| Title | : | A Better World (Brilliance Saga, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 390 |
| Publication | : | First published June 17, 2014 |
| Awards | : | Prometheus Award Best Novel (2015), Goodreads Choice Award Science Fiction (2014) |
Since 1980, 1% of the world has been born with gifts we’d only dreamed of. The ability to sense a person’s most intimate secrets, or predict the stock market, or move virtually unseen. For thirty years the world has struggled with a growing divide between the exceptional...and the rest of us.
Now a terrorist network led by brilliants has crippled three cities. Supermarket shelves stand empty. 911 calls go unanswered. Fanatics are burning people alive.
Nick Cooper has always fought to make the world better for his children. As both a brilliant and an advisor to the president of the United States, he’s against everything the terrorists represent. But as America slides toward a devastating civil war, Cooper is forced to play a game he dares not lose—because his opponents have their own vision of a better world.
And to reach it, they’re willing to burn this one down.
From Marcus Sakey, “the master of the mindful page turner” (Gillian Flynn) and “one of our best storytellers” (Michael Connelly), Book Two of the Brilliance Saga is a relentless thrill ride that will change the way you look at your world—and the people around you.
A Better World (Brilliance Saga, #2) Reviews
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That´s why breeding superbrains should be the top number one alpha priority for each secret living biological weapons program.
I can´t say much without spoilering, because part 1 and 2 are very interlinked, but how Sakey let´s character and metaplot perform in a blockbuster style mixture of cool superpowers, sudden twists, cliffhangers, and the epic battle of stupid normies vs great superhumans is a fun and a hell of a ride to read.
I´ve already mentioned this in the review of the first part, but I have to expand the thought of DC, Marvel, and other comic universes clashing with fantasy and sci-fi literature. Trillions of character and plot options, endless possibilities to mix in horror, all specific subgenres of sci fi, soft, hard, social, punk, techno, and psychothriller. If I should have motivated you to read this piece, try to find similarities to what you´ve seen and internalized so far from your reading and passive TV zombie watching career regarding comics and graphic novels, I want to definitively do this when the day of the reread comes.
Reality still isn´t there from the technological perspective, but pimping certain, realistic traits for research, war, or just because one can is certainly in the cards, and time will bring most real life applications of what still seems impossible to improbable. It´s already dawning, who can effort it will soon start avoiding genetic diseases, healing them, and with better biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmacy, and the right dose of lunacy, pimping the genomes of everyone from mitosis to methuselah could decide about the future of human empires. Because who controls these technologies rules the world with the sheer power of intelligence, not even needing Xmen style special skills, although they would be of course extremely stylish on the battlefields of the future, dominated by drones and fully automated, empty, bloodless killing vehicles. -
3.5 stars
This 2nd book in the 'Brilliance' trilogy picks up right after the events in the first novel. To recap briefly: Starting in the 1980s, a small percentage of humans with unusual abilities began to be born - somewhat like the characters in the TV series 'Heroes.'
These extraordinary people - called brilliants, abnorms, or twists - cause fear in average people, who are concerned that the brilliants will take over the world and force everyone else to serve their needs. As a result, powerful 'regular' people want to contain, subvert, and mark ('chip') the abnorms…..and some abnorm groups fight back with terrorist tactics.
Nick Cooper is a twist who's trying to keep the peace by working against extremists on both sides, but it's a hard job that leads to a lot of violence. At the end of book one, someone's death changes the stakes for everyone.
*****
As 'A Better World' opens, an abnorm organization called 'The Children of Darwin' (DAR) is organizing a siege of Cleveland, Ohio; Fresno, California; and Tulsa, Oklahoma by stopping food supplies and cutting off electricity. As a result the government blocks the roads out of these cities, supposedly to capture the terrorists lurking inside. What this tactic really does, however, is trap the cities' residents inside, and they soon become hungry, cold, and desperate.
In one thread of the story we follow scientist Ethan Park, who lives in Cleveland. When baby food disappears from grocery store shelves Ethan takes his wife and infant on the run - determined to find a way out of the city.
Unfortunately, it's not just the roadblocks the scientist has to worry about. Ethan works at the Advanced Genomics Institute, and he and his boss - Dr. Abraham Couzen - have discovered the genetic basis of brilliance. The fact of the breakthrough, which is top secret, has leaked and both normal and abnorm organizations want 'the formula.' Thus Dr. Couzen has been kidnapped and various people are after Ethan.
Meanwhile twist Nick Cooper - whose talent is reading body language - has been asked to work for the new President of the United States, Lionel Clay. President Clay, a former history professor, isn't savvy about politics and isn't comfortable with the aims of his advisors - who want to completely control the abnorms…..or maybe even wipe them out.
President Clay, however, would like to establish good relations between regular people and brilliants. For this reason the President dispatches twist Cooper to negotiate with two abnorm leaders: John Smith - a militant terrorist; and Erik Epstein - a billionaire who established the New Canaan Holdfast in Wyoming.....a community where abnorms live together in relative safety.
Cooper has a partner, twist Shannon Azzi - who can seemingly 'appear and disappear' - and who's a dead shot with a gun. This is important, because Cooper is in the sights of the twist assassin Soren Johansen - who sees the world in slow motion.
There's plenty of action in the story as the norms and abnorms try to outwit and outmaneuver each other - and it looks like the United States may be heading for all out civil war. Cooper is doing all he can to ward this off, and decides he needs to speak to Dr. Ethan Park - which pulls the story's plotlines together. All this leads to a dramatic climax that sets the stage for book three.
I enjoyed the book, which is fast-moving and exciting. Nevertheless, I have a small criticism. Sakey sets his story entirely in the United States, and never even mentions the 'brilliant' situation in other countries. I think the author should have addressed this (at least briefly) since - in a real world scenario - abnorms would be a global phenomenon.
