Written in Fire- Marcus Sakey ⋆ LitBuzz

Pure Brilliance

Title: Written in Fire
Series: The Brilliance Series
Author: Marcus Sakey
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release Date: 12th Jan 2016
Pages: 345

The explosive conclusion to the bestselling Brilliance Trilogy

For thirty years humanity struggled to cope with the brilliants, the 1 percent of people born with remarkable gifts. For thirty years we tried to avoid a devastating civil war.

We failed.

The White House is a smoking ruin. Madison Square Garden is an internment camp. In Wyoming, an armed militia of thousands marches toward a final, apocalyptic battle.

Nick Cooper has spent his life fighting for his children and his country. Now, as the world staggers on the edge of ruin, he must risk everything he loves to face his oldest enemy—a brilliant terrorist so driven by his ideals that he will sacrifice humanity’s future to achieve them.

From “one of our best storytellers” (Michael Connelly) comes the blistering conclusion to the acclaimed series that is a “forget-to-pick-up-milk, forget-to-water-the-plants, forget-to-eat total immersion experience” (Gillian Flynn).

Book Three in the Brilliance series really lives up to its name.

I hate it when a series finishes. Not just because the story is over, but because the final book is often a little bit of a disappointment. There have been many occasions where i have completely lost myself in a series and come away feeling let down by the finale and wishing the author could take it all back and start again.

I loved books one and two in the Brilliance series, they were gripping, smart and thoroughly entertaining and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Written in Fire. When it appeared onto my Kindle though, almost didn’t want to read it, what if it didn’t live up to my own personal hype?!

Well…. It did. And more. Written in Fire was good, so so good. I completely devoured the book in one afternoon whilst eating an entire packet of rich tea biscuits (please don’t judge me).

In a nutshell, the Brilliance trilogy centres around the premise that a portion of the population are born gifted, or ‘brilliant’ and have developed special powers. The authorities want these people to be chipped, tagged and monitored at all times and they are often persecuted for being different by so called ‘normal people’. Whilst you should really read books one or two to be able to properly appreciate the tension that builds up over time, Sakey does a good job of recapping previous events as he goes along, so theoretically you could read Written in Fire as a stand alone book and have it make sense, though I really do not recommend it.

Written in Fire is quick paced, it’s addictive and it is dramatic. It’s bloody and destructive and doesn’t shy away from addressing the darker side of what a person would do when he is pushed against a wall and threatened, but unlike other authors before him, Sakey covers the more human reaction of what this destructive behaviour can have on someone’s state of mind. It has a body count to rival a Tarantino film, but it doesn’t feel forced for shock value, it is necessary to the plot. Which is not something you hear very often… I felt tense the whole time I was reading this book, it was so gripping and so exhilarating it felt like I was on a ride the whole way through. Quite a few books are described as non-stop, but this is the only one I have read where that statement rings true, this book didn’t even pause for breath, and neither did I.

I wont post any spoilers (even though I really love spoilers, but I wont be that person), but all the sub plots get wrapped up nicely and in a satisfying way and the ending to the book felt… Right, just right.

Although the story has ended, the epilogue has left it open for Sakey to revisit the Brilliance world in the future if he wants to, and I hope he does. I could read a whole other trilogy based on this story!