A Better World: The Brilliance Trilogy, Book 2

What I would have liked to know before I bought this book. (minor spoilers)1. What type of book is it: adventure, action, drama, etc? This is a superhero action/thriller.2. What is the story about, in general? The story is about Nick Cooper, now an advisor to the United States, trying to stop the multilayered plans of those who want a war between the Brilliants and normals.3. What/Who is the target audience? The target audience is male young adult and adults. Teenagers might enjoy the superpowers, but this book is not completely targeted at them.4. How is the proofreading? Excellent. I couldn't detect a single error. Not saying there aren't any. Simply, the story was so engrossing I didn't see them.5. Is there character development or exploration? Yes. Though Nick doesn't evolve, the depth of his commitment and character are explored. Shannon has a compelling role within the story, but the story doesn't evolve or explore her personality much. She's very much a secondary character in this book.The antagonists have believable reasons for their actions. They are evil in the most dangerous way possible because they embrace the one constant that is used to excuse any sort of brutality in the world: a compelling pretext used to manufacture consent. It is frightening how similar it is to today's political and media machinations.Though all of the characters have rigid roles to play, all the primary and secondary characters have flaws and merits that make them very real. They are ALIVE within the rigidity of their roles.6. Are the characters likable? I loved all the characters. Each one meshed like part of a perfectly choreographed ballet. You will find personalities, from all spectrum, realistically depicted. Some minor roles are cliché. Some secondary characters act with a little too much predictability, but with well written motivations.7. Do you have to suspend disbelief? Only once did my disbelief blossom. There is -1- coincidence in this story that felt both extreme and improbable, AT FACE VALUE. There are hints this `coincidence' wasn't a coincidence, thus I am not sure what to believe about it. That's excellent!8. Does the story keep its pacing? Yes, as long as you can appreciate the intrigue. You won't find exploding action from beginning to end, like some royal rumble. You'll find the contention of the 'chess player'. The vileness of certainty. The righteousness of elitism. The cunning of fear.The book doesn't specifically focus on Nick but embraces important perspectives from different secondary characters that boldly enhance the reader experience.Some readers will find the subject matter too abrasive, or similar to criticism of the state, for their socio-political sensibilities and won't be comfortable with the read. This will occur regardless of the fact this is a book in an alternate unreal Earth. I am not one of them. This book takes some solid risks and pulls them off.The only aspect that I am truly critical about is the ending. It reads as a cliffhanger, even though the story does conclude a reasonable chapter within the Brilliance Saga.9. Is the book worth the asking price? This book is very good and its only a $2 read.In conclusion: This is one of the smartest, most well written, bits of superhuman sci-fi I have ever read. All the characters have believable merits and flaws. Even the most static secondary character had moments of humanity. All the antagonists have stratified reasons for their actions: both good and bad. Even the mentally unsound were written BELIEVABLY mentally unsound. There were NO major coincidences and I did not feel the `hand of the author' pressing down on the story to force my attention down unbelievable paths. The only sloppy part I can see was the badly written ending, because it portrays a strong feeling of being a cliffhanger. It isn't. The author did complete what he wanted to, but the ending was very abrupt and lacked the subtle brilliance of the rest of the read. The price is super cheap at $2. The proofreading is excellent. I am not sure it's everyone's cup of tea, but I strongly recommend this book.4.5 Stars

