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The Wayfinder
🎧Run time = 21 hours & 6 minutes
A historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people's queen.
Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life—this is the world young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters, guided by only the night sky and his assurance of a bountiful future in the Kingdom of Tonga. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia—instead, Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse, a place where brains are regularly liberated from skulls and souls get trapped in coconuts with some frequency.
The perils of Tonga are compounded by a royal loyalties are shifting, graves are being opened, and everyone lives in fear of a jellyfish tattoo. Here, survival can rest on a perfectly performed dance or the acceptance of a cup of kava. Together, the stranger and Kōrero embark upon an epic voyage—one that will deliver them either to salvation or to the depths of the Pacific.
21 hrs. 6 mins.
A historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people's queen.
Talking corpses, poetic parrots, and a fan that wafts the breath of life—this is the world young Kōrero finds herself thrust into when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters, guided by only the night sky and his assurance of a bountiful future in the Kingdom of Tonga. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia—instead, Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse, a place where brains are regularly liberated from skulls and souls get trapped in coconuts with some frequency.
The perils of Tonga are compounded by a royal loyalties are shifting, graves are being opened, and everyone lives in fear of a jellyfish tattoo. Here, survival can rest on a perfectly performed dance or the acceptance of a cup of kava. Together, the stranger and Kōrero embark upon an epic voyage—one that will deliver them either to salvation or to the depths of the Pacific.
21 hrs. 6 mins.
22 pages, Audible Audio
First published October 14, 2025
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Adam Johnson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 579 reviews
December 16, 2025
Adam Johnson’s awesome new novel, “The Wayfinder,” takes place almost a thousand years ago in Polynesia, but its real setting is that realm beyond time and place where mortals contend with gods, and mythology and history merge like twinned tree trunks. Johnson, who won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for his previous novel, “The Orphan Master’s Son,” has returned more than a decade later with an epic that feels less created than unearthed.
For almost 100 pages — just the opening breath of this 731-page performance — I kept asking myself, What is “The Wayfinder” like? With its story of a long-delayed and tumultuous homecoming, it’s steeped in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Johnson’s dizzying attention to the mercurial crosscurrents of conquest recalls the intimidating ordeal of Olga Tokarczuk’s “The Books of Jacob.” His bold melding of magic and psychological realism casts a spell as captivating as Marlon James’s “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.” Yet “The Wayfinder” is sui generis — a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.
Johnson launches “The Wayfinder” along two converging timelines several months out of sync, like distant birds flying toward the same spot at different speeds. That complicated structure, combined with a large cast of characters and a cascade of Tongan terms (tauʻolunga, matāpule, ʻavapui, etc.), demands a serious investment of attention. But don’t hesitate to lash yourself to the mast of this remarkable voyage.
On the remote island of Manumotu, a 16-year-old girl named Kōrero lives with her family in a community of....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
For almost 100 pages — just the opening breath of this 731-page performance — I kept asking myself, What is “The Wayfinder” like? With its story of a long-delayed and tumultuous homecoming, it’s steeped in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Johnson’s dizzying attention to the mercurial crosscurrents of conquest recalls the intimidating ordeal of Olga Tokarczuk’s “The Books of Jacob.” His bold melding of magic and psychological realism casts a spell as captivating as Marlon James’s “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.” Yet “The Wayfinder” is sui generis — a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.
Johnson launches “The Wayfinder” along two converging timelines several months out of sync, like distant birds flying toward the same spot at different speeds. That complicated structure, combined with a large cast of characters and a cascade of Tongan terms (tauʻolunga, matāpule, ʻavapui, etc.), demands a serious investment of attention. But don’t hesitate to lash yourself to the mast of this remarkable voyage.
On the remote island of Manumotu, a 16-year-old girl named Kōrero lives with her family in a community of....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
December 8, 2025
This sprawling epic about the fight for resources and power in pre-colonial Polynesia is THE SHIT, just give Adam Johnson his second Pulitzer already! Set around 1,000 ago, the bildungsroman centers on four teenagers who come of age by learning the truth about their ancestors, what they have done to nature and other people. Now the young generation has to decide what to make of this heritage - so like all good historical novels, "The Wayfinder" is very current. Korero is the descendant of refugees from New Zealand, her people are trying to survive on a depleted island, and she dreams of becoming a storyteller preserving the tales around her. The other three main protagonists are young men, sons of the king of Tonga hailing from the Sacred South from where he reigns and wages war: The oldest is trained to become his father's successor, but dreads his destiny; the Second Son is a navigator in training; the third is assigned to become a poet.
On a more literal level, the book's title hints to the Second Son and his kind, as in the ancient world, navigators held major power, because they were the ones able to steer ships between the Polynesian islands by reading the stars as maps, a task crucial in the constant hunt for resources. While in the West, the image connected to Polynesia is that of the exotic, strongly influenced by the colonial perspective and replicated for instance in the paintings of Gauguin and Matisse, Johnson portrays the real wars and catastrophes brought about by limited resources and the ruthless, short-sighted exploitation of nature. Johnson is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, his journeys to the Pacific and the South Seas inspired him to do extensive research on the history and culture of indigenous Polynesia. This research is the basis for the extensive incorporation of facts and historical and cultural context to the civilizations we encounter. Johnson stresses traditions of orality and the importance of storytelling regarding questions of identity and destiny, also because he lives with questions about his own heritage as some family stories got lost along the way.
There is added magical realism, with my favorite character Koki, a talking parrot, and elements like a special fan that can resuscitate the dead and a mythical journey to the afterlife, so narrative ideas that transform ancient beliefs into a reality within the narrated world. It took Johnson ten years to finish the novel, there's a vast cast of characters, there are different timelines and lots and lots of subplots - you better don't skip a single one of the more than 700 pages, because they are all packed with info needed to follow the many threads dealing with the loss of innocence, questions of ecology, human short-sightedness and selfishness, as well as the exploitation of both nature and fellow humans who are declared "other", but also the meaning of love, family and beauty, Polynesian poetry and lush descriptions of landscapes and the sea. We meet a traumatized war veteran, a king who harvests souls, young women shipped to serve as dancers at the court, a navigator forced to leave his own family behind to train the king's son, and many, many others.
Johnson is such a skilled storyteller, the intricate composition with alternating story- and timelines, the psychologically complex characters, and the evocations of atmosphere turn this postmodern dare of a text into a page turner, proving that high-concept literature shouldn't be a chore, but a joy. Great stuff.
On a more literal level, the book's title hints to the Second Son and his kind, as in the ancient world, navigators held major power, because they were the ones able to steer ships between the Polynesian islands by reading the stars as maps, a task crucial in the constant hunt for resources. While in the West, the image connected to Polynesia is that of the exotic, strongly influenced by the colonial perspective and replicated for instance in the paintings of Gauguin and Matisse, Johnson portrays the real wars and catastrophes brought about by limited resources and the ruthless, short-sighted exploitation of nature. Johnson is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, his journeys to the Pacific and the South Seas inspired him to do extensive research on the history and culture of indigenous Polynesia. This research is the basis for the extensive incorporation of facts and historical and cultural context to the civilizations we encounter. Johnson stresses traditions of orality and the importance of storytelling regarding questions of identity and destiny, also because he lives with questions about his own heritage as some family stories got lost along the way.
There is added magical realism, with my favorite character Koki, a talking parrot, and elements like a special fan that can resuscitate the dead and a mythical journey to the afterlife, so narrative ideas that transform ancient beliefs into a reality within the narrated world. It took Johnson ten years to finish the novel, there's a vast cast of characters, there are different timelines and lots and lots of subplots - you better don't skip a single one of the more than 700 pages, because they are all packed with info needed to follow the many threads dealing with the loss of innocence, questions of ecology, human short-sightedness and selfishness, as well as the exploitation of both nature and fellow humans who are declared "other", but also the meaning of love, family and beauty, Polynesian poetry and lush descriptions of landscapes and the sea. We meet a traumatized war veteran, a king who harvests souls, young women shipped to serve as dancers at the court, a navigator forced to leave his own family behind to train the king's son, and many, many others.
