Whenever people ask me what my favourite book is, I immediately reach for Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel. Then they ask me what it’s about, and I’m sort of stumped. What was it about? I should really know. I’ve read it twice. I know I really enjoyed it; I found it deeply immersive and that it had wonderful tendrils that linked to St. John Mandel’s other books (which I’ve since learned is called the “Mandelverse.”) But what’s it about?
Regardless, when I heard that there was a new Emily St. John Mandel novel coming, I knew I had to read it. I preordered Exit Party in early 2026 and have waited patiently for it to arrive. Was it worth the wait? Almost certainly. There’s nothing quite like it.
Growing Information:
Plant With: Alternate reality, Unreliable narrators, the Mandelverse.
Grows Into: A mesmerising tale of secrets and identity.
Rating: Vibrant Annual 🌻🌻(Check here for rating information.)
Available now in hardback (affiliate link).
The Review:
I must confess, I didn’t love Exit Party as much as I did Sea of Tranquillity. Its pace is slower. At times, it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere. Nevertheless, Mandel’s writing seeps into her reader’s bones, and much as with Sea of Tranquillity, on finishing, I found myself wanting to turn the book over to start it again.
The book is split into two sections, A-Side and B-Side. They are distinct stories set on alternate Earths with a permeable membrane between them. Exit Party sets up two interesting “what-if” scenarios, with a cross-dimensional occurrence at their interface. I haven’t checked, but I suspect that if you read B-Side before A-Side, it wouldn’t make as much sense as reading the book in the order it is presented. (Perhaps I’ll try that on my reread.)
Exit Party follows Ari in both narratives. (Ari appears in an earlier Mandelverse book, The Singer’s Gun, which I wasn’t aware of until reading the author’s afterword.) On the A-Side, she’s recently come out of prison and is heading to a party. The most salient point of A-Side is that America has fragmented into several new countries. The United States is no more, and continental America is riven by warring factions. The party Ari attends marks the de-escalation of violence, a lifting of a curfew and the creation of the Republic of California.
On the B-Side, Ari is “Service.” An agent of the United “State.” A very much not fragmented entity. A single behemoth. A surveillance state, where personal liberty is nothing, and everyone could be, and most likely is, an informer. Ari is secret police, and her record, unimpeachable.
One of the novel’s strengths is that, though not set very far into the future, US democracy feels so precarious right now that both renditions of its future feel plausible.
At the Side-A party, two mysterious doppelgangers make a brief appearance, while after the party, the host, Kareem, goes missing. Later, during Side-B, we will find out how this happened. Both narratives examine the fallout from Ari’s choices, and the aftermath of the two presented copies of the US.
Against this undoubtedly science-fictional backdrop, Emily St John Mandel examines human relationships. Tense friendships, marriages and the parent-child bond – the nurturing parent vs the workaholic; the prevalence (and hypocrisy) of women needing to take up the childcare slack because their husband is “driven.” There is an examination of the power of wealthy elites to sit aloof from the world’s problems. Enjoying their climate-controlled paradises while the world burns.
There’s lots here, and at times I was compelled and propelled to read on, but after a single pass through the book I find I am struggling to pick out a shining moment. I don’t find myself saying “you should read this book” because of a central point it’s making or that its structure and construction are particularly breathtaking.
I find attributing a defining “what it’s about” answer as difficult as I do for Sea of Tranquillity, but I wasn’t similarly captivated to deem it one of the best novels I’d ever read. The mental picture I had when reading Exit Party was filtered cold blue. I admired the novel’s structure and its literary geegaws, but I did not find it a warm read.
I do think you should read this book. I have come to the opinion that every book by Emily St. John Mandel is worth a look. She constructs her stories in a way that is close to unique.
I wouldn’t start here, though. I enjoyed both The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquillity more. I do want to read Exit Party again. Emily St. John Mandel’s books have additional layers and Easter eggs that can be missed on first reading. Looking at the ever-growing TBR pile, however, it might take me some time to get back to it.
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