How easily I pushed that five star button …

‘Intimacy is the only shield against insanity.
Ambrose Cusk’

I often have difficulties getting into a highly anticipated read. My eyes want to roam over the pages in just a few seconds to get to the next page, scared they won’t deliver what I’m hoping for. At the same time, I don’t want to read further because I’m too afraid the story will be over too soon. Starting a highly anticipated book can be a challenge.

So, I was a mess while reading Owl’s POV in part 1. I only calmed down when I met Ambrose in part 2. Oh, sweet Ambrose. So lost and constantly in search of intimacy. And then suddenly, I was with Yarrow, and my heart broke. Kodiak mended it a little, but then I got back to Owl, and my fragile heart fell into a million pieces again.

Somewhere along the road, a thought entered my mind. I didn’t think anything when I read the blurb—or the author’s note. But, burrowing myself more and more in this book, my comparison to Cloud Cuckoo Land in my review of The Darkness Outside Us sparked up in my head. People separated by time and space. And then it clicked. IT CLICKED. Eliot, did my review ignite a spark in your brain to write this sequel??? Because … because … Owl and the guns firing at …and even Cuckoo in the sky. Are those Easter Eggs? Or maybe this is me trying to prove my own theory.

Back to the story because it is again a brilliant masterpiece. Don’t expect as many plot twists as the prequel has. Instead, this book leans far more on the first quote in this review (from The Darkness Outside Us):
‘Intimacy is the only shield against insanity.’

The Brightness Between Us made me laugh, made me cry, and made me laugh-cry. It’s about humanity in all its forms. About surviving as human beings in a world that’s decaying. About surviving in a new world with only a few people around. But most of all this story is about loneliness, (found) family, grief, and the human connections we seek, to live on. So, even though this is a Sci-Fi book, it’s deeply human.

Now I need that movie ASAP. Or a third book. Or preferably both.

A big thank you to netgalley.com and the publisher for a prepub of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ambrose and Kodiak are on the new planet are raising the two surviving kids they were able to make before giving up, as losing so many was too hard. The livestock didn’t work out well either. Their son Yarrow and their daughter Owl are both well and both teenagers. But they do all face the possibility that an asteroid will hit the planet soon. They all start to prepare for it, Then when Yarrow has his birthday, officially getting out of adolescence, something in his brain clicks and he is no longer fully himself.

Meanwhile many years in the past back on Earth, the original Ambrose and Kodiak discover they have been deceived. And war breaks out.

I love these characters. My favorite thing is the message that Ambrose has imprinted on his chest in his act of rebellion. I love Ambrose and Kodiak and it was great to see the originals and how they interacted on Earth. I have loved them since reading book one so this was just a wonderful bonus reading this. The only reason I do not have this book at 5 stars is because some things are not in line with who the characters are. One example: I can’t believe that two trained space exploration astronauts would not explore the planet they land on before having kids. There were other things, but they don’t take away from the overall story.

It’s a great sequel that brings back the dark beauty that was in the first book and lets the reader know what they missed from the first book. Definitely worth the read!