Johnson is such a skilled storyteller, the intricate composition with alternating story- and timelines, the psychologically complex characters, and the evocations of atmosphere turn this postmodern dare of a text into a page turner, proving that high-concept literature shouldn't be a chore, but a joy. Great stuff.
May 1, 2025
When I started this as an ebook I had no idea what I was in for. This is a hefty book at over 700 pages.
Split between the Tongan royal family and a remote island where the residents are slowly starving with nowhere to go, you have a tale of political intrigue and royal succession contrasted against a coming of age survival story. The worlds collide and the staggered timeline means we gradually uncover what brought them together.
There is something epic about this book. It feels like a homeric poem or shakespearean tragedy with characters unequivocally destined to their fates. Despite this epic length and scope it maintains a steady pacing that makes it hard to put down. Each new event feels weighty and predestined.
It feels exceptionally well researched. I will say at the start it felt a bit like reading a history textbook and took a while for the story to pick up. But I do appreciate how much I’ve learned about this time and place.
Central themes include storytelling/oral history, abuse of power, depletion of natural resources, belonging, and cycles of violence especially in the context of war.
This book is dark. Though not gratuitous (imo), there is a constant grind of violence, especially against women, which makes for difficult reading at times. One man in particular is such a chilling figure and sections from his perspective were deeply unnerving. But each character, especially on the Tongan side has their villainous moments which attests to how power and violence both corrupt. Horrific acts are justified by duty and blame can always be shifted elsewhere.
This is absolutely going to stick with me for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC.
Split between the Tongan royal family and a remote island where the residents are slowly starving with nowhere to go, you have a tale of political intrigue and royal succession contrasted against a coming of age survival story. The worlds collide and the staggered timeline means we gradually uncover what brought them together.
There is something epic about this book. It feels like a homeric poem or shakespearean tragedy with characters unequivocally destined to their fates. Despite this epic length and scope it maintains a steady pacing that makes it hard to put down. Each new event feels weighty and predestined.
It feels exceptionally well researched. I will say at the start it felt a bit like reading a history textbook and took a while for the story to pick up. But I do appreciate how much I’ve learned about this time and place.
Central themes include storytelling/oral history, abuse of power, depletion of natural resources, belonging, and cycles of violence especially in the context of war.
This book is dark. Though not gratuitous (imo), there is a constant grind of violence, especially against women, which makes for difficult reading at times. One man in particular is such a chilling figure and sections from his perspective were deeply unnerving. But each character, especially on the Tongan side has their villainous moments which attests to how power and violence both corrupt. Horrific acts are justified by duty and blame can always be shifted elsewhere.
This is absolutely going to stick with me for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC.
January 22, 2025
Pulitzer 2026
March 25, 2026
Magnificent! This is a once-in-a-lifetime novel, and even at 700+ pages I didn’t want it to end. The official description calls it “a historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people’s queen.” Well--that's not really what it's about. I would say instead it's about a girl who becomes a saver of lives (she doesn't become queen in the novel, and isn't ambitious in that direction) and a culture remote from us today and yet very much like ours in its endless wars, power struggles, exploitation and environmental destruction. There's an enormous cast of characters, all of them interesting and individuated.
The young woman, Kōrero, is a wonderfully real, normal, chatty teenage girl — I thought: Adam Johnson must have at least one teenage daughter! She has normal relationships with her family and her best friend. She loves to tell long stories and has a gift for observation and description, but isn’t necessarily marked out as someone special. She wasn’t overdone or extreme like some myth-inspired literary characters.
Her people, descended from Māori refugees from Aotearoa, are on the verge of starvation on a tiny, far-southern island formerly known as Bird Island (Manumotu) — though the birds are going extinct from overhunting, and the parents have tried to hide the direness of their situation from the children. Meanwhile, two very different, very lost refugees, teenage boys who happen to be the second and third sons of the Tu’itonga, king of the Tongan Empire, land on their shore - their first visitors in generations.
From there, you could call the book a convergent coming-of-age odyssey, mapping the journeys of Kōrero and her rural people, and the almost opposite journeys of the king’s sons, raised to be rulers of an empire.
It’s a magical story, a historical fantasy that feels so free, so gorgeous, dreamy, poetic (even integrating Tongan poetry and different Polynesian languages) so well-researched, so all-encompassing, and somehow light on its feet and even humorous at times while also dealing with terrible, heavy things, even atrocities, deforestation and extinctions that are terribly relevant in today’s world, though they happened a thousand years ago in a part of the world I never much thought about. It has room for all that and more.
***************************************
P.S. I must add that I adore the cover, I find it utterly gorgeous, unique, and highly appropriate.
The shade of blue knocks me out. The constellation-like silhouettes of two girls tattooed with birds, flying/swimming through the starry sky are perfect. In the novel Kōrero and others often compare the sky and the sea that mirror each other, wondering whether there are as many islands as stars. The "Second Son" learns to navigate by the stars and so, eventually, does Kōrero; their people's life is a journey on the sea among the islands traveling by night under the stars. I add this comment because another reviewer made a point of insisting it was a terrible cover. I could not disagree more; it enchanted and enticed me every time I picked up the book. The stars are metallic and literally shine; the cover has a subtle texture to the fingertips; it feels rare. (Even under the book jacket are gold stars on the hardback, the one I own.)
*****************************************
Image Sources:
1. “Guide Susan” By Josiah Martin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81...
Although much later in time, this was the best image of a young Māori girl with traditional chin tattoo (moko) that I could find. The girls received these markings as a sign of receiving the status of becoming a woman.
2. Red-Shining Parrot from eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology https://ebird.org/species/respar1
The young woman, Kōrero, is a wonderfully real, normal, chatty teenage girl — I thought: Adam Johnson must have at least one teenage daughter! She has normal relationships with her family and her best friend. She loves to tell long stories and has a gift for observation and description, but isn’t necessarily marked out as someone special. She wasn’t overdone or extreme like some myth-inspired literary characters.
Her people, descended from Māori refugees from Aotearoa, are on the verge of starvation on a tiny, far-southern island formerly known as Bird Island (Manumotu) — though the birds are going extinct from overhunting, and the parents have tried to hide the direness of their situation from the children. Meanwhile, two very different, very lost refugees, teenage boys who happen to be the second and third sons of the Tu’itonga, king of the Tongan Empire, land on their shore - their first visitors in generations.
From there, you could call the book a convergent coming-of-age odyssey, mapping the journeys of Kōrero and her rural people, and the almost opposite journeys of the king’s sons, raised to be rulers of an empire.
It’s a magical story, a historical fantasy that feels so free, so gorgeous, dreamy, poetic (even integrating Tongan poetry and different Polynesian languages) so well-researched, so all-encompassing, and somehow light on its feet and even humorous at times while also dealing with terrible, heavy things, even atrocities, deforestation and extinctions that are terribly relevant in today’s world, though they happened a thousand years ago in a part of the world I never much thought about. It has room for all that and more.
***************************************
P.S. I must add that I adore the cover, I find it utterly gorgeous, unique, and highly appropriate.
The shade of blue knocks me out. The constellation-like silhouettes of two girls tattooed with birds, flying/swimming through the starry sky are perfect. In the novel Kōrero and others often compare the sky and the sea that mirror each other, wondering whether there are as many islands as stars. The "Second Son" learns to navigate by the stars and so, eventually, does Kōrero; their people's life is a journey on the sea among the islands traveling by night under the stars. I add this comment because another reviewer made a point of insisting it was a terrible cover. I could not disagree more; it enchanted and enticed me every time I picked up the book. The stars are metallic and literally shine; the cover has a subtle texture to the fingertips; it feels rare. (Even under the book jacket are gold stars on the hardback, the one I own.)
