As a hurricane approaches Florida’s coast, powerline worker Kirby Lowe searches for his two sons who disappeared outside to play while his wife, Frida, waits at home. As the storm gets worse, Frida goes into labor and gives birth to her premature baby alone. She names her after the hurricane which ends up causing the most deaths of any storm to ever hit the town—Wanda.

The climate changes as Wanda grows, but Wanda has a unique ability to adapt to the destruction. As the town and state dissolve around her and as everyone she knows gradually leaves, Wanda learns how to survive and thrive in this new realm of nature. We watch as she grows from a young child to an adult in a world that no one expected they would live to see. After years of loss, loneliness, and fear, Wanda discovers others who remain in the swamp, and she realizes that truly living means more than simply surviving.

Not since Station Eleven have I read a novel so ominous and moving. Author Lily Brooks-Dalton imagines a future that is terrifying in its realism and as hopeful as it is heartbreaking. The characters show an unimaginable resilience in the face of impossible circumstances. As a New Orleans resident, I couldn’t help but feel that if this book doesn’t wake people up to what’s a stake, I don’t know what will. This is one of the best novels I’ve read this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unusual read for me. Story of a child born during a hurricane named Wanda which took her mother and brother and gave her her name. She has a mystical power of adding light to water when she touches it. Story projects a dystopian future in which the entire state of Florida is submerged. Wanda and her older friend Phyllis live together for years trying to stave off the destruction of their hometown island, Rudder. The dystopian nature of the novel is a bit over the top for me. However the character development is excellent. Wanda, although unusual and eccentric, is a very lovable character and she manages to encounter many other like-minded people in her journey. I would recommend the book only to readers who enjoy this kind of story.

Florida is disappearing under the wrath of hurricane after hurricane after hurricane. Kirby, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the storms. Flip and Lucas disappear the night of the hurricane, and Kirby sets out to find them, leaving Frida to go into labor alone at home. She names her newborn daughter Wanda, after the storm that ravages Florida during her labor. Frida does not survive Wanda. The majority of the story follows Wanda as she grows from a child to an adult, experiencing love, friendship, extreme loss, and disaster in the midst of an almost apocalyptic world in which she must survive or die.

WOW, did this book break my heart. Then it mended my heart, then broke it again. And repeated the cycle. This was a fantastic piece of speculative fiction that is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. The beauty lies in the writing, the setting, the magical realism elements, the friendships, the love. The terror lies in the fact that the events in this book might not be that far off in the near future. Both of these things make this a must-read.

Now, for more on the beauty - this was my first book by Brooks-Dalton and I thoroughly enjoyed the writing. It almost seemed to me as if nature itself was narrating the book as an all-powerful observer of the humans in her midst. The apocalyptic near-future Florida was haunting, but the setting felt like it was as much a part of the story as any of the main characters. I ADORED the subtle magical realism elements in this story - Wanda's relationship with nature is beautiful...it's a constant reminder that she was born during a show of nature's fierce power, and she embodies a bit of that power when she comes into contact with the water. Wanda and Phyllis's relationship was probably my favorite part of the book. Phyllis was the mother that Wanda never had. It was fitting that Wanda, a daughter of nature, found a maternal presence in Phyllis, a scientist deeply absorbed in the workings of nature. I learned quickly on not to get attached to characters, and that death definitely hit me hardest, even if it is left ambiguous.

I had mixed feelings about the ending. I thought the romance at the end didn't fit. I understand its value, but I saw Wanda as a character who would never be tethered to another human so permanently. That being said, I loved the passing of the light power to the fisherwoman in the last few pages of the novel. That was beautiful. A fantastic way to end the story and to keep it going.

All in all - it's a must-read.

<b>This gorgeously written postapocalyptic climate-fiction story offers up a future in which civilization buckles to the power of weather and ocean while certain species thrive in the extreme changes and shifted conditions.</b>

In Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel <i>The Light Pirate,</i> pregnant Frida and her husband and stepsons prepare for another catastrophic hurricane bearing down on Florida, one in a string of never-ending storms threatening to destroy the state from the outside in.

