The Brightness Between Us

Parts of this review are deliberately vague to avoid spoilers for [b:The Darkness Outside Us 55200663 The Darkness Outside Us Eliot Schrefer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602485938l/55200663.SX50.jpg 83111737], which I highly recommend, and which you need to read first; The Brightness Between Us is not a stand-alone novel.It's kind of misleading to call this book a sequel, because significantly more than half of the story takes place before the events in [b:The Darkness Outside Us 55200663 The Darkness Outside Us Eliot Schrefer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602485938l/55200663.SX50.jpg 83111737]. Things happened to Ambrose and Kodiak before they came face-to-face on a Saturn-bound spaceship that have a very delayed impact on Owl and Yarrow, the children they are raising many years later. So the first 100 pages are set 17 years after the end of Darkness, but the next hundred are a flashback to those earlier exploits. That pattern repeats itself, with the Before chapters taking up so much of the book's air that there is very little left for the After ones. The Young Ambrose and Kodiak scenes are emotionally effective, but IMO they are not worth sacrificing the opportunity to fully develop Owl and Yarrow's characters. This is still a quality read; it's a lot of fun to see the sunshine/grumpy couple in new roles, there's enough dry humor to temper the life-or death- drama, and Schrefer still has a few clever plot twists up his sleeve (although nothing as mind-blowing as Darkness' Holy Shit! moment). Extra points for the adorable herbivore quadrupeds who add a touch of whimsy to both timelines.