This book was totally ans utterly confusing and quite frankly I haven't the slightest clue what it was about. I sat down excited to read a novel that would sweep me up and instead it left me wondering how anyone could get through it and keep track of the characters and storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this opportunity to read Anthony Doerr's new book.
I was looking so forward to reading Anthony Doerr's new book as I absolutely loved his book 'All the Light We Cannot See'. I do have to say that I was disappointed. There were too many characters to keep track of and several timelines. I have no idea what the story was to be about. Hopefully when Anthony comes out with another book it will be on par with 'All the Light We Cannot See'. So, again thank you for giving me this opportunity to read this book. As I didn't enjoy the book I am only giving it one star.

I expected a lyrical, beautiful book from Anthony Doerr and certainly wasn't disappointed. What a rich story.

The thread that hold the stories of Omeir, Anna, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance together is the lost manuscript of Antonius Diogenese, the man who becomes a donkey, a fish and a bird.

It would seem like a difficult thing to weave so many little bits of story together to make one cohesive whole, but this is like gazing at a wonderful tapestry once the last stitch has been put in place. Or maybe more like watching Maria as she deftly stitches thread into birds and beauty.

All these parts of the bigger story were held together by the threads of the original story, woven through time and through people, through their quest for the pieces of the story, through the telling of the original story, and through the impact of that story on their lives. It is a testament to how important stories are to us. How stories tie us together. How stories are bigger than us.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" is structurally more complex than "All the Light We Cannot See" where we see two main characters are physically getting closer as the novel progresses. In "Cloud Cuckoo Land," we meet Omeir from the Rhodope Mountains and Anna in Constantinople and watch them getting closer to each other at the backdrop of 1453's Fall of Constantinople. Omeir and Anna's stories have a lot of similarities to Marie-Laure and Werner's ones in the Second World War. Once again, Anthony Doerr explored the lives of young people thrown in the historic turmoil who are innocent, curious and somewhat adventurous.

However, "Cloud Cuckoo Land" adds two more stories to this historic story; one is the story of Zeno and Seymour in the modern day U.S. and the other is the story of Konstance, who is traveling to Beta Oph2 in a space ship called "Argos" in future years.

Like David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas," three different genres of fiction (a historic novel, a contemporary one and a speculative one) are intermingled. In "Cloud Cuckoo Land," Greek Antonius Diogenes' ancient eponymous novel creates a frame for three different time lines. In this ancient story, a simple shepherd Aethon from Arkadia embarks on an adventure looking for the Cloud Cuckoo Land, a fictional place mentioned in Aristophanes' "The Birds".

The journey metaphor is all over the novel. Aethon travels as an old man, a donkey, a fish and a bird to go to the paradise. Omeir travels with his two oxen to Constantinople. Konstance is on her way to Beta Oph2. The image of Ulysses visits Scheria and gets treated well by King Alcinous on his way home is recurring throughout this novel. The ancient book on Aethon also travels and becomes the main part of everyone in this book.

Also the love of nature and knowledge is seeped into many characters in this book. Omeir's bond with his two oxen, Seymour's obsession with his owl TrustyFriend (a character in Aristophanes's play) and environment, Anna and Zeno's dedication to old Green manuscripts, Konstance and her father's love of plants make this book rich in details.

I need to point out that there is some naïveté in all of Anthony Doerr's characters that makes his novel more engaging. Even in Seymour, who is carrying a bomb to a library, the reader cannot help find some innocence. Also we can find that Doerr's main characters are socially and physically isolated, which makes them hold dear whatever they have. None of them are privileged or they are rather underprivileged.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" is quite a fascinating book that can be read with a lot of empathy but also it is hard to ignore the playfulness of threading three different time periods into one satisfying novel.

I ended this book with a sigh and a silence - wow! What a masterpiece! How can I describe the impressions that chased each other throughout my experiencing this book?

The varying timeliness and different protagonists lent the nature of a vibrant kaleidoscope to this novel. The present tense used by Doerr, and which mostly doesn't work towards my reading pleasure, was in this instance transformed to the opposite. It gave an urgency to the actions, a depth to feelings never named but vividly transmitted to the reader. The prose is unorthodox and immensely captivating. Thus, I cried for and with Omeir (my favourite character) and deeply empathised with Seymour and his almost palpable pain and rage. I was saddened by Zeno who played it safe for most of his life and almost escaped living that way - almost... I cheered on Konstance's sleuthing in her desperate attempt to save herself from despair. I felt deeply for little Anna whose determined search for knowledge and desperate, courageous attempts to help led to disaster and also to some miracles. Their anxieties and fears became mine, as did their triumphs. And the world and life truly are Janus-faced, beautiful and terrible at once.