I'd recommend the book to science fiction fans.
Note: 'A Better World' can be read as a standalone since background information is included. However, I'd strongly recommend starting with 'Brilliance' to learn about the characters.
You can follow my reviews at
https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.... -
Some spoilers for the first book in this series,
Brilliance"If it's any comfort to you, you're part of something bigger now. An essential part of the plan...This is how we build a better world."
The theme running through this book is the conflicting view of what a better world is. Is it a world where Brilliants dominate all aspects of society? Is it one where Brilliants are regulated and monitored 24/7? Is it even possible for normal humans and Brilliants to co-exist?
Then he dropped the match [killing an innocent truck driver who he had doused in gasoline]
~~~~~
"Building a better world is a bloody business... Because you're either us - or you're them."I've got three children and five grandchildren, and none of them are gifted. How do you like their odds? Think in twenty years they're going to be running the world? Or serving fries?
This book takes place several months after the events in
Brilliance. Our erstwhile protagonist Nick Cooper to trying to get his life back in order. But the world turns ever onwards as tensions between brilliants and non-brilliants continue to rise."I mean, I'm not a bigot; I don't have anything against the gifted. It's the change that scares me . The world is so fragile. How are we supposed to live with a shift like this?"
People are scared. Brilliants, while only being 1% of the population can sometimes greatly exceed the capabilities of normal humans. One such brilliant gamed the world financial markets to the tune of $300 billion before they shut down and now has built a utopian city in the middle of Wyoming to allow brilliants to fully explore their capabilities (normal folks are welcomed as well). Of course many brilliants' abilities are much less powerful if still impressive."I'm an abnorm Lou, but my gift is high digit numerosity."
But it is not all fun and games for brilliants. They are feared by many normals and there is legislation that would tag every brilliant in the country, allowing the government to monitor them 24/7. Previously the brilliant activist John Smith had been framed for a horrendous murder that was planned and approved by the President.
"What's the hell that-"
"It means... that he can instantly estimate high-digit systems. Leaves on a tree, matchsticks dumped on the floor, people in a stadium."
"I'm murder at county fairs... That jar where you have to guess how many jelly beans? Whoo-eee.""I was an activist, remember?I tried to change the system. Well, the system doesn't want to change. It will fight to the death to destroy anything that tried to change it."
Another major theme of the book was what constituted a right decision. Nick Cooper was responsible for bring down a presidential administration and greatly weakening the nation's brilliant monitoring agency (the agency that was complicit in the murder of innocent Americans for political gain). But as bad as the organization was, it did serve a purpose and was good at it. Without it brilliant terrorists were able to effectively shut down three major American cities.
~~~
"Maintaining order, keeping the system running, flawed as it may be, is a sacred duty. It's not about words on a piece of paper. It's about our children. America may not be perfect, but it closer than anywhere else, and preserving it for my children is my highest calling.""I knew what was right... The storybook kind of right, the things my dad taught me. That truth is its own reward, and honesty is always the best policy. But I kept thinking, what if I'm wrong? What if by sharing this I make things worse?... I don't know Bobby, it is getting harder to tell which way is north. On paper I did the right thing. But because I did three cities are under terrorist control. Because I did twenty men and women died screaming, burned alive."
Cooper struggles with this doubt throughout the book, wondering if he had played things differently if all the ruin and devastation that subsequently occurred could have been averted. It raises the interesting moral question of how we define what the right or good action is. Is it following that storybook tale about moral action? Is it about doing anything to preserve an ideal, even if it leaves bodies in the wake?The truth was everything in life came down to intentions and results. Cooper's intentions in killing Peters and releasing the video had been good; the results had been a disaster. Did that make his intentions wrong? If so, that meant morality was really only a way of talking about how we wished things were... Maybe the only thing that counted was results.
These two themes were overlaid onto a pretty interesting story. I don't think this book reached the heights of the first in the series, but such is the curse of being the second book in a trilogy. some times they can be the strongest of the bunch (Empire Strikes back), but usually they fall victim to
Secondbookitis. A Better World tried to incorporate some elements of a political thriller into the story, but I found these characters not well developed and a bit shallow. We didn't spend enough time with them to get a good feel for them and they came off as underdeveloped. Fortunately Sakey gave up plenty of action thriller scenes that were quite tense and well written.
Sakey also gives us a view into a wider world. Instead of just following Cooper around, we get the perspective of other characters. some we only see for a few pages, other stick around throughout the entire book. This choice gave the reader a much wider view on what was going on in the world as well as exposure to perspectives from all walks of life. All in all maker the world a bit richer and more developed.
One thing that Sakey continued in this book that was great was incorporating various media documents between chapters. For instance there is an interview in from People magazine with a popular musical performer coming out as a brilliant (albeit a very weak one) to show people that they have nothing to fear form them. This is reminiscent of famous celebrities coming out as gay, helping to normalize people's views of their group.
One piece I found extremely entertaining was a listing on a Craig's List like site for "Personals>Casual Encounters>Norm/Abnorm":Knock me up: Attractive norm woman, 37, seeking T1[highest level brilliant based on a rating system] for a night of passionate procreation. No condoms, no strings. Just drop your jeans and gimmie those genes.
But they weren't all fun and games. One of them was an excerpt from a training manual for teachers in the government run Brilliant "academies", where the children were effectively brainwashed and manipulated to make them safe for society.Pity undercuts that education. Short-sighted and destructive, pity trades a brief benefit for long-term damage. when we see a child reaching for a flame, pity tells us to stop him. to protect him.
I wish more writers would do this, it nicely enriched the narrative without being an awkward data dump.
Instead we most stoke the fire. We must encourage the child to burn himself. If need be we must manipulate him into doing so...