Her husband Kirby disappears in the heart of the storm to locate the kids, who have run off for some ill-advised exploring. Meanwhile Frida gives birth to a child, Wanda, who she names after the storm, and who has a special gift.

Experts have long offered warnings about the expected impacts of the ongoing global weather changes and the destruction to society that is possible, but few could have imagined the unraveling of society that takes place after the wind and water's devastation, compounded as additional storms continue to strike.

This is a beautifully written novel with a haunting postapocalyptic tone and vivid setting. The shadow of real-life global warming and weather changes add to the power of the story, and the touch of magical realism is both essential to the plot and a lovely element.

The characters of Frida and neighbor Phyllis are irresistible, and I loved the ways in which they adjust, adapt, grieve, press on, and form a makeshift family from their friendship. The way the sea persistently erodes all evidence of civilization kept reminding me of the Talking Heads song "Nothing But Flowers," and Brooks-Dalton's climate fiction descriptions of living with water, exposed to weather, and within the parameters of extreme heat and the safety of darkness were striking. The Light Pirate offers unexpected redemption, tragedy, and some beautiful resolutions.

I didn't feel that the title evoked the tone or heart of the story, but I just loved this book.

I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing.

How lovely and fascinating and yet, horrifying! This is a story of climate change and its ever increasing effects on the world. The book is filled with rich characters and the plot is riveting. I would have difficulty reviewing this without spoilers, so I’ll just say it was wonderful.

Florida is slipping away as climate changing patterns and rising sea levels are starting to wreak havoc on the state's infrastructure. Kirby, an electrical worker, his pregnant wife and their 2 sons are prepping for the worst as a hurricane bears down on them. The boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, and Kirby heads out to find them. As he's gone, his wife gives birth to Wanda.

The book follows Wanda from childhood to adulthood as Florida unravels. Her life changes as the landscape of Florida and the rest of the states continues to decline. The realism of the first half of this book was great. I felt as if I was living through this hurricane and the aftermath of cleaning up with this family. Although this book is advertised as a dystopia, I feel like we are not very far off from this becoming a reality.

The author lost me about half way through. Adding elements of 'magic' really didn't do this book justice. The second half seemed to drag a bit with nothing really monumental happening. This 5 star book turned into a 3 1/2 real quick.

Thank You Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for the free e-galley.

Told in four parts, this is a beautifully written post natural disaster tale. Climate change has taken it’s toll on Florida and Wanda is trying to endure.
Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Holy guacamole! Pogo-stick time!

I’m on my pogo stick, you better believe it! What a book! Another all-time favorite! My pogo stick doesn’t work so well here in the Florida swamps, but I’m on it anyway. Slow-mo, float city, but that’s okay. I’ll use it as an oar if I have to.

Speaking of oars, the star of the show is a girl in a canoe doing some serious rowing. She’s named after a hurricane and she steals the show. There’s also a pregnant woman, two boys who go exploring during a hurricane, an earnest and hard-working dad-slash-utility man, and a woman survivalist.

Meanwhile, it’s water, gush gush. Wind, push push. And floating and flailing and hot skin and climate change. Hard rain and disappearances. And tragedies that will rip your heart out.

The genre is dystopia, which is not usually my thing, but my word, did this one turn me inside out. Oh, and there’s also some magical realism going on. What? I’m liking dystopia AND magical realism?! What is happening to me?

Shivers. That’s what you get with this one! It’s depressing and scary as hell, but it’s impossible to put down. The characters are vivid and appealing, the setting is so unbelievably real and ominous.

The book starts with incredible tragedy. It pulled me down down down. It was so awful, but I was mesmerized. It’s good writing that can make you stay and want more even though it’s sad. It was unusual to have such intensity right at the start, and I wondered where it could possibly go from there, without it being anti-climactic. I must admit that it did lose its juice for a teensy while (it had to, after that whopper of a start), but the semi-loll was short-lived. Plus by then I was completely invested so I didn’t mind.

