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tamaranth
I will live in these current moments as fully as possible. Then I will be gone. Ambrose will be gone. ... It arrives. The brightness between us. [p. 387]
Sequel to The Darkness Outside Us, which I read and liked a lot last year: I have manymany books in my TBR, but needed something instantly engaging and positive to counter world news, so bought this and dived in.
Read no further if you haven't read the first book!
There are four narrators: Owl (a girl) and Yarrow (a boy), growing up with their dads on Minerva; and the original Ambrose and Kodiak, who discover that the mission to Titan is a lie and that heart-throb Devon Mujaba (one of the voices of the OS in the previous novel) is not just a pop star but a revolutionary. Owl, Yarrow, and two versions each of Ambrose and Kodiak all face catastrophe, from war to sabotage to the blind danger of the universe: each is misunderstood, or misled, by those closest to them.
The scenes on Minerva were interesting, though I felt very sorry for Owl ('the only human alive with a womb') and sympathised with her desire to explore the rather unpromising planet. The episodes back on, or above, Earth felt more engaging, though: perhaps because the protagonists were more familiar, perhaps because there was romance, perhaps simply because it was a future Earth. It would have been interesting to see how the Minervan dads perceived things, but I can understand why Schrefer chose not to write from their viewpoints.
I wasn't 100% convinced by the solution found on Earth for Minerva's problem -- or, for that matter, by the explanation of that problem as described by the perpetrator -- but that didn't stop me enjoying the story. There's a larger cast in The Brightness Between Us, a broader stage, and the focus is no longer on Ambrose and Kodiak alone: but I enjoyed their interactions almost as much as the gradual romance of The Darkness Outside Us.
Now I want to reread the first novel again and to wishlist Schrefer's other YA novels. And forget, for a while, about the crises-riddled world in which I live: a world in which I feel Devon Mujaba has a point.
