17 years after we first met cosmonauts Ambrose Cusk and Kodiak Celius, they are eking out a frontier life as fathers of two teenagers on the exoplanet Minerva. Owl and Yarrow's bonds with each other and their parents make the tough life worth it, but an unexplainable action proves that the danger from within is greater than anything the planet can throw at them.
Meanwhile, 30,000 years in the past, Ambrose makes a discovery on Earth that prompts him to question everything he has done to prepare for his mission, setting off on a trek across a war-torn Earth to find the one person who can understand what he's going through, Kodiak. Together, they discover something that puts their future selves and the future of humanity in jeopardy. With the war getting ever more dangerous around them, they put all their hope on a Hail Mary save for humanity.

I confess that I wasn't sure at the beginning if I was happy with the direction that Schrefer takes. But have trust that this author knows what they're doing, and every moment you spend with these characters will only add to the emotional attachment and fascination with their story. It's amazing how even the ship's/now habitat's OS can infuse so much emotion into scenes. You're right there with all of them as they do their best to survive in insane conditions that sadly feel possible.

Extra kudos for how impressively alien yet familiar things on Minerva are. The teens are encountering everything for the first time with little to no knowledge of what Earth was like, so we get to experience things from a blank slate POV. It makes the exploration of their planet truly feel like an adventure.

You could possibly understand most of what's going on as the story progresses because of the time jumps and the expert way that Schrefer explains things from the past volume in this one, but I don't think it would be as visceral an experience without having first read The Darkness Outside Us.

Overall, a phenomenal second volume that had me turning pages in a desperate need for more.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Clarion Books for the most excellent read!

did eliot schrefer wake up one day and think "i did not sufficiently emotionally devastate the world" or

the highest compliment i could ever give a book is saying that the The Darkness Outside Us was so strong as a standalone, yet not only did The Brightness Between Us manage to go toe-to-toe with it, but also enhanced and made me love TDOU even more.

I didn't anticipate this sequel, but I'm so glad to have it. This is the exact kind of sequel world-building I wish other alternate future sci-fi books would do. The whole prequel section is total dramatic irony, and I love it.

Space epic but gay. It’s a good sequel to the original and does the characters justice. I got kind of confused with the jumps around at times between chapters but it still mostly made sense (a little cliche at times though). Owl’s pov is heartbreaking. Like damn.

Oh my god! I didn't even know this was coming out, but I loved every bit of it. Seeing where the characters ended up on the planet and meeting the new characters was so beautiful to see. I think Eliot really is really growing as a writer. The timeline was handled really well and made the original story more complex. Excited to see what else he writes and very excited for the movie.

I was very unsure how I was going to like The Brightness Between Us. I really enjoyed the first book because it was such an interesting take on space travel, being tricked into doing things, and thinking for one's self. I loved that this followed our characters from book one at an earlier stage in life and their current selves. I loved that we got to see more out of all of the characters and just how much this mission changed them. This was still such an interesting read with how the story is set up to tell. Not many books could do that sort of set up and work as well as this does. I was desperate to find out when we'd met our original characters in their original time.

3.5/5 stars. While I'm not sure The Darkness Outside Us really needed a sequel, I was suprised by how delightful and moving it was to return to this world. There was a lot less plot and a lot more character in this installment, which dialed up the emotion even though the stakes felt lower without all the unknowns and twists of the first book. My biggest challenge the way this book functions as both a sequel and a prequel - the transitions felt a bit clunky at times. I'm looking forward to revisiting this duology together so I can maximize the emotional damage.

Incredible, as always. Can never go wrong with Schrefer’s books. Loved seen the characters further explored and their lives after book 1

Seventeen years after the events of The Darkness Outside Us, Ambrose and Kodiak are raising their two children, Owl and Yarrow, on Minerva. Thriving they may not be, but everyone is mostly content. Except Owl. She yearns to explore Minerva and see what else is beyond their settlement, but her parents forbid it. But, one day on Yarrow’s 16th birthday, a switch was flipped. The once kind and sweet Yarrow is having violent mood swings, dreaming of death and murder, and to top it off, the settlement is in danger of being wiped off the map by an incoming asteroid. Will this fledgling civilization that survived thirty thousand years in space travel be destroyed?

I was incredibly lucky with my timing for this book. Despite the first book coming out in 2021, I only read it this year as sci-fi is not a genre I typically venture into. Almost immediately upon finishing the book, I saw that the second book was being published within months. This book did not disappoint.

One thing this author does incredibly well is establish what the world would be like in a post-nuclear and pre-final nuclear standoff. While we get some memories and flashbacks of what Earth was like pre-Endeavor launch in the first book, we are dropped right into the world from the perspective of the real Ambrose and Kodiak almost immediately after they were cloned. The reader gets to see what Earth was like before the launch and how that is directly affecting the inhabitants of Minerva even thirty thousand years later, long after humanity was destroyed. And, unfortunately, how current society could easily turn into this desolate, decaying world.

I enjoyed getting to see the dynamics between the real Ambrose and real Kodiak— it really gives a meaning to people meeting and connecting in every life. I do wish we had at least one scene between the Ambrose and Kodiak that existed on Minerva rather than just through the eyes of Owl. But as a reader, I would take any scraps of interaction and connection between them. It just goes to show that to be human is to crave connection and understanding.

Often, sequels fail to live up to the precedence established by their predecessors and the exceptions of the reader, but I feel this one meets and exceeds. Persistence and hope are something humans do best no matter where we are, and the ending shows this plus some. Even if sci-fi isn’t your thing, you won’t be disappointed in giving this book series a try.

#netgalley #thebrightnessbetweenus #harpercollins

It was always going to be difficult for Elio Schrefer to follow up THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE US, just because of how much of a perfect little time capsule of a book it ended up being. I'm happy to say that this sequel does a pretty damn good job.

I'm a bit of a sci-fi junkie. I've read all sorts of flavors of it, and the one thing that always seems to be missing among all the beautiful worldbuilding and proselytizing and future-scrying is well-crafted queer characterization. But this book has all of that. It's the first modern YA sci-fi novel I've read that feels like the stuff I love reading, but with the added benefit of featuring a gay couple at the center.

I think my biggest complaint with this book is simply that it was too short - maybe because it was trying to contort itself into something YA-shaped, or maybe for some other reason. I don't really know, and it's unfair to say that Young Adult's not the right place for science fiction stories writ large, because I don't think that's true. But I <i>do</i> think this story and this universe and all the little details of worldbuilding that have been carefully constructed in both this book and its predecessor deserve a proper EXPANSE-style four book series, where every novel's 800 pages long and all the little details have been expounded upon. I'd love a prequel, where we learn about Minerva Cusk and her rise to power, or maybe even a few books on the three or four wars that the two major powers have fought against each other in over the five hundred years that have passed since the "current" era. I'd love to learn more about the settlement that the clones create, maybe even a few hundred years in the future, FOUNDATION-style. There's so, so much cool stuff to play with here in a more "adult" setting, and I want to read about all of it.

This truly is a special series, and I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time. 4.5 very well-earned stars.

(Thank you to the lovely folks at HarperCollins for the ARC!)

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.
Even better than the first book. I really love this one and how the story progress.

I finally read The Darkness Outside Us earlier this year and it absolutely blew me away and basically immediately became a favorite of the year if not all time. By the time I read the first book, I knew this surprise sequel had been announced, but I was still a bit hesitant going into it because I thought the first one stood well on its own. But much like Somewhere Beyond the Sea, after a bit of a lull to get into the book I found myself totally immersed and so happy the author chose to continue the series!

When I finished the Part 1, my thoughts were basically "okay I like seeing Ambrose and Kodiak as adults with children and it's interesting to see how they've adapted to life on Minerva but I'm not sure why this felt necessary." But much like its predecessor, I hit the 50% mark and proceeded to repeat what the heck for the entirety of the last half.

