DRC Review: The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao
- Story Eater
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Release date: 20 January 2026
Rating: 4.5/5
Synopsis: You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train carrying very rare and special cargo: a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging.
Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead.
One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, a charming, handsome artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.
Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lily pads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds.
But they also discover that the train harbors secrets—and danger: A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train.
But in investigating the stowaway's identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate question: What is her life's true purpose—and might Q be connected to it?
Review
I picked up Water Moon in 2024 and absolutely loved it, so Yambao's newest novel was a no-brainer and shoe-in on the up-next list for me. Yambao's magical realism reminds me of Márquez, which introduced me to the genre and made the monumentally dry reading required for grad school bearable. Great romance, fantastic characters, and an immersive atmosphere put this one on my top reads of 2025.
Yambao definitely has a penchant for cozy, magical stories. I love books that explore interdimensional existence and defy the laws of physics and logic, and Yambao seems to be gifted with the right amount of whimsy to make superbly creative stories exploring all sorts of existential possibilities. Raya and Q lead a great cast of characters, and they develop a relationship primarily by connecting emotionally and intellectually before sparking a physical attraction, which I favor in romance stories. As the two get closer to finding out the cause of the ruckus on the train, their newly developed connection provides a clever weaving together of plot lines and nicely wrapped solution.
I also love Yambao's tendency to not just give a single, linear storyline but an intricate, multi-faceted one with many things going on at once to prevent lag and boredom. It's not just a cozy fantasy set on a magical train; there will be mystery, philosophy, alternate realities, and even some metaphysical sciency-wiency stuff. It's all imaginative, cohesive, and easy on the brain while simultaneously complex.
Overall, 4.5 stars out of 5. I'm impressed there's an offering in the B5 market that breaks the mold and offers something different to readers; I'm just hoping more different will become the new trend. If Yambao continues to flex with books like these, I'll continue to auto-add them to my TBR (and actually read them).
My thanks to Del Rey and Penguin Random House via NetGalley for the DRC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.