When Light Bringer (a renamed starship) engages its plot, there is no slowing down in the sixth installment of Pierce Brown's terrifyingly addictive saga that places the four cycles of civilization at its center — rebellion, ascension, decadence, and decline. But unlike the cultures we study in history, Brown's story occurs among the stars.
Although leaving readers with what feels like a bigger cliffhanger than previous outings, Light Bringer spares no expense in presenting a theatrical empire eerily similar to the Roman Empire had it become space born. Brown skillfully uses this foundation, with deceits and conceits, in his favor. Readers know what is coming, and yet the sweeping reversals of fortune always manage to ultimately surprise everyone.
Light Bringer does a great job shining a light on new heroes and villains, which is a good thing. He always needs replacements at the pace Pierce Brown likes to bury them. Along with these new stars (and a few remaining favorites), readers will notice how mature the protagonist, Darrow, has become as a leader. No longer a teen known for his bravado, the aging, bearded hero has grown wiser and war-weary. Where he once sought the council of giants, he is now one in his own right. Breathtakingly brilliant.
Darrow returns as Pierce Brown’s New York Times bestselling Red Rising series continues in the thrilling sequel to Dark Age.
The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains.
But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.
Marooned far from home after a devastating defeat on the battlefields of Mercury, Darrow longs to return to his wife and sovereign, Virginia, to defend Mars from its bloodthirsty would-be conqueror Lysander.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is an exceptionally original, light, and bright novel by Shelby Van Pelt. It is a story of friendship, personal growth, and hope, with the unlikely addition of a giant Pacific octopus who serves as a hero journey's mentor of sorts.
In truth, there are two mentors. The first is Marcellus, who studies humans from his tank inside the aquarium more than humans study him. The second is Tova Sullivan, the night shift cleaning lady at the aquarium. Both are prisoners in their own way—Marcellus is mainly confined to a tank, and Tova is confined to a life of mostly solitude after the loss of her son. It's the bond these two characters form that brings so much warmth into a story that isn't their own.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is an incredibly tender story, which is why so many people love it. That said, plenty of people will not connect with it. There isn't much mystery, and the stakes are never very high. It's simply a change of pace—a heartwarmer that hinges on the idea that people in small towns are connected to each other in ways that aren't always apparent.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK
'Full of heart and humour . . . I loved it.' Ruth Hogan
'Will stay with you for a long time.' Anstey Harris
'I defy you to put it down once you've started' Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who…
Not everybody will like Continental Drift, especially if you look at it through today's lens (even if nothing has changed). But like it or not, Russell Banks wrote an American classic with a sweeping narrative and vivid portrayal of characters who will stay with you, whether you like them or not.
The novel is the story of a common man with a wife whom he loves (despite also having an affair), two daughters, and another child on the way. Like many Americans, he longs for something more than his existence — a run-down duplex in a working-class neighborhood, a 13-foot kit boat, a beat-up station wagon, and significant debt. Things are okay, but there never seems to be enough money in what amounts to a humdrum life because nobody ever taught him how to find purpose.
Bob is not a good guy or a bad guy. He just exists, filling space. One night, he recognizes this and decides to follow his brother to Florida, which, like many New Englanders, he sees as a sort of final frontier, where he can get rich and finally make something out of his life — or, at least, a better life. It doesn't sound bad overall, but the seedy, wild get-rich mentality makes it easy for someone's life to skid out of control. And Bob's life begins to do exactly that.
His story is juxtaposed with that of a Haitian family trying to get to Florida for similar reasons but from a much more dire existence. The family consists of a young Haitian woman, her son, and a baby. They will literally risk significantly more than Bob to get to Miami. And their journey, although you cannot call Bob's journey comfortable, is horrific. Even more so because the reader knows that, eventually, that these two lives will inevitably crash into each other, although it's impossible to know whether this meeting will be a triumph or tragedy.
Here, the plot of two people chasing the same dream from very different beginnings, combined with characters who are real enough to touch (Bob much more so than the Haitian woman's son), will help any reader who appreciates the craft to recognize it for what it is: one of those novels that gets inside you and stays there, whether you like it or not. I've added to my favorites for this very reason.
“The most convincing portrait I know of contemporary America . . . a great American novel.” — James Atlas, The Atlantic Monthly
From acclaimed author Russell Banks, a masterful novel of hope lost and gained—a gripping, indelible story of fragile lives uprooted and transformed by injustice, disappointment, and the seductions and realities of the American dream.
Banks's searing tale of uprootedness, migration, and exploitation in contemporary America brings together two of the dominant realms of his fiction—New England and the Caribbean—skillfully braided into one taut narrative. Continental Drift is the story of a young blue-collar worker and family man who…
Third Wheel is a tense literary thriller about a misfit teen who struggles to belong to a pack of older, cooler troublemakers in the early years of desert boomtown.
As a fast-paced page-turner, it follows Brady Wilks's transformation from a naive newcomer into a root-worthy underdog in a story that explores the complexities of belonging, betrayal, and self-discovery. Eager to strengthen his relationship with his older teenage neighbor, Mick, Brady panders to an ambitious street-level drug dealer who has taken hold of their group.
With its vide sometimes likened to The Outsiders and Catcher In The Rye, Third Wheel has won seven literary awards, including Literary Thriller of the Year in the ABR International Book Excellence Award Contest hosted by Artisan Book Reviews. Third Wheel is the prefect read for someone looking for a suspenseful and unapologetic novel that hits home with anyone who has felt like an outcast or alone.