*****************************************
Image Sources:
1. “Guide Susan” By Josiah Martin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81...
Although much later in time, this was the best image of a young Māori girl with traditional chin tattoo (moko) that I could find. The girls received these markings as a sign of receiving the status of becoming a woman.
2. Red-Shining Parrot from eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology https://ebird.org/species/respar1
October 1, 2025
I’m a HUGE Adam Johnson fan! I think “The Orphan Master’s Son” is a masterpiece, and I’m not alone in that. Thus, I was thrilled to dive into his new novel, “The Wayfinder”.
There are a few things I wish I had known when I started this EPIC novel (that is not hyperbole, it’s an epic) and so I’m going to share those things in this unconventional “review”.
First, don’t be daunted by the 700+ page count. Flip through it – you’ll see that it is mostly dialogue and which reads quickly.
Next, you might wonder if you are going to find a story set a thousand years ago in the Polynesian islands interesting or relevant. Trust me (and Adam Johnson) you will. At this time, many of the islands had been depleted of their resources, they had cut down all their trees, their animal populations had gone extinct, and the inhabitants were starving. Some turned to invading their neighbors for food and slaves.
The list of islands and the “cast of characters” on each island, at the beginning of the book is very useful. Don’t be worried about all the “weird” sounding names and places. You’ll soon get used to them, and you have this handy reference to flip back to if you get confused.
The narrative is NOT LINEAR. The basic story is told in alternating chapters starting with the first-person narrator Korero, a young woman who lives with her small family on a very remote island called Manumotu. They are running out food and are starting to starve. Her narrative is the present.
In the other chapters we are on the island of Tonga, ruled by a royal family; the king and queen have three sons. The oldest is being groomed to become the next king, the second to be a navigator, and the third to be a poet. These chapters concern the past.
One day a ship from Tonga carrying the Wayfinder, lands on Manumotu and meets Korero and her people. Will they be rescued from sure extinction or will they perish at sea?
The reader will learn things in the “present” chapters, such as characters who are now dead. In the “past” chapters we find out how and why.
This structure may sound confusing BUT IT ISN’T. Adam Johnson employs this device elegantly and effectively. Also worth noting is that there are dark and violent parts of this story, but there is humor as well!
Johnson shows us that the human condition wasn’t so different 1000 years ago than it is now. We love, we protect our families, we fight, we crave home and safety even as we cave adventure. And we must find a way to conserve resources to survive and thrive.
Of course, I’ve only given you the bare bones of this rich, compelling, and action-packed novel! Dive on in!
There are a few things I wish I had known when I started this EPIC novel (that is not hyperbole, it’s an epic) and so I’m going to share those things in this unconventional “review”.
First, don’t be daunted by the 700+ page count. Flip through it – you’ll see that it is mostly dialogue and which reads quickly.
Next, you might wonder if you are going to find a story set a thousand years ago in the Polynesian islands interesting or relevant. Trust me (and Adam Johnson) you will. At this time, many of the islands had been depleted of their resources, they had cut down all their trees, their animal populations had gone extinct, and the inhabitants were starving. Some turned to invading their neighbors for food and slaves.
The list of islands and the “cast of characters” on each island, at the beginning of the book is very useful. Don’t be worried about all the “weird” sounding names and places. You’ll soon get used to them, and you have this handy reference to flip back to if you get confused.
The narrative is NOT LINEAR. The basic story is told in alternating chapters starting with the first-person narrator Korero, a young woman who lives with her small family on a very remote island called Manumotu. They are running out food and are starting to starve. Her narrative is the present.
In the other chapters we are on the island of Tonga, ruled by a royal family; the king and queen have three sons. The oldest is being groomed to become the next king, the second to be a navigator, and the third to be a poet. These chapters concern the past.
One day a ship from Tonga carrying the Wayfinder, lands on Manumotu and meets Korero and her people. Will they be rescued from sure extinction or will they perish at sea?
The reader will learn things in the “present” chapters, such as characters who are now dead. In the “past” chapters we find out how and why.
This structure may sound confusing BUT IT ISN’T. Adam Johnson employs this device elegantly and effectively. Also worth noting is that there are dark and violent parts of this story, but there is humor as well!
Johnson shows us that the human condition wasn’t so different 1000 years ago than it is now. We love, we protect our families, we fight, we crave home and safety even as we cave adventure. And we must find a way to conserve resources to survive and thrive.
Of course, I’ve only given you the bare bones of this rich, compelling, and action-packed novel! Dive on in!
November 28, 2025
I love all things Polynesian, and this epic saga delivered the goods. What a treat to be immersed in this world for a week! Highly recommend, but understand this book will require your utmost attention and concentration - but you will be richly rewarded.
Massive book hangover ensuing now…….
Massive book hangover ensuing now…….
January 15, 2026
4.5, very nearly perfect.
December 4, 2025
I'm convinced there is a 4 or even 5-star novel lying dormant here. At no point is the writing ever bad, nor the story uninteresting. It just takes a surprising amount of time to get rolling. The immaturity of the characters in the opening chapters of Korero's story becomes tiresome, and the POV shifts sometimes detract from the storytelling by almost spoiling plot points that would have been more effectively revealed through a straight forward narrative structure. Overall, well worth reading and a solid 3 - 3.5. It's just a little frustrating to be teased with the novel's untapped potential.
August 20, 2025
Simply put, this one has the makings of a modern classic. The best book I've read in a long time. Johnson tackles all the big themes of life: love, war, religion, gender relations, resource depletion, the clash between cultures - all nestled in the difficult and tender interactions of human beings. The story weaves deftly between two timelines, so subtly that you don't notice until about halfway through. Korero is a teenage girl living on a Pacific Island that is nearing the end of its resources, and its people have forgotten how to navigate the sea to go to somewhere new. Her story interacts with two Tongan boys, the sons of the Tongan king, caught in the end of their father's life and the intrusion of Aho, the king's PTSD-laden brother and his uncontrollable violence. Aho is an especially nuanced character, broken and tender-hearted but with a violent streak he can't control that makes him difficult to like. As the characters voyage between islands, we see the violence inherent in imperial systems, the result of casual depletion of the land, and the fallout that ordinary people suffer while the guards are changed. I learned much about Polynesian culture and history - all the more remarkable given the author's American background. Highly recommended for a long and engrossing reading that will stay in your head all day, and urge you to return.
February 6, 2026
I am going to start with the good. This is a beautifully written book. It is deeply researched and rings with a clear and unique voice, telling a story I have not read before. I am, however, the wrong reader for this. The reading experience reminded me of a few I have had before. First was The Lord of the Rings, though in Tonga instead of Middle Earth. This felt like Mark Burnett optioned Tolkien and gave us The Return of the King: South Pacific Edition. The other reading experiences it evoked were Moby Dick and War and Peace. This is not because of the length. Those books are long, and this is long, but I have no problem wiht long books. Three of my favorite books are Middlemarch, Infinite Jest, and Lonesome Dove, and I wanted all three to keep going. This brought none of those to mind. While I was a fan of Moby Dick and War and Peace, there were stretches of both books that were agonizingly dull for this reader. My god, the war strategy in War and Peace nearly felled me, and Melville's seemingly endless digressions into the minutiae of the whaling industry, whale species particulars, and whaling ship construction were painful, despite the fact that I was rapt reading most of the book. This book had the same qualities. As soon as I dug into the relationships, the wonder and terror of navigating an unmapped sea, and the horrors of environmental destruction, I was hit with some endless, spectacularly dull meditation on something I did not care about. That is all on me.
