What prepper would burn their house down and go live in the trees above a swamp? One of the many odd things the people do in this book. Climate change is bad. Men are dumb. The water glows, we know not why. Blah, blah, blah…. The end… ( )

"The beginning of the end. How quickly it all unraveled."

I'm surprised by how moved I am by this one, how much I loved it. The story is broke in to 4 parts. Each part is centered around the current issue to survival. Because the world is dying. Sure, it's slow, but we always think we have more time. We won't see the break down of nature and society in our lifetime. We have time.

But in this world, they are running out of time. Weather in Florida has become even more unpredictable. The storms are larger than they've ever been and keeping the infrastructure of roads and power and water going is becoming difficult and costly.

I like that our story is somewhat cocooned. I think if this story was about the complete breakdown of it all, it would be too sad, too real. I like that it focuses on this small town, this small moment - each part jumping in time to give you the next step of survival.

The connection you feel to both the people and to the land/nature as the story goes on is quiet. It sneaks up until you realize you are mourning each loss of parts while celebrating the return of others. It wasn't a fast read but it was moving, I'm glad I got this as my BOTM read. It was so good! ( )

Climate change devastates the state of Florida, and we follow Wanda throughout her life in this small town that goes under water. For the amount of loss in this book it's astonishing how hopeful it also manages to be. ( )

Wanda arrives during a terrible hurricane in Florida which marks the beginning of the end for the area as it submerges under water and heat. In The Light Pirate, Lily Brooks-Dalton tells Wanda’s story in four distinct parts as she comes of age in a world collapsing amid climate change. What makes this novel so good is how real it all feels, and how beautifully Brooks-Dalton illuminates the disintegration of one life but the emergence of something different. ( )

What an incredible book. This is a deeply atmospheric story of survival set in a near future ravaged by the effects of climate change. It's filled with scenes of grief and destruction, but it's surprisingly hopeful at the same time. ( )

Brilliant and beautiful. The apocalyptic novels are getting much more interesting and diverse! ( )

An interesting read which leaves you with environmental concerns. In a fictional Florida town a family endures yet another storm losing one child and a mother giving birth during the raging hurricane . The story follows the father, remaining son and the daughter Wanda, born during the storm. Living in Rudder Florida gets increasingly difficult with storms and town services, schools, cell service everything shutting down and people evacuated . But Wanda and her dad stay. Luke moves to LA but it too is disintegrating ( by fires). Wanda is entrusted to Phylis . A scientist and survivorlest. The rest of the novel us hiw they , mostly Wanda lives in a world that is returning to water.
Really brings to life where our world could be heading. Is it an eggsageration? It’s scary to think about but recent climate change tells us it cannot be ignored . ( )

An astonishingly well written book. The author deftly weaves her story, needing not to serve an avalanche of words when a concise sentence suffices. I read this as if in a daze, fully immersed in the faltering landscape of a climate-ravaged Florida, populated with real people whose motivations are never really clear. We watch the protagonist, Wanda, as she ages from uncertain youth to confident maturity, discovering what is truly lost and what can truly be found again. ( )

Sometime in near future, Florida is disappearing, parts of it lost after every violent storm hits its shores. People are slowly leaving. In one of the small towns, a pregnant woman and her two step-sons are waiting for the arrival of another hurricane, while her husband is outside working as a lineman. This is enough of an introduction as any other info would destroy what I consider the best part of the novel.

Sometimes I feel like lately, every other book I've read is cli-fi. It is inevitable that after some time they all start feeling the same. It takes a seriously good author to set these books apart in themes, character development and plot outcomes. While I think that Lily Brooks-Dalton wrote a decent, poetic book it is still not up to par with the best genre books such as [b:Migrations|42121525|Migrations|Charlotte McConaghy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612818084l/42121525._SY75_.jpg|65230718].

There were three main problems I had with it. The most obvious is the pacing. This book is divided into four parts. The first part was fantastic and the second part was just a little bit below that standard. But subsequent parts were progressively worse. They were much slower and what they described added very little to the story. The end was especially formulaic and disappointing.

The second problem was Wanda. I couldn't connect with her and cared very little about her throughout the novel. At first, I thought maybe she is intentionally written "at a distance" to underline her "otherness", belonging to the new world. Even the thing that made her special didn't make any sense. It was just distracting and a lazy plot device for a couple of scenes.

And the worst thing for me was the fact that the swamp setting made this so evocative of [b:Where the Crawdads Sing|36809135|Where the Crawdads Sing|Delia Owens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582135294l/36809135._SY75_.jpg|58589364] that I just couldn't stop comparing it to that book, which I found much, much better.

3.5 stars ( )

Almost unbearably beautiful and terrifying. ( )

This book is so beautifully written and heart wrenching. Dystopian but I can really imagine this happening in the future. ( )

So, if you experienced the winds of Hurricane Michael, and the water that came with Hurricane Ian last year; if you get anxious when the winds pick up ad the drainage ditches start to over flow from the rain, this is definitely NOT the book you need to be reading.

Hurricane Michael was my first ever hurricane and, although I don't get anxious when winds pick up and bad storms are heading this way, the first part of this book was so spot on in it's description of a hurricane, it brought to mind October 10 2022. We were lucky and were not affected by surge, but friends of ours were, and the second part of the book made me remember what they went through.

Unfortunately after the second section, for me, the book just went down hill from there and I couldn't finish it.

Hats off to the Author though for giving the Linesmen the recognition they so rarely receive, hopefully making us all remember that, should anything like this hit us again, while we are trying to reclaim our lives from the wreckage, they are out there risking theirs so we can have power. ( )

Riveting and brutal and just a bit hopeful. Really well-written interior lives of a wide variety of characters. A rare artwork that strikes that Neko Case-style "Nature is the most divine; Nature will fucking kill you" reverence. ( )

This book was interesting to say the least. Never read anything like it before. It's part fantasy/futuristic in a way which I've never read. It's not categorized as such but that's how I see it.

Florida is awash in hurricanes every year, some rain or shine, and people are leaving this small town of Rudder. Power grids are going down, survival is getting harder and harder. Wanda (who was born during such a hurricane) has this power of luminescence in the water. No one really knows except for her family and her one neighbor who becomes a mother to her after tragedy happens over and over again especially to her family.

Wanda lives off the grid and never leaves and the way she does is unbelievable. How she survived is beyond me. The book ends when she is an old woman. Obviously the book started when she was born. ( )

Wanda was born in the middle of a devastating hurricane and that tragedy sets the tone for this novel of the disappearance of Florida as we know it under a continuing barrage of storms, rising seas, and the breakdown of society not just in Florida but throughout the United States. The story stays small and local - how Wanda and her family cope with loss - of family, of home, of community. But it is also the story of change and adaptation - of building new families and communities to fit the new world. It feels very contemporary but also has that flavor of "end of the world" stories and what comes after. ( )

The Light Pirate opens with a storm named Wanda creating mayhem and destruction for Kirby Lowe, his wife Frida, and Kirby’s two young sons. This section focuses on power: the power of the storm, the loss of electrical power, and the loss of power against nature. The reader learns that storms reign supreme against man and that the country remains powerless to