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How High We Go in the Dark cover art

How High We Go in the Dark

By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
Narrated by: Jason Culp, Stephanie Komure, Micky Shiloah, Joe Knezevich, Brianna Ishibashi, Kotaro Watanabe, Matthew Bridges, Kurt Kanazawa, Greg Watanabe, Jeanne Sakata, MacLeod Andrews, Keisuke Hoashi, Brian Nishii, Julia Whelan
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Summary

Bloomsbury presents How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu, read by Jason Culp, Stephanie Komure, Micky Shiloah, Joe Knezevich, Brianna Ishibashi, Kotaro Watanabe, Matthew Bridges, Kurt Kanazawa, Greg Watanabe, Jeanne Sakata, MacLeod Andrews, Keisuke Hoashi, Brian Nishii and Julia Whelan.

For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, Sequoia Nagamatsu's debut is a wildly imaginative, genre-bending work spanning generations across the globe as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague.

Dr Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever inventive ways.

Among those adjusting to this new normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects - a pig - develops human speech; a man who, after recovering from his own coma, plans a block party for his neighbours who have also woken up to find that they alone have survived their families and a widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter who must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.

From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world. This is a story of unshakable hope that crosses literary lines to give us a world rebuilding itself through an endless capacity for love, resilience and reinvention.

©2022 Sequoia Nagamatsu (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"A powerfully moving and thought provoking read. At times sublime, strange and deeply human." (Adrian Tchaikovsky, best-selling and award-winning author of the Children of Time series)

"Haunting and luminous.... An astonishing debut." (Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta)

"Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark." (Chloe Benjamin, best-selling author of The Immortalists)

What listeners say about How High We Go in the Dark

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Decent read

Very much enjoyed the first half but it tailed off a bit in the second. Thought provoking though not entirely original. I wouldn't put you off the purchase. Well performed by the cast.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

This is hard to categorise because it’s so unusual. Weaving different threads over time and space it does what few ‘pandemic’ novels manage - unsettle the reader in a completely different way. I’m being obtuse for a reason. Read it.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Pointless

A meandering mess. The author struggles to thread a link between the different stories only to try wrap it all up in the final chapter.
Upon completion I realise that I could have just listened to the 2 best chapters- the first and last, and I would not have missed anything important.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

good premise, good performances

it's a good book, lost me a bit in the middle, I know the stories are linked but I struggled getting into some of them, as a result a few probably passed me by. ending wrapped up nicely though.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

High Praise for this Darkest of Tales

🧡 Haunting, powerful, magical, poetic, all the positive hyperbolic adjectives apply. That’s just the kind of story this is. And it’s not just one story. It reads like an anthology of disparate tales voiced by a variety of characters in varying settings. Even the genre doesn’t stand still, shifting from futuristic and sci fi to supernatural to drama and even humour.

💛 All of these elements are connected by the gossamer thread of existing in the same world - one scarred by a terrible disease. And as the narrative progresses, the thread draws the stories together.

💚 I knew this was a pandemic/post apocalypse story, but as I often do, I went in without any further info. Had I read the blurb, I might have been prepared for the devastating sadness and poignancy of the park for dying children or the absurd but touching story of the talking pig.

💜 There are times when things feel aimless. As though the narrative is floating untethered. It’s also difficult as a listener to adapt to a new character each time. But it’s worth it.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 This is a stunning audiobook. It works incredibly well for the format, not least because it’s obvious the production was so carefully considered. A cast of narrators makes it much easier to transition from one story to the next. What’s more - a small but significant factor - the chapter headings are properly signposted.

🎧 Most of these narrators are new to me. All, in fact, except Julia Whelan, who was a big draw for me in listening to this and did not disappoint. The performances are excellent and drew me in every time.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Narration good. Great book after a slower start. Great title which I'd highly recommend

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ambitious but failed to achieve

Ultimately this feels like a series of short stories that really failed to become linked by a narrative to create a novel. The interpersonal stories are often interesting and well written but the leaps of good faith required if the reader to believe we can achieve intergalactic travel so soon after a worldwide plague, remove a singularity from someone's head, make global logistics work at all...
The colonists giving up on a planet because one area had killer bugs made me wonder what aliens would do if they landed in Australia.

Didn't tie together and the progenitor storyline didn't gel. Seen it done better on Star Trek.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, great concept and performance

A really clever concept developed and told. Acting is fantastic, and really adds to the character development. Loved it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable and interesting

It's beautifully performed meloncoly and hopeful a wonderful read. I love how it loops and each story seems interconnected beyond the main setting.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Tangle, Convoluted and Unengaging

A tedious and laborious listen. Too many characters, plots, and subplots. No clear message or resolution. Waste of time.

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