For the good of the academy, for the good of the world, and for the good of the children themselves, it is your duty to purge yourself of pity.
All in all I did enjoy this book, even if it wasn't as good as the first. Sakey was not shy in making the world a big mess that will need to be cleaned up and righted in the third book (or maybe not, Humpty Dumpty never got put back together after all). He has left himself with a splendid wasteland to work with and I am eager to see how his world will turn out. There is no doubt in my mind that the world at end of this series will be radically different from the one we began with and I can't wait to see how it all resolves! -
3.5 stars at The BiblioSanctum
http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/07/20/b...
I’ve actually not read the first book of the Brilliance Saga, but was reassured when told I could read A Better World without having to tackle Brilliance first. And that was absolutely correct. Not once did I feel lost or confused, thanks to a detailed recap of prior events in introduction chapters. As a new reader, that’s always appreciated (and I’m sure those familiar with the series might also find the reminders helpful, if it’s been a while since you read book one).
Taking place in the not-too-far future, this series is based on the premise that 1% of the population are born as “Brilliants”, individuals who possess special abilities allowing them to do some pretty amazing things. After 30 years, this has created a growing social chasm between these exceptional people and the vast majority who are “norms”. As with the case of most societies where such a divide occurs, you have dissension and a clashing of ideologies. And then you get the violence.
Fear has led the government to clamp down on brilliants, leading some of the extremist groups to fight back. A terrorist organization of brilliants called the Children of Darwin have shut down Cleveland, Tulsa, and Fresno, cutting off power and supplies to these cities. Nick Cooper, former anti-terrorism agent and a brilliant himself, has been called in by the president to help stop those responsible and to prevent a civil war.
Those who have read Brilliance would already be familiar with Cooper, though I was only meeting him for the first time. As a character, he makes a fascinating study. He’s a brilliant, but also a dedicated to hunting down abnorms involved in terrorist activity. The crimes perpetrated by the Children of Darwin go against everything he stands for, but the methods used by the government for controlling brilliants have also proven questionable, like taking Tier 1 children from their parents and placing them in “academies” which are nothing more than maximum security prison camps and brainwashing facilities. Cooper has realized that the situation isn’t black and white, and has already shifted alliances once. The questions and the indeterminate grey areas continue, and because things are never as they seem, you never know what’s going to happen next. Cooper, who has always believed in doing the right thing, is placed in one moral dilemma after another when he realizes he could be harming more people than he saves.
Even good intentions can lead to disastrous consequences, and I think it’s this theme which makes Cooper’s personality easier to take, separating him from the multitudes of do-gooder protagonists from a lot of other books. He came across initially as a rather self-righteous and naïve character, but by the end I could hardly fault him, as he goes through a rather rough time learning these difficult lessons. There were several tremendous game-changing developments I hardly saw coming, which just thickens the plot. As tensions between norms and abnorms continue to escalate, and the population in the besieged cities grow ever more desperate, I started to wonder if war really was inevitable. The ending will probably shock you as it did me.
There were only a couple issues that took away some of the impact, which I think bears mentioning. In the book, the government was able to mobilize 75,000 troops in a matter of hours to the rural plains of Wyoming, but then struggles to find enough manpower to shift and transport food to three mid-sized cities full of starving people even after a week? I don’t know if I buy that. Debating plausibility in a science fiction novel is probably a moot point, but the story still takes a hit in my eyes, mainly because the plight of Cleveland plays such a huge role. I also love the idea of brilliants, and the explanations for individual powers are pretty unique; in many of the cases, they are based on principles of science and physiology. A woman can become “invisible”, for example, moving unseen simply by being able to predict exactly when to move where no one will be looking. A man seemingly moves at super human speeds, but only because he perceives time differently than everyone else, experiencing each one second as slightly more than eleven. In contrast, I wasn’t entirely clear on the nature of Cooper’s own gift, which involves “reading intent”; perhaps it was better explained in the first book, but rather than a brilliant, he really just came across as a regular guy who was extraordinarily bright and perceptive.
Otherwise, I thought this was very enjoyable. While jumping on board mid-series might work with this book, it may not be possible for the next. A Better World does end on a pretty serious cliffhanger, and author Marcus Sakey sets us up for big things in book three. I can’t wait to see how things will resolve after that climactic ending. -
"We are never more clever than in the creation of ways to destroy ourselves."
Marcus Sakey sure knows how to ramp up the suspense. It was all I could do not to skip to the end to find out what happens.
A Better World, Book 2 of the Brilliance Saga trilogy, isn't as action packed as Book 1, but it's still high on tension and suspense. Of course, there is action, but here the attention and focus is on maneuvering chess pieces on the board.
One main difference to Book 1 is that this one consists of multiple points of view. I wasn't a big fan of this initially, and it took me a second to get accustomed to the change. However, as the story unfolded I understood the reasoning behind this change and adapted quickly. In the end, it all worked very well.
A Better World is filled with nail-biting, heart-pounding moments. A great continuation to the story. Recommended to fans of Book 1, Brilliance.
Final Rating: 4 stars -
I picked up this sequel immediately after finishing Brilliance, which I'd really enjoyed. I thought the set-up had been just right for a follow up book so I was eagerly anticipating the continuation to see how the story would develop.
It picks up a month after the finale to the first book and one thing is immediately clear: despite attempts to summarise the key elements of Brilliance it really wouldn't be possible to read this book without having already digested the earlier one. There's just too much going on, too many carry-over characters to get to know and too much knowledge of this alternative world to absorb to make starting here feasible.
I think Sakey does a reasonable enough job of building on a strong base to create a big new story. In what is a logical development of the original tale, he keeps the pot boiling throughout and he certainly throws in the kitchen sink at the finish!
