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The Endless Vessel

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Combining the wonder of The Midnight Library , the inventiveness of Ready Player One, and the artistry of Cloud Atlas, this novel by the bestselling author of The Oracle Year and Anyone explores the way we're all connected—and what can happen when we lose our capacity for joy.

A few years from now, in a world similar to ours, there exists a sort of "depression plague" that people refer to simply as "The Grey." No one can predict whom it will afflict, or how, but once infected, there's no coming back.

A young Hong Kong based scientist, Lily Barnes, is trying to maintain her inner light in an increasingly dark world. The human race is dwindling, and people fighting to push forward are increasingly rare. One day, Lily comes across something that seems to be addressing her directly, calling to her, asking her to follow a path to whatever lies at its end. Is this the Endless Vessel to happiness? She leaves her life behind and sets out through time and space to find out.

From its opening heart-stopping scene in the present day at the Louvre in Paris, through the earthly meetings between Lily and her loved ones past and present, to a shocking and satisfying conclusion in a truly enchanted forest, Charles Soule has channeled history, science and drama to create a story for the ages—a story of hope and love and possibility. This is a novel you will not soon forget.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 10, 2023
      At the beginning of this hugely entertaining near-future dystopian thriller from comic book writer Soule (Anyone), the Louvre is burning, along with the priceless treasures within. It’s the handiwork of a group called Team Joy Joy, whose mission is to eradicate anything giving people pleasure or hope; objects in their crosshairs include art, food, books, and jobs. Many of its members are afflicted with a malady called The Grey, a clinical depression that manifested in the years after the Covid-19 pandemic and infected 27% of the world’s population. British-born Lily Barnes, a materials engineer living in Hong Kong, uncovers a mysterious piece of technology that may help slow the spread of The Grey, and her quest to uncover its secrets begins a suspense-laden trek across time and space that leads her to a ship harboring all of humanity’s memories and puts the fate of the human race on the line. Rich characters and a full-throttle plot, plus a solid finale, elevate this page-turner. It’s a winner. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

    • Booklist

      May 1, 2023
      After a traumatizing opening scene in which the Louvre is deliberately destroyed, Soule (Anyone, 2019) reveals a dying world. The Grey has caused a massive shift in society, affecting more than a quarter of the world's population with its three flavors: severe depression, suicide, or a twisted joy manifesting as mania. Those afflicted with the latter version rally behind Aunt Jane and her Team Joy Joy as they work to spread the Grey by destroying humanity's art and history. On the opposite end of that is Lily Barnes, whose purpose is climate-change mitigation, until suddenly her boss finds a miracle solution and lays her off. In her resulting shock, she investigates the solution, leading her to a mysterious group that refers to itself as the Wonder Path and eventually to the more secretive Lazarenes, whose ship has been at sea for a couple centuries. Soule captures the despair and loneliness of people struggling to survive in a damaged world, stringing eager readers along until the very end.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      April 21, 2023

      In Soule's (Anyone) dystopian time-travel novel set in a world that resembles our own, depression and hopelessness have become an incurable epidemic, and many of the afflicted have embraced nihilistic acquiescence and work to usher in humanity's extinction through deliberate terrorism. Lily Barnes remains unaffected, however, and is developing environmentally conscious technology--that is, until she discovers a device so advanced that it shouldn't exist. Hidden within the device is a cipher so familiar to Lily that she follows its clues across time and space, a journey that may reveal the key to humanity's survival. Opening with the Louvre in flames, the book wastes no time in presenting a chaotic world mere days away from its collapse. Even the smaller elements of the narrative suggest a frenetic race against the clock. Fortunately, compelling characters and brilliantly positioned narrative shifts focus on rich character development as much as progressing the story from one plot point to the next. VERDICT Exploring the necessity of human connection with incredible depth, Soule serves up a delightful cocktail of dystopian and science fiction, with elements of historical fiction as a cherry on top. Recommended for, but not limited to, fans of Dan Brown's "Robert Langdon" series and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.--Andy Myers

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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