Echo

How it reads

Echo is young adult (historical family saga, specifically), and its dominant mood is hopeful. Whatever it puts its people through, it believes things can get better. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are family and war. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 597 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.