The Brightness Between Us

By: Eliot Schrefer

Narrated by: James Fouhey

Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by the Chicago Public Library!

In this sequel to The Darkness Outside Us, a Stonewall Honor Book, New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer delivers another ambitious, genre-bending novel and epic love story that spans thousands of years and the far reaches of the galaxy.

Seventeen years have gone by since the Coordinated Endeavor crashed on a distant exoplanet. Ambrose Cusk and Kodiak Celius are now the devoted parents of two teenage children, Owl and Yarrow, in a hardscrabble frontier home. Though life on Minerva is full of danger, the family’s bond is enough to make it all worth it—until they learn that the biggest threat to their survival might come from within.

More than thirty thousand years in the past, Ambrose wakes on Earth to find that his mission to save his sister was a ruse. His mother betrayed him, and the cruelty of her true plans sets Ambrose spiraling. When he discovers that another spacefarer is suffering his same fate, he will have to decide whether to risk crossing a world at war to reach him.

Separated by time and space, a young family and two strangers learn that their lives are intimately intertwined. They race to uncover the unexpected connections that might save them all . . . and perhaps humanity as well.

Worthy sequel of the great first book!

I was surprised to learn of a sequel as the first book finished in such a satisfying way. I thought this was imaginative and beautiful. Narration is superb. Just make sure you read the first book first.

I enjoyed discovering the two surprising places the title is found.

I also enjoyed Charming Young Man by the same author, although it’s quite different.

Incredible, satisfying sequel

This author really knows how to make the reader care deeply about these characters and also keep us on the edge of our seats. There were times during this book when I was sobbing, but it was a satisfying, hopeful ending. Highly recommended!

A Great Sequel/Prequel

This was a beautifully written book that weaves the past with the future in such an interesting way. I loved seeing Kodiak's soft side. And the kids were really well developed and so distinct. The narrator did a wonderful job of making so many voices and accents very distinctly and I never got confused about who was speaking. I loved it.

What a great mix of a prequel and sequel!

It dug into the past of the two main characters of the first book and explores the new ones wildly. A crazy ride I didn’t know could be as crazy as the first book.

Beautiful story

This is far more complicated and interesting than a simple romance, far more science fiction and dystopian, and the kind of novel about being human that raises it to literature. But the romance or erotic content is central in a way authentic to the adolescents the characters are, Their gaze burns holes in each other’s clothes even as they reveal each other’s soul, with a delicate touch that is surprisingly tragic.

While somewhat explicit, clearly not written primarily as an erotic novel.