Saturday 18 May 2024

The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J Brown


THEY FOUND EACH OTHER. NOW THEY MUST RESCUE WHAT THEY LEFT BEHIND. The highly-anticipated sequel to the queer genre-bending dystopian romance All That's Left in the World.

Against the backdrop of a ravaged world, Andrew and Jamie have settled in a new community, more in love than ever. Finally they've reached safety and have each taken on roles and responsibilities in this new life. But it's soon clear they want different things:

Jamie is ready to move on and take to the road, just the two of them.

Andrew wants to remain in the safety of numbers.

With a storm brewing up the coast they have no choice to head back into the wilderness where old enemies roam and they don't know who to trust. Can they find their way back to safety and each other?


I very much enjoyed All that's Left in the World a couple of years ago, but I'm one of those odd people who love this kind of post-apocalyptic read. However, so many other people enjoyed it as well that Erik was basically forced into a sequel he hadn't planned to write. I think a lot of people are glad he was, as this sequel is amazing. When we left our boys, they'd found safety in a settlement in the Florida Keys, but the threat of Fort Caroline was still looming and the boys weren't sure what the future would hold. I can't possibly list all the things it held just in this book, which covers a few months, but: ride-or-die friendships; betrayals; alligators; Pokemon stuffies; the Mexican Hat song; and so much more...

The boys and their friends go through a lot in this book, swinging through a lot of emotions and problems, and I felt like shouting at them now and then. No spoilers so I won't tell you how it ends up, but it did feel pretty true to life. They are still only seventeen, after all, not an age known for being emotionally clever!

Erik seems pretty clear that he won't be coming back to this series, but hopefully he will continue to write. And maybe we'll get lucky and Netflix will pick this up as a series! Last of Us is doing so well, and this one doesn't even have mushroom people to animate...


The Only Light Left Burning publishes on the 28th of May, 2024. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

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