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    Written in Fire
    Written in Fire
    Written in Fire
    Audiobook10 hours

    Written in Fire

    Written by Marcus Sakey

    Narrated by Luke Daniels

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

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

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

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

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

    The explosive conclusion to the bestselling Brilliance Trilogy.

    “The kind of story you’ve never read before.” —Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher Series

    “Ridiculously good. I love this story so much.” —Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl

    “Sakey brings his cinematic series to a ferocious close.” —Kirkus

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 12, 2016
    ISBN9781511320870
    Written in Fire
    Author

    Marcus Sakey

    Marcus Sakey’s books have sold more than a million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. For more information, visit www.MarcusSakey.com.

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    Reviews for Written in Fire

    4/5

    107 ratings10 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I thought that this final book of the trilogy was a little better than the second book (which I thought was mainly a placeholder) but not as good as the first book. I don't think that there was enough plot for three books, but trilogies seem to be the norm these days.I was particularly troubled by a few things in this book. Among other things, the annoying love triangle was, unfortunately, still ongoing. The characters spent a lot of time explaining their positions to each other. The author resorted to the awful cliche of having a character, when confronting his target, pause to chat with him rather than just shooting him. Cooper, while conducting a commando raid, actually forgets he has a gun and just watches as one of the abnormals pulls one of his stunts to thwart the attack. The explanation of John Smith's actions made no sense at all. The chaos he caused over the course of several years (and three books) was completely unnecessary for him to achieve his ultimate goal. Maybe they will fix some of these weaknesses in the inevitable movie, but I doubt it. Ultimately, I thought these books took a good, but not terribly original, idea and dragged it out too long. There were too many lapses of logic along the way.I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 3/5
      A not-totally-satisfactory ending to a good trilogy about what happens when 1% of the population start developing superior cognitive abilities. Whereas there was some thoughtfulness amidst the thriller plots in the first two books on the subjects of elitism, terrorism, patriotism and other isms, this one just plumped for the thriller. The handling of violence moves from Die Hard-ish to a bit short of Tarantino levels. The plot is fairly linear. The philosophical bend is reduced to an impassioned speech at the end.But…every plot line gets tied up nicely; mysteries are solved; the world is saved; those who lived, lived happily ever after. Well, except for the obligatory plot twist at the very end that leaves you wondering, “…or did they?”As I said, a good trilogy but the final leg seemed a trifle phoned in.
    • 5/5
      A good wrap up to the series. I still think book one was the best of the trilogy, likely because it was a new world to learn... but this one was nearly as good. Book 2 leaves one wanting to finish the story, and this does deliver. I had thought it might be a bit far fetched, with the militia activities and such, but... given the recent goings-on in the USA, perhaps this isn't as far fetched as it should have been.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this trilogy. Each book was good. The forward motion of the plot was steady and kept me interested. Many ideological and theological themes were present; good vs. evil, survival of the fittest, love vs. lust, birds of a feather, loyalty, family values, trust, why are we here? The characters were so well done. The descriptions of conflicts between two people with extraordinary gifts was terrific. I was on the edge of my seat often in each book. I would read other books from this author.
    • 4/5
      For thirty years humanity has struggled to survive with Brilliants, the one percent of the population born with remarkable gifts. For thirty years humanity has tried to avoid a civil war. They haven't. The White House is in ruins and Brilliants are being internmed in camps. For years Nick Cooper has tried to fight for what is right and for his family. Now, with everything he holds dear threatened, he has to fight his greatest enemy with the hope of bringing peace.
    • 4/5
      Despite advanced technology and innovative scientific discoveries, jealousy, fear, and paranoia threaten to destroy the country as the brilliants and the normals continue to clash. And now the war Nick Cooper has labored long and hard to prevent seems inevitable as those who manipulate events for their own gain set an army against the Holdfast compound in Wyoming.The building confrontation between brilliants and normals ratchets up the suspense and keeps the pages turning as unfolding events foreshadow the consequences of the actions taken by both groups. Powerful factions behind the scenes work to influence the outcome and the darker, more menacing feel of this third narrative may unsettle some readers. Astute readers will unravel the mostly-predictable elements of the story but unexpected plot twists will keep them guessing until the final reveal. Readers should note that “A Better World” is the final book in a trilogy; “Brilliance” and “A Better World” are the first and second volumes. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      I received an advanced copy of this, the final book in Marcus Sakey's Brilliance trilogy. I am always delighted by the way he makes words and phrases sing. So many times I stopped and reread a sentence because his mastery of language was so delicious. His characters have flesh and blood, sweat and tears, hopes and dreams. They're no more perfect than you or I. So real you can hear distinct voices in your head. I am not sure I will ever see DAR as Daughters of The American Revolution instinctively again, but I can live with that. Although I am ready to find out if Hawk has a successful road trip, I'm ok with not knowing. He's so vividly in my imagination I can see several possibilities for the rest of his story. If this is your first taste of Mr. Sakey's work, go back and read some of his older books while you wait patiently for his next book. You won't regret it.