But it is flawed:
1. Having skillfully drawn an excellent set of characters in Brilliance, I believe Sakey fails to further develop either the characters or their relationships. For instance, the lead character, Nick Cooper, becomes a completely one-dimensional figure here and his interactions with the people he met in Brilliance feel altogether subordinate to the driving plot line. A missed opportunity I think.
2. Nick takes on the role of advisor to the President - a President who is so weak it beggars belief. Surely, nobody so lacking in backbone would ever make it to the White House.
3. The President is called upon to make some key decisions, pressured by a couple of his senior team. I don't know the internal workings of such matters but I find it hard to believe matters would escalate so quickly without the wider involvement of other senior government figures. I know it probably suits the plot to limit the number of people involved, but to me it didn't feel credible.
4. The narrative naturally lacks the surprise of the first novel. We've already discovered the big news about this alternative world, so most new innovations were merely incremental additions.
5. Finally, and most significantly, I was irritated by the fact on two occasions a major twist was negated by a reversal driven by a frankly ludicrous technical advance - an advance we had no prior knowledge of. I really hated this!
Overall, I still enjoyed this yarn, but though it's clearly set up for a third episode this might be stretching it a bit for me. I'm sure there will be others who'll be eagerly awaiting the next chapter but the graduation from crime fiction thriller, set in an alternative present, to a pure science fiction action adventure romp means me I'll probably give the next book a miss. -
Ah - (with apologies to anyone who lives in MA and Amber especially!) may I just observe that there is nothing quite like a snowy day & a nice apocalyptastic novel? Especially since the 9 inches of snow we got is now almost gone. I'm not sure how I ended up with the second book in a series, or how I failed to realize that this was a second book until I was about halfway through with it, but this is still pretty swell for all that. Sakey hints at things that have happened in the past such as Shannon saving Cooper's kids from some nefarious situation (and then holding it over his head repeatedly whenever he gets mad at her), but this is still quite solid without knowing exactly what happened. This is how you do sum-ups, folks. I expect that the minor issues I have with this, most notably how I wish people's brilliant talents had been explained more, will be taken care of once I get my hands on the first book.
I do have one serious issue with this and here we go: -
I loved A Better World.
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http://www.mybookishways.com/2014/06/...
Ok, so, here’s what we know. The “brilliants”, or abnorms, were first discovered in the early 80s, gifted folks who have startling abilities, folks whose intellects are far superior to normal people. Since then, we’ve made great advances in technology, thanks to these people. However, normal people feel…threatened, some more than others. Brilliant children are taken from their parents and put in academies, ostensibly to develop their talents, leaving their families devastated and the government is threatening to microchip all abnorms in order to track them at will. Needless to say, fear is spreading, and New Canaan Holdfast, a reservation of sorts for brilliants, headed up by a very wealthy and shadowy figure, may be the only hope for them if war does break out. The tensions mount considerably as a group calling themselves the Children of Darwin hijack big rigs filled with essential supplies and set fire to their drivers, isolating three US cities and sparking outright panic.
Here’s where Nick Cooper comes in. Nick is a former agent with Equitable Services (under DAR), tasked with hunting abnorms who perpetrated terrorist activity. However, his former target, the activist John Smith, showed Nick that things weren’t quite as they seemed, the US president was taken down, and Nick’s alliances have shifted. Now the new president (former vice president Lionel Clay) has asked Nick to work directly for him, to find out who is behind the Children of Darwin, and Nick isn’t given the option of refusal.
Meanwhile, Shannon, Nick’s lover and associate of John Smith, is running her own missions (including one fantastic rescue mission), but soon her plans dovetail with Nick’s in a shocking way, and she has information about a secret that could change the future of norms and abnorms forever.
Good grief, ya’ll. I couldn’t get enough of Brilliance, the first book in the series, and the awesome continues, and ramps up, in A Better World. Nick and Shannon are both brilliants, but have no wish to see evil perpetrated by either side, and of course you have the extremists that want the brilliants subjugated, hiding behind the fear that the norms will be reduced to a form of “slavery” in the face of such superior abilities, and the most extreme of norms that want to use the abnorms for their own gain. Of course, you also have the abnorms that feel that they’re superior in every way, and don’t hesitate to use their “powers” for evil. You get the idea.
A Better World follows three main narratives: Nick’s, Shannon’s, and a scientist named Ethan, who is stuck with his family in one of the isolated cities, and is trying to get them out, while dodging the attentions of the DAR (Nick’s former agency). There’s a reason, a very important one, that Ethan is a wanted man, but all he wants to do is get his wife and baby daughter to safety, among trigger happy citizens taking up arms in the face of no food, no water, no supplies, and the resulting chaos.
Brilliance, the first book, got a ton of attention, and rave reviews, all well-deserved, and Sakey continues his superb story in A Better World (which, while a cracking read on its own, works much better if you’ve read the first book.) Nick Cooper is my favorite kind of hero: complex (like the story) in his motives, yet pure in his heart. That might sound odd considering his former role with Equitable Services, but he really is a genuine “good guy” in every way that’s important. He’s not perfect, and he’s made many mistakes, but it’s his willingness to do his best to not only make up for those mistakes (as best he can) and hopefully ensure a better world for all that is his driving force. His family plays a bigger role in this one, and there’s even a little bit of tension between his ex-wife and Shannon, but it may not be what you think. If you read Brilliance, you know what Shannon did for his family, and that still carries some monumental weight. Trust is a huge theme here, and it’s tough to save lives, not to mention the world, if you never quite know who to trust. Luckily, there are a few people that Nick trusts implicitly, and that’s very, very important to his survival. Non-stop action, punctuated by very human drama, is what A Better World is made of, and Sakey sets things up for a helluva bang in the next novel. If you like your apocalyptic action with plenty of depth, complexity, and much food for thought, these are the books for you. I really can’t recommend this series highly enough! -
Ein guter zweiter Teil >>> Wieder sehr spannend und mit einigen Wendungen die ich so nicht erwartet hatte. Trotzdem weiß ich noch nicht ob ich mit Band 3 weitermachen werde.... Mal schauen ob der vielleicht auch mal im Kindle Deal auftaucht
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Sakey definitely brought the cheese on this one, along with some really ridiculous plot developments.
