Book Review: The Light Pirate

Title: The Light Pirate
Author: Lily Brooks-Dalton
Genre: Literary; Apocalypse
Book Length: 352 Pages
Format Read: eBook
Year Published: April 16, 2024

Date Started: October 2, 2024
Date finished: October 16, 2024

This story follows a family of five (father, mother, twin sons, and a newborn daughter) during an apocalyptic flooding in Florida. After the flood, only the father, one son, and daughter survived. The family decided to stay and rebuild because they didn’t want to move anywhere else. Time went by and as the environment changed, the family learned to adjust. The son decided to move out and move on as he came of age. He returned home a few times but realized that wasn’t the life for him and chose never to return. Later, another flood came and destroyed everything even further. The father and daughter remained. The father later dies. The daughter had formed a friendship with a woman who taught her how to be self-sufficient. Eventually the woman dies of old age and the daughter continues to live in the same town. Shortly after, the daughter falls in love with a woman her age and the two of them continue to build a life in that town.

What I enjoyed about this story was the apocalyptic situations and making the best of what they had. Other than that, I really couldn’t understand why they stayed and didn’t move to higher grounds. Also, an LGBTQ romance suddenly appeared out of nowhere near the end of the story which was odd. It didn’t fit in the story so felt like it was thrown in for shock value. I would have liked the romance to build a little more because I didn’t feel that the two women had that type of attraction for each other. This is the same with hetero relationships too. It could be a personal pet peeve of mine, but just a random love relationship thrown in without a romantic buildup, or at least a clue that the couple liked each other more than friends just feels off. For a literary story, I expected a bit more showing in this area, but it was done quickly and sloppily.

Who should read this book: This was a story with literary themes in an apocalyptic setting, so if you enjoy one or the other, or both, you might want to check it out.