Look, it is not insulting to be compared to Moby Dick, War and Peace, and The Lord of the Rings. There is a lot of good here, even if much of it did not appeal to me. But objectively, the wise parrot philosopher was insufferable (though Meike disagrees with me on this point, and she is smarter than I). My enjoyment here was maybe a 2.25, and my respect for the craft is a 4.5 (the -.5 is all the parrot's fault), I will split the difference, which is a 3.375, so a Goodreads 3, but if you enjoy magic, folklore, hardcore world-building, and wise birds, I think you will love this.
Look, it is not insulting to be compared to Moby Dick, War and Peace, and The Lord of the Rings. There is a lot of good here, even if much of it did not appeal to me. But objectively, the wise parrot philosopher was insufferable (though Meike disagrees with me on this point, and she is smarter than I). My enjoyment here was maybe a 2.25, and my respect for the craft is a 4.5 (the -.5 is all the parrot's fault), I will split the difference, which is a 3.375, so a Goodreads 3, but if you enjoy magic, folklore, hardcore world-building, and wise birds, I think you will love this.
April 27, 2026
4.5 stars. Adam Johnson's last novel was so good that it convinced me to read this historical epic, which clocks in at nearly 750 pages.
I listened to this on audio (always my preference when there are foreign names and local accents involved, the two Māori readers on this were fantastic) and it adds an extra level since the oral tradition is a crucial part of these cultures and since our protagonist Kōrero is herself an oral storyteller. It is long, and for the first third I had to pay pretty close attention since there are two storylines and there were a lot of characters--so many royals, so many fathers, brothers, sons, uncles--but once I felt settled in the story I could really relax and soak it in.
For a historical novel, this has such modern concerns. Johnson is subtle about this, never just telling you that a theme is the same as it is today, but it permeates everything around you. This is a story about power, about class, about community, about climate, about outsiders, about how we share resources and how we plan for the future. This book about Indigenous islanders was inspired by Johnson's own indigenous heritage, and his musings on what life would be like for indigenous people without colonial rule. It is more than one thing, as we see, there is always a question of empire, of choosing how to govern.
The two stories also work really well. It is not building to a big connection moment between these storylines. It takes a while to realize that that connection has already happened. Johnson is smart about what he shows and what he doesn't, letting the pacing and the movement of the novel shift. Kōrero's story starts out with very small stakes of one small island while the story of the Tongan royals is on a grand scale of action almost immediately. But cutting away from some of the big setpieces at the end of the Tongan royal story lets Kōrero's dominate when you really need it to, when it has become the story we need to know the ending of.
This is really a coming of age story about many characters, especially the sons of the Tongan king and, of course, Kōrero. The sons are loyal to their father, though they resent the system they've been forced into and the distance they have from their father. They have always been provided for, and even if they want change, there is nothing to be done to make it until one of them is king. Kōrero literally moves into adulthood during the novel, stepping into the role she didn't realize she was ready for. She follows her gut and steps boldly, surprising herself much of the time.
These two societies--one on a too-small island and the other in a group of dozens of islands--are both facing similar problems, though they may not realize it. It is a question of resources and tradition. On the small island, they do what they have always done, even though they see that they have less and less every year, and that at some point that less will be nothing. The Tongans have problems with resources too, islands being depleted by the constant demands of the royals, keeping the people busy with a years-long war that exists mostly for the sake of distraction. The Tongans govern through denial, doing what has always been done, insisting on the humanity of only the royals, using violence freely to force compliance. The small island governs through consensus, through communal work and respect. The clash between these two cultures is much of the early part of the novel, the different expectations of Kōrero and her people vs the two men who have landed there.
I want to note that this book has a lot of sexual violence, it is a really significant part of one of the plots. A serial rapist is presented as a villain, and both the men and women are disgusted by him, but for much of the novel he is left to his own devices for a variety of reasons. This keeps rape and the threat of rape quite top of mind, especially for the female characters. It is mostly off the page, but it is still something I think it would be best for readers to expect going in.
Immersive and fascinating, full of interesting and complex characters, with rich themes and beautiful prose, it's one of the best once again.
I listened to this on audio (always my preference when there are foreign names and local accents involved, the two Māori readers on this were fantastic) and it adds an extra level since the oral tradition is a crucial part of these cultures and since our protagonist Kōrero is herself an oral storyteller. It is long, and for the first third I had to pay pretty close attention since there are two storylines and there were a lot of characters--so many royals, so many fathers, brothers, sons, uncles--but once I felt settled in the story I could really relax and soak it in.
For a historical novel, this has such modern concerns. Johnson is subtle about this, never just telling you that a theme is the same as it is today, but it permeates everything around you. This is a story about power, about class, about community, about climate, about outsiders, about how we share resources and how we plan for the future. This book about Indigenous islanders was inspired by Johnson's own indigenous heritage, and his musings on what life would be like for indigenous people without colonial rule. It is more than one thing, as we see, there is always a question of empire, of choosing how to govern.
The two stories also work really well. It is not building to a big connection moment between these storylines. It takes a while to realize that that connection has already happened. Johnson is smart about what he shows and what he doesn't, letting the pacing and the movement of the novel shift. Kōrero's story starts out with very small stakes of one small island while the story of the Tongan royals is on a grand scale of action almost immediately. But cutting away from some of the big setpieces at the end of the Tongan royal story lets Kōrero's dominate when you really need it to, when it has become the story we need to know the ending of.
This is really a coming of age story about many characters, especially the sons of the Tongan king and, of course, Kōrero. The sons are loyal to their father, though they resent the system they've been forced into and the distance they have from their father. They have always been provided for, and even if they want change, there is nothing to be done to make it until one of them is king. Kōrero literally moves into adulthood during the novel, stepping into the role she didn't realize she was ready for. She follows her gut and steps boldly, surprising herself much of the time.
These two societies--one on a too-small island and the other in a group of dozens of islands--are both facing similar problems, though they may not realize it. It is a question of resources and tradition. On the small island, they do what they have always done, even though they see that they have less and less every year, and that at some point that less will be nothing. The Tongans have problems with resources too, islands being depleted by the constant demands of the royals, keeping the people busy with a years-long war that exists mostly for the sake of distraction. The Tongans govern through denial, doing what has always been done, insisting on the humanity of only the royals, using violence freely to force compliance. The small island governs through consensus, through communal work and respect. The clash between these two cultures is much of the early part of the novel, the different expectations of Kōrero and her people vs the two men who have landed there.
I want to note that this book has a lot of sexual violence, it is a really significant part of one of the plots. A serial rapist is presented as a villain, and both the men and women are disgusted by him, but for much of the novel he is left to his own devices for a variety of reasons. This keeps rape and the threat of rape quite top of mind, especially for the female characters. It is mostly off the page, but it is still something I think it would be best for readers to expect going in.
Immersive and fascinating, full of interesting and complex characters, with rich themes and beautiful prose, it's one of the best once again.
October 6, 2025
tl;dr Exhaustively researched, densely populated, and emotionally earnest, Adam Johnson’s Polynesian epic is a fantastical tale that feels a bit too familiar
On a Polynesian isle long ago, a girl is fated to go on a great journey to save the people of her failing island. Yes, this is the plot of Disney’s Moana, but so too is it the plot of Adam Johnson’s epic The Wayfinder, which is an extensively researched piece of historical fiction, a grand adventure, and a tale of power and survival. It’s an epic, filled with action, violence, hope, despair, and political intrigue, but it’s not without shortcomings.
The Wayfinder is split into two timelines: Kōrero’s journey, presented in first person, and many characters on the island of Tonga, which is at war with Fisi (Fiji), and whose king (Tui) is beset by kidney disease, and therefore in need of an heir. Johnson balances these two timelines with grace and deftness; I thought the cuts between Kōrero’s story and Tonga were excellent, the threads weaving in a propulsive manner. There’s an absolutely heartwrenching scene in the middle of Kōrero’s story, and the tension towards the book’s conclusion from that point is utterly riveting.
