~~Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!~~

I don't know how I didn't see the title drop in the narrative coming, but when "The brightness between us," comes into the story, this was my reaction:


(If you know, you know, aight?)

The Darkness Outside Us was absolutely perfect as a standalone, but there was still so such potential to this future Schrefer created. Between the conflict between Earth's last two nations, Fédération and Dimokratía, and the future after the last pair of Ambrose and Kodiak clones survived the journey to the new world, there so much for Schrefer to explore. This was probably already a humongous task, but to do both simultaneously in the same book could become a catastrophic mess. But Schrefer is a fantastic writer who managed to balance both plotlines phenomenally.

Both plotlines - the one with the original Ambrose and Kodiak in the past and the other with their (Well, technically their clones') kids, Owl and Yarrow, 30k+ years in the future - are heavily connected but are still compelling on their own. Owl and Yarrow are grappling with being the hopes of the future, the last of humanity along with their dad, with some feelings that they fully couldn't live up to that notion. Meanwhile, Ambrose and Kodiak are facing the fallout of the lies their nations told them and the general end-of-the-world dystopia (extinction of all animals, Fédération and Dimokratía escalating to nuclear war, the whole planet is basically done for) that has them questioning if humanity could survive itself.

Schrefer tackles these conundrums with such intelligence and care, and even though a lot of it is depressing, there's still enough hope that shines through. Schrefer himself talks about the writing an answer to that question in a Goodreads review, and I really appreciate the transparency of his admittance of reading the reviews of TDOS and how they inspired him to write this sequel. I get sensitive when it comes to feedback to my own work; I can only imagine the whirlwind Schrefer went through when reading the worst of it - on Goodreads of all places. But it really shows Schrefer's strength in the face of such criticism and utilize it in his writing to enhance the sequel. I can only aspire to do something similar one day.

Anyway, I could honestly go on a lot more about some of the more specific things in the story, but I would rather just highly suggest for any reader who loved TDOS to go into this blind. The darkness and brightness of humanity is shown through this story, and it still chooses to focus on the love and hope it can have despite it all.


Pre-Review: AAAHHHH I GOT AN ARC!! I just read its predecessor only a couple months ago, but it already got me itching for the sequel already. I feel so lucky right now!