy to distinguish each character and the world they live in. The chapters are fairly short so the story unfolds at a good pace. I thought the end was a little bit predictable but it all tied up nicely and made me appreciate the entire book as a whole more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I've just finished reading Cloud Cuckoo Land and am bursting. Where to begin?! This book follows five seemingly disparate characters - Konstance, Omeir, Anna, Nino, and Seymour - through seemingly disparate time periods and stories. Yes, you may feel disoriented at first, or for a while. No, you should not stop reading. You should sit back, and trust in the magic of Anthony Doerr. This is a book for people who love books, and the power of storytelling. It is about being human, and being flawed. It is about mistakes, love, redemption, regret, and loss. Although that's a lot, it's all perfectly balanced and woven together. You'll finish and want to go back and start again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to review and advanced e-copy of this book. I can't wait to get a physical copy in my hands!

Three stories, past, present and future. Past - in the 15th century, Omeir, a young man torn out of his village with his prize oxen to help in the siege of Constantinople and dreaming of home; and Anna, a girl working in an embroidery workshop within Constantinople and coming to dream of Cloud Cuckoo Land, and mysterious land told of in a damaged Greek manuscript. Present - Zeno, a former Korean war prisoner and amateur translator of the same Greek manuscript of Cloud Cuckoo Land which kept him sane in Korea; and Seymour, apparently an autistic or Asperger's boy who is tormented when his beloved forest and owl are destroyed for a housing development. And future - Konstance is in a spaceship set to colonize another planet. She had been with her family and others, but now is all alone in a vault with the ship's AI, piecing together her father's book as a child, Cloud Cuckoo Land. So each story is about Home and Reaching for the Stars, the constant striving for the safety and goodness of what we have, and the wonder and possibility of what we might have. And in three different times, three different ways of achieving both - together, apart, and within. At least, that's my book report theme, and it took me a long time to work it out, so be grateful.
Not as exquisitely beautiful as All the Light We Cannot See, but still quite rewarding. You will be working on your own interpretation of the meaning for quite some time.
Recommended.

Part historical fiction, part fantasy and part science fiction. This book has it all. A lot of ground is covered in its 640 pages and will require perseverance to complete. However, if you like this type of book and can hang in there, it will be worth it. It wasn't until I was halfway into the narrative before I became captivated by the different characters and their stories and became totally immersed in the book.

In this weighty tome, different stories surrounding a common theme of hope and interconnectedness, spread over timelines in the past, present and future. The reader is introduced to five main characters, as well as an ancient mythical legend, within the novel The chapters quickly bounce back and forth between the different characters and timelines, ultimately revealing their associations.

Anthony Doerr is an accomplished storyteller and he has a Pulitzer Prize for his last book, "All the Light We Cannot See", to prove it. This is another well crafted book that will be sure to get many five star reviews. He has a true gift for bringing words to life on the page and has used a unique approach to achieving his vision for this novel..

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC ebook.

If you're in the mood for a historical fiction, modern fiction, science-fiction mash-up, then Cloud Cuckoo Land might be for you. Doerr writes eloquently and can really make you see exactly what is going on in a scene. This is a double-edged sword, because that means descriptions are a bit longer. So going in, know that this book is a chunk! I was pretty interested from the start of the story, but in the middle it sagged, most likely from my impatience at wanting to know why we were following three different stories and timelines. I was only really into 2 of the 3 storylines, and kind of dreaded going through one of them. The last third of the book excited me again, as it gets closer and closer to showing you how it all ties together. Overall, it is an interesting story that made me feel quite sad by the end.

I did have something that irked me, and that is that a "villain" of sorts in the book is on the autism spectrum, at the very least having sensory processing disorder. As an autistic person myself, with autistic friends and family as well, it kind of sucks to see quirks and symptoms displayed as bad qualities that all lead up to the character being gullible and doing a bad thing. It was like watching someone take random bits of me (for instance, having a special interest, needing sensory regulation) and showing it as bad, even when sometimes it was meant to be endearing or redemptive. (Yay for the redemption, but the damage was already done.)

