The Light Pirate

by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Ginasbookreport Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fiction / Literature / Post Apocalyptic / Climate Change
Read This If You Love: We Are the Light / Sea of Tranquility / Life of Pi

“Ever since they met, the structures of civilization have been deteriorating more quickly than ever before, falling to unprecedented pieces month by month.” 

Wanda is born into a world that is changing. Changing weather pattens, changing ways of living, changing landscape, and a changing family. Wanda harnesses her connection to this world, to her family, and to nature. Transported throughout her life, we watch her story and the story of this new world unfold.

“It’s as though the water has swallowed a swirling living galaxy; a trillion stars, burning cool blue or pale yellow, or a hot flickering violet.”

Brooks-Dalton’s writing style possesses an eloquent and majestic quality that is painted with vibrant pictures of destruction and vivid portraits of beauty. The above passage just sings off the page. The Light Pirate embraces a quickness to climate change that gives a gut punch to you as the reader. It’s a stark and haunting look at what we could be facing and is both scary and beautiful in the way that the survivors lean into this new landscape. The following line stopped me in my tracks and I just flew through the rest of the pages. 

“There is comfort in staying close to the pain.”

The description of the struggle and reason people remain in places that are difficult to survive within, whether it be due to climate change or lost loved ones, was deep and touching. The line above is so  powerful that it evokes so much thought and analysis. You don’t find writing like this very often. When I closed this book, I just said, “Wow.” While not quite the exact same feeling that I had after Sea of Tranquility, I still knew instantly that this is a book I will remember ten years from now and will still be recommending. The first paragraph on the last page of the hardcover edition could be held up in writing courses as a goal for which to strive. Stunning.

It seems appropriate to leave this review with the following:

“They’ve known for years. Decades. It didn’t make any difference.”