Picking up six months after book one, Brilliance, former agent Nick Cooper is unemployed - happily so. He's taking every opportunity to catch up on lost time with his two kids and reconnect with his ex-wife... and connect with current love interest / part-time terrorist Shannon. In Brilliance, Cooper's do-gooder tendencies steered him toward doing the right thing - which was not the best thing - and triggered the twists and double crosses galore in A Better World. The title is a total misnomer btw, since this is the book where the entire country goes to sht.
The Highs: This is just as action-packed as book one, including gun fights, explosions, car chases and hand-to-hand combat. I also enjoy the hell out of this voice actor, the immensely entertaining Luke Daniels.
The Lows: Dialogue and level of ludicrousness. Is that a word, ludicrousness? Let's make it a word, since Marcus Sakey made it necessary to say.
The bottom line is that this book was a lot of fun as long as you want mindless action and a plotline you aren't inclined to poke holes in. I'm all in for finishing out the series with book 3, Written in Fire. -
3.5 stars
In A Better World the action continues in Sakey's The Brilliance Saga, but the pacing is more in line with mainstream thrillers, with the majority of the action coming near the end of the book. While many of the characters from
Brilliance are back, there are a few new characters that I felt connected to as well.
I don't read many series myself so I'm not familiar with the story-telling overlap that needs to occur. With that said, I found the multiple rehashes from the prior novel did not add much to my personal enjoyment. I might have felt differently if I had not read Brilliance or it had been awhile since I did.
All in all I would highly recommend the first in this series for it's high action. If you enjoy that, there's a good chance you'll enjoy A Better World as well. I look forward to the next installment in the series. -
Sakey's A BETTER WORLD (book 2 of the Brilliance saga)is a great follow-up to BRILLIANCE. The characters become more dimensional and real, the pace builds to an even more intense level, and hidden agendas are revealed (maybe?). BRILLIANCE & A BETTER WORLD offer a highly imaginative take on an alternate reality where society continues to fear/hate anyone who is different, or at least not fitting the 'normal' mold. The power struggles, hidden agendas, and devaluation of human life clearly continue the decline of the world into a rapidly approaching apocalypse. Hmm...
If you enjoyed the Silo saga by Hugh Howey, you will definitely enjoy this all too real series. -
Meh. I wasn't in love with this one. Good but it felt flatter than the first. Second book in the series, moved the story forward but without much cool factor. Will read the third but somewhat less excited and I won't grab it right away in hopes a break will make it more cool when I pick it up.
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A disappointing sequel to Brillance. Nothing seems to happen. The first book was worthwhile because it was like a pretty good action movie and because it introduced interesting characters. A Better World doesn't have much in the way of action. It also introduces about one new character with powers, and then solves that problem in a way that doesn't really make sense. I don't believe that Cooper could
Further, I couldn't believe John Smith. I didn't believe that he
And the most annoying tic in the book is Sakey's way of needing to catch his readers up to speed. I can understand a bit of this in the first few chapters, but the entire book was full of explanations of things that were not only unnecessary to the plot, but that I'd already read about rather recently. It quickly became annoying. Here's just one instance of it (some minor spoilers):"Hello, Jakob. Nice to finally shake your hand." The last time Cooper had been here, Jakob Epstein had appeared as a fully dimensional hologram, a stunning reminder of how far advanced technology was in the NCH. That had been the Holdfast's real defense these last years; not legal wranglings or massed billions, but simply the fact that there were more billiants here than anywhere else, that they were working together, and that the results of that work were astonishing.
This is annoying because it isn't necessary for anyone reading A Better World to know that the last time Epstein was a hologram, and anyone who has read Brilliance already knows it. The book was full of these moments.
I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the Saga. I might, but if so, I'll be very leery of similar issues.
Brilliance was much better. -
It’s been almost a year exactly since I read (and loved!) the first book in Sakey’s Brilliance series,
Brilliance. Needless to say, I have been looking forward to this one since finishing the first book’s last page. Sakey captures audience with his unique alternate reality. In 1981, an emergence of special genius called “brilliants” changes society completely and changes the world. Nick Cooper, brilliant and hero, continues to be the main focus of the series, but Sakey introduces some new and sympathetic characters here. “Norm” scientist, Dr. Ethan Park, plays a substantial role.
Sakey inserts just enough reminders of the past plot to help jog the reader’s memory (though I definitely would not recommend starting with this one - I think this one is better enjoyed with the first one in your library!). He sucks the reader back into his world with a continued use of other forms of media interspersed throughout the book, giving Sakey’s world a firm grounding in this version of reality. The plot moves along at a very quick pace and I can easily imagine shutting out the rest of the world to read this in one, breathless sitting. It’s exciting and thought-provoking. And like its predecessor, this one also exudes a cinematic quality. The plot takes some genuinely surprising turns and the last page leaves me quite anxious for the next installment - my fingers are crossed that it won’t be another year!! -
My Thoughts
A small percent of the population has been born with very unusual abilities. Referred to as brilliants, abnormals or abnorms, some folks in the regular population are threatened by the idea that the abnorms will take over the world. This story is the continuing struggle between the abnorms and the norms.
I loved the first book in this saga, and was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read book two. A Better World did not disappoint. Action packed and fast paced, this had great suspense. There are lots of characters to like and a few mixed in to not like (we do need balance here). A great ending that left me wanting more. Bring it on Mr. Sakey!
Thanks to Amazon Publishing, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review. -
My Thoughts
I want to read the next book now…But, no, really, this was definitely an exciting installment of the series. I remember when I got to the end of the first book and found out it was a series, I was furious because I wanted to know the ending right then. This is the sort of story that hits the ground running and never stops. You’ve got assassins and armies and war on the horizon. You’ve got the desperate protagonist running every which way to keep the peace. You’ve got multiple antagonists on opposing sides.
This is getting to be a pretty complicated story, and I like it.
However, I do have a few criticisms of this installment. First off, a bit too heavy on the multiple POV usage. I really liked the focus on Nick in the first book, and this one veered off in a bunch of different directions, as if Nick’s perspective alone was no longer adequate. I’m not a huge fan of that. If you have a lot of POVs to start out with, okay, but I feel it’s a cheap move to make me feel like the story revolves solely around Nick in one book and then all of sudden it revolves around, like, six people in the next book. I also felt like a lot of the POVs were unnecessary for various reasons — there were scenes that I didn’t belong; they didn’t tell me anything that couldn’t have been written from Nick’s perspective. Somewhat irritating.
Also, I felt the beginning of the story was a bit to “recap”-like. I’m not a fan of the straight-up recap. I hate wasting time going over what happened in the previous book. If I want to know what happened in the previous book, I’ll reread the previous book. I don’t need several pages of “a few months ago, blah blah blah happened…” It seems more like the author explaining stuff as opposed to actually telling the story. Again, like the extra POVs, it doesn’t add anything.
Issues notwithstanding, the plot of this series is awesome. The stakes were high in book one. Now they’re astronomical, and things are moving quickly toward disaster. So I can’t wait for book three because I want to know how they’re going to get themselves out of this. I have the funniest feeling bad things are going to happen before we reach the resolution.
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Writing
See my complaints about multiple POVs above. Other than that, same style as the first book. Quick, simple, and a little bare in places, but it matches the pace of the story well. I thought there was a bit more introspection in this one than in the previous book, which fleshed out a few of the characters better. So, some slight structural changes, maybe?
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Is It Worth Reading?
You like speculative fiction? You like thrillers? Yes. Read this. But read Brilliance first, or you will be very confused.
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Rating
4/5
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// Disclosure
I received a free ebook copy of this title from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. -
Nick Cooper knew there would be heavy consequences from releasing the video proving the President was behind one of the worst terrorist attacks in US history and not the Brilliant framed for it. But things seem to be worse than he thought, especially when he discovers that his actions set off a chain of events that has brought them even closer to civil war. Nick hopes that his new role as an aid to the new President will help, but he quickly realizes that politicians all have their own agendas and the good of the people is rarely one of them.
A great second book in the series! Nick still believes in truth and right vs. wrong, even though it has resulted in a country primed to rip itself apart. There were lots of twists and turns in the plot and some new characters were introduced. One of the things I liked best about this book is that the author isn't afraid to have the MC fail (and fail big). No cliched saving things at the last minute - Nick has to learn from his mistakes and persevere despite his failures. It makes things more believable. I'm looking forward to the next and final book in the series to see how it all ends. -
It's been a few years since I read book one, but I remember I really liked it, although I could remember very little about it.
However, I got very invested in the characters very quickly, and whatever it was I liked about the first one, was definitely present here as well.
I'm really looking forward to the third one! -
Full disclosure: I received an advance readers copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
When you read a series of books, you always hope that the next book will be as strong if not stronger than the one that preceded it. Marcus Sakey's dazzling, creative Brilliance was one of the best books I read last year, so while I was tremendously excited to read A Better World, the second book in Sakey's Brilliance Saga, I was also a little hesitant. Could it live up to my (perhaps unrealistic) expectations? Would it remain true the story Sakey so deftly created?
Having torn through the book as quickly as life allowed me to, I can unequivocally say yes to both questions.
To refresh your memory (or set the scene for those of you yet to read the first book), in 1986, scientific study revealed that one percent of all children were being born "brilliant," possessed of savant abilities. These gifts manifested themselves in different ways; most were impressive but non-threatening, like the ability to multiply large numbers or perfectly play a song heard only once. Others were world-shifting.
As word of the brilliants began to spread, the world became uneasy. How could "regular" people compete with those that have superhuman abilities? What if the brilliants chose to use their abilities for evil rather than good? When a nationwide tragedy put blame on the brilliants, many in the world turned against them. Children who tested as "first-tier brilliants" were taken from their homes and families and segregated in schools, where they were emotionally abused and taught to trust no one. And many brilliants left their homes for a settlement in Wyoming, the New Canaan Holdfast, which was founded by one of the wealthiest brilliants of all.
Voices within the U.S. government have called for all brilliants to be implanted with trackable microchips. This prejudice has given rise to a splinter terrorist cell called the Children of Darwin, who cause acts of violence which cripple three cities. Nick Cooper, a former detective, now an adviser to the President of the United States (and a brilliant himself), is trying to help the country avoid what could prove to be an even bloodier civil war—a war of "normals" versus brilliants—than the original one was. All Cooper wants is to create a better world for his children. But as some within the president's administration scheme behind the scenes to move the country even closer to the brink of war, Cooper once again finds himself, his family, and his country in far more danger than he could have imagined. Can one man really save the world?
I am so blown away by the depth of the plot that Marcus Sakey has created in this saga. So much thought, so much detail has gone into every character, every plot twist, and it really shows in the quality of the storytelling and even the smallest things, as the book is once again interspersed with fake advertisements and other pieces of media supposedly broadcast and disseminated during the time the book is taking place. These are complex, flawed, layered characters that absolutely fascinated me, and Sakey ratchets up the tension little by little through the book until it reaches a crescendo. There's some terrific action and introspection, and if I had had the opportunity, I would have read the book in one sitting. I just devoured it.
If I have any criticism of A Better World, it's that I'm not a fan of those books and movies that use crooked, dangerous people within a government acting on their own contrary to the leaders' wishes as a plot device. I'm not naive enough to think that this doesn't happen in real life, it's just a little frustrating to read about. And I also wish we had seen more of Shannon (a major character in the first book). But these things don't detract from what makes this book so freaking good.
You could pick up A Better World without reading Brilliance first, because it gives you enough background to totally understand what came before, but I'd suggest reading the first book first, so you can be dazzled, too. I know it will be some time before the third book in the saga comes out, and I will be waiting with great anticipation (and, again, trepidation) for its release. In the meantime, I'll revel in the first two. -
I was really looking forward to this second installment of the series but frankly, throughout most of it, I found the pace of the original to be lacking and that was a big problem for me. I've read some of Sakey's other books where pace was a problem and it seems he fell into that trap, once again. In fairness, the final third of the book goes down like a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer's day with a pace and excitement that are really great, but in retrospect, so much of the buildup to that seemed unnecessary.
It's very much an Empire Strikes Back-like, middle act, in that everything goes to hell. At the conclusion of the first book, one of the characters tells the protagonist that his actions will only make the world burn. That proves to be prophetic. And when things hit the fan at the end of this book--they REALLY hit the fan. So, the best news is that this book really sets up and creates interest in the next book in this series.
Some problems I had along the way? Well, the most interesting and likable character in this series, for me, is Shannon and I find myself rooting for her, even more than I do the protagonist, Cooper. In book 1, Cooper and Shannon become an item because Cooper is divorced from his wife and they have an amazingly healthy and amicable relationship. In book 2, the former Mrs. Cooper decides she wants him back and it's kind of out of nowhere. What bothers me isn't this whole romance thing, what bothers me is that I don't think Sakey is going to let Shannon walk away lonely. I think, in book 3, she's going to choose to sacrifice herself to save him/them/her so they can be a big happy family again and that sucks. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I'll bet you a dollar that Shannon dies in book 3 doing something heroic so that Cooper won't have to and can live on to be a father and husband.
If you read book 1, like I told you to, then I do recommend reading on to book 2. It's not great, but it's good enough. And the ending promises interesting things for the next book in the series making the whole series worth while. If you haven't read book 1, I strongly recommend you back and do that. It's well worth it. -
"A Better World" picks up a few weeks after the end of "Brilliance". While this book would probably work as a standalone, it will make a lot more sense if you read "Brilliance" first. Important events in the first book are described in this book, but in a fragmented manner. While I enjoyed this book, I liked the first one more. It raised interesting issues that aren't really advanced in the second book.
Nick Cooper, the brilliant who works for the government, is still trying to save the world, pretty much single-handedly except when his brilliant girlfriend Shannon miraculously appears to save the day. It's not a spoiler to say that Nick does not save the world in either of the first two books. That's a problem with trilogies. You know that nothing will be resolved until the third book.
As the second book of a trilogy, this one is almost a placeholder. I am sorry that this is a trilogy because, while I want to know how it turns out, I am sort of dreading having to read the third book. I am sure that the various brilliant and normal factions will continue tricking and manipulating and killing each other. One new lesson to be learned from this book, however, is that we should be very careful who we elect as vice president. Make sure it's someone who has the guts to fire cabinet members.
One of my personal issues with these books is that I loathe Shannon. I don't care whether her complaints are justified, I keep hoping a government agent puts a bullet in her smug head. I am tired of the Nick/Shannon/Natalie love triangle. It's not a huge part of the books, but it annoys me.
Since I already have the third book, I will probably read it, but I'm hoping the next book restores my enthusiasm.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. -
I liked the action in this second book in the Brilliance trilogy, where there is a war brewing between the Brilliants (top 1% of the population) and the rest of the population. While it is not necessary to read the first book, many of the characters return and some of their motivation is rooted in the first book. Nick Cooper is semi-retired when he is recruited by the new President as an independent advisor, where he finds himself in cabinet level meetings, preaching restraint against the terrorists he used to kill on behalf of the same government. In any case, there is more double and triple dealing, as in the first book. Where this one falls flat is that there is not too much additional character development and there are some out-of-nowhere technologies that are game changers. Probably 3.5 stars.
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a worthy follow up to brilliance with a lot of action and socio-political intrigue
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DNF
I'm 40% in and nothing has happened yet? The first book was definitely long-winded but I'm really not feeling it this time. -
A Better World is the enjoyable sequel to Brilliance.
I'd like to start this review by stating that I really enjoyed this book and it was a worthy sequel to an opening novel that I hold in high regard. However, as much as I enjoyed it there were some rising flaws that niggled at me throughout the book.
Lets start with the good.
This novel picks up pretty much exactly where the last novel left off and I am happy to say that the writing was just as good and you instantly flow back into the narrative as though you hadn't left. This series continues to explore the abilities of the brilliants in a fresh and exciting way that is lost on a lot of fantasy elements in modern novels. The author tries to really explore what it would mean if someone was actually born with these abilities and in doing so takes this past the black and white abilities of the superhero genre to the real world application of exceptional people.
Nick continues to be a strong protagonist and his group of supporting characters were just as enjoyable and well written as before. I find myself genuinely rooting for them as well as the new characters introduced in this novel and such attachments to the characters only adds to the tension with every scene.
The story is fast paced and certainly progresses far beyond where the last novel left off. There is no hanging around or stagnation in this series it seems, just a race to keep up with ever expanding troubles and a nation on the brink of war.
This unfortunately leads me to the issues I have with this book, the main one being that it pushes the suspension of disbelief a little too far.
The problem with this type of novel more so than an out right fantasy novel is that you have to ground it a little more firmly in reality. Marcus Sakey has done a wonderful job of that with the brilliants but where I feel he is falling behind in this area is with the antagonists.
I understand and empathise with the driving motivation for the antagonists in this series. They are afraid of what brilliants might mean for normal people. Fair point. But what I struggle with is the lengths their fears are taking them too and the actions that are being perpetrated by supposedly sane and educated people.
I struggle to believe that an educated world that is as critical of its governments as we are in the modern world would allow their governments to take the actions that happen in this novel. The persecution of gifted, forced registration as well as the thinly veiled glamour that hides what are basically concentration camps are all things I find it hard to wrap my head around. Everyone is aware of the atrocities of the concentration camps in the second world war and I can't see that today's society wouldn't figure out what is going on and stand against it.
In this novel this is taken a step further with the government's response to terrorist attacks on three major cities. Their actions are so far beyond what rational people would do or accept that I again struggle to contain my disbelief.
This goes on and on but I don't want to give anything else away with specifics for those of you who haven't read it. I understand how these elements have come about. It seems as though in an effort to create an environment that would legitimately raise tensions between two factions in America to the point of creating a civil war, the author has stacked the deck to make it easy to sympathise with the brilliants.
It is a struggle not to feel as though you are being pushed down one road so that when something else happens you will be forced to understand it. It is like only telling one side of an argument or picking facts that will support one cause whilst simultaneously weakening another. Done with subtly this is a strong tool but done a little too much and it makes the reader feel manipulated and I find that uncomfortable.
However, in spite of this I really did enjoy this book. It was more of an issue for me here than it was in the last book but it didn't get in the way of the story so it is easy to over look.
All in all this is an excellent sequel to a brilliant first novel and I now eagerly await the release of the next in this ongoing saga. -
This sequel to Brilliance is a bit slower paced and drops you off hard at the end to force buying the inevitable next book in the series, but it was still a fun read.
I did feel that this second of the trilogy relied more on formulaic stereotypes and that the character development completely stalled out. If anything, some of my favorite characters were less> interesting and nuanced in this installment. There was so much more he could have done with both Leahy and the President, IMO, and instead settled for easy and predictable.
I originally was going to give this four stars, but a couple days of distance changed my mind. (And even so, I'm rating both books in the series based on my pure guilty-pleasure enjoyment and compared only to other books within this genre. It's all about the fun with action and sci-fi.)
This installment felt too much like it was a necessary bridge to something else and that the author was in a rush to get from point A to point C. There were a few major events that felt like they were thrown in just for the fireworks factor and then the twists, such as they were, magically "fixed" because there would be no point in a third book if he left them as presented. I'm being vague, I know, but I'm trying not to drop spoilers.
Set in an alternate of current time, it's sort of a James West (Wild, Wild West)--Hans Solo-ish character meld with a plot somewhere near Clancy meets Bradbury. Sci-fi thriller stuff. As I said in my notes on the first book, it's not exactly fine dining, but this isn't a genre one reads for enlightenment or learning. It's just pure entertainment. Even so, the idea of how greed for power and fear of difference can turn society upon itself is valid and well-played. Sakey holds up a mirror in which we can all take a good, hard look at current events and divisiveness. He keeps the concept just familiar enough that the comparison to real life makes for some needed discomfort as the line between real life and this alternate get thinner and thinner. -
This book is wet garbage. Not that Brilliance was great literature - but it was good, pulpy fun that I blazed through in 3 days. THIS one took me a month to slog through, and I only finished it out of grim determination. Not that it was worth it, what with the total cliffhanger ending: if Brilliance read like the screenplay to a mildly enjoyable sci-fi action film, this read like the pilot script to some shitty NBC adaptation of said film.
Almost no new, interesting characters or twists are introduced. Everything, down to the settings, are just retreads of the same people and places from the first book. And good lord, what's with the unnecessary recapping of Brilliance? Why are you reading this if you haven't read the previous book, and why not just put a recap up front if you have to bring everyone up to speed? I checked - at 65% in, Sakey was still recapping events from the first book whenever they went to a new place or met a new character.
So many nitpicks. Shannon is still the most annoying, clichéd "cool girl" character ever (Sakey in general writes women terribly - an angry woman is described as a "fierce mama bear". Why isn't her equally angry husband described as a "fierce papa bear"?). The protagonist is supposedly superhumanly good at reading people, yet he is SHOCKED when his ex-wife, drunk on red wine, the two of them sitting inside a tent in their living room on Thanksgiving, leans over and kisses him. A secondary protagonist is introduced, since we needed the perspective of ANOTHER grimly determined family man on the run in this book. I could go on forever.
In short: this book is absolutely horrible. -
I have a habit of not realizing books are part of a series until after I get them from NetGalley; however, A Better World provided enough backstory scattered throughout the book that I didn't feel as if I'd missed anything. Although it's second in a series, it could really be a standalone.
A fellow blogger (thanks, Therin!) said they thought I'd enjoy this book and I absolutely did. Well-developed characters, a highly imaginative, suspenseful plot, concise writing, and superb pacing - I was hooked from the first page.
The list of characters ranged from a flawed, charismatic protagonist to loathsome politicians, to detestable villains, none of them one-dimensional and all essential to the plot. The brilliants' gifts were creative and unusual - not your average Marvel or DC types of abilities. I've read many books where I felt as if the writing could have been tightened, but I found no fillers in this novel. Every page advanced the story.
As I neared the end, I felt conflicted - I wanted to see resolution to all that was going on, but I also wanted to spend more time with these characters. In a way, I guess I got both - a little wrap-up in some storylines, but also a third book in the series.
If you're a fan of fast-paced thrillers that will keep you up reading for hours, this is your book. I'll be anxiously waiting for book 3 of this series.
This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