I enjoyed this book slowly, savouring it, in spite of my intense urge to read on, just a little more, just one more chapter. I will read it again, even more slowly, and I am sure that I'll discover even more then.

This is a must read, not a recommendation, but an urging.

Good read, Very descriptive with great imagery and vocabulary. Many stories are told and at the end they are all related somehow. Certainly different from ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, but enjoyable. DOERR has such an imagination and is a masterful storyteller..

Thank you Harper Collins Canada and Net Galley for this arc copy. I was very excited to get my hands on this book since I loved All The Light We Cannot See. This book has 5 POV’s in three different time periods. I admit, it was a little hard to follow at first, but man does it come together at the This book has great imagery and artistic perfection. Makes me feel like the book is immersed around me and I’m in the story. Loved Anna and Konstance’s POV’s the most. This novel is atmospheric, energetic, and engaging. Pick this one up as soon as you can.

4/5 stars from me

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a magnificent novel about the power of the written word. It’s characters have a hunger for knowledge and stories that take us to unknown lands. In the end, all the pieces of the storylines pull together perfectly to create a masterpiece. Anthony Doerr has done something phenomenal with this book!

I want to start by thanking NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC for my honest review. I think the biggest issue for me became the expectation after the wonder that is All the Light We cannot See. Anthony Doerr has created a group of strong characters who l quickly became invested in, but for me the myth that should have bound them did not. I felt it fractured the novel and did not allow me to give it more then 3.5 rounded up to 4

This book is everything a reader could ask for. This beautifully written book shows how broken the world is and the damage we continue to inflict upon it, but it also is a shining example of hope.

This is part contemporary, part historical fiction, and part sci-fi. It follows a wonderful cast of characters throughout many centuries.

Konstance who is living on an interstellar ship set in the not-too-distant future.

Zeno and Seymour whose lives collide on a fateful day in present day Idaho.

Omeir and Anna whose lives intersect during the siege of Constantinople in 1453.

There’s also a myth (completely invented by the author) that connects these characters.

Truly, I loved everything about this novel. I loved that there was a smattering of Ancient Greek language throughout the book. It’s very accessible, a translation follows every instance of it. There are twenty-four sections in this book that go along with the Greek alphabet, alpha to omega.

I haven’t read All the Light We Cannot See, so I’ll need to correct that oversight immediately.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner/Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. I also won a printed copy in a giveaway from Simon & Schuster.

4 " a more measured admiration, affection" stars !!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advanced e-copy. This will be released September 2021. I am providing an honest review.

Like hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of readers I was mesmerized and amazed by All the Light We Cannot See and that was rated a full five stars (also my 5th favorite read of 2017). You can imagine how excited I was to receive an e-copy in advance of publication and I dove right in on receipt.

This is an excellent, imaginative and fanciful tale that involves the lives of children doing the best they can to survive with neglect, disability, disinterested adults, a dying earth. We are taken by the hand to ancient greek myths, the siege of Constantinople, the Korean War, present day Idaho and the near future in outer space. The narratives weave back and forth like the fibers of a Persian carpet. Mr. Doerr moves effortlessly and skillfully through myth, historical fiction, fantasy, drama and even romance. The prose is simple but colorful and at times quite beautiful. His message and morals are clear and this book is (mostly and generally) a delight to read.

I need to be honest though there were some subjective difficulties that I had with this read. The psychologies of the characters are rather superficial, at times the prose was repetitive and at times I felt that this was a bit too glib, a bit too convenient and moderately over-processed. These challenges were at the very lower end of worrisome and did not overly detract from the magic that is created here.

Overall I feel that this was a 3.5 star read but due to the frequency of my tears and the way my heart often swelled I know that I cannot rate this lower than an stellar 4 stars.

I very much look forward to seeing what elixir Mr. Doerr cooks up next.

This book was beautifully written but wasn't for me. Two many story lines enmeshed and I often felt confused. Very deep prose and the concepts are uplifting and spiritual but I just couldn't fully grasp the attention it needed. I will try again with this book in the future.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

I would like t say I liked this book but I really struggled with it. There were way too many storylines and timeframes to follow. The present day stories were good but the others were too deep for me to appreciate. I have really enjoyed other books by this author but this time round it did not resonate with me. I did not make it to the end of the book.

Anthony Doerr is a masterful writer. This is a multi-layered story following 6 different time lines and multiple characters in each.. Doerr know how to weave a complicates story together and take the reader along for a wonderful ride. The short chapters lengths keep the pages turning and the reader guessing. I am always impressed by how much Doerr can convey in such a few words and snippets of characters lives. There is also some pretty interesting commentary on climate change, big tech and the power of a story. I really enjoyed it and I will be picking it up again! Also, I think this is a book meant to be read in print as there were many times I wanted to go back and make a connection to something earlier in the books while I was reading.