Synopsis
First Light, the riveting sequel to Liz Kerin’s Night’s Edge, is about seizing a brighter future by confronting the shadows of our past.
“I came all this way to watch you burn.”
It’s been nine months since the catastrophe in Tucson sent Mia fleeing from her home. But she’s not running away from the darkness―she’s running toward it, obsessively pursuing the man who gave her mother a thirst for blood and destroyed their lives.
But when Mia finds the monsters she’s been hunting and infiltrates a secret network of fugitives, she discovers she might have been their prey all along. To escape their clutches, she’ll have to reckon with her mother’s harrowing past and confront a painful truth: that they might be more alike than she ever imagined.
Review
The biggest thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the eARC!
Every once in a while, a book manages to fully and wholeheartedly capture my surprise. Liz Kerin’s Night’s Edge (my review here) was certainly one of those novels that knocked me squarely off my feet. The story of Mia and her strained relationship with her toxic mother is the subject of this first novel, one that ends in shambles. Never have I read a piece of literature that so authentically and brutally examines unhealthy relationships and the lifestyle of attempting to appease those who never will be satisfied. More impressive is the creative lens in which we view these conflicts as the world has fallen prey to a pandemic of vampirism. That’s right, Mia’s mother is blood-sucking in more than one way. While I harbor a deep love for Night’s Edge, nothing could prepare me for the love I have found for First Light.
First Light is a book that sprints headlong into darkness, unafraid of harsh truths, yet delivers one of the most optimistic endings I’ve read in months, leaving happy tears in my eyes. The events of this novel transpire within past and present timelines, but essentially things pick right back up where we left Mia. Life as she’s known it has been completely flipped upside down as she tries to navigate the world she only knew through the limited scope her mother allowed. Ultimately, Mia finds herself living in New York City, wrestling with her sense of stability, ambition, identity, and purpose.
The phrase, “wherever you go, there you are” frequently resurfaced in my mind as Mia describes her “second shadow” in her new life. While she can physically relocate herself from a place that brought happiness matched with unfathomable pain, the emotional turmoil Mia struggles with cannot be left in Arizona. Many of the arbitrary rules established by her mother to keep them “safe” are obsolete now considering her circumstances. In the stark light of freedom, Mia experiences a paralysis of sorts, a distrust for the ability to break those arbitrary rules. Kerin manages to illustrate the haunting nature of the lingering effects of someone who overpowers your life, your will. This is a horror novel that thrives on the terrors of grief, loss, and coming to terms with your own erosion of self.
To boot, Kerin’s pacing is light-speed with the two separate timelines converging at the culmination of Mia’s past and where she is heading. First Light is a very hard book to put down as I often found myself so adrift in the pages that I lost track of time. Mia’s emotional strife steers many of the decisions she makes, for better or worse. There is a dynamic nature to First Light in that we are witness to numerous transformations and evolutions of multiple characters. It’s a thrilling journey that is laced with heart-wrenching prose and an unflinching examination of the complex emotions established during a traumatic time in Mia’s life.
Perhaps the best amalgamation of the trauma Mia endured as a child is Devon himself, a Sara (vampire) from Mia’s past who we met in Night’s Edge. While he could be solely blamed for the state of her childhood, Mia’s response to Devon is complex. In bringing so much strife to her life, he was also a constant and one of the few people who knew Mia’s mother as well as she did. His reappearance in Mia’s life also equates to the arrival of a multitude of emotions. There’s something so clear and fluid in the presentation of these feelings that are normally so hard to place and describe. Kerin has all of my applause and respect for finding words for feelings that are normally nameless ghosts.
Above all, the journey we take with Mia may be bloody, horrific, gruesome, and traumatic, but in the end, Kerin’s conclusion makes this unyielding heartache more than worth it. Coming to terms with the brutality of one’s past is never a light-hearted affair and doesn’t instill emotions of optimism and hope. Yet, the characters within this story shine with grit, determination, and above all, resiliency. Mia finds a place of understanding regarding her relationship with her mother, one that doesn’t force forgiveness for all sins, but rather acceptance.
This distinction of recognition and forgiveness with grace between those two spaces is one of the most beautiful concepts I’ve come across in literature. Through both Night’s Edge and First Light, a certain ease can be found in the certainty of Kerin’s words and the story she chooses to tell. Mia’s story feels equally haunting and emotionally moving, one that reaches a conclusion with this second novel. While I’m heartbroken to be saying goodbye, I cannot be more comforted and touched by this ending. Liz Kerin, you have a forever fan.
If you haven’t read Night’s Edge yet, the paperback version releases on March 19 just in time to read before First Light releases.
First Light releases on April 23, 2024 from Tor Nightfire.
Leave a Reply