    • 3/5
      This is more a wrap-up of the entire trilogy than just this book since I never reviewed the first two books. The first book in The Brilliance Trilogy, Brilliance is about a small percentage of people in the world who are labeled as “brilliants”, as opposed to those who don’t and are considered “norms”. Brilliants have extraordinary senses which can be used in good ways or bad. Nick Cooper, who is a brilliant, uses his skills working as an agent to help the U.S. government track down other brilliants that use their extrasensory powers to commit evil acts. Nick and his partner find themselves tracking a terrorist who has bombed a restaurant, killing many innocent men, women and children. As the investigation unfolds and government secrets come to light, Nick finds himself questioning whether he works for the good guys or the bad guys. 4/5 stars In the second book in the series, A Better World, Nick became an advisor to the President of the United States. The world’s growing fear of brilliants has escalated due to the activities of a terrorist known as John Smith. Nick works with the government to bring down John Smith, but it’s still questionable which side Nick should be fighting for in order to keep his family and the rest of the world safe. 4/5 stars Written in Fire is the final book in Marcus Sakey’s trilogy. The White House is in ruins. The President has been killed. Cities have been taken over. The brilliants have become feared and are being persecuted by normal people everywhere. The United States is close to civil war. Nick has lost his job and come close to dying. While working to end the terrorism and stop a war, Nick must find the one person who may have a solution to bringing peace to the nation. 3.5/5 stars Nick Cooper is a good hero and the dynamics between Nick, his children, his girlfriend, his ex-wife, his co-workers and even the terrorists are wonderfully written. We care about Nick because he genuinely cares about what is best for all of them. Nick isn’t always right and he doesn’t always come out on top. We get glimpses of how the government, the populace and the bad guys think and what defines their actions. There is always that gnawing question of which side is right. Does either side have all the answers? In the world today, we are experiencing terrible acts between people more and more frequently, whether it is over race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. The Brilliance Trilogy can be applied to any of these as an example of what can happen between two disparate groups of people and how far out of control it can become. While the first two books were amazing, hold-on-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thrillers, this third and final installment failed to excite me in the same way. Most of the great action already happened and there is nothing original added here. It seemed like the storyline grew tiring at this point. However, the series as a whole is definitely a worthy read and even though it’s labeled as a trilogy, the author did leave us with one hanging tidbit that may lead to another book.
    • 5/5
      Great final book in the Brilliance trilogy. Exciting and thought-provoking. You have to read the series from the beginning to understand, but it's a great ride with cool characters.
    • 5/5
      I would like to thank Thomas Mercer & NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book to review. Though I received this e-book for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review. Goodreads Teaser: The explosive conclusion to the bestselling Brilliance TrilogyFor thirty years humanity struggled to cope with the brilliants, the 1 percent of people born with remarkable gifts. For thirty years we tried to avoid a devastating civil war.We failed.The White House is a smoking ruin. Madison Square Garden is an internment camp. In Wyoming, an armed militia of thousands marches toward a final, apocalyptic battle.Nick Cooper has spent his life fighting for his children and his country. Now, as the world staggers on the edge of ruin, he must risk everything he loves to face his oldest enemy—a brilliant terrorist so driven by his ideals that he will sacrifice humanity’s future to achieve them.As conclusions go this one is pretty close to epic for me. Given the amazing storyline presented and expanded in the first two books, the fact that Sakey was able to not only take everything one step further but also grab hold of all the separate lines in this story and wrap them up in a pretty tidy package is a feat that demands utmost respect. Once again it's the characters that really get to me. I was pleasantly surprised by the way almost all of the large and small complications between the characters are resolved, with none feeling forced or rushed. Yet in this final book the story and how close we could actually be to something like it are also powerfully addictive. The scope of these books is staggering, and while cloaked in a fictional reality, the parallels between this story and the world we readers occupy are frightening. I can easily envision something similar happening in the real world, and that's what makes this series so unbelievably powerful and engaging.The ending did not come as a surprise for me, but then I think it was deliberately designed that way. Or maybe it only seems like that to me because I tend to think like Nick Cooper? But it's more likely because I've read so many books that I notice the small cues, or in this case the less than subtle cue. And yet that had zero impact on my absolute enjoyment of this book and series as a whole. I know that the only thing that will knock my head out of Sakey's world will be to immerse myself in another compelling book, but I plan on lingering in this wonderful world a while longer. Thank you Mr. Sakey!