In around 450 pages of jumps between Ambrose and Kodiak's children to pre-launch Ambrose and Kodiak, Eliot Schrefer completely tears his readers' hearts out and I will not be the same after reading it. Where TDOU was a sci-fi romance with some thriller vibes, TBBU is a pre-apocalyptic/dystopian that somehow feels cozy? I don't know how he does it but I need more, especially with that ending! TBBU does feel complete on its own but there is definitely room for a third book and I would love to see it.

This is an incredible follow up book. It's dark and twisted, but also incredibly hopeful and beautiful.

Seeing Kodiak and Ambrose in the past was not what I expected from this story, but it was so well done.
My favourite section was the stretch within the Scottish Highlands. Kodiak's perspective was sparse, fresh and stilted, but it said so much. And when this section wrapped up, I was in tears.

Eliot Schrefer has made magic with this series.

Deciding to write a sequel five years after the first book is a risk. The hype surrounding the first book is long gone, the readers have probably forgotten most of the plot,, there are just so many ways a book could flop.

Eliot Schrefer delivered a fantastic second book.

The story takes place 18 years after the first novel, those a secondary timeline takes place during the first portion of the first novel (cloned characters let you play with mutiple timelines so well!). Not only are we seeing where the characters ended up, we see what happened to the origional characters after the clones left the planet. Both stories are tense, and heartbreaking, and a little funny, and I had EVERY SINGLE EMOTION EVER. This is a book I wish I could reread for the first time. There were so many layers to uncover and Schrefer delivered the entire thing perfectly.

Side note: I said this with the first novel, but I'll say it again. I think these book were tragically misbilled as YA. They are straight scifi novels. The ages don't really matter in the least, and I think giving them more grown up covers (that don't look like YA space romance) and putting them in the adult scifi section would have let a larger audience find them.

3.5 stars

I was quite excited for this one but I am sad to say it did not meet my expectations. There were things I absolutely loved - getting Kodiak's POV, the sheep !, Ambrose and Kodiak meeting in a different setting and still being perfect for each other, Yarrow, and the fate of the little family Ambrose and Kodiak had built. Yet I strongly disliked Owl and overall the ending left me extremely dissatisfied.

As a fan of Book 1, I was so excited to get this ARC! It was an amazing follow-up and I am so pleased with the sequel. Beautiful storytelling and gorgeous depiction of queer love with unique science fiction elements!

Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this arc!

The Darkness Outside Us is one of my favorite books, so I was both excited and nervous when the sequel was announced. TDOU is a book that, in my opinion, very much stood on its own, so I was worried a sequel might undermine the original book and my feelings toward it. It wouldn't be the first time an unnecessary sequel ruined one of my favorite books. With that being said, I can confidently say TBBU enhanced the original story and made me love TDOU even more.

As both a prequel and a sequel, we got more insight into how the original Ambrose and Kodiak felt when they learned the true nature of their mission, as well as how 30,000 years in the future the clones of Ambrose and Kodiak, as well as their children, are faring on Minerva.

In the past, Ambrose and Kodiak are understandably struggling. Ambrose with his mother's betrayal and with accepting, once again, his sister's death. Kodiak with the knowledge that the mission he trained for his entire life isn't what he thought it was. For both of them, with the knowledge of the suffering their clones will endure in the future all for the sake of saving humankind. Kodiak is able to find some peace with it, but Ambrose spirals out, ultimately making a choice that will affect everyone on Earth, as well as a version of himself and his family 30,000 years in the future.

In the present, their daughter Owl is eager to explore their new home to better prepare for possible disasters in the future while their son Yarrow yearns to learn more about where they came from, all of which Ambrose and Kodiak are hesitant to indulge in after everything they've lost. Unbeknownst to all of them, major threats are on the horizon, threatening to destroy them and everything they've built.