A BETTER WORLD is the second novel in what is shaping up to be an outstanding sci-fi series. Author Marcus Sakey has already penned a number of very successful, highly acclaimed crime novels. BRILLIANCE, the first in this new series and the predecessor to A BETTER WORLD was his first foray into sci-fi and was a winner, with close to 1,900 reviews on Amazon averaging 4.3 thus far. As good as BRILLIANCE was, A BETTER WORLD is even better.Sakey has created a world in which it was discovered that starting in 1980, for inexplicable reasons, 1% of children were born as "Brilliants", who possessed savant-like talents and abilities like predicting with great accuracy what people will do or are thinking by observing subtle behavioral reveals, or who can interpret data well enough to predict the stock marker well enough to amass a $300 billion fortune and force the closure of the stock markets as we know them today in our world. And our world, at least in America (there is nothing about how the rest of the world is faring so far in the series) is not in such great shape.As A BETTER WORLD opens (immediately following the events in BRILLIANCE), three cities are burning, due to terrorist attacks and incitement of rage of norms or straights (the non-Brilliant 99%) directed against the abnormal or twists (the Brilliants). Nick Cooper, previously a agent of a governmental agency that hunted and assassinated twists even though himself a "Tier 1" brilliant who can read peoples intentions to act based on body language and other physiological tells, is now an advisor to the POTUS, after finding and revealing evidence that cause the previous president to resign and the government agency that hunted twists to be disbanded. If you are starting to feel like you've seen this before in an X-Men movie or comic book, you're right, sort of. But in Sakey's world the "mutants" can't fly or shoot laser beams out of their eyes, their gifts are completely mental and much less superhero-like. And the writing, plotting and pacing are ... brilliant!The character development is excellent. Nick is divorced with 2 kids. His ex-wife, with whom he is on great terms is a norm but his daughter is a Tier 1 twist who is in danger of being taken away from her mother and placed in one of the government-run "schools" that are really more like prison and brainwashing institutions. This galvanizes him into action leading to all the events in BRILLIANCE, that include a serious reconsideration of who and what he is and in whom and what he believes. He is helped along the way by Shannon, another twist, but she on the terrorist's side. Their relationship evolves and the conflict between twist and straight is explored in greater depth in A BETTER WORLD, along with the psychologies of those leading the terrorists and those who just want everyone to get along. Not surprisingly, there are some of both on both sides.There is climax that ends with a bang but it is obvious that there is more to come. AndI can't wait. In addition, Amazon's unusual Kindle Worlds allows other to write and e-publish their own fiction based on the work of other authors (with certain form constraints) and Sakey's BRILLIANCE series has already generated a few of these so you don't have to wait for Sakey if you want more of this world.Very Highly Recommended.JM Tepper

First things first: as a writer, Markus Sakey definitely has balls.It never ceases to amaze me in this series how far Sakey is able to escalate the situations he creates. Every time a crisis reaches breaking point (and at exactly the point where most writers would back off and have someone save the day) Sakey somehow pushes things even further. This lends the Brilliance books a level of tension so few novels manage since you really never know what's going to happen next. Every time you think, okay, this is the breaking point, this is the limit...Sakey snaps right through it and takes the situation to a whole new level. It makes for an absolutely exhilarating read.It also helps that Sakey writes well. These novels are as fast paced as anything I've read and while there are some cheesy moments, I think that's exactly what this sort of book requires to keep it from either becoming a numbing succession of action sequences or ruining the mood with out of place personal dramas. The dialogues are sparky and generally to the point and the characters are fleshed out quickly with the reader easily able to supply details and form opinions based on their actions.I'm not at all surprised these books have been optioned for movie releases and I hope they get the big budget treatment as I could see them becoming huge successes if done right.

I read the first book in this series and really enjoyed the concept [very clever]. The characters emerged in a multilevel way with some extremely clever twists.It covered the concepts of loyalty and friendship showing that the author was speaking from experience.This second book carries on in the same vein. I have seen it likened to "X Men", strange I see no miraculous powers over the elements only an ability to think, reason and act in a superior way.You can really understand why the common man would object and work against this rather than embrace and take advantage of all the benefits.But then look at who is against progress for the benefit of the masses, yes those who have climbed high on the backs of everyone else. Unfortunately commonsense is just not common.

Wow! I am so pleased I stumbled across this book one when looking for a thriller to sink my teeth into. The premise doesn't sound that original but don't let that fool you - it's utterly gripping and at the same time very thought provoking. Marcus Sakey is a brilliant writer who has crafted engaging characters and a very clever plot.I actually read the book one and book two in three days! I just couldn't stop myself. Cannot wait until Book 3!Book 2 takes right up where Book 1 left off and things get very dark... I won't spoil it for anyone but you won't have any nails left by the time you read the last page. Loved it!

First book was very clever and I thoroughly enjoyed it.However this book had less depth and felt like it had been written without the same love and attention. It lacked originality and parts lacked credibility. For example when cooper over comes the assassin at the end the explanation for this falls short. The same could be said of a number of other areas of the plot.Probably better enjoying the first book and giving this a miss.

I have to say it took me a while to get into this novel, which was surprising having flown through the first one and enjoyed every minute.This second book in the series is a little slower to get going and when it does it all quickly builds to a rather epic climax. However, it is fair to say that although enjoyable it is very guilty of being a middle book of a trilogy and it is soon very clear not all the plot threads will be resolved in this book.That aside, the book is well written and the characters are believable with solid character development.I hope the final books lives up to my expectations.