There are tons of characters whose POV we get at some point in the story (besides Kōrero, our only first person POV, we have a king, his sons, each of his sons’ mentors, the servant girls, a talking parrot, and many more) : embrace the family tree. This ARC didn’t have the map spread ready yet, but I imagine that would be immensely helpful. I had to make myself a family tree to refer to throughout, and eventually I was able to internalize the different characters and relationships without issue (so long as I had my tree on hand).
Thematically, The Wayfinder deals with power and survival, but also stories and words. Besides the fact that this book, at 736 pages, is certainly not short on words, there are several characters who truly embody the idea of words-as-legacy. Kōrero is a storytelling apprentice of sorts; there is a Tongan character who is mentored by a poet:
However, the words that comprise The Wayfinder aren’t always the most interesting. Johnson writes with considerable stylistic economy. Sometimes I found it hard to differentiate the third-person POV of the Tonga chapters from the first-person POV “Kōrero” chapters, resulting in a textural sameness that grew somewhat tiresome. The actual plot of the book is engaging, but I would have loved just a touch more style from Johnson, which I know from reading Fortune Smiles that he’s more than capable of. In my experience, stylistic restraint works if you’re focusing on the interior world of a character or two (a la Elizabeth Strout, Jhumpa Lahiri), but in the case of The Wayfinder there are so many settings and so many characters that it ends up feeling slightly underseasoned.
Between this novel and Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson doesn’t strike me as the type to employ much subtlety in his writing. On one hand, it helped smoothen a reading experience so long and so populated. However, this sometimes crossed the line from smooth to overly frictionless; reiterating characters’ motives and desires rendered some of the reading experience hollow. We’re reminded that Lolohea, the King of Tonga’s eldest, must complete his three tests, over and over again.
The research is clear, but bleeds into several aspects of the storytelling. Several times, mostly towards the beginning of the novel, Johnson feels the need to explain certain aspects (these sub-chapters are headed with “A Word About…”), which break up the flow of the otherwise engaging story. Individual words also act as obstacles. The problem of non-English words in an English text will, by design, never have an elegant solution (I point to the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize “Heart Lamp”, which brazenly left non-English words un-italicized and untranslated, to polarizing effect (I liked it)).
Johnson’s solution felt somewhat inconsistent, which is to have characters say a word, in Tongan for example, and then explain what it is in English. This isn’t a universal rule, however. Some words we’re left to extrapolate, and others (such as a very plot-crucial Tongan artifact) are mentioned once by their native name, but then referred to by their “Capitalized English Translation” for the rest of the book. I’m not sure the best way to word this feeling, but given that this novel is very much for Western audiences, this had the feeling of “Western story in Polynesian dressing”.
What I was most excited for was the feeling of being transported to this world and time. However, this presentation of the culture resulted in feeling like this was a story and setting “adapted” for a Western audience. Given the blurb’s comparison to “Shogun”, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Sure, I encountered countless words and names I had never seen before, but over the course of 736 pages, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing anything particularly novel. The aforementioned Disney film fills this niche in a similar fashion: a comfy formula with Polynesian set dressing. It all goes down a bit too easy.
I think this historical epic will cross over more comfortably with regular readers of fantasy, given the sense of adventure, the hints of magic realism, and the ginormous cast of characters. The uncomplicated story arc will feel comfortable to those accustomed to the trappings of the genre. After 736 pages, I certainly feel like I went on a journey, but somehow, I’m still left a bit wanting.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) for the advance copy!
Like a fire moving across a wooded island, life wasn’t the fleeing of the animals but the tindered consumption of the flame: slow-walking, the crackling red was what we considered time, and we were but the fuel that curled in its heat. (p. 704)
On a Polynesian isle long ago, a girl is fated to go on a great journey to save the people of her failing island. Yes, this is the plot of Disney’s Moana, but so too is it the plot of Adam Johnson’s epic The Wayfinder, which is an extensively researched piece of historical fiction, a grand adventure, and a tale of power and survival. It’s an epic, filled with action, violence, hope, despair, and political intrigue, but it’s not without shortcomings.
The Wayfinder is split into two timelines: Kōrero’s journey, presented in first person, and many characters on the island of Tonga, which is at war with Fisi (Fiji), and whose king (Tui) is beset by kidney disease, and therefore in need of an heir. Johnson balances these two timelines with grace and deftness; I thought the cuts between Kōrero’s story and Tonga were excellent, the threads weaving in a propulsive manner. There’s an absolutely heartwrenching scene in the middle of Kōrero’s story, and the tension towards the book’s conclusion from that point is utterly riveting.
There are tons of characters whose POV we get at some point in the story (besides Kōrero, our only first person POV, we have a king, his sons, each of his sons’ mentors, the servant girls, a talking parrot, and many more) : embrace the family tree. This ARC didn’t have the map spread ready yet, but I imagine that would be immensely helpful. I had to make myself a family tree to refer to throughout, and eventually I was able to internalize the different characters and relationships without issue (so long as I had my tree on hand).
Thematically, The Wayfinder deals with power and survival, but also stories and words. Besides the fact that this book, at 736 pages, is certainly not short on words, there are several characters who truly embody the idea of words-as-legacy. Kōrero is a storytelling apprentice of sorts; there is a Tongan character who is mentored by a poet:
“...it’s only through poetry that he’ll come to love our language. For, if he doesn’t love our Tongan words, if he doesn’t see their beauty, he’ll learn our language as a slave learns to farm our fields, knowing he’ll never taste the food he grows.” (p. 412)
However, the words that comprise The Wayfinder aren’t always the most interesting. Johnson writes with considerable stylistic economy. Sometimes I found it hard to differentiate the third-person POV of the Tonga chapters from the first-person POV “Kōrero” chapters, resulting in a textural sameness that grew somewhat tiresome. The actual plot of the book is engaging, but I would have loved just a touch more style from Johnson, which I know from reading Fortune Smiles that he’s more than capable of. In my experience, stylistic restraint works if you’re focusing on the interior world of a character or two (a la Elizabeth Strout, Jhumpa Lahiri), but in the case of The Wayfinder there are so many settings and so many characters that it ends up feeling slightly underseasoned.
Between this novel and Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson doesn’t strike me as the type to employ much subtlety in his writing. On one hand, it helped smoothen a reading experience so long and so populated. However, this sometimes crossed the line from smooth to overly frictionless; reiterating characters’ motives and desires rendered some of the reading experience hollow. We’re reminded that Lolohea, the King of Tonga’s eldest, must complete his three tests, over and over again.
The research is clear, but bleeds into several aspects of the storytelling. Several times, mostly towards the beginning of the novel, Johnson feels the need to explain certain aspects (these sub-chapters are headed with “A Word About…”), which break up the flow of the otherwise engaging story. Individual words also act as obstacles. The problem of non-English words in an English text will, by design, never have an elegant solution (I point to the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize “Heart Lamp”, which brazenly left non-English words un-italicized and untranslated, to polarizing effect (I liked it)).
Johnson’s solution felt somewhat inconsistent, which is to have characters say a word, in Tongan for example, and then explain what it is in English. This isn’t a universal rule, however. Some words we’re left to extrapolate, and others (such as a very plot-crucial Tongan artifact) are mentioned once by their native name, but then referred to by their “Capitalized English Translation” for the rest of the book. I’m not sure the best way to word this feeling, but given that this novel is very much for Western audiences, this had the feeling of “Western story in Polynesian dressing”.
What I was most excited for was the feeling of being transported to this world and time. However, this presentation of the culture resulted in feeling like this was a story and setting “adapted” for a Western audience. Given the blurb’s comparison to “Shogun”, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Sure, I encountered countless words and names I had never seen before, but over the course of 736 pages, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing anything particularly novel. The aforementioned Disney film fills this niche in a similar fashion: a comfy formula with Polynesian set dressing. It all goes down a bit too easy.