Though I wouldn't say TBBU kept me on the edge of my seat quite as much as TDOU did, the switching between past and present definitely kept me hooked and I ended up finishing the book in about 2 days. With that being said, the dual storytelling is ultimately what also made me knock off a star from my overall rating.

I think the "prequel" and the "sequel" portions of this book very easily could have been made into their own full length, separate books. There was so much going on in each portion that combining them and confining each story into roughly 200 pages just wasn't enough in my opinion. The bones of each story was amazing, and I think it deserved more exploration and fleshing out. The fast paced storytelling of each timeline made everything feel a bit too rushed for my liking.

In the past, Ambrose's feelings of betrayal led him to make a rash decision that would ultimately turn the people against both governments at a time where they were already on the brink of war. Considering his mental state at the time, it's understandable that he would go down such a path, but in the months long time skip between his POV and Kodiak's, I wish we could have seen more of how he felt about his choices once the initial anger faded, as well as how much actual impact the reveal to the public had on the war. I especially wish we had gotten more insight into how he felt once he realized his actions allowed Devon to sabotage the zygotes that were supposed to be the future of humanity. It would have been really interesting to see more of Ambrose and Kodiak's reaction to this reveal, and wrestle with the question of whether colonizing another planet after destroying their own was morally right. As for Kodiak, when we finally get to his POV, he's a relatively different person than who we met in TDOU after months of coming to terms with the true mission reveal. Again, I wish we could have seen more of how he got from point A to point B, and how that character development led to the decisions he made once meeting Ambrose.

In the present, I would have loved to have gotten more of Ambrose and Kodiak in general. We got bits and pieces through the eyes of their children, but I wanted so much more. I wish we had gotten to see more of how they had changed since we last saw them, how they felt about being parents, about how losing multiple children affected them, how they struggled to decide if it was better to tell their children humanity's past mistakes in hopes of a different, better future or to give them a clean slate. I wish we could have seen more of how Owl felt about being the clone of Minerva, as well as the knowledge that she would never have a partner the way her parents do. I wish we could have seen the virus take slower control of Yarrow's mind. I wish we could have seen more of how they all felt about the impending comet, as well as the knowledge they had been sabotaged from the beginning. Just like with the "prequel" portion, I just wanted more.

As I said, the bones of each story was perfect, and that's why I ultimately wanted more of each. Regardless, I still think this continuation gave even more depth to the original story, and I am overall glad it was written even if I wish a few things had been done differently.

The Darkness Outside Us is, hands down, one of my all time favorite books, and one that I recommend to the most to people. So I was super excited to learn that there would be a sequel because what would that even look like? Crash landing on a new planet with just yourself and the love of your life, two star-crossed clones waking up with memories of their OG selves, and tasked to not only start a human colony on the edge of the universe, but also raise a bunch of babies? Wild. The Brightness Between Us explores all of that and more, getting into the POV of Owl, Ambrose and Kodiak's teen daughter. She's grown up with the heroic stories of her dads, but her day to day life is dull and she craves adventure. Then adventure arrives in startling new ways and the story takes off! And just as I was getting to the "oh no! what is going to happen??" point, the narrative takes us way back in time to the original Ambrose and Kodiak, and the days before the launch of their ship. Getting to know their original selves felt like meeting the characters all over again, especially seeing how they react to the push and pull of their obligations, upbringing, and personal morals. Their story is every bit as exciting and harrowing as that of their future clones. Throughout it all, at both ends of time and existence, they are brave, determined, resourceful, and capable of so much love. I binge read this in a day and highly recommend it!!

This was such a wonderful story and I really enjoyed it!! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Wow - I didn't know how Eliot Schrefer could build on or surpass what he did in The Darkness Outside Us, but he sure did deliver. Without getting too deep into the actual mechanics of the story - like TDOU, I think it's better to go in pretty blind for the experience - this book takes us back to the characters we've grown to love in two separate timelines and the book is dually full of turmoil and peace, juxtaposing both to show the beauty in the fragile vulnerability of humanity. Anyway, I laughed, I cried, I loved!