Review: The Brightness Between Us by Eliot Schrefer
In this sequel to The Darkness Outside Us, a Stonewall Honor Book, New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer delivers another ambitious, genre-bending novel and epic love story that spans thousands of years and the far reaches of the galaxy.
Seventeen years have gone by since the Coordinated Endeavor crashed on a distant exoplanet. Ambrose Cusk and Kodiak Celius are now the devoted parents of two teenage children, Owl and Yarrow, in a hardscrabble frontier home. Though life on Minerva is full of danger, the family’s bond is enough to make it all worth it—until they learn that the biggest threat to their survival might come from within.
More than thirty thousand years in the past, Ambrose wakes on Earth to find that his mission to save his sister was a ruse. His mother betrayed him, and the cruelty of her true plans sets Ambrose spiraling. When he discovers that another spacefarer is suffering his same fate, he will have to decide whether to risk crossing a world at war to reach him.
Separated by time and space, a young family and two strangers learn that their lives are intimately intertwined. They race to uncover the unexpected connections that might save them all . . . and perhaps humanity as well.
Dear Eliot Schrefer,
I reviewed the first book in this duology “The Darkness Outside Us” here at DA. I thought it was a very interesting book even if I had some issues with it, but I certainly did not expect to see a sequel. I have to say that I thought that the sequel was exceptional in many ways.
After finishing the sequel, I certainly don’t think that the ending to the first book gives us soap opera vibes anymore. Oh Ambrose and Kodiak who arrived to planet Minerva eighteen years ago certainly made it as a couple and seem to be going very strong. Moreover they have two teenagers now as the blurb tells you. But the amount of heartbreak and uncertainty in terms of survival does add to the overall dark tone of the book. In fact, while I understand the titles of the first and second books, I would argue that the overall tone of the second book is much darker (although of course there is hope and happiness too for the main characters).
There are two timelines in this book and the blurb hints at that. In addition to learning about the events of the present time at Minerva, the readers are also shown what was happening to original Ambrose and Kodiak after the mission as they were told about was aborted. The events on Earth are very dark, which is predictable based on what we know from the first book, but also since we learn about other things, I would say to me it was even worse.
I have to say that I thought this book extrapolated on the initial story very well. More often than not I grumble with annoyance when I see another sequel these days, because I feel like the original story stood well on its own. Well, it may have *felt* that original story stood well on its own in this duology, but this sequel builds on the original foundation and lets readers in on the staff that we had no idea was happening.
I am not sure that I would call the revelation in this book as surprising as in the first one, but to me it was still suspenseful even if for a little bit of a different reason – the survival of the characters depends on certain things taking place or not taking place.
I thought that the first book had a romance front and center, and we still have an older established couple here in Ambrose and Kodiak, who are clearly deeply in love with each other, but to me this is more a family story and survival story and I thought that their children Owl and Yarrow were more of the main characters, which made sense since this is billed as Young Adult book.
Grade: B+
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Glad you had a chance to read this. Based on the *non-spoiler* ending, do you think there might be a third book?
@SusanS: Honestly, I hope not. I personally think the story is told, but I did not really expect a book two ether and being so happy with it as a sequel.