Review - Geographical Magazine June 2005

Alistair Carr's first venture into travel writing covers an extraordinary year-long journey through inner Asia, notably passing through the Altai mountains, the Gobi Desert, the Mongolian steppe and the inimical tracts of the Taklamakan Desert in western China. The book, like the expedition itself, is more than an adventure ­ it's travel writing at its best.
..Written with a sensibility rarely found in a man of his years, Carr creates a picture of this mysterious part of Asia and its nomadic peoples that is moving, enigmatic and, at times, both humorous and insightful. He writes with the minimalism of the steppe: what words don't cover, like a dearth of blankets in the freezing night, is left to the realm of imagination. There is an intriguing reference to Ernest Hemingway and reminders of Bruce Chatwin, together with just a surreal hint of Salvador Dali.
..Carr's first book is a gem: his next could be a masterpiece.

Jeremy Keenan