The Book of Sand

Theo Clare

Jan 2022 · Cornerstone Digital · Narrated by Kristin Atherton

About this audiobook

Brought to you by Penguin.

SAND. A hostile world of burning sun.

Outlines of several once-busy cities shimmer on the horizon. Now empty of inhabitants, their buildings lie in ruins.

In the distance a group of people - a family - walk towards us.

Ahead lies shelter: a 'shuck' the family call home and which they know they must reach before the light fails, as to be out after dark is to invite danger and almost certain death.

To survive in this alien world of shifting sand, they must find an object hidden in or near water. But other families want it too. And they are willing to fight to the death to make it theirs.

It is beginning to rain in Fairfax County, Virginia when McKenzie Strathie wakes up. An ordinary teenage girl living an ordinary life - except that the previous night she found a sand-lizard in her bed, and now she's beginning to question everything around her, especially who she really is ...

Two very different worlds featuring a group of extraordinary characters driven to the very limit of their endurance in a place where only the strongest will survive.

© Theo Clare 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Ratings and reviews

I love a dystopian; the world is ending, kind of book and The Book of Sand by Theo Clare didn’t fail to deliver. Written with a parallel timeline, Mckenzie is a teenager, living in the present day in Virginia in the USA. Spider (I couldn’t work out what age Spider was supposed to be), is living in a parallel universe somewhere in a desert, which comprises various countries, states and cities from around the world. He is surrounded by his desert family and they are on a mission to discover the Sarkpont and although they aren’t sure what that is; they know that other families are searching for it too. They also know that if they don’t find it, their quest is over. We flit back and forth between Mckenzie and the family in the desert, both linked in some way, although it’s a while until we discover how. Seemingly, Mckenzie’s life is just that of a normal teenager’s, although she appears to have some psychotic episodes. So at first, I wondered how this fitted into a fantasy novel and it’s a good chunk of the way through before we discover how the stories merge. The Book of Sand was fairly lengthy, but it didn’t seem like it. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn’t wait to find out how everything linked together and how it was going to end. Some people may not like this book because of the length, but I couldn’t wait to pick it up, hour after hour, day after day, until I’d finished it. If you’re into fantasy and sci-fi, then I think you’ll enjoy this. Apparently, it’s the first in a trilogy but as Mo Hayder (Theo Clare) sadly passed away last year, I’m not sure whether we will see any further books in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Book of Sand by Theo Clare.

About the author

THEO CLARE left school at 15 and has worked as a barmaid, security guard, English teacher and a hostess in a Tokyo night-club. She has an MA in film-making from the American University in Washington DC, and an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University.

Under the name Mo Hayder she has written the bestselling Jack Caffery series of thrillers which include Birdman and The Treatment, as well as the standalone novels The Devil of Nanking and Pig Island.

She now lives in Cheltenham with her husband and daughter.