I think this historical epic will cross over more comfortably with regular readers of fantasy, given the sense of adventure, the hints of magic realism, and the ginormous cast of characters. The uncomplicated story arc will feel comfortable to those accustomed to the trappings of the genre. After 736 pages, I certainly feel like I went on a journey, but somehow, I’m still left a bit wanting.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) for the advance copy!
November 2, 2025
The Wayfinder is an epic saga set around a thousand years ago in Polynesia. Kōrero is a young woman from a tiny sparsely populated island. The island residents are refugees from slavery on the brink of starvation. Two sons of the King of Tonga arrive on their shores, including one who can read the stars and navigate the local waters. By accepting their help, the islanders unwittingly become part of the empire’s political turmoil and violence. Kōrero’s destiny converges with the “second son” of the Tongan Empire. She must undertake a journey to save her people. Both characters can be considered “wayfinders.”
I will not try to summarize the plot since it is complex and covers a wide swath of Oceania, especially Tonga, Fisi (Fiji), and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It contains a vast cast of characters and is told in two timelines. The world building has depth and is filled with vivid cultural details. The novel includes Polynesian oral storytelling traditions and elements of magical realism. As with any novel of this size (over 700 pages), the pacing ebbs and flows, and probably could have been shorter. It is beautifully written and sure to be nominated for literary prizes.
I will not try to summarize the plot since it is complex and covers a wide swath of Oceania, especially Tonga, Fisi (Fiji), and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It contains a vast cast of characters and is told in two timelines. The world building has depth and is filled with vivid cultural details. The novel includes Polynesian oral storytelling traditions and elements of magical realism. As with any novel of this size (over 700 pages), the pacing ebbs and flows, and probably could have been shorter. It is beautifully written and sure to be nominated for literary prizes.
November 6, 2025
If this book doesn’t win all the awards next year, there is no justice in the world.
November 18, 2025
I came here to see what others were saying because I’m just so utterly bored and having such a hard time getting into this book. There are too many characters, not enough interesting events, and no reason to be invested in any of the characters. I normally don’t mind when a book introduces so many characters in the beginning to build a world, and having the list of characters in the beginning helped, but they are all so disconnected that I just can’t find a reason to care. When you have to turn to ChatGpt to figure out what’s going on, that’s a problem. Since I spent so much money on it at B&N I’ll give it a couple more chapters, but I’m disappointed. His writing is great, but this could have done with fewer cultural words and characters. Get us acclimated with a narrator and story and stick with it for a few chapters instead of the throwing everything at us in the first three chapters. **UPDATE*** I just can't keep torturing myself. I'm only at page 110 and I am returning this to B&N. It's just so bad. For reference: I am a high school English teacher. I am patient and tolerant, but this was too expensive to be this bored and turned off.
October 31, 2025
4.5, rounded up
December 5, 2025
After much reflection, I think this might be one of those cases where it's not the book, it's me.
This has been a strange book, which I thought I'd enjoy more than I did. Once I got over the urge to translate and research every single Maōri term I came across and just allowed the language to fill my imagination, I was able to flow more with the stories. It is clear the 10 years the author spent writing this involved an inordinate amount of research, and I have certainly learnt much through the book itself and through parallel reading and research.
As a novel, however, I struggled to connect with the stories and characters. The way the author writes lends itself to a certain distance, an emotional detachment, where you never really get to know any of the characters and the emotional consequences of the terrible things that happen are glossed over.
I must also acknowledge that going in I thought I would find the story of an adventure starting, the dawn of the empire, where everything was new and the possibilities endless. I also thought the magical aspects would play a bigger role, that the brothers would finally reach the land of the dead, that a goddess would make an appearance here or there. Alas, this book was not that story, but rather a story of dusk, of an empire ending, a people dying, and the short-sightedness of the privileged who hoard wealth while letting entire ecosystems and populations collapse.
I was also jarred by both the sheer amount of sexual violence and the characters dragging around nets full of semi decomposed human remains and bones. I could sometimes feel that I was able to smell them.
Overall, the story was informative and interesting, but not gripping; it dragged often and many important things were hinted at instead of shown. In a way, I kept wondering if this story would have deserved at least 2 books to really flesh out all the amazing stories that ended up on the sidelines. When I started reading it I equated it to Mantel's "Wolf Hall", and I think the comparison stands firm in terms of the writing technique and approach to storytelling.
This has been a strange book, which I thought I'd enjoy more than I did. Once I got over the urge to translate and research every single Maōri term I came across and just allowed the language to fill my imagination, I was able to flow more with the stories. It is clear the 10 years the author spent writing this involved an inordinate amount of research, and I have certainly learnt much through the book itself and through parallel reading and research.
As a novel, however, I struggled to connect with the stories and characters. The way the author writes lends itself to a certain distance, an emotional detachment, where you never really get to know any of the characters and the emotional consequences of the terrible things that happen are glossed over.
I must also acknowledge that going in I thought I would find the story of an adventure starting, the dawn of the empire, where everything was new and the possibilities endless. I also thought the magical aspects would play a bigger role, that the brothers would finally reach the land of the dead, that a goddess would make an appearance here or there. Alas, this book was not that story, but rather a story of dusk, of an empire ending, a people dying, and the short-sightedness of the privileged who hoard wealth while letting entire ecosystems and populations collapse.
I was also jarred by both the sheer amount of sexual violence and the characters dragging around nets full of semi decomposed human remains and bones. I could sometimes feel that I was able to smell them.
Overall, the story was informative and interesting, but not gripping; it dragged often and many important things were hinted at instead of shown. In a way, I kept wondering if this story would have deserved at least 2 books to really flesh out all the amazing stories that ended up on the sidelines. When I started reading it I equated it to Mantel's "Wolf Hall", and I think the comparison stands firm in terms of the writing technique and approach to storytelling.
July 26, 2025
This was an EPIC read in all senses of the word. The immersion in the Tonga islands and its way of life more then 1000 years ago. It's when people of peace meet people of war, both surviving in different ways. One on the brink of starvation while the other, despite abundance, need warfare to keep that way of life. But most of all, it's when Kōrero crosses paths with the Wayfinder, and she leads her people to a new life. What's especially interesting is that the people of those islands, have never been colonized by Western ways and have retained their culture throughout the centuries. Meticulously researched and lyrically told, Adam Johnson is a born storyteller.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
Read
October 25, 2025If you pick up this book don’t expect it to be anything like The Orphan Master’s Son.
While this is richly researched, I found it tedious and overly verbose and detailed.
I was often confused as to which king, brother, uncle was being discussed and what timeline I was in and what island the events were occurring in. There is much fan waving, reviving the dead and powerful magic which while interesting, felt was over-done once you have encountered your second or third zombie.
To say this was a hard slog would be an understatement.
While this is richly researched, I found it tedious and overly verbose and detailed.
I was often confused as to which king, brother, uncle was being discussed and what timeline I was in and what island the events were occurring in. There is much fan waving, reviving the dead and powerful magic which while interesting, felt was over-done once you have encountered your second or third zombie.
To say this was a hard slog would be an understatement.
November 8, 2025
I hate to say it- I have no idea what even happened in this 26 hour way too long listen of a book. I am all for learning of new places, times and cultures but this book is capital C Confusing at best. Skipping around, referring to people by different names, no context for events. And this could be due to the narration, but I found there to be zero character development. I suggest a big hard pass unless you are ok wasting your time.
November 13, 2025
Magical and beautiful epic story.
“Love is the only enduring topic. For what is the point of surviving if you have no one to live for?”