Overall, 3 stars. It just didn't grab me like I had hoped. Recommended for fans of Doerr, if you like detailed writing, are interested in a genre mash-up, and if you like waiting a while for a plot payout.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for an e-ARC of this book.

It took me a month to read the first half of Cloud Cuckoo Land and two days to read the second half. I was very lukewarm at first - what is going on? how are these stories connecting? - but once things started coming together, I couldn't put it down. I loved it. I did find some of the stories more compelling than others (especially Zeno's and Konstance's) and I didn't love the 15th century storyline. But overall, this was a magical book that's one of my favorites of the year so far.

I really wanted to love this book. This authors last book is one of my absolute favorite books, but this one didn't land for me.

I was so lost. There are multiple narrators and a story within a story. The lay out for me was confusing and I kept getting lost on who was who and what I was reading. I put this book down 3 times before I finally just read it.

The writing is beautiful and its not a terrible book, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A little long for me but what a book! Very different than my typical read with all the characters and various story lines coming together. While it was interesting, I definitely had to re read pages to understand the prose and did zone out in the middle. Would recommend to others but probably not re-read. 3.5 stars

“Stranger, whoever you are, open this to learn what will amaze you.”

Doerr writes beautifully about people and their connections to a fantastical book across time along with the precious interconnectedness of all humanity, animals, and nature.

The thread that binds, the center stage of Doerr’s work, is a mythological book within the book called Cloud Cuckoo Land. Throughout the journey, across all times, the book brings joy and hope to people when most needed. The theme of saving the worn ancient text and the effort involved by many across time to prevent the book from dying brings purpose to people. Working in a library, I was touched by the book’s relevance...the noble purpose of keeping books alive...and how a book is an escape that can impact lives.

The book is quite ambitious. Told in multiple timelines spanning ancient to modern to future in 5 voices plus the story of the central fictional book of Cloud Cuckoo Land is a lot to be invested in. There are many, many themes covered in the book like global warming, LGBTQ+, mental illness, physical malformities, social norms, outcasts, haves versus have nots, and it is a lot to pull together. Doerr’s book is genre spanning from myth to historical fiction to contemporary to fantasy to science fiction. The length and detail and varied content was challenging for me as a reader. I liked the first and final quarters of the book best and struggled a bit to continue with the middle. The storylines are great, and throughout there are moments that grabbed my heart for sure, but the process of reading still felt long because there is so much to make sense of.

I did however find that I appreciated the book more in the days after reading it, reflecting on the different souls and their relevance to the overall story, their interconnections, and the power of Aetheon’s story on each character’s storyline. Digesting the book afterwards was much more satisfying than I expected and the themes and character arcs did touch my heart. It’s written beautifully. The characters, like Aetheon, spend a lot of time searching and longing for more. In the end, the message that maybe what you have is good enough rings true then, now, and into the future.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Told from multiple perspectives, and in multiple time frames. Cloud Cuckoo Land is a lost manuscript of the story of Aethon, and may just be the very first fictional writing ever discovered. In the 1400s Anna, a 13 year old orphan find this story and learns to read. Outside the walls of the city is a boy named Omier who is manipulated to join the army to take down the city Anna lives in. Present day, Zeno is with a group of youth in the library preparing the play “Cloud Cuckoo Land” to present for the local city in Idaho. Seymour, a troubled teen has planted a bomb in the library to stop the development of homes ruining the forest. Many years in the future Konstance is living on an Intergalactic spacecraft Argos, and has never stepped foot on Earths surface. Due to illness on the ship, she is placed in lockdown for more than a year. To pass the time she begins copying the story of Aethon on scraps of garbage.

