Mitch's Reviews > Sea of Tranquility

** spoiler alert ** Just finished my second read of this book and I'm upgrading my rating from 4 to 5 stars. The first time through I read The Glass Hotel and then Sea of Tranquility back to back which I would recommend. Initially I enjoyed The Glass Hotel more but over time I found that I quickly forgot The Glass Hotel while this book stayed with me. Mandel's descriptions of The Night City are really haunting and I find them to be quite unforgettable. Like a lucid dream. Mandel doesn't offer a lot of new ideas here in the realm of dystopian fiction or sci fi. The simulation theory, the butterfly effect, and the many-worlds theory are all ideas that have been explored a great deal in film and fiction already. That said the "way" that Mandel explores these concepts do feel different. She treats her characters in a very loving way, even her most flawed characters. Her exploration of nature is sensual. Her characters feelings about life on the colonies are not hopeless or dystopian as would be expected. The visual details she puts into her scenes are probably my favorite part. It's not very often in contemporary fiction that you find a book that feels fast paced without relying heavily on explosive action. This book is buoyed by characters, relationships and ideas with a lot of forward momentum. You really want to know what is happening, where it is headed and what it all means. Mostly you just want to live in it.