"The Chronicles of Kaimakla" by Ravi Tennekoon is a gripping post-apocalyptic epic that skillfully weaves a desperate struggle to survive together with a poignant search for understanding. Written in a future when global warming has burned the Eurasian continent into a desolate wasteland, the novel describes a harsh and unforgiving world in which human beings survive in scattered enclaves. The novel tracks Amanaar and Mayzaar, residents of the city of Kaimakla beneath the sand, on a dangerous journey to discover a new home after their oasis has started to dwindle.

What makes the novel unique is its double narrative track. While the survival adventure offers a suspenseful and exciting plot, the introduction of Stinna and her quest for the lost world introduces an element of intellectual intrigue. The heroes come across artifacts of our modern civilization unidentifiable and charged with an almost mythical status to them. This discovery aspect turns the book from a survival story into an interesting exploration of the cyclical nature of civilization as well as the vulnerability of knowledge. The writing by the author is evocative as well as reflective, creating a vivid landscape of a world both frightening and otherworldly beautiful. This novel will appeal to readers of speculative fiction and anyone who enjoys a tale that is just as much about the human condition as it is about a trekking trip through a wasteland.

The Chronicles of Kaimakla by Ravi Tennekoon is a compelling dystopian tale set in a world ravaged by climate catastrophe. The story follows Amanaar and Mayzaar, two inhabitants of an underground desert city, as they venture across a scorched and dangerous landscape in search of a new future. Along the way, they uncover lost remnants of our present-day civilisation and join forces with the determined Stinna, whose belief in forgotten cities and technologies drives their mission forward.

As a fan of dystopian fiction, I found this book thought-provoking and timely. While the cause of the environmental collapse is left vague, the world-building and survival narrative kept me engaged. It's a bleak yet imaginative reflection on our current climate concerns, wrapped in a haunting adventure.

3.5/5.

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I’m a big fan of dystopian fiction and picked this one up quickly when I saw it on NetGalley UK
This novel follows a young man living in an underground desert community as he journeys to discover other human settlements. A dystopian event called the Great cataclysm has occurred the cause of which isn’t really detailed in the novel but the inference is that there’s a huge climate emergency which is caused massive increasing temperatures in southern countries raised sea levels and a big change to the world map as we know it because of flooding a few areas in the northern hemisphere.
At the start of the story, we had that the Oasis responsible for water to maintain the underground. Community is drying out and the narrator Amonaar must journey with his camels across the great desert to look for fabled lands in the north which might be potential future sites for settlements.
The novel is essentially a journey based story as we follow Alana’s on his migration.
The great catechism has resulted in loss of education and technologies so that all the groups that we discover are leading a Stone Age style life largely subsistence farming or hunting
During the journey, the sections I most enjoyed were when they found evidence of “ancient civilisation “in the form of wrecked submarines bombs and aeroplanes evidence of our 21st century technology I would’ve liked more of these sections
The journey itself seem sto go rather on and on the end feels rushed and rather unsatisfactory

Whilst I read I’m a bit confused by the footnotes which describe where the future countries are in relation to our current world. Whilst this is interesting it’s inferring a level of knowledge about the past (our present) which the story itself suggests is not there . The footnotes for example describe the areas that you meet in terms of the 20th century world map this is explained right at the end of the novel however.
There’s a degree of magical reality towards the last section as a novel when it becomes clear that the author of the novel has the ability to live and extended life time. This does open the opportunity for future novels in this storyline.
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for an unbiased review. The book was published in the UK on the 28th of April 2025 by Troubadour
This review will appear on that Gully UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com
It will also appear on Amazon, UK and Waterstones

The Chronicles of Kaimakla is a tale about the world after a nuclear war. It takes place far in the future and paints a bleak future for mankind. I enjoyed the book.