A very ambitious book! I’d imagine it took Anthony Doer a very long time to create this. The book is multi genre (Historical fiction, Greek mythology, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Fantasy) all wound into one. The writing was very beautifully done, and very descriptive. It took some major brain power on my part at times to understand what was going on, and to adequately keep up with the time changes. There are definitely people who will thoroughly enjoy this book, I can picture my dad and one of my brothers devouring it

At first I wasn't quite sure where this was going. But oh wow. When it did. Doerr manages to tie everything together beautifully., and give us hope when all seemed hopeless. And the biggest source of hope? Books, stories, libraries, and librarians.

I was a huge fan of All the Light We Cannot See so I was looking forwars to Cloud Cuckoo Land. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I couldn't get interested in the story and couldn't finish it

Thanks to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for the opportunity to read @anthonydoerrwriter latest novel. Fans of #allthelightwecannotsee will immediately see the similarities of #cloudcuckooland to the earlier award winning #ww2novel. Once again, Doerr has developed multiple character lines that intersect to create an immersive reading experience, but this time they cover hundreds of centuries. I’m not a huge #sciencefiction fan, so when the novel started several decades in the future when the human race has finally decimated our planet to the point it’s not livable, I was unsure of my interest in the story. However, as you get to know each of the characters it becomes important to understand how they are all connected to the #ancientgreek hero story of Cloud Cuckoo Land. The ending of the novel beautifully wraps up the connection and the importance of the fantastical worlds that #reading provides us the opportunity to visit. I especially enjoyed how this novel takes place right before the #covidpandemic but still alludes to it in non-specific terms for future scenes. I also think it handles the topic of #climatechange in a manner that is relatable. Be sure to pick up this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ novel when it is released in #september2021. 📚📚📚 #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #bookrecommendations #instabook

Prepare to be amazed! Doerr has written a lyrical novel of desperation and hope. The story, told by five different characters, is magical.

I loved All the Light We Cannot See. It was a 5 Star read for me. So, I had some high expectations going into this one and I really REALLY wanted to love it. But in the end, I just ...liked it. The beautiful writing is there. The story is there. It just never fully connected for me.

The story is told through multiple viewpoints, ranging from 15th Century Constantinople to present day Idaho and into the future. They do all come together in the end in a way that I felt was satisfying and possibly brilliant.

However, as with any book following this type of back and forth structure, it can take a bit to get into and to feel fully immersed in each story. This, I think, is where the breakdown happened for me. I just wasn't equally engaged in all of the stories. So for me, reading this kind of went like this:

Oh man, this beautiful, this is great, what's going to happen?? I'm so into this.

Cliffhanger

Next Chapter

A completely different story, mostly descriptions of things, although beautifully written.

I'm thinking about other, more exciting and intriguing story.

Mostly, I found myself looking forward to being done with the book. I've seen a lot of really great reviews for this one, so I'm glad it's connecting with some people. This one just didn't do it for me quite like All the Light We Cannot See. I'll still probably read whatever Doer writes next though.

This was an advanced copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

How do the stories of five young characters, some separated by hundreds of years, intertwine? Thrillingly, imaginatively, and most satisfyingly in Doerr’s epic new novel. Anna, Konstance, Omeir, Zeno and Seymour are all, at some point in the book, children facing life-altering challenges, but it is the text of an ancient tale, Cloud Cuckoo Land, that weaves a unifying thread through their stories. This was everything I hope for in a book – a story (in this case, stories) that can carry me away to another time and place.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is the very definition of a saga. It is set in the far past, recent past, current day, and future, intertwining the stories of various seemingly unrelated characters. Each character struggles in their own way just to make it through this life, with good and bad choices, loneliness and supporting family, regrets and triumphs, each of which is somehow tied to an ancient manuscript that comes becomes the golden thread throughout this patchwork literary quilt. While the beginning is a bit slow in parts, and was a bit confusing for me, I hung in there and reaped the reward. Once everyone was settled in my mind and their stories began to come together, I found myself enjoying each part and looking for the ways that they were connected. I couldn’t put it down and actually spent a whole day reading because I was hooked. If you read for the love of reading, and are willing to jump into a book and hang out for the long-haul, then I would highly recommend this book to you. Thank you to NetGalley for this advance read copy.