Cloud Cuckoo Land: From the prize-winning, international bestselling author of ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ comes a stunning new novel in 2021

No Not worth the read, or the hype. Bizarre historical and future scape nonsense. Avoid

Dense, complex, thrilling. This book is outstanding! I had to pace myself and take it slow to read the book so it would last longer.

Me encantó esta novela, ¡No quería acabarla de leer! Novela en la que la historia de varios personajes se entrelazan den distintos puntos del tiempo. La novela está bien escrita y es sumamente fácil de leer. Realmente te lleva a otro mundo. ¡No te vas a arrepentir de leerla, recomiendo 100%!

I bought this book four ago as a gift for my wife because she loved Doerr's previous novel "All the Light we Cannot See". She enjoyed "Cloud Cuckoo Land" and suggested that I would too. But for some reason I delayed reading it till now -- I think I was put off by its silly-sounding title. But I should have known better than to judge a book by its title. Simply stated, I believe it's the best novel I have read in years! I won't summarize the plot of "Cloud Cuckoo Land", because several other reviewers have done that already. The book has a considerably more complicated structure than "All the Light We cannot See" because there are five different protagonists, two living in 15th century Constantinople, two living in modern times, and one in a future period of interplanetary travel. As such, the novel combines elements of historical fiction, contemporary fiction and science fiction. The book's subchapters alternate between the principal characters and the events described are not always ordered chronologically. It may take ~100 pages of reading to become familiar with the various protagonists, but the effort involved is very much worth it. Is it as a good a novel as Doerr's excellent "All the Light We Cannot See"? Tastes differ, but I personally enjoyed "Cloud Cuckoo Land" even more. The novel's multiple protagonists and temporal settings make it an intellectual puzzle whose plot components gradually assemble into a logically integrated whole. Despite this complexity, however, the book is not a difficult read. The five protagonists are well characterized and each relatable in some way. Like Doerr's previous work, the writing is beautiful, emotionally moving, and intellectually engaging. And, importantly, the novel has a truly satisfying ending. Do yourself a favour and read this wonderful book!

The book starts off quite slow, maybe even boring, since the narrative is split between five main characters. However, it is worth reading through each of their backstories despite that. Once the book really gets started, it is impossible to put down. What you are presented with is a unique story of five characters in different eras connected through the centuries by a codex, the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land, in a way that is only gradually revealed as the story goes on. Chapter by chapter, the book follows different characters as they encounter, or even relive, parts of the story at different points in their lives, which gives it a very unique structure. Even though two of the characters each are on opposing sides of a conflict, they are so human it is impossible not to feel for all of them. Although the book does lean into environmentalism a bit much at times, it contains five incredible stories in one, connected in a unique way and with an amazing twist near the end. Definitely would recommend.