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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
Violence in the salvage economy; deaths; physical danger of diving
Language
Some
Moderate language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild; adult relationships among the siblings and their world
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Moderate; family dynamics under survival conditions; what parents sacrifice and what children inherit; the old world beneath the new one
What this book is about
Hugh Howey's Sand is set in a post-apocalyptic American Southwest entirely buried under sand dunes. The Palmer family are sand divers — they use vibrating suits to swim through sand and retrieve artifacts from the buried cities below. When their father disappears and a sister goes missing, the family must confront the secrets of what's buried and who controls access to it. Howey's worldbuilding is at its most inventive: a desert society built on salvage.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Violence in a survivalist economy
Physical danger and death
Reader Verification
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