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A review by sauvageloup
The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a cracking conclusion to the duology!
pros:
- I think I actually enjoyed this more than the first, though its fairly close. there was some great original ideas, like the ice cream truck and the attitudes of the different people they bump into.
- the plot felt a bit tighter, as they were always driving towards or away from something, not just wandering (hard in an apocalypse world!).
- poor Andrew suffered a great deal of angst, as did Jamie, I thought it was well dealt with, especially the longer lasting effects of their injuries (though Jamie isnt effected much)
- I loved the side characters a lot, including the Kid, henri, cara, Taylor and jamar, rocky horror, daphne, etc. etc. and I think they were all well introduced bc i didn't struggle to remember names, they were all so different.
- I loved that henri got to see her daughters, and it was cool that Denton and Howard got their 2nd chance to be better people. and I loved the addition of Newt lol. and the ending was perfect, with the mix of the cabin for Jamie but the community for Andrew, which Jamie was embracing too.
- I continued to love Andrew especially with his jokes and coping mechanisms.
- oh and I absolutely loved the amount of queer characters we got in this one, and rocky horror was brilliant especially, I loved how his being trans was discussed, and tha he had so much personality besides it too.
cons:
- I didn't love their relationship quite as much in this one. I thought Andrew was being pretty blockheaded in not understanding why Jamie had hardened and wanted to protect them, and his paranoia and defensiveness was clearly trauma. the revelation from Andrew that Jamie was 'just scared' came within about 2 paragraphs at the end and felt pretty abrupt and like, yes obviously.
- while I thought the plot was better than the first book, it still didn't have the taut-ness of something like station 11. there were points, especially when they were tooing and froing from places where I felt like they should just get on with it and it was frustrating rather than building anticipation.
but overall, I did enjoy it a lot and I think the characters were the highlight, maybe especially the side characters. a good read.
pros:
- I think I actually enjoyed this more than the first, though its fairly close. there was some great original ideas, like the ice cream truck and the attitudes of the different people they bump into.
- the plot felt a bit tighter, as they were always driving towards or away from something, not just wandering (hard in an apocalypse world!).
- poor Andrew suffered a great deal of angst, as did Jamie, I thought it was well dealt with, especially the longer lasting effects of their injuries (though Jamie isnt effected much)
- I loved the side characters a lot, including the Kid, henri, cara, Taylor and jamar, rocky horror, daphne, etc. etc. and I think they were all well introduced bc i didn't struggle to remember names, they were all so different.
- I continued to love Andrew especially with his jokes and coping mechanisms.
- oh and I absolutely loved the amount of queer characters we got in this one, and rocky horror was brilliant especially, I loved how his being trans was discussed, and tha he had so much personality besides it too.
cons:
- I didn't love their relationship quite as much in this one. I thought Andrew was being pretty blockheaded in not understanding why Jamie had hardened and wanted to protect them, and his paranoia and defensiveness was clearly trauma. the revelation from Andrew that Jamie was 'just scared' came within about 2 paragraphs at the end and felt pretty abrupt and like, yes obviously.
- while I thought the plot was better than the first book, it still didn't have the taut-ness of something like station 11. there were points, especially when they were tooing and froing from places where I felt like they should just get on with it and it was frustrating rather than building anticipation.
but overall, I did enjoy it a lot and I think the characters were the highlight, maybe especially the side characters. a good read.