Adam Johnson took ten years to write this epic story about the people of several pacific islands, today known as Fiji and Hawaii. If you’d like to immerse yourself in a world, a place, people, that is truly magical, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
“Love is the only enduring topic. For what is the point of surviving if you have no one to live for?”
Adam Johnson took ten years to write this epic story about the people of several pacific islands, today known as Fiji and Hawaii. If you’d like to immerse yourself in a world, a place, people, that is truly magical, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
September 30, 2025
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson will be the book of the year, if not the decade!
Set in ancient Polynesia, Johnson launches immediately into the world of Korero, a young girl whose island is on the brink of extinction. They take desperate measures to try and stay alive, even resorting to turning over the graves of their ancestors searching for anything that might help them. That is, until a mysterious stranger and his brother arrive to the island, saying that they were from a place called Tonga, and Korero wonders if perhaps this stranger will help save her people from starvation.
A sweeping, seafaring epic, The Wayfinder manages to pull off something truly impossible. Every character is so dynamic and life-like, the plot is full of intrigue and keeps the reader on their toes, and the book itself is as well written as a book can be. It is so refreshing to read a modern classic like this, and be reminded that good books really are out there. The Wayfinder is a showstopper, and Johnson keeps you on the edge of your seat for every page of it. I read the entire thing in less than a week, and have even been back to reread it since. Johnson's background in nonfiction and journalism really comes through in how well-researched this novel is, though it never takes away from the epic tale. You truly feel like you are in ancient Tonga when you read it, and once you start it, you won't be able to get the characters out of your head! Fans of Johnson will remember his Pulitzer prize winning novel The Orphan Masters Son and his story collection Fortune Smiles, and let me tell you, those were tough acts to follow but he has done it again with the masterpiece that is The Wayfinder!
I was privledged enough to be able to read an advanced copy of The Wayfinder.
Set in ancient Polynesia, Johnson launches immediately into the world of Korero, a young girl whose island is on the brink of extinction. They take desperate measures to try and stay alive, even resorting to turning over the graves of their ancestors searching for anything that might help them. That is, until a mysterious stranger and his brother arrive to the island, saying that they were from a place called Tonga, and Korero wonders if perhaps this stranger will help save her people from starvation.
A sweeping, seafaring epic, The Wayfinder manages to pull off something truly impossible. Every character is so dynamic and life-like, the plot is full of intrigue and keeps the reader on their toes, and the book itself is as well written as a book can be. It is so refreshing to read a modern classic like this, and be reminded that good books really are out there. The Wayfinder is a showstopper, and Johnson keeps you on the edge of your seat for every page of it. I read the entire thing in less than a week, and have even been back to reread it since. Johnson's background in nonfiction and journalism really comes through in how well-researched this novel is, though it never takes away from the epic tale. You truly feel like you are in ancient Tonga when you read it, and once you start it, you won't be able to get the characters out of your head! Fans of Johnson will remember his Pulitzer prize winning novel The Orphan Masters Son and his story collection Fortune Smiles, and let me tell you, those were tough acts to follow but he has done it again with the masterpiece that is The Wayfinder!
I was privledged enough to be able to read an advanced copy of The Wayfinder.
Did Not Finish
February 18, 2026December 2025, DNF at 30%. Ultimately, I decided to set this aside after spending several months with it across both e-galley and audio formats. There is so much here that I admired — the sense of history, the care taken with atmosphere, and the richness of the cultural backdrop — and I was drawn to individual characters and the scope of what Johnson is attempting. However, the narrative's movement between multiple timelines and settings remained too ambiguous for me, and despite sustained effort, I struggled to stay oriented within the story. I also found the delivery, in both print and audio, to be extremely sedate; while I initially tried to think of this as a steadiness, over time it became difficult to maintain engagement, even when I was interested in the story itself. This feels like a book that will reward patient readers who enjoy slow, meditative historical fiction and fragmented timelines, but it just wasn't the right fit for me..
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
January 3, 2026
I am in love with this book. It’s Polynesian war and peace it’s Tongan Iliad it’s something much more beautiful than either of those things.
My mother of all people pressed Adam Johnson’s stories, emporium, into my hands over twenty years ago and I imprinted on them hopelessly and called it my favorite book. How cool to be reading Johnson twenty years later and equally in love.
My mother of all people pressed Adam Johnson’s stories, emporium, into my hands over twenty years ago and I imprinted on them hopelessly and called it my favorite book. How cool to be reading Johnson twenty years later and equally in love.
August 30, 2025
An epic saga the likes of Ken Follett or James Michener featuring the early days of the Tongan Empire in what is now the Polynesian Islands. Survival on these islands means a steady food supply, no devastating storms, strong leadership and avoiding warring tribes from other islands. One island is dying and they must find another island to relocate. Warring islands, power struggles and fear all play a part in this story but at its heart it is the exploration, quest for the unknown and trust that I enjoyed. A strong female leader, island culture, ancient navigation practices using star tattoos and a magical parrot added to the uniqueness of this story. This is not a quick read but it is a captivating look at a culture we know little about. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
May 15, 2026
4 1/2 stars. For me, most 700+ page books have a better 500 page book trapped inside, but that's not what I found in The Wayfinder. Although it's epic in plot, characters, and themes, it's warm, intimate and even humorous in execution, and centers around community and family. The story takes place before Western contact, and follows two Polynesian societies. One is a small egalitarian group on a remote and tiny island, and the other is the rapacious Tongan empire, ruled by an aging king. The two strands start out separate but it isn’t long before they weave together in clever ways that keep the story moving. No saggy middle in this one.
In interviews, Johnson says that he spent many years researching and visiting Polynesia before this particular story came to him. I think that's why his world is so immersive and both deeply familiar and strange. The book wears its research lightly, appearing in occasional, brief interludes with titles that begin on “A Word on……”, but they have such a conversational tone and are placed so organically into the story that they never felt intrusive or didactic. He’s especially good at showing rather than explaining how wayfinders navigated thousands of miles of ocean in canoes without using maps or instruments. Overall, Johnson avoids seeing these societies through a Western lens, treating spiritual beliefs as given, so talking parrots, souls poured into coconuts, and the afterlife aren't magical realism, they simply exist and add a wonderful texture to the story.
Johnson's writing (99.9% of the time) finds a wonderful balance between our modern ear and the imagined voice of this lost time; he has studied the Tongan language (which is fast disappearing) and throughout the book he scatters fragments of Tongan poetry with an English translation beside it. (I’m not sure if these are fragments of original poetry or all Johnson’s invention). The narrative voice reminds me of Homeric translations - spare and poetic, especially when describing the sea: Backlit by the setting sun, waves rose from ruddy troughs, relinquishing the sea long enough to ignite with hammered, sky-mirrored light..
But the book doesn’t overdo the rhapsodic - the writing contains lots of dialogue filled with warmth and humor, as when Korero describes the ocean for an elderly blind woman:
My favorite little passage in the whole book is in a chapter called “Soliloquies” where several characters unburden their hearts, including Koki the parrot, who strikes a Hamlet-like tone:
Johnson is really strong on characters, and even the worst of them have likeable moments. His affection for all his characters shines out, although Koki is my favorite. The parrot is a master manipulator, showing humans the Koki they want to see, clowning around and speaking in broken sentences. There is one character, however, who doesn’t buy it: ”I’ve heard you rhapsodize with total eloquence,” the Tamaha said. “So enough with your Koki-good, Koki-bad talk.” His greatest trick though is the only word he speaks to humans in his own language, Nea, which can mean either yes or no.
There are so many universal themes woven together in this book, political, social and moral, but above all else for me was the ecological message. All of the islands in this book are fragile ecosystems; when the first generation arrived, all they saw was abundance, but after only a few generations of overconsumption, they were barely subsisting. Some island societies responded by becoming more egalitarian, rationing food and limiting births; others that retained wayfinding skills moved to other islands; still others, like the Tongan empire, waged war on other islands and stole their resources. In an interview, Johnson noted that native societies aren’t necessarily good stewards of the land and all humans are wired for immediate gratification and survival.
