2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for Fiction (shortlist)
2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
2022 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction (finalist)
2022 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize (nominee)
Praise for this book
"A rich tangle of the familiar and beautifully new. These are bright inventions but they will also satisfy our longing for the stories we have always loved." - Ramona Ausubel
"How High We Go in the Dark is a book of incredible scope and ambition, a polyphonic elegy for the possible, for all that might be won and lost in the many worlds we make together: the world of our families, our civilization and our planet, the planets beyond. Every tale in Sequoia Nagamatsu's debut generates fresh wonder at all we are, plus hope for all we might become, in these unforgettable futures yet to be." - Matt Bell
"Sequoia Nagamatsu's universe is one in which modern Japan and its ancient folklore play in the same delightful puddle. . . . Will creep into your dreams and enchant your imagination." - Kelly Luce
"Haunting and luminous - An astonishing debut." - Alan Moore
"You can try to compare Sequoia Nagamatsu to George Saunders or Charlie Kaufman or David Mitchell, but his is a singular voice and this is a book so original and wondrous and reality-shredding that it defies easy summary or categorization, like a dream that feels more vivid than life. Arctic plagues! Euthanasia theme parks! Hotels for the dead! Talking pigs! Interstellar starships! It's brave and prescient, completely bananas and yet absolutely moving, packed with humor and heart. I loved it." - Benjamin Percy
"Wonderful and disquieting, dreamlike and all too possible. [How High We Go in the Dark] reaches far beyond our stars while its heart remains rooted to Earth, and reminds us that our wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of our world." - Samantha Shannon
"Gorgeous, terrifying, compassionate. With funerary skyscrapers, a generation ship painted with history, and a pyramid of souls reaching for light, How High We Go in the Dark is both powerful and original. Nagamastu elegantly dissects disaster with an eye toward empathy and curiosity. At this book's center is a great big, beautiful heart. An exceptional accomplishment that left me equal parts hope and wonder." - Erika Swyler
"A powerfully moving and thought provoking read. At times sublime, strange and deeply human." - Adrian Tchaikovsky
"How High We Go in the Dark is a book of incredible scope and ambition, a polyphonic elegy for the possible, for all that might be won and lost in the many worlds we make together: the world of our families, our civilization and our planet, the planets beyond. Every tale in Sequoia Nagamatsu's debut generates fresh wonder at all we are, plus hope for all we might become, in these unforgettable futures yet to be." - Matt Bell
"Sequoia Nagamatsu's universe is one in which modern Japan and its ancient folklore play in the same delightful puddle. . . . Will creep into your dreams and enchant your imagination." - Kelly Luce
"Haunting and luminous - An astonishing debut." - Alan Moore
"You can try to compare Sequoia Nagamatsu to George Saunders or Charlie Kaufman or David Mitchell, but his is a singular voice and this is a book so original and wondrous and reality-shredding that it defies easy summary or categorization, like a dream that feels more vivid than life. Arctic plagues! Euthanasia theme parks! Hotels for the dead! Talking pigs! Interstellar starships! It's brave and prescient, completely bananas and yet absolutely moving, packed with humor and heart. I loved it." - Benjamin Percy
"Wonderful and disquieting, dreamlike and all too possible. [How High We Go in the Dark] reaches far beyond our stars while its heart remains rooted to Earth, and reminds us that our wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of our world." - Samantha Shannon
"Gorgeous, terrifying, compassionate. With funerary skyscrapers, a generation ship painted with history, and a pyramid of souls reaching for light, How High We Go in the Dark is both powerful and original. Nagamastu elegantly dissects disaster with an eye toward empathy and curiosity. At this book's center is a great big, beautiful heart. An exceptional accomplishment that left me equal parts hope and wonder." - Erika Swyler
"A powerfully moving and thought provoking read. At times sublime, strange and deeply human." - Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Used availability for Sequoia Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark