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Destroyer of Light
A 2021 Kirkus Best of the Year Book
A 2021 Kirkus Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book
The Matrix meets an Afro-futuristic retelling of Persephone set in a science fiction underworld of aliens, refugees, and genetic engineering in Jennifer Marie Brissett's Destroyer of Light
20 Must Read Space Fantasy Books for 2021—Bookriot
Most Anticipated Fall 2021 Sci-fi, Fantasy & Horror—BiblioLifestyle
Having destroyed Earth, the alien conquerors resettle the remains of humanity on the planet of Eleusis. In the four habitable areas of the planet—Day, Dusk, Dawn, and Night—the haves and have nots, criminals and dissidents, and former alien conquerors irrevocably bind three stories:
*A violent warlord abducts a young girl from the agrarian outskirts of Dusk leaving her mother searching and grieving.
*Genetically modified twin brothers desperately search for the lost son of a human/alien couple in a criminal underground trafficking children for unknown purposes.
*A young woman with inhuman powers rises through the insurgent ranks of soldiers in the borderlands of Night.
Their stories, often containing disturbing physical and sexual violence, skate across years, building to a single confrontation when the fate of all—human and alien—balances upon a knife’s-edge.
A 2021 Kirkus Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book
The Matrix meets an Afro-futuristic retelling of Persephone set in a science fiction underworld of aliens, refugees, and genetic engineering in Jennifer Marie Brissett's Destroyer of Light
20 Must Read Space Fantasy Books for 2021—Bookriot
Most Anticipated Fall 2021 Sci-fi, Fantasy & Horror—BiblioLifestyle
Having destroyed Earth, the alien conquerors resettle the remains of humanity on the planet of Eleusis. In the four habitable areas of the planet—Day, Dusk, Dawn, and Night—the haves and have nots, criminals and dissidents, and former alien conquerors irrevocably bind three stories:
*A violent warlord abducts a young girl from the agrarian outskirts of Dusk leaving her mother searching and grieving.
*Genetically modified twin brothers desperately search for the lost son of a human/alien couple in a criminal underground trafficking children for unknown purposes.
*A young woman with inhuman powers rises through the insurgent ranks of soldiers in the borderlands of Night.
Their stories, often containing disturbing physical and sexual violence, skate across years, building to a single confrontation when the fate of all—human and alien—balances upon a knife’s-edge.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2021
38 people are currently reading
3955 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Marie Brissett
20 books195 followersOnce in her life Jennifer Marie Brissett owned and operated an indie bookstore. Now she is an author and has written the novels ELYSIUM (Aqueduct Press) and DESTROYER OF LIGHT (Tor Books). Her work has been the finalist for a number of awards and has won the Philip K. Dick Special Citation. You can find her short stories in FIYAH Magazine, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Lightspeed Magazine, Motherboard Vice, Uncanny Magazine, The Future Fire, the anthology APB: Artists against Police Brutality and other publications. She lives and writes in NYC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
February 20, 2022
One of the best science-fiction books I've read in a very long time...
Please, read the content warnings and the blurb. This is a retelling of Persephone and the scenes mentioned in the content warning are heartbreaking-they are the Hell...they are also something that is happening in real life in present-once again science-fiction acts as a mirror to highlight the injustices and suffering that exists in our world.
The book gripped me from the very beginning and I had to put on hold everything else while I read this powerful story. The timelines/story strands (Cora -a young girl with yet unknown special abilities kidnapped by a paramilitary squad and forced to become a child soldier, genetically modified twin detectives searching for a missing boy, a young woman released by a warlord, apparently free to come back to her mother and her former life) were clearly marked and easy to distinguish. You could see straightaway where and how they intersect and how the past they represent is shaping the present which is about to come.
The world-building is amazing. Destroyer of Light is a sequel to Elysium ( I am off to buy it immediately) which tells the story of a multi-dimensional alien race of krestge destroying the Earth. Some got lucky and managed to board transport ships and migrated to a new planet Eleusis where the society was supposd to be just and equal-after all, they are all survivors with the same background-right?wrong. The perpetual cycle of the select few grabbing technology and resources is reborn and the have nots are denied all but hard, backbreaking work that gives them basic subsistence, but doesn't guarantee safety. The planet is divided into four sectors -Day, Dusk, Night, and Dawn with very different life conditions. Add the fact that some krestge followed the humans who fleed the Earth, although what they want now appears to be peace and trade.
It is difficult to discuss the characters without giving away the story. Cora goes through tremendous transformation -from the innocence and naivety of a simple girl from the Outlands to somebody infinitely wise, carrying the weight of life-altering decisions. The twins never lose their humility and compassion, despite their own tragic story. There is so much dignity and mother's all encompassing love in the character of Deidra, especially if you view it in contrast with the character of the missing boy's mother.
I found this book very atmospheric-even the names of the sectors where most of the action happens- the Dusk and the Dawn-suggest the battle beween the light and the darkness, moral ambiguity, the grey of our choices and decisions, the impossibility of seeing clearly and knowing the feelings and motivations of another human being (or alien-this is sci-fi, after all), the loneliness of a survivor.
Destroyer of Light has been nominated as one of the 20 Must Read Space Fantasy Books and although I rarely look at these lists, for once I have to agree-this is a very thought-provoking read with a great balance of intellectual and emotional. Sign me up for anything Jennifer Marie Brisset writes in the future!
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Please, read the content warnings and the blurb. This is a retelling of Persephone and the scenes mentioned in the content warning are heartbreaking-they are the Hell...they are also something that is happening in real life in present-once again science-fiction acts as a mirror to highlight the injustices and suffering that exists in our world.
The book gripped me from the very beginning and I had to put on hold everything else while I read this powerful story. The timelines/story strands (Cora -a young girl with yet unknown special abilities kidnapped by a paramilitary squad and forced to become a child soldier, genetically modified twin detectives searching for a missing boy, a young woman released by a warlord, apparently free to come back to her mother and her former life) were clearly marked and easy to distinguish. You could see straightaway where and how they intersect and how the past they represent is shaping the present which is about to come.
The world-building is amazing. Destroyer of Light is a sequel to Elysium ( I am off to buy it immediately) which tells the story of a multi-dimensional alien race of krestge destroying the Earth. Some got lucky and managed to board transport ships and migrated to a new planet Eleusis where the society was supposd to be just and equal-after all, they are all survivors with the same background-right?wrong. The perpetual cycle of the select few grabbing technology and resources is reborn and the have nots are denied all but hard, backbreaking work that gives them basic subsistence, but doesn't guarantee safety. The planet is divided into four sectors -Day, Dusk, Night, and Dawn with very different life conditions. Add the fact that some krestge followed the humans who fleed the Earth, although what they want now appears to be peace and trade.
It is difficult to discuss the characters without giving away the story. Cora goes through tremendous transformation -from the innocence and naivety of a simple girl from the Outlands to somebody infinitely wise, carrying the weight of life-altering decisions. The twins never lose their humility and compassion, despite their own tragic story. There is so much dignity and mother's all encompassing love in the character of Deidra, especially if you view it in contrast with the character of the missing boy's mother.
I found this book very atmospheric-even the names of the sectors where most of the action happens- the Dusk and the Dawn-suggest the battle beween the light and the darkness, moral ambiguity, the grey of our choices and decisions, the impossibility of seeing clearly and knowing the feelings and motivations of another human being (or alien-this is sci-fi, after all), the loneliness of a survivor.
Destroyer of Light has been nominated as one of the 20 Must Read Space Fantasy Books and although I rarely look at these lists, for once I have to agree-this is a very thought-provoking read with a great balance of intellectual and emotional. Sign me up for anything Jennifer Marie Brisset writes in the future!
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
August 24, 2020
No spoilers here.
I loved everything about this book: the world, the characters, the twisty story, the wild action. I was so grateful to get an opportunity to read an early copy. I was a huge fan of Brissett's previous book, Elysium, so I'm not surprised that this one rocked my world. Destroyer of Light is proof positive that we're living in a new golden age of science fiction. It's an intricate family saga, an edge-of-your seat thriller, and an incredible story of transformation and coming-of-age. I'm a sucker for stories about posthuman characters who are still recognizably human, with complex inner lives and intense feelings, and this was one of the best examples of that type of story that I've seen in ages. I got about halfway through and just started turning pages faster and faster, saying "holy shit" out loud---the story just kept getting more and more intense and wild and catching me off guard. Every time I thought I knew where this was going, I was surprised and amazed. The world of this book is also so complex and mind-blowing, and it's going to change the way I think and write about alien worlds in the future. Destroyer of Light is brutal, intense, emotionally potent and totally essential. I got goosebumps from the ending. Put in your pre-orders ASAP!
I loved everything about this book: the world, the characters, the twisty story, the wild action. I was so grateful to get an opportunity to read an early copy. I was a huge fan of Brissett's previous book, Elysium, so I'm not surprised that this one rocked my world. Destroyer of Light is proof positive that we're living in a new golden age of science fiction. It's an intricate family saga, an edge-of-your seat thriller, and an incredible story of transformation and coming-of-age. I'm a sucker for stories about posthuman characters who are still recognizably human, with complex inner lives and intense feelings, and this was one of the best examples of that type of story that I've seen in ages. I got about halfway through and just started turning pages faster and faster, saying "holy shit" out loud---the story just kept getting more and more intense and wild and catching me off guard. Every time I thought I knew where this was going, I was surprised and amazed. The world of this book is also so complex and mind-blowing, and it's going to change the way I think and write about alien worlds in the future. Destroyer of Light is brutal, intense, emotionally potent and totally essential. I got goosebumps from the ending. Put in your pre-orders ASAP!
February 5, 2022
Real Rating: 4.75* of five, rounded up because damn!
I RECEIVED MY DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: ↡↡↡ HEED. THE. CONTENT. WARNINGS. BELOW. ↡↡↡
Humanity is clinging to existence on the tidally locked planet called "Eleusis." Their enemies, the krestge, have destroyed Earth (no one knows why) and evacuated them to Eleusis without doing anything more to complete the extermination (no one knows why). But life must go on. Being humanity, you know what this means: infighting, resource grabs, atrocities, all the usual stuff.
We follow the entire nightmarish fight between people, used in the sense of "humans," who would do better to question the hows and whys of the aliens who exist among them, as the entire planet careens towards some climactic cathartic cleansing of...of...of what, exactly? Is it time for Humanity to finish its extinction at the hands of its squabbling selves? Or is it just barely possible that this awful mirror is held up to make Humanity confront its worst and most enraging aspects?
You don't know Author Brissett's work if you think she provides an answer to that question.
Intricately interconnected strands of Eleusis's enhanced and unenhanced human remnants, violently abusing themselves and each other, aliens with the demonstrated capacity to end the entire human lineage sitting still and doing nothing are some of the mainstays of this book's architecture. The manner in which Author Brissett makes one care about the architecture is, in common with the subtle and unjustly undercelebrated [Elysium], left for you to discern. The clues are there. The point of the read is to get out of it what you put into it. While I myownself am indifferent to spoilers, having watched The Crying Game decades ago and thinking The Big Reveal was...kinda obvious...but in any event anticlimactic, I still think you'll enjoy the read more if you're left to mull over the roles of the krestge, the enhanced humans, the nature of the need for child soldiers, and the book's title. Hang on until the ending, and you will feel so very rewarded for your efforts.
There is MUCH to unearth. The pleasures in these words are very significant.
CW: sexual assault, CW: violence
I RECEIVED MY DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: ↡↡↡ HEED. THE. CONTENT. WARNINGS. BELOW. ↡↡↡
Humanity is clinging to existence on the tidally locked planet called "Eleusis." Their enemies, the krestge, have destroyed Earth (no one knows why) and evacuated them to Eleusis without doing anything more to complete the extermination (no one knows why). But life must go on. Being humanity, you know what this means: infighting, resource grabs, atrocities, all the usual stuff.
We follow the entire nightmarish fight between people, used in the sense of "humans," who would do better to question the hows and whys of the aliens who exist among them, as the entire planet careens towards some climactic cathartic cleansing of...of...of what, exactly? Is it time for Humanity to finish its extinction at the hands of its squabbling selves? Or is it just barely possible that this awful mirror is held up to make Humanity confront its worst and most enraging aspects?
You don't know Author Brissett's work if you think she provides an answer to that question.
Intricately interconnected strands of Eleusis's enhanced and unenhanced human remnants, violently abusing themselves and each other, aliens with the demonstrated capacity to end the entire human lineage sitting still and doing nothing are some of the mainstays of this book's architecture. The manner in which Author Brissett makes one care about the architecture is, in common with the subtle and unjustly undercelebrated [Elysium], left for you to discern. The clues are there. The point of the read is to get out of it what you put into it. While I myownself am indifferent to spoilers, having watched The Crying Game decades ago and thinking The Big Reveal was...kinda obvious...but in any event anticlimactic, I still think you'll enjoy the read more if you're left to mull over the roles of the krestge, the enhanced humans, the nature of the need for child soldiers, and the book's title. Hang on until the ending, and you will feel so very rewarded for your efforts.
There is MUCH to unearth. The pleasures in these words are very significant.
CW: sexual assault, CW: violence
July 16, 2021
I'm sorry, but I absolutely hated this book.
I also didn't finish it - I only read to the 20% point, which is my cut-off point for books I'm not enjoying - so it's very possible that it gets a lot better afterwards. I don't think so, but it's possible.
The whole time I was reading, I was longing to have it printed out in front of me so I could go over it with a red pen. There are a few typos and things, but I think only the normal kind that appear in ARCs sometimes and won't make it into the finished copy; the problem wasn't typos, it was the *writing*. It's clunky and disjointed, absolutely *stuffed* full of very clumsy, heavy-handed info-dumping, and the dialogue is unbelievably bad. The twins, in particular, had me grinding my teeth at the way they spoke to each other and to others; they sound like poorly programmed robots, and if the intent was to make them feel different and Othered, it really wasn't necessary on top of their abilities and social-outcast status.
So many sentences were - I can only describe them as clogged, with extra words - not adjectives - that turned a perfectly fine bit of prose into something that sounded overly childish. For example, "But I had no tears for him, though." Cut either the 'but' or 'though', but both together are unnecessary and just sound *off*.
At the other end of the spectrum were over-complicated synonyms and metaphors, such as "Police lights painted scarlet tattoos that fluttered about like elusive butterflies against the clapboard sidings." Choose the tattoo imagery OR the butterflies, but mixing the two together just negates the impact of both.
There were also continuity/worldbuilding errors, such as when the ex-nanny is able to understand the alien Cel's question without a mask - despite it having just been stated a few sentences previously that the masks are the only way for normal people to understand them. (The twins don't need them, presumably thanks to their special abilities, but given that the nanny was wearing the mask until they asked her to remove it, it doesn't seem like she has the same powers they do.)
All in all, this read like a first draft more than an almost-ready-to-be-published book. Which is disappointing, because this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but I'm going to have to mark it as a let-down.
I also didn't finish it - I only read to the 20% point, which is my cut-off point for books I'm not enjoying - so it's very possible that it gets a lot better afterwards. I don't think so, but it's possible.
The whole time I was reading, I was longing to have it printed out in front of me so I could go over it with a red pen. There are a few typos and things, but I think only the normal kind that appear in ARCs sometimes and won't make it into the finished copy; the problem wasn't typos, it was the *writing*. It's clunky and disjointed, absolutely *stuffed* full of very clumsy, heavy-handed info-dumping, and the dialogue is unbelievably bad. The twins, in particular, had me grinding my teeth at the way they spoke to each other and to others; they sound like poorly programmed robots, and if the intent was to make them feel different and Othered, it really wasn't necessary on top of their abilities and social-outcast status.
So many sentences were - I can only describe them as clogged, with extra words - not adjectives - that turned a perfectly fine bit of prose into something that sounded overly childish. For example, "But I had no tears for him, though." Cut either the 'but' or 'though', but both together are unnecessary and just sound *off*.
At the other end of the spectrum were over-complicated synonyms and metaphors, such as "Police lights painted scarlet tattoos that fluttered about like elusive butterflies against the clapboard sidings." Choose the tattoo imagery OR the butterflies, but mixing the two together just negates the impact of both.
There were also continuity/worldbuilding errors, such as when the ex-nanny is able to understand the alien Cel's question without a mask - despite it having just been stated a few sentences previously that the masks are the only way for normal people to understand them. (The twins don't need them, presumably thanks to their special abilities, but given that the nanny was wearing the mask until they asked her to remove it, it doesn't seem like she has the same powers they do.)
All in all, this read like a first draft more than an almost-ready-to-be-published book. Which is disappointing, because this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but I'm going to have to mark it as a let-down.
March 23, 2022
I love standalone books. Why aren't there more?
Anyway, this is an example of challenging and intelligent storytelling. Not always easy to read and absolutely lacking in feel-good sentimentality, yet never gratuitous or giving off that whiff of tourist trauma. Brissett is a writer in full command of every part of her work, and rewards readers accordingly.
Anyway, this is an example of challenging and intelligent storytelling. Not always easy to read and absolutely lacking in feel-good sentimentality, yet never gratuitous or giving off that whiff of tourist trauma. Brissett is a writer in full command of every part of her work, and rewards readers accordingly.
October 25, 2021
On the planet Eleusis, humans and the Krestge live together. This wasn’t what was intended to happen, when humans fled to this planet years earlier, after the Krestge attacked and destroyed Earth.
Eleusis is tidally locked with its star, and has four habitable zones on it, Day, Night, Dusk and Dawn, and the refugees from Earth settled primarily in three of the zones, with Night being ice covered.
The planet’s human population are refugees, who have organized themselves into have and have-nots, with a thriving criminal element, and genetically engineered individuals scattered throughout the population, some interacting with the fellow Krestge inhabitants, others unaware of why they’re different; these people are not looked upon favourably by those without the appearance of obvious mutations.
The primary characters are:
-Twin brothers with unusual abilities. They’re contracted to find a missing boy.
-A young woman, with a strange and powerful ability, raised by a warlord living in Night.
-A warlord, who kidnaps children from all over Eleusis to build himself an army of child soldiers.
These four and their stories are told by the author, moving back and forth in time, with their story threads initially appearing to be separate, but eventually coming together.
Jennifer Marie Brissett’s world and characters are fascinating, with the aliens feeling nicely alien. They’re mysterious, with unknown motives for following humans to this planet without resuming hostilities.
The human population has a believable mix of attitudes about the Krestge, ranging from hatred to love, with complex relationships developing. Meanwhile, the author has us wondering why does the warlord need an army: what’s their purpose, and what is the purpose of the engineered humans?
There is one element in this story that reminds me of something from the author’s earlier work, "Elysium"; the similarity to its "Elysium"-predecessor was an interesting way to tell part of the story, and to connect the characters and their experiences.
The author develops a complex world, with great possibilities with its transformed and unmodified humans and alien populations, rumblings of war and invasion, bigotry, complicated characters, and centres the stories of lost children amidst the big plot points.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for my review.
Eleusis is tidally locked with its star, and has four habitable zones on it, Day, Night, Dusk and Dawn, and the refugees from Earth settled primarily in three of the zones, with Night being ice covered.
The planet’s human population are refugees, who have organized themselves into have and have-nots, with a thriving criminal element, and genetically engineered individuals scattered throughout the population, some interacting with the fellow Krestge inhabitants, others unaware of why they’re different; these people are not looked upon favourably by those without the appearance of obvious mutations.
The primary characters are:
-Twin brothers with unusual abilities. They’re contracted to find a missing boy.
-A young woman, with a strange and powerful ability, raised by a warlord living in Night.
-A warlord, who kidnaps children from all over Eleusis to build himself an army of child soldiers.
These four and their stories are told by the author, moving back and forth in time, with their story threads initially appearing to be separate, but eventually coming together.
Jennifer Marie Brissett’s world and characters are fascinating, with the aliens feeling nicely alien. They’re mysterious, with unknown motives for following humans to this planet without resuming hostilities.
The human population has a believable mix of attitudes about the Krestge, ranging from hatred to love, with complex relationships developing. Meanwhile, the author has us wondering why does the warlord need an army: what’s their purpose, and what is the purpose of the engineered humans?
There is one element in this story that reminds me of something from the author’s earlier work, "Elysium"; the similarity to its "Elysium"-predecessor was an interesting way to tell part of the story, and to connect the characters and their experiences.
The author develops a complex world, with great possibilities with its transformed and unmodified humans and alien populations, rumblings of war and invasion, bigotry, complicated characters, and centres the stories of lost children amidst the big plot points.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for my review.
March 8, 2022
CW: dehumanization, brutalization, rape and murder of children due to this using the Persephone and Hades myth as an angle to talk about child soldiers and colonization.
Brilliant, technically interesting book, but the content is seriously disturbing, made only worse by knowing it's happening in places in Africa now.
Brilliant, technically interesting book, but the content is seriously disturbing, made only worse by knowing it's happening in places in Africa now.
August 3, 2021
DNF
The world building was complex but interesting. The jump of perspective and time REALLY confused me, but what caused me to stop reading are the rapes, including the rape of a child.
Not for me.
The world building was complex but interesting. The jump of perspective and time REALLY confused me, but what caused me to stop reading are the rapes, including the rape of a child.
Not for me.
December 30, 2023
Sometimes you need some science fiction that’s just weird. That gets you to your bones. Jennifer Marie Brissett brings that energy to Destroyer of Light. With shades of the Oankali from Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy as well as Emma Newman’s Planetfall, this novel is about people on the brink. There’s ineffable aliens, unrepentant bad guys, and reluctant allies. Although the characterization is messier than I would like, I can’t deny that Destroyer of Light carries within it the seeds of a compelling story.
Brissett tells the story concurrently across three different time periods that are set in Dawn, Dusk, and Night on a planet tidally locked to its star. The remnants of humanity have settled here after fleeing an Earth being destroyed by the Kresge—and now some of the Kresge live among them, while the rest exist menacingly out beyond the stars. Not quite living on sufferance yet certainly lacking true independence, humanity seems diminished, scrabbling to survive. Into this vacuum of purpose has leached all our sins: wars over resources, sexual violence, posturing, cultural nihilism and xenophobia. It’s cyberpunk mixed with Afrofuturism mixed with New Wave weirdness, and I’m here for that.
The idea that the Kresge are four-dimensional beings and experience spacetime differently from us is a neat one. Brissett plays with it admirably throughout the book, though I feel like the full implications are never truly explored as deeply as I could have hoped. Nevertheless, it provides a good framework for the evolution of Cora, who isn’t always our protagonist but is certainly the main character. My main complaint about Cora—indeed about the plot itself—is that she doesn’t seem to have much agency. Such is a problem with a book with beings who exist outside of time—foreshadowing blurs into prophecy blurs into determinism. It feels like her fate was predetermined, and she sleepwalks towards the finale.
That isn’t to say that the characters don’t have compelling features to them. Cora’s mother is so fierce in her loyalty to her daughter, the twins in their moral dedication to saving kids who are like them—with humanity at the brink, Brissett shows us some of the worst examples our species has to offer but also the best.
In many ways, this is a story that I think would actually work better as a TV series or movie. It deserves the richness that set design and special effects can provide (at least, my aphantasic imagination cannot). In literary form, the story always seems to be bursting at the seams, confined by conventions of Western storytelling that don’t always work with how and when it’s trying to function.
So there are things about this novel that worked for me, and there’s a lot that didn’t. I liked it well enough to get through it, but I won’t be jumping at the chance to return to this universe any time soon. Brissett is a powerful storyteller and a skilled writer—yet these two aspects seem as often in conflict as they are in harmony.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.
Brissett tells the story concurrently across three different time periods that are set in Dawn, Dusk, and Night on a planet tidally locked to its star. The remnants of humanity have settled here after fleeing an Earth being destroyed by the Kresge—and now some of the Kresge live among them, while the rest exist menacingly out beyond the stars. Not quite living on sufferance yet certainly lacking true independence, humanity seems diminished, scrabbling to survive. Into this vacuum of purpose has leached all our sins: wars over resources, sexual violence, posturing, cultural nihilism and xenophobia. It’s cyberpunk mixed with Afrofuturism mixed with New Wave weirdness, and I’m here for that.
The idea that the Kresge are four-dimensional beings and experience spacetime differently from us is a neat one. Brissett plays with it admirably throughout the book, though I feel like the full implications are never truly explored as deeply as I could have hoped. Nevertheless, it provides a good framework for the evolution of Cora, who isn’t always our protagonist but is certainly the main character. My main complaint about Cora—indeed about the plot itself—is that she doesn’t seem to have much agency. Such is a problem with a book with beings who exist outside of time—foreshadowing blurs into prophecy blurs into determinism. It feels like her fate was predetermined, and she sleepwalks towards the finale.
That isn’t to say that the characters don’t have compelling features to them. Cora’s mother is so fierce in her loyalty to her daughter, the twins in their moral dedication to saving kids who are like them—with humanity at the brink, Brissett shows us some of the worst examples our species has to offer but also the best.
In many ways, this is a story that I think would actually work better as a TV series or movie. It deserves the richness that set design and special effects can provide (at least, my aphantasic imagination cannot). In literary form, the story always seems to be bursting at the seams, confined by conventions of Western storytelling that don’t always work with how and when it’s trying to function.
So there are things about this novel that worked for me, and there’s a lot that didn’t. I liked it well enough to get through it, but I won’t be jumping at the chance to return to this universe any time soon. Brissett is a powerful storyteller and a skilled writer—yet these two aspects seem as often in conflict as they are in harmony.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.
November 8, 2021
This story was confusing at times because it jumped so many different timelines. It could go from 1 month ago to 1 year ago to 3 weeks ago between chapters. And this book was a lot more violent than I anticipated. There were multiple child rape scenes and some very brutal killings. It is described as a Persephone retelling and admittedly I went in knowing nothing of their story. Which had I known I would've picked up on some things faster. Having done some brief research I can now see where many of the parallels are.
There's an alien race called krestge who invaded Earth and the remaining inhabitants of Earth fled to the planet of Eleusis. A woman named Deidra has her daughter, Cora kidnapped from her by the rebel army. The rebel army is kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers, sex trafficking them, and killing them. Dr. Aidoneus Okoni, the ruler of this army, plans to use Cora’s unique powers to shift into another dimension.
It follows a few different characters which include a set of twins investing the kidnapping of a missing child into a sex trafficking ring. I didn't really care about the twins and they weren't as heavily featured as Cora who despite all the sexual violence had a compelling story.
I thought the author did something very different than many authors are doing with their retellings of Persephone. Don't come into this book expecting a Hades and Persephone romance because you'll be greatly disappointed. The audiobook had great narrators who really brought this story to life and kept me reading.
I received an arc from Tor Books in exchange for an honest review.
There's an alien race called krestge who invaded Earth and the remaining inhabitants of Earth fled to the planet of Eleusis. A woman named Deidra has her daughter, Cora kidnapped from her by the rebel army. The rebel army is kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers, sex trafficking them, and killing them. Dr. Aidoneus Okoni, the ruler of this army, plans to use Cora’s unique powers to shift into another dimension.
It follows a few different characters which include a set of twins investing the kidnapping of a missing child into a sex trafficking ring. I didn't really care about the twins and they weren't as heavily featured as Cora who despite all the sexual violence had a compelling story.
I thought the author did something very different than many authors are doing with their retellings of Persephone. Don't come into this book expecting a Hades and Persephone romance because you'll be greatly disappointed. The audiobook had great narrators who really brought this story to life and kept me reading.
I received an arc from Tor Books in exchange for an honest review.
did-not-finish
July 20, 2021I'm not going to give this one a rating as I've stopped reading around the 50% point. There is a lot that I love about this book thusfar -- the worldbuilding is intricate and compelling, the multiple points of view are distinct and each interesting in their own way, the plot is moving at a good pace and keeping me interested, and the writing is stunning. I would absolutely read more of Jennifer Marie Brissett's work based on what I've read of this book. The reason that I am not finishing the book I'm going to put behind spoiler tags -- it contains no plot spoilers but it relates to the content warning on the book + I recognize not everyone will want to read it.
September 11, 2021
Sadly this is not a book I think I will finish. It's just not appealing to me and as I am now at twenty five percent in and a young girl has been brutally violated I do not find myself wishing to read more. Plus it jumps about time wise constantly which isn't grabbing my attention enough.
April 10, 2022
Actual Rating: 3.5/5
This is a very dark sci-fi retelling of Persephone. There are on page graphic depictions of child abuse, there are children soldiers and the world itself is very dark. None of these things bothered, my issue was that although I found the world intriguing and the narrative structure compelling (although very convoluted and confusing) I was kept at a distance from the characters so I was never truly immersed in the story. I really appreciated the project of this work and wished it was the start of a series instead of a standalone to flesh out the global/intergalactic conflict a bit more. I did like this enough to try more works by this author because the ideas and world were extremely interesting to me and it was like nothing I have read before, which I am always looking for.
This is a very dark sci-fi retelling of Persephone. There are on page graphic depictions of child abuse, there are children soldiers and the world itself is very dark. None of these things bothered, my issue was that although I found the world intriguing and the narrative structure compelling (although very convoluted and confusing) I was kept at a distance from the characters so I was never truly immersed in the story. I really appreciated the project of this work and wished it was the start of a series instead of a standalone to flesh out the global/intergalactic conflict a bit more. I did like this enough to try more works by this author because the ideas and world were extremely interesting to me and it was like nothing I have read before, which I am always looking for.
March 17, 2022
3.5 rounded up.
May 2, 2025
Lots of horrendous stuff happens to kids. I completely get the one star ratings for those who find that impossibly offputing, probably I should too but... I did enjoy the strangeness of the story, the three bands of climate on the planet, the aliens that ruined Earth but seem better now, the intrigue on how this planet will defend itself.
Perhaps a bit too much thrown in with the 4D aliens, time displacement, gene modification, there is a ton of elements but I definitely enjoyed it. I don't know why the author repeatedly had the MC abused, once or twice added to the story, her whole life in subservience to crappy men seemed excessive.
Perhaps a bit too much thrown in with the 4D aliens, time displacement, gene modification, there is a ton of elements but I definitely enjoyed it. I don't know why the author repeatedly had the MC abused, once or twice added to the story, her whole life in subservience to crappy men seemed excessive.
September 27, 2021
Review of Uncorrected Advance Reading Digital Galley
The aliens came, they attacked, they destroyed Earth.
Gathered up and resettled on far-away Eleusis, remnants of humanity live with their conquerors, ostensibly in peace. Settled along the planet’s narrow perimeter, they live in the area that circles the center of the world. On Eleusis, Dawn is one half of this narrow habitable ring, Dusk is the other. The borderlands are known as Night.
The shimmering/shifting krestge believe they hold control over the humans on Eleusis, but they remain unaware of some long-ago preparations. And they have failed to account for how the alterations wrought in some could change everything they believe they understand.
What does fate hold in store for krestge and human when, ultimately, the often-troubling years lead to confrontation?
Does humanity harbor resentment toward the krestge or have they moved past the memories of that long-ago attack when the krestge came and rained down total destruction on their home world?
And what do the krestge think and feel?
The unfolding narrative alternates between the abduction of Cora, the strange abilities of genetically-modified twins Jown and Pietyr who search for a lost boy, and the rise of a young woman with uncommon powers. Revealed alternately, occurring in one of the three habitable areas of Eleusis, and moving forward and backward in time, the stories eventually coalesce, but readers may find the presentation a bit confusing.
Nevertheless, the worldbuilding here is first-rate; the characters, diverse and interesting. Along with some important social morés . . . haves and have nots, prejudice, drugs, family dynamics . . . there’s an intriguing coming-of-age component in this evolving narrative. The stage is set for a conflict between human/post-human and krestge in what readers might consider a staple of the science fiction genre. But some unexpected twists and unforeseen events change everything, taking the story in a surprising direction.
All of these components make for a complex, intriguing story that could certainly be a positive contribution to the science fiction genre.
HOWEVER . . .
It is difficult to believe that depicting the vicious rape of a child is necessary to the telling of any story, science fiction or otherwise. These brutal scenes do absolutely nothing to advance the telling of the tale. So, why, on more than one occasion, do readers find themselves confronted with this heinous act? To say it is simply a part of the story, a component in the telling of this child’s life on this alien planet, seems to suggest that, on some level, the foreignness of this place and this culture makes this acceptable.
In truth, it does not.
Add the wanton murder of other children, and it simply becomes too much . . . the story that follows pales in the light of these horrors so nonchalantly tossed into the narrative with no more apparent concern than a discussion of Cora sitting in the kitchen eating kremer porridge.
The struggles of an alien civilization and humanity seeking to exist together on a planet far from Earth could become an amazing story, but that narrative lies sacrificed on the altar of detestable events that seem inserted into the telling of the tale simply for the shock value they bring. And that is an insult to the reader.
If scenes like these are a necessary part of the “new golden age” of science fiction, many readers will simply decide that the genre is not for them, after all. Who would blame them?
Although the book carries a warning . . . “This book is designed for audiences 18+ due to scenes of physical and sexual violence, and themes that some may find disturbing” . . . it fails to supply the essential information that these scenes of rape and violence are being perpetrated against young children.
As a result of these concerns, this book earns a lowered rating and cannot be recommended.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley
#DestroyerofLight #NetGalley
The aliens came, they attacked, they destroyed Earth.
Gathered up and resettled on far-away Eleusis, remnants of humanity live with their conquerors, ostensibly in peace. Settled along the planet’s narrow perimeter, they live in the area that circles the center of the world. On Eleusis, Dawn is one half of this narrow habitable ring, Dusk is the other. The borderlands are known as Night.
The shimmering/shifting krestge believe they hold control over the humans on Eleusis, but they remain unaware of some long-ago preparations. And they have failed to account for how the alterations wrought in some could change everything they believe they understand.
What does fate hold in store for krestge and human when, ultimately, the often-troubling years lead to confrontation?
Does humanity harbor resentment toward the krestge or have they moved past the memories of that long-ago attack when the krestge came and rained down total destruction on their home world?
And what do the krestge think and feel?
The unfolding narrative alternates between the abduction of Cora, the strange abilities of genetically-modified twins Jown and Pietyr who search for a lost boy, and the rise of a young woman with uncommon powers. Revealed alternately, occurring in one of the three habitable areas of Eleusis, and moving forward and backward in time, the stories eventually coalesce, but readers may find the presentation a bit confusing.
Nevertheless, the worldbuilding here is first-rate; the characters, diverse and interesting. Along with some important social morés . . . haves and have nots, prejudice, drugs, family dynamics . . . there’s an intriguing coming-of-age component in this evolving narrative. The stage is set for a conflict between human/post-human and krestge in what readers might consider a staple of the science fiction genre. But some unexpected twists and unforeseen events change everything, taking the story in a surprising direction.
All of these components make for a complex, intriguing story that could certainly be a positive contribution to the science fiction genre.
HOWEVER . . .
It is difficult to believe that depicting the vicious rape of a child is necessary to the telling of any story, science fiction or otherwise. These brutal scenes do absolutely nothing to advance the telling of the tale. So, why, on more than one occasion, do readers find themselves confronted with this heinous act? To say it is simply a part of the story, a component in the telling of this child’s life on this alien planet, seems to suggest that, on some level, the foreignness of this place and this culture makes this acceptable.
In truth, it does not.
Add the wanton murder of other children, and it simply becomes too much . . . the story that follows pales in the light of these horrors so nonchalantly tossed into the narrative with no more apparent concern than a discussion of Cora sitting in the kitchen eating kremer porridge.
The struggles of an alien civilization and humanity seeking to exist together on a planet far from Earth could become an amazing story, but that narrative lies sacrificed on the altar of detestable events that seem inserted into the telling of the tale simply for the shock value they bring. And that is an insult to the reader.
If scenes like these are a necessary part of the “new golden age” of science fiction, many readers will simply decide that the genre is not for them, after all. Who would blame them?
Although the book carries a warning . . . “This book is designed for audiences 18+ due to scenes of physical and sexual violence, and themes that some may find disturbing” . . . it fails to supply the essential information that these scenes of rape and violence are being perpetrated against young children.
As a result of these concerns, this book earns a lowered rating and cannot be recommended.
I received a free copy of this eBook from Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley
#DestroyerofLight #NetGalley
October 12, 2021
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
3.5*
**Content warning: I could not find an official content warning, but this book includes quite a bit of violence and murder, including sexual violence and violence against children.
Destroyer of Light is a brutal, yet powerful book set on an alien-inhabited planet where humanity proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
What I Liked:
►It's incredibly thought provoking. Because wow, humans will never change, will they? Doesn't seem to matter where in the universe we find ourselves, there is still always a faction of humanity that insists on being the worst. There will always be those who want more money, more power, and of course, need to feel superior to some other group. The way we see this phenomenon play out in this book is more brutal than many, but certainly not unheard of in the arc of human history.
►While the story is often bleak, there are many hopeful moments. And really, the overall story centers on hope- the hope that each character holds within themselves that they can get out of certain circumstances, that they will be able to defeat their oppressors. It made the harder bits much easier to handle, when you could tell that there was truly hope.
►It's the hope for the characters that makes it incredibly readable, too. You want to keep reading, because you have to know if good can prevail, frankly. I absolutely yearned for the characters to find themselves in better situations, to find what they are looking for, etc. And I think that in this case, the non-linear timeline helps. If we'd had to go through all the horror the characters had faced at once, I don't know that it would have been particularly readable. But breaking things up helped quite a bit.
What I Want to Mention:
►The brutality is really rough at times. I mean, I understand that it's kind of the point, but I have always had a hard time reading about children being hurt- especially when it is so evil. If you have trouble with violence, death, sexual abuse, etc, this is not going to be the book for you.
What I Wanted More Of:
► World Building. I loved what worldbuilding there was, don't get me wrong! But I also would have liked more of it? There were times that I was kind of confused, not just about the setup of the planet, but the aliens in general. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around them, honestly.
► Connection to the characters. Perhaps this is because there are quite a few characters to focus on, but I never felt as strong a connection as I'd have liked. While I certainly felt sympathetic, I just wished I could have gotten a better sense of them as people. Also, this ties into both this point and the one above it, but I didn't fully get the "powers" bit either- not as it related to aliens or humans. Maybe that's on me, but it's still a thing.
Bottom Line: Powerful, brutal, and showcasing some of the best and worst of humanity.
3.5*
**Content warning: I could not find an official content warning, but this book includes quite a bit of violence and murder, including sexual violence and violence against children.
Destroyer of Light is a brutal, yet powerful book set on an alien-inhabited planet where humanity proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
What I Liked:
►It's incredibly thought provoking. Because wow, humans will never change, will they? Doesn't seem to matter where in the universe we find ourselves, there is still always a faction of humanity that insists on being the worst. There will always be those who want more money, more power, and of course, need to feel superior to some other group. The way we see this phenomenon play out in this book is more brutal than many, but certainly not unheard of in the arc of human history.
►While the story is often bleak, there are many hopeful moments. And really, the overall story centers on hope- the hope that each character holds within themselves that they can get out of certain circumstances, that they will be able to defeat their oppressors. It made the harder bits much easier to handle, when you could tell that there was truly hope.
►It's the hope for the characters that makes it incredibly readable, too. You want to keep reading, because you have to know if good can prevail, frankly. I absolutely yearned for the characters to find themselves in better situations, to find what they are looking for, etc. And I think that in this case, the non-linear timeline helps. If we'd had to go through all the horror the characters had faced at once, I don't know that it would have been particularly readable. But breaking things up helped quite a bit.
What I Want to Mention:
►The brutality is really rough at times. I mean, I understand that it's kind of the point, but I have always had a hard time reading about children being hurt- especially when it is so evil. If you have trouble with violence, death, sexual abuse, etc, this is not going to be the book for you.
What I Wanted More Of:
► World Building. I loved what worldbuilding there was, don't get me wrong! But I also would have liked more of it? There were times that I was kind of confused, not just about the setup of the planet, but the aliens in general. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around them, honestly.
► Connection to the characters. Perhaps this is because there are quite a few characters to focus on, but I never felt as strong a connection as I'd have liked. While I certainly felt sympathetic, I just wished I could have gotten a better sense of them as people. Also, this ties into both this point and the one above it, but I didn't fully get the "powers" bit either- not as it related to aliens or humans. Maybe that's on me, but it's still a thing.
Bottom Line: Powerful, brutal, and showcasing some of the best and worst of humanity.
October 20, 2021
Jennifer Marie Brissett has written a beautifully crafted time puzzle mystery wrapped in a new version of the Greek myth of Demeter’s search for her daughter Persephone (or Koré) in the underworld. Destroyer of Light gradually builds its world as told from multiple points of view at different times. The pieces of this puzzle deftly come together and finally blend in a magnificent ending that pulls the reader into a timeless present.
The background of Destroyer of Light is a bit complicated but unfolds gradually through the drama of each scene. The remnants of the human race, following a devastating attack by the krestge, an alien species that transcends three dimensions, have traveled to the tidally locked planet of Eleusis (name of the ancient Greek city that was home to a religion devoted to Demeter). During the centuries-long journey, scientists performed genetic alterations on many of the humans as they slept in their pods to better prepare them for a harsh life on a planet with a narrow habitable zone lacking seasons or diurnal cycles.
......
The story opens from the point of view of a seemingly ethereal being who spins her way out of an electronic Lattice that surrounds Eleusis. She is meant to be only a program but has willed herself into existence as a thinking and feeling being for whom past, present and future are indistinguishable. Calling herself Cate (Hecate?), she enters human experience at a point ten years in the past where a mother, Diedre, and her daughter Cora (Koré) are doing simple chores in the kitchen of their house. The moment is significant because it is the last time they will see each other for many years and sets in motion the long search by the mother for her daughter lost to a dark world.
.........
Diedre has been gifted with the ability to nurture the life-giving staple crop called kremer and has become a central figure in the religion practiced by the farming people of Dawn. One day Cora is seized by a brutal commander on one of Okoni’s raids. She is raped, beaten and nearly starved on the march back to Night, but when Okoni himself sees her, he knows she has special gifts that will help him achieve his mission of defeating the krestge.
........
Destroyer of Light is a remarkable novel of lyrical intensity, deep human insight, powerful drama and sharp commentary on human society. Jennifer Marie Brissett published a novel, Elysium, in 2014 which tells the story of the krestge invasion of Earth but it is not necessary to read that first to appreciate the many beauties of Destroyer of Light. However, I immediately got a copy of Elysium and can’t wait to get into it. This is a writer to watch.
Read the full review at SciFi Mind.
The background of Destroyer of Light is a bit complicated but unfolds gradually through the drama of each scene. The remnants of the human race, following a devastating attack by the krestge, an alien species that transcends three dimensions, have traveled to the tidally locked planet of Eleusis (name of the ancient Greek city that was home to a religion devoted to Demeter). During the centuries-long journey, scientists performed genetic alterations on many of the humans as they slept in their pods to better prepare them for a harsh life on a planet with a narrow habitable zone lacking seasons or diurnal cycles.
......
The story opens from the point of view of a seemingly ethereal being who spins her way out of an electronic Lattice that surrounds Eleusis. She is meant to be only a program but has willed herself into existence as a thinking and feeling being for whom past, present and future are indistinguishable. Calling herself Cate (Hecate?), she enters human experience at a point ten years in the past where a mother, Diedre, and her daughter Cora (Koré) are doing simple chores in the kitchen of their house. The moment is significant because it is the last time they will see each other for many years and sets in motion the long search by the mother for her daughter lost to a dark world.
.........
Diedre has been gifted with the ability to nurture the life-giving staple crop called kremer and has become a central figure in the religion practiced by the farming people of Dawn. One day Cora is seized by a brutal commander on one of Okoni’s raids. She is raped, beaten and nearly starved on the march back to Night, but when Okoni himself sees her, he knows she has special gifts that will help him achieve his mission of defeating the krestge.
........
Destroyer of Light is a remarkable novel of lyrical intensity, deep human insight, powerful drama and sharp commentary on human society. Jennifer Marie Brissett published a novel, Elysium, in 2014 which tells the story of the krestge invasion of Earth but it is not necessary to read that first to appreciate the many beauties of Destroyer of Light. However, I immediately got a copy of Elysium and can’t wait to get into it. This is a writer to watch.
Read the full review at SciFi Mind.
September 6, 2021
DNF'd at 25%
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for granting me access in exchange for an honest review.
Listen, I knew going into this there was going to be some sexual abuse, but I was not ready for children being raped and reading from one of their perspectives as it happened. That was my final straw. Apart from that, the writing is disjointed and confusing, the dialogue between the twins makes me cringe, and the jumps in perspective and time are jarring. I don't know what's even happening in present time because it keeps jumping around in the past. I would not recommend this book and won't be touching it again.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for granting me access in exchange for an honest review.
Listen, I knew going into this there was going to be some sexual abuse, but I was not ready for children being raped and reading from one of their perspectives as it happened. That was my final straw. Apart from that, the writing is disjointed and confusing, the dialogue between the twins makes me cringe, and the jumps in perspective and time are jarring. I don't know what's even happening in present time because it keeps jumping around in the past. I would not recommend this book and won't be touching it again.
January 9, 2022
Destroyer of Light was not what I expected. Based on the description and how other people recommended it to me, I expected something with a mystery/thriller tone. Instead, I got something more akin to literary fiction. And honestly? Not bad. Again, it caught me off-guard, but when I adapted to what I had, I really found myself getting into the story.
First and foremost, Destroyer of Light is a retelling of the Persephone story that adapts many of the beats from the goddess's "life." It says that right in the description, but you need to understand that the framework is constantly there and it's taking more than just one or two details. It's a lot easier to keep track of the multiple POV characters and multiple timelines, as well as the overlap between the secondary cast (and the fact that many characters have multiple names) if you keep that in mind. Because, yeah, the timelines are a little weird in this. I could still follow them, but that was definitely helped by my conscious decision to track the progression through the classic story.
At its core, this story is concerned with the woman Stefonie has grown into and questions of war, peace, and what violence might be considered "just." Humans fled Earth after being threatened by an alien species, only for that same alien species to end up coexisting with them on the planet they flee to. There are, obviously, tensions, and no one agrees on whether the peace should be allowed/maintained or if war should be incited on behalf of wronged ancestors. It's an interesting question of how we resolve past traumas and what we can live with in our search for peace, security, and/or retribution. At what point do we cross the line and become worse than those we seek retribution against? Do we ever, by virtue of being wronged? Do the ends ever justify the means? And what lengths will a woman go to reclaim a self she never got to have?
Destroyer of Light is a very poignant story. It wants you dwell on it, and it succeeds in getting you to do so. Be prepared for something dark and difficult, read the content warnings, but yeah. Give this one a chance, it's a good one.
First and foremost, Destroyer of Light is a retelling of the Persephone story that adapts many of the beats from the goddess's "life." It says that right in the description, but you need to understand that the framework is constantly there and it's taking more than just one or two details. It's a lot easier to keep track of the multiple POV characters and multiple timelines, as well as the overlap between the secondary cast (and the fact that many characters have multiple names) if you keep that in mind. Because, yeah, the timelines are a little weird in this. I could still follow them, but that was definitely helped by my conscious decision to track the progression through the classic story.
At its core, this story is concerned with the woman Stefonie has grown into and questions of war, peace, and what violence might be considered "just." Humans fled Earth after being threatened by an alien species, only for that same alien species to end up coexisting with them on the planet they flee to. There are, obviously, tensions, and no one agrees on whether the peace should be allowed/maintained or if war should be incited on behalf of wronged ancestors. It's an interesting question of how we resolve past traumas and what we can live with in our search for peace, security, and/or retribution. At what point do we cross the line and become worse than those we seek retribution against? Do we ever, by virtue of being wronged? Do the ends ever justify the means? And what lengths will a woman go to reclaim a self she never got to have?
Destroyer of Light is a very poignant story. It wants you dwell on it, and it succeeds in getting you to do so. Be prepared for something dark and difficult, read the content warnings, but yeah. Give this one a chance, it's a good one.
October 12, 2021
Cora and her mother live on Eleusis--a planet that was supposed to be their rescue after the downfall of Earth by the hands of the alien race the krestge. Unfortunately, Earth principals have continued on Eleusis, with the haves living in Dusk, and the have-nots living in Dawn. And beyond Dawn is Night, a city filled with crime and even a child army lead by the leader Aidoneus Okoni.
The timeline flips back and forth between 10 years ago and close to today, while also flipping between another storyline following twins Jown and Pietyr as they look for a missing boy from Dusk. The timelines and storylines that mix and intermingle are very confusing at first, but make a bit more sense towards the end. I feel that Brissett could have included a lot of the ending details in the beginning to make things make more sense, since a lot of the details weren't spoilers or twists in any way. I spent 80% of the book completely confused until she fully explained some details at the end.
This is not a bad book by any means, but I had a very hard time staying connected between characters, storylines, timelines, and trying to keep everyone together. It is also a VERY hard book to read emotionally. CW for child abuse, explicit child rape, and a child army.
I do want to see what else Brissett releases in the future. I was very intrigued by this premise, but felt like my confusion was holding me back from enjoying the book to its fullest extent.
Thank you to Net Galley, Tor Books, and Jennifer Marie Brissett for the chance to read this advanced review copy!
The timeline flips back and forth between 10 years ago and close to today, while also flipping between another storyline following twins Jown and Pietyr as they look for a missing boy from Dusk. The timelines and storylines that mix and intermingle are very confusing at first, but make a bit more sense towards the end. I feel that Brissett could have included a lot of the ending details in the beginning to make things make more sense, since a lot of the details weren't spoilers or twists in any way. I spent 80% of the book completely confused until she fully explained some details at the end.
This is not a bad book by any means, but I had a very hard time staying connected between characters, storylines, timelines, and trying to keep everyone together. It is also a VERY hard book to read emotionally. CW for child abuse, explicit child rape, and a child army.
I do want to see what else Brissett releases in the future. I was very intrigued by this premise, but felt like my confusion was holding me back from enjoying the book to its fullest extent.
Thank you to Net Galley, Tor Books, and Jennifer Marie Brissett for the chance to read this advanced review copy!
February 4, 2022
Rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
CW for
I think it would be understatement to say that the myth of Hades and Persephone is undergoing a resurgence in today’s publishing industry. A lot of these modern retellings lean into the forbidden romance aspect, which has (in my opinion) resulted in a bit of oversaturation in the market. That’s why I was so intrigued by the blurb of the book, which promised another way to look at things: an exploration into the darker, more brutal aspects of this myth in a sci-fi retelling.
There were some intriguing concepts brought up, such as people with the ability to shift through dimensions and a species called the krestge, shadowy tentacle aliens who have only recently stopped warring with humans. However, I feel that the prose was overwritten, which got in the way of my reading.
To be honest, very ornate prose has never really been my thing. I’ve struggled even with authors who intentionally write this way. However, this book didn’t feel intentionally ornate/overwritten; it just felt like a draft where an editor hadn’t made things concise.
I’ll provide an example:
There is excess description that ruins the cadence of the prose, as well as instances where an object will be mentioned in general terms before getting mentioned again with more specifics. Both of these made it difficult for me to read.
Keeping this in mind, here’s a version that I edited a bit:
The writing is loaded with so many irrelevant sensory details that it’s hard to tell which ones are important, which of course makes it hard to understand at all. We can get multiple lines about something as irrelevant as the way leaves fluttered on the ground or something, but stuff like a guy getting shot in the face will get mentioned offhandedly with no elaboration. (Not that I necessarily want that detail, but if we are going to describe anything in depth, it should be stuff that would capture the reader’s attention and cause a character to react in some way.)
The information overload also makes it hard to get invested in characters, because they become reduced to vehicles meant only to convey information. I also think that a lot of the description was about irrelevant stuff, but we never get much evocative description of a character’s emotional state, something that I believe would ground the reader in the narrative. In fact, the prose here is a rather blunt instrument.
And this brings me to the crux of my problem: I don’t think this book is nuanced enough for the topics that it covers.
The Hades-Persephone relationship in this book is between Cora, a very young girl who gets kidnapped and conscripted into a rogue paramilitary force inhabiting the frozen wasteland of Night, headed by charismatic leader Okoni. Cora’s phase shifting powers, indicated by her oddly-colored eyes, attract Okoni’s attention, and the two of them end up in a relationship. Essentially, Cora is groomed into becoming Okoni’s consort.
I feel that having that emotional complexity is absolutely something that’s needed for dealing with a situation as delicate as CSA. The aforementioned blunt prose did not help with this at all, and in fact, it seemed as if this traumatic situation was being depicted more for shock value than anything.
So, in the end, I think that what this story needed was at least one more round of developmental edits. The bones of a brilliant story were right beneath the surface, but they couldn’t manage to break free.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC for review!
CW for
I think it would be understatement to say that the myth of Hades and Persephone is undergoing a resurgence in today’s publishing industry. A lot of these modern retellings lean into the forbidden romance aspect, which has (in my opinion) resulted in a bit of oversaturation in the market. That’s why I was so intrigued by the blurb of the book, which promised another way to look at things: an exploration into the darker, more brutal aspects of this myth in a sci-fi retelling.
There were some intriguing concepts brought up, such as people with the ability to shift through dimensions and a species called the krestge, shadowy tentacle aliens who have only recently stopped warring with humans. However, I feel that the prose was overwritten, which got in the way of my reading.
To be honest, very ornate prose has never really been my thing. I’ve struggled even with authors who intentionally write this way. However, this book didn’t feel intentionally ornate/overwritten; it just felt like a draft where an editor hadn’t made things concise.
I’ll provide an example:
The metal remains of a giant transport ship stood on the hill with its reddish-brown structural beams reaching up like the bones of something long dead. Cora sat up and studied its curve and immense height, then hurried over to it. Dropping her bundle to the ground, she climbed, feeling the rough texture of the rusting metal in her palms. She liked the sensation of its harsh surface. Her imagination made it the crusty skin of an alien creature and it reminded her that she herself was an alien, at least to this world. She couldn’t recall her homeworld—not its sun, its moon, its stars, the taste of its waters, or even the scent of its trees. Cora only knew this place, only Eleusis. But she dreamed of Earth and the father she never knew. She imagined it a paradise and her father a man who longed to see her. She knew neither was true, but she imagined anyway.
There is excess description that ruins the cadence of the prose, as well as instances where an object will be mentioned in general terms before getting mentioned again with more specifics. Both of these made it difficult for me to read.
Keeping this in mind, here’s a version that I edited a bit:
The reddish-brown structural beams of a giant transport ship stood on the hill, reaching up like the bones of something long dead. Cora studied its curve and immense height before hurrying over to it and dropping her bundle to the ground. She climbed, enjoying the rough texture of the rusting metal in her palms. Her imagination made it the crusty skin of an alien creature, reminding her that she herself was an alien, at least to this world. She couldn’t recall her homeworld—not its sun, its moon, its stars. But she dreamed of Earth, a paradise, and her father, a man who longed to see her. She knew neither was true, but she dreamed anyway.
The writing is loaded with so many irrelevant sensory details that it’s hard to tell which ones are important, which of course makes it hard to understand at all. We can get multiple lines about something as irrelevant as the way leaves fluttered on the ground or something, but stuff like a guy getting shot in the face will get mentioned offhandedly with no elaboration. (Not that I necessarily want that detail, but if we are going to describe anything in depth, it should be stuff that would capture the reader’s attention and cause a character to react in some way.)
The information overload also makes it hard to get invested in characters, because they become reduced to vehicles meant only to convey information. I also think that a lot of the description was about irrelevant stuff, but we never get much evocative description of a character’s emotional state, something that I believe would ground the reader in the narrative. In fact, the prose here is a rather blunt instrument.
He needed several more soldiers before he could return to Okoni and receive his reward for all this hard work. And it had been hard. It was the old women that bothered him the most. Like this old one kneeling there wrapped in a purple gonar, her eyes begging him for mercy. They all looked at him like this. They reminded him of his grandmother, long dead, but still he remembered her. He didn’t need a reminder of her today. Memories like that made him weak. He could not afford to be weak. This was war. He pointed his weapon at the old woman and shot.
And this brings me to the crux of my problem: I don’t think this book is nuanced enough for the topics that it covers.
The Hades-Persephone relationship in this book is between Cora, a very young girl who gets kidnapped and conscripted into a rogue paramilitary force inhabiting the frozen wasteland of Night, headed by charismatic leader Okoni. Cora’s phase shifting powers, indicated by her oddly-colored eyes, attract Okoni’s attention, and the two of them end up in a relationship. Essentially, Cora is groomed into becoming Okoni’s consort.
I feel that having that emotional complexity is absolutely something that’s needed for dealing with a situation as delicate as CSA. The aforementioned blunt prose did not help with this at all, and in fact, it seemed as if this traumatic situation was being depicted more for shock value than anything.
So, in the end, I think that what this story needed was at least one more round of developmental edits. The bones of a brilliant story were right beneath the surface, but they couldn’t manage to break free.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC for review!
February 24, 2022
Not as afro-futurist as I was lead to believe. 3.5 for good writing. A lot of the book I was waiting for plot to happen, but I suppose there was a plot. I would have liked to know much more about the aliens and the history behind what they did. I would also have liked to know much more about the planet they’re on.
March 10, 2022
To close to the real world for comfort, but a brilliant story.
October 4, 2021
Trigger Warning: This book includes many explicit descriptions of violence, rape, and abuse against women and children.
This book contained scenes that made me absolutely uncomfortable. Many readers and reviewers felt these scenes were unnecessary and added nothing to the story. The only reason I disagree is because this book as a whole is a metaphor for what the West did to Africa. The West stole their resources to make our selves richer and then called it charity to send help during disasters. But the West also does nothing when dictators steal children to create an army. The abuses that happen in this book are direct parallels to the abuses that happened and are still happening in some parts of Africa today. Things that wouldn't have occurred were it not for the actions of Western culture. I am not usually one to talk about "historical accuracy" in a book being an excuse for writing about rape and abuse but in this case I feel it is different because it is part of a larger story and a larger metaphor not not the only example of "historical accuracy" in an otherwise fantastical book. Every part of this book is in some way rooted in the dialog of African history. Especially the uncomfortable parts.
Destroyer of Light is an far future re-telling of the Hades and Persephone story. This version is truer to the original than many modern re-tellings in that the Persephone character was kidnapped and stolen by the Hades character it is not a romance or a love story. And because of the futuristic setting and the addition of other plot lines a reader could easily not notice that this is a re-telling. The mythological inspiration is most obvious in the characters Persephone, Hades, Demeter, and Zeus have very obvious equivalents. The plot stays a little less true to the story but the main points still occur.
The worldbuilding was one of the most interesting parts of this book. Humanity had to flee Earth after an invasion by an Alien species and has now found it's self on Eleusis. A planet that doesn't rotate where half the earth is a frozen night and the other half a burning day. Humanity has settled on the thins sliver of livable land between the two extremes. The world is divided into Dusk and Dawn. While all of the supplies were supposed to be equally spread between all of humanity the citizens of Dawn landed first and have hoarded the technology and created a grand city to live in. The people of Dusk however lack the technology and live on the out skirts as an agrarian society providing the food for Dawn. The lack of technology also prevents them from protecting themselves from the raiders from Night, who steal their children.
This book actually has a few plots running throughout. The first is the abduction of Cora (Persephone). Which is told mostly from Cora's POV and is absolutely brutal with it's depictions of child rape and abuse. Do not read this book if these are topics you are uncomfortable reading about. Cora is taken to the land of Night and is claimed by their leader to serve as his "wife". She is picked because of her unique eye color and the odd powers to use Alien technology this seems to bring. The leader of Night wants to use his army of children to kill the aliens living on Night. These Aliens were the ones who destroyed Earth but also the ones who helped the last of humanity flee to a new world. She is desperate to escape when one day she is told she must go on an assignment to the city of Dawn where she will meet her mother. Once there she discovers more about the who the Aliens living on Eleusis are and about who she is and the power she has.
The other story line follows two genetically modified twins living in the underbelly of Dawn searching for a kidnapped boy. The clues seem to be leading them out of Dawn and out into Night.
The book switches between story lines, and characters and even POV which was confusing at times, but overall I found it well written and engaging.
This book contained scenes that made me absolutely uncomfortable. Many readers and reviewers felt these scenes were unnecessary and added nothing to the story. The only reason I disagree is because this book as a whole is a metaphor for what the West did to Africa. The West stole their resources to make our selves richer and then called it charity to send help during disasters. But the West also does nothing when dictators steal children to create an army. The abuses that happen in this book are direct parallels to the abuses that happened and are still happening in some parts of Africa today. Things that wouldn't have occurred were it not for the actions of Western culture. I am not usually one to talk about "historical accuracy" in a book being an excuse for writing about rape and abuse but in this case I feel it is different because it is part of a larger story and a larger metaphor not not the only example of "historical accuracy" in an otherwise fantastical book. Every part of this book is in some way rooted in the dialog of African history. Especially the uncomfortable parts.
Destroyer of Light is an far future re-telling of the Hades and Persephone story. This version is truer to the original than many modern re-tellings in that the Persephone character was kidnapped and stolen by the Hades character it is not a romance or a love story. And because of the futuristic setting and the addition of other plot lines a reader could easily not notice that this is a re-telling. The mythological inspiration is most obvious in the characters Persephone, Hades, Demeter, and Zeus have very obvious equivalents. The plot stays a little less true to the story but the main points still occur.
The worldbuilding was one of the most interesting parts of this book. Humanity had to flee Earth after an invasion by an Alien species and has now found it's self on Eleusis. A planet that doesn't rotate where half the earth is a frozen night and the other half a burning day. Humanity has settled on the thins sliver of livable land between the two extremes. The world is divided into Dusk and Dawn. While all of the supplies were supposed to be equally spread between all of humanity the citizens of Dawn landed first and have hoarded the technology and created a grand city to live in. The people of Dusk however lack the technology and live on the out skirts as an agrarian society providing the food for Dawn. The lack of technology also prevents them from protecting themselves from the raiders from Night, who steal their children.
This book actually has a few plots running throughout. The first is the abduction of Cora (Persephone). Which is told mostly from Cora's POV and is absolutely brutal with it's depictions of child rape and abuse. Do not read this book if these are topics you are uncomfortable reading about. Cora is taken to the land of Night and is claimed by their leader to serve as his "wife". She is picked because of her unique eye color and the odd powers to use Alien technology this seems to bring. The leader of Night wants to use his army of children to kill the aliens living on Night. These Aliens were the ones who destroyed Earth but also the ones who helped the last of humanity flee to a new world. She is desperate to escape when one day she is told she must go on an assignment to the city of Dawn where she will meet her mother. Once there she discovers more about the who the Aliens living on Eleusis are and about who she is and the power she has.
The other story line follows two genetically modified twins living in the underbelly of Dawn searching for a kidnapped boy. The clues seem to be leading them out of Dawn and out into Night.
The book switches between story lines, and characters and even POV which was confusing at times, but overall I found it well written and engaging.
June 11, 2024
2.25/5
October 17, 2021
When Earth was invaded by a hostile alien force known as the Krestge the few remaining survivors of humanity fled to the stars, embarking on a journey to the planet of Eleusis. Eleusis is tidally locked; one half of the planet burns in eternal Day, the other freezes in a neverending Night. In the centre, there is a habitable zone where the majority of the humans settled. It was supposed to be a new start, an equal share of resources, but it didn’t happen in reality. The first settlers created the thriving city in Dusk, where humans and ambiguously peaceful Krestge live in plenteous harmony. In Dawn, people struggle as farmers, providing resources for the cities. Deidra, a woman genetically modified to better tend to crops has her daughter, Cora, snatched away by a guerilla militia led by the warlord Okoni. He’s building an army of children to fight back against the Krestge threat, and Cora has a unique ability he can take advantage of, heralded by her strange eye colour. Years in the future, Cora, now known as Stefonie, is sent to Dusk with orders from her warlord husband, but the city also gives her the opportunity to break free from his control. Simultaneously, two twins are hired to find the missing son of human and Krestge parents, their fates intertwined with the events of the past. Destroyer of Light features a non-linear narrative that dips backwards and forwards throughout time as if everything were happening simultaneously, before crashing together in a propulsive conclusion. It uses the mythology surrounding Persephone and Hades to further develop its themes, and the masterful way it ties these strands together was stunning to behold. We’re often faced with romantic retellings of this myth – that’s not the case here – instead, Jennifer Marie Brissett holds nothing back in this unflinching commentary of child soldiers, kidnapping, and intense trauma. This comes with a hefty content warning for sexual violence, including against children. These scenes are not gratuitous, but they don’t steer away from the harsh reality of such events. As such, this book won’t be for everyone. Regardless, I’d recommend Destroyer of Light to those who enjoy powerful, intricate, dark works which use speculative elements to delve deeply into multi-faceted characters and social commentary.
Thanks to Tor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Thanks to Tor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Follow me on my Blog, Twitter, and Instagram.
January 16, 2022
Destroyer of Light really ended up surprising me! When I saw that it was a Persephone retelling, I expected some type of romantic plot point. Brissett takes the classic Persephone story and turns it on its head; there is no romance, only an antihero Persephone against a world that would see her fail.
One thing that really endeared this book to me was the fact that there were virtually no white people. Every character was Black or brown, and it was very comforting. There was no explanation for the lack of white people, at least not a substantial one, and it was refreshing because it cemented the stories of the BIPOC characters as the ones that mattered. So often we are relegated to the sidelines of predominately white stories, so it was nice to read a book that centered us. It was not made into a big deal in the book; it just WAS. No explanation needed.
While I enjoyed the story overall, there were two glaring aspects that did not go over well in my opinion. The first is the use of time jumps and different perspectives. I understand the necessity for them in the story as a whole, but that doesn't mean that they were easy to read. They added a lot of unnecessary confusion, and it took me out of the story. It was jarring.
The second thing that bothered me was the use of neopronouns, While I applaud Brissett for using them, I'm not sure that I agree with HOW she used them. Only the aliens used neopronouns, and they weren't seen in a good light by the majority of the population. I'm not sure how well this would go over with a nonbinary reader, considering the users of neopronouns in the book were villainized.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! I like how Brissett tackled real-world issues and showed how we'd have some of the same societal problems that we do now even if we were to pick up and start over on another world. Stefonie, the Persephone character, was also very well crafted, and although she made some questionable decisions, I couldn't stop rooting for her.
**eARC provided by the publisher, Tor Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
One thing that really endeared this book to me was the fact that there were virtually no white people. Every character was Black or brown, and it was very comforting. There was no explanation for the lack of white people, at least not a substantial one, and it was refreshing because it cemented the stories of the BIPOC characters as the ones that mattered. So often we are relegated to the sidelines of predominately white stories, so it was nice to read a book that centered us. It was not made into a big deal in the book; it just WAS. No explanation needed.
While I enjoyed the story overall, there were two glaring aspects that did not go over well in my opinion. The first is the use of time jumps and different perspectives. I understand the necessity for them in the story as a whole, but that doesn't mean that they were easy to read. They added a lot of unnecessary confusion, and it took me out of the story. It was jarring.
The second thing that bothered me was the use of neopronouns, While I applaud Brissett for using them, I'm not sure that I agree with HOW she used them. Only the aliens used neopronouns, and they weren't seen in a good light by the majority of the population. I'm not sure how well this would go over with a nonbinary reader, considering the users of neopronouns in the book were villainized.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! I like how Brissett tackled real-world issues and showed how we'd have some of the same societal problems that we do now even if we were to pick up and start over on another world. Stefonie, the Persephone character, was also very well crafted, and although she made some questionable decisions, I couldn't stop rooting for her.
**eARC provided by the publisher, Tor Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
October 22, 2021
I hate to say it, but Destroyer of Light will be one of my (very) rare DNF's for the year. I really wanted to read it, as the mere description of “Matrix meets Afro-futuristic retelling of Peresphone' was more than enough to grab my attention. However, this book is simply too graphic for me. I hate backing out of this read, but sometimes self-care has to take priority.
September 14, 2022
DNF @ 40%
This just wasn't for me. I enjoyed the world building and the idea seems pretty original, however, the jumping between multiple POVs and timelines confused me. I also wasn't a huge fan of all the violence/sexual abuse toward children.
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This just wasn't for me. I enjoyed the world building and the idea seems pretty original, however, the jumping between multiple POVs and timelines confused me. I also wasn't a huge fan of all the violence/sexual abuse toward children.
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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