Like Euphoria, State of Wonder, and Miss Benson’s Beetle (three favorites), this novel is about a woman surviving in the wilderness. I like women in the jungle, despite the fact I hate the outdoors and its heat and bees. Go figure.

All my life I’ve been bicoastal, but after reading this book, I’m imagining a life in the center! And believe me, I’ll avoid Florida like the plague.

As I usually say, don’t read the blurb because it tells too much.

I read this book a couple of months ago and it still shakes me up. If climate change already gives you the heebie-jeebies, I advise that you skip this one. But if not, this book will hit you, grab you, haunt you. It’s so powerful!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

The entire time I was reading this, I wasn't sure what I thought about it. I requested it because it was compared to Where the Crawdads Sing but the only thing that was like that book was the fact the girl is living alone in a swamp. Everything else is completely different. Other than the WTCS comparison, I went into this book knowing nothing else.
At times it had me capitivated, other times it seemed to drag on. It took me months to read this and though I enjoyed parts I still don't understand a lot of what was going on. I hoped when we got to the ending there would be a better explaination for the lights but I didn't feel like it explained well.

When a child is born during a devastating hurricane, her mother can only give her a name that will give her strength for the life she is destined for. . Wanda is born while a hurricane is causing destruction in Florida, her brothers are trying to find safety from the storm and her father desperately tries to return to his family. I throughly enjoyed this book . The atmosphere was so well detailed, characters were developed and became like family. Thanks to #Netgalley for allowing me an early release to this beautiful and soul searching book.

Really enjoyed this coming of age, speculative cli-fi book. Some parts were written so well I gasped out loud. The imagining of the water rising in Florida felt so realistic I’m completely convinced it has already happened. And the overall theme of change is nicely placed throughout all aspects of the story.

The ending wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste but other readers will love it.

Every once in a while, a book like this comes around, and reminds me of why I like reading.
The Light Pirate is told mainly from the perspective of Wanda, a young girl, and then woman, who is born during a devastating hurricane that changes her family’s life.
I don’t hear a lot of people talking about this, which I think it’s because it was somehow marketed as global warming fanfiction. Which is not the reading experience that I had. Rather, it is an unflinching glance at the resilience of humanity and what remains when civilization as we know it does not.
Rarely do I describe anything as necessary or urgent, but this book is both.

Really enjoyed the environmental aspects of this book. The character development was also incredible. This one stuck with me after finishing for a while!

A descriptive, atmospheric novel that will have readers reflecting on our changing world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝑮𝑶𝑹𝑮𝑬𝑶𝑼𝑺. 𝑰 𝑾𝑨𝑵𝑻 𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑬.

In The Light Pirate, Lily Brooks-Dalton has crafted a beautifully written and deeply affecting novel about the enduring strength of community in the face of natural disaster.

The story follows Wanda, a young girl growing up in Florida as it begins to crumble under the effects of climate change. As the state descends into chaos, Wanda loses her family and finds herself living with a new community of survivors who have learned to adapt to the new, wild landscape.

What makes this novel so powerful is Brooks-Dalton's skillful portrayal of the ways in which people can come together in times of crisis, forming bonds that last long after the disaster has passed. We see Wanda grow from a child into an adult, adjusting not only to the changing scenery but also to the people who stayed behind in a region abandoned by society.

The Light Pirate is told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—reflecting the cycles of the elements and the sometimes fast, sometimes gradual breakdown of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we don't want to see, the future we don't want to face, and a return to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

This is a powerful and important novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆.

