Between Burning Worlds

Jessica Brody · Joanne Rendell

Mar 2020 · System Divine Book 2 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

​Deluxe edition with special embellishments on first printing only.

Les Misérables meets The Lunar Chronicles in the out-of-this-world sequel to Sky Without Stars that’s an “explosion of emotion, intrigue, romance, and revolution” (Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series).

A traitor.
A prisoner.
A fugitive.

Wanted by the Regime. Destined to save the planet.

Laterre is on the brink of war. The Third Estate are rioting against the injustices of a corrupt system. The Patriarche, reeling from the murder of his only heir, makes brutal attempts to quash the unrest, while a new militant faction launches a series of deadly attacks.

And three outlaws find themselves pulled into the fray...

Marcellus is now a traitor to his planet, willing to do anything to stop his grandfather from seizing control of Laterre, even if it means joining the Vangarde, a rebel group back from the dead.

Chatine is a prisoner on Bastille. Desperate to survive the harsh conditions of the moon, she becomes embroiled in the Vangarde’s dangerous attempt to free their infamous leader.

Alouette is a fugitive who has been lied to her entire life. Searching for the truth about her mysterious past, she soon finds herself hunted by the Regime for reasons she’s only beginning to understand.

But when Laterre is threatened by the emergence of a deadly new weapon, these three renegades must risk everything, traveling to the far reaches of the System Divine and into the white hot center of a planet ready to ignite.

Ratings and reviews

Between Burning Worlds starts off 2 weeks after the events of Sky Without Stars, with Marcellus wanting to join the Vanguarde, Chatine on Bastille, and Alouette run away from the Refuge, to seek more information about her past. The General’s plans for Laterre are a mystery that Marcellus wants to find out, and prevent from happening, but he constantly feels like his grandfather is three moves ahead of him in everything. Chatine is suffering from auditory hallucinations on Bastille, and the harsh conditions over there, but she notices a pattern among the older seeming prisoners over there. While the Vanguarde amping up its efforts to free Citizen Rousseau, another group emerges in the aftermath of that attempt, with a similar revolutionary streak. Some of main characters, meanwhile, have to escape the planet to find the nefarious plans the General has in store. There’s a lot that can’t be discussed in this review because of spoilers, but I gotta say, I loved that we got to see outside of Laterre in this book, and how things work on other planets. The introduction of three new major characters to be a part of the team infused it with new energy, especially the sparkling personality of self-claimed ‘criminal mastermind’ Gabriel, who just screams ‘we are all gonna die’ at every minor inconvenience, and self-claimed ‘sympathizer’ Cerise, who just wants to punch him at every instance, but you can definitely see their relationship developing in between the bickering. Etienne was also a treat, but his home especially is a symbol of hope for Chatine, who never knew such a loving society could exist where people do things for each other out of love and community. The twists and reveals in this sequel were not all surprising, since some of them had nicely placed foreshadowing at various points, so it was also fun to unravel some mysteries of the plot. It also made the long length of this book worth it, which at 690 pages, could have felt tiring but instead just allowed for more development between characters, character storylines and the world-building. Overall, it is a fantastic sequel, with an action-packed plot and the addition of new characters to love!

About the author

Jessica Brody is the author of several popular novels for teens and tweens, including The Geography of Lost Things, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, A Week of Mondays, Better You Than Me, and the Unremembered trilogy. She lives with her husband and four dogs near Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com.

Joanne Rendell is the author of three novels and holds a PhD in English literature. She teaches fiction writing to teens and kids and is a board member for the youth Shakespeare company New Genesis Productions. With her husband and son, Joanne divides her time between New York City and New Paltz, New York. Visit Joanne at JoanneRendell.com.