My only complaint about the book is that the ending chapters felt rushed compared to the rest of the book. I wouldn’t want this book to be any longer, but maybe the arcs leading to the end could have started earlier. But this pales in comparison to all the book has to offer.
In interviews, Johnson says that he spent many years researching and visiting Polynesia before this particular story came to him. I think that's why his world is so immersive and both deeply familiar and strange. The book wears its research lightly, appearing in occasional, brief interludes with titles that begin on “A Word on……”, but they have such a conversational tone and are placed so organically into the story that they never felt intrusive or didactic. He’s especially good at showing rather than explaining how wayfinders navigated thousands of miles of ocean in canoes without using maps or instruments. Overall, Johnson avoids seeing these societies through a Western lens, treating spiritual beliefs as given, so talking parrots, souls poured into coconuts, and the afterlife aren't magical realism, they simply exist and add a wonderful texture to the story.
Johnson's writing (99.9% of the time) finds a wonderful balance between our modern ear and the imagined voice of this lost time; he has studied the Tongan language (which is fast disappearing) and throughout the book he scatters fragments of Tongan poetry with an English translation beside it. (I’m not sure if these are fragments of original poetry or all Johnson’s invention). The narrative voice reminds me of Homeric translations - spare and poetic, especially when describing the sea: Backlit by the setting sun, waves rose from ruddy troughs, relinquishing the sea long enough to ignite with hammered, sky-mirrored light..
But the book doesn’t overdo the rhapsodic - the writing contains lots of dialogue filled with warmth and humor, as when Korero describes the ocean for an elderly blind woman:
”Ahead the horizon is clear and flat,” I said. “To each side are squalls. They lean forward like they’re trudging up hills. You know the kind of clouds. Soon they will stall, unload, and, going belly down, flatten the sea.”
“Yes,” Tiri said. “I can see them.”
I said “I miss how Hine would describe the ocean saying things like, looks the same as yesterday.”
Tiri smiled. Watery,” she’d call it. Or very wet.
My favorite little passage in the whole book is in a chapter called “Soliloquies” where several characters unburden their hearts, including Koki the parrot, who strikes a Hamlet-like tone:
”A delicate vessel, the egg,” Koki said. “This shuttle from womb to world imposes darkness and isolation, yes. Yet when at last a tiny beak breaks free to the welcome of light and air, were a fledgling to know the human world in wait, what chick would not preserve its shell, preferring not to enter? For make no mistake, it is a human world, shaped by human hands now poised to pluck this still-wet innocent from its nest. What wing of nature crafted the human grasp, gifting it the capacity to ruffle and reassure but also to wrest and wring? Not only does the human in a single gesture both strangle and embrace, it perverts the very nature of the natural, making menace of the simple dog, fattening the pig’s life into a single lie. Even the life-giving banana - nea, the banana!"
Johnson is really strong on characters, and even the worst of them have likeable moments. His affection for all his characters shines out, although Koki is my favorite. The parrot is a master manipulator, showing humans the Koki they want to see, clowning around and speaking in broken sentences. There is one character, however, who doesn’t buy it: ”I’ve heard you rhapsodize with total eloquence,” the Tamaha said. “So enough with your Koki-good, Koki-bad talk.” His greatest trick though is the only word he speaks to humans in his own language, Nea, which can mean either yes or no.
There are so many universal themes woven together in this book, political, social and moral, but above all else for me was the ecological message. All of the islands in this book are fragile ecosystems; when the first generation arrived, all they saw was abundance, but after only a few generations of overconsumption, they were barely subsisting. Some island societies responded by becoming more egalitarian, rationing food and limiting births; others that retained wayfinding skills moved to other islands; still others, like the Tongan empire, waged war on other islands and stole their resources. In an interview, Johnson noted that native societies aren’t necessarily good stewards of the land and all humans are wired for immediate gratification and survival.
My only complaint about the book is that the ending chapters felt rushed compared to the rest of the book. I wouldn’t want this book to be any longer, but maybe the arcs leading to the end could have started earlier. But this pales in comparison to all the book has to offer.
December 23, 2025
A beautiful amalgamation of adventure, intrigue, and story to create a novel that feels more like passed down myth than created tale. This novel of the Polynesian islands a full millennium ago is one of the best books of this year or any year.
Want to Read
March 31, 2025Good lord that is a terrible cover
January 18, 2026
DNF at 49% (p.359)
I usually don't DNF books but sadly this one came about among a set of unfortunate circumstances. I had to return this book to my hometown library, and despite getting through a large chunk of this during my week in Hawaii, I wasn't able to finish it in time. I did however gain an appreciation for Indigenous Polynesian culture-- the island societies Johnson characterizes in The Wayfinder are meticulously researched and beautifully based in cultral practices.
The traditions of oral storytelling forms a large base of the narrative structure, which lends itself to simpler, repetitive prose and interjections some readers may find annoying, but I generally enjoyed them. It kept it interesting and stopped the story from becoming long unrelated chunks.
I was enjoying the convergence of stories, especially our hero-protagonist Kōrero finally embarking on her own voyage to save her people. The story with the Tui'Tonga's (king of Tonga) sons and family actually became the most interesting as I progressed through the story. As can be expected of a saga-type novel of this size, many issues are touched on- from scarcity to mentorship to the duties of family. The Tonga of this novel is one that has been at war for generations, the kind of senseless, slow war that makes clearer the everlasting conflict between comfort and sacrifice, tenderness and vengeance.
I seriously enjoyed the more magical-realist elements of this-- a fan that can take and give the breath of life, a poetry-spouting parrot, a pantheon of souls trapped inside coconut shells, and the will of the long-dead bones to return to the old gods of the oceans. These pinpoints of unexplained power sharpened the violence and softened the tenderness of the characters' journeys- instead of serving to alienate they unite and make the story more real.
Not certain I'll ever come back to this story, as the pacing felt head-splittingly slow at times, but I'll take it for what it is: a fascinating window into a different place and time, arguably the purpose of why we tell stories at all.
I must go.
and you remain.
I usually don't DNF books but sadly this one came about among a set of unfortunate circumstances. I had to return this book to my hometown library, and despite getting through a large chunk of this during my week in Hawaii, I wasn't able to finish it in time. I did however gain an appreciation for Indigenous Polynesian culture-- the island societies Johnson characterizes in The Wayfinder are meticulously researched and beautifully based in cultral practices.
The traditions of oral storytelling forms a large base of the narrative structure, which lends itself to simpler, repetitive prose and interjections some readers may find annoying, but I generally enjoyed them. It kept it interesting and stopped the story from becoming long unrelated chunks.
I was enjoying the convergence of stories, especially our hero-protagonist Kōrero finally embarking on her own voyage to save her people. The story with the Tui'Tonga's (king of Tonga) sons and family actually became the most interesting as I progressed through the story. As can be expected of a saga-type novel of this size, many issues are touched on- from scarcity to mentorship to the duties of family. The Tonga of this novel is one that has been at war for generations, the kind of senseless, slow war that makes clearer the everlasting conflict between comfort and sacrifice, tenderness and vengeance.
I seriously enjoyed the more magical-realist elements of this-- a fan that can take and give the breath of life, a poetry-spouting parrot, a pantheon of souls trapped inside coconut shells, and the will of the long-dead bones to return to the old gods of the oceans. These pinpoints of unexplained power sharpened the violence and softened the tenderness of the characters' journeys- instead of serving to alienate they unite and make the story more real.
Not certain I'll ever come back to this story, as the pacing felt head-splittingly slow at times, but I'll take it for what it is: a fascinating window into a different place and time, arguably the purpose of why we tell stories at all.
I must go.
and you remain.
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