Link to Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/ClevGt4rAy3/

Link to Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5073915829

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lily Brooks-Dalton, and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was SO close to being a really great book instead of just a good book. I loved the themes of environmentalism and found this near-future book to be one of the most realistic I've read. It is scary to think that global warming is progressing and that Florida going underwater could truly happen. I thought that Wanda was a fascinating character, and I liked seeing the urgency progress as both Wanda and the Earth grow/age. However, this book was just way too short for everything it had going on. We spend a considerable amount of time with the family before Wanda is born and with Wanda growing up, so it feels that once the book sets everything up and gets into Wanda as an adult, it is then over. I also didn't fully understand Wanda's abilities and think that they should have been flushed out a bit more; the book just kind of said she had them and didn't give any sort of clue/reasoning to what they were, how they found Wanda, or even how they helped her. It felt like this book had such potential and really interesting bones, but it was not executed to the best of its potential.

This is the first book I've read by Lily Brooks-Dalton, but it won't be the last. This "climate fiction" novel tells the story of a girl who is named Wanda after the hurricane during which she was born. The setting is Florida in the not-so-distant future, where climate change is making the hurricanes even more dangerous and threatening to flood over the entire state. The book is broken up into 4 distinct parts, which build and build upon one another.

I really thought the writing and descriptions were so haunting and realistic, that I often forgot that I was reading fiction, and not someone's real experiences.

I'm very eager to read more by this author.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #GrandCentralPub for providing me early access to this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This story of Wanda, born during a hurricane as climate change is destroying the Florida landscape, was both sad and hopeful by turns. The setting is vividly depicted, the writing is beautiful and the characters are well drawn. I remember liking Good Morning Midnight a few years ago but also feeling like it lacked relational connections. I think the author has done much better building emotion into this story. I loved the theme of the necessity of human connection as the world slowly isolates everyone.

Fans of Station Eleven, Migrations and After the Flood will enjoy this one!

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton was a riveting, emotional read. The novel can stand beside other recent climate-centered books like Lark Ascending by Silas House and Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land. Brooks-Dalton's The Light Pirate takes place in the state of Florida in the not-too-distant future, and it focuses on how the climate crisis impacts a world, a country, a state, and a family and their neighbor. Although futuristic, the events of the novel are entirely plausible. If Florida started going under water tomorrow, then all predicted events could become reality. This writing in the novel is clear and economical, and does a fine job of observing the events without bogging the reader down in superfluous scientific explanation. It's enough to say only that yes, all this could happen, and yes, your life, too, could be turned around if it does.

A compelling, interesting and engrossing view of Florida in the future. As storms bear down and the heat rises, Wanda, born during a hurricane of the same name, must learn to survive. The Florida of the future is a tough place, but pockets of humanity survive.

📚 So Many Books

📖 Book Review 📖

📱”The Light Pirate” by Lily Brooks-Dalton

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 published December 6, 2022

Wow- a little dystopian, very unique, powerful and sad.

Broken into four parts - power, water, light & time. The coastal town of Rudder, Florida where the Lowe family prepares for Hurricane Wanda. Frida, the mother, is very pregnant and while she believes they should evacuate, her husband Kirby wants to ride it out. He is a lineman, knows how to prepare for this storm and he feels obligated to stay and restore the outages that come with the destruction. Hurricane Wanda brings tragedy to this family leaving Kirby with a newborn, named Wanda to raise on his own.

As Wanda grows up, Florida changes- people leave, infrastructure falls, storms increase and water levels rise. Wanda is left with her neighbor Phyllis, who is a survivalist, preparing to live off the grid.

Phyllis teaches Wanda everything she knows but once she passes away, Wanda is left to survive alone. Adapting to the changing environment, abandoned by civilization, Wanda knows there are still others in the area, but can she trust them?

This is a fascinating, well-written book that gives a realistic look into a possible future for us all. Readers live the life of Wanda from cradle to grave, observing the ecological evolution as she does.

It definitely gave me some “Where the Crawdad Sing” vibes in the way that Wanda and Kya have to learn to survive on their own, abandoned yet resilient. The characters are relatable and the story is a very heavy, realistic topic.

Thank you to @netgalley for the digital ARC.

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