The Electric Kingdom

How it reads

The Electric Kingdom is science fiction (post-apocalyptic science fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. 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 the wilderness or at sea, in the future, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are survival, friendship and loss and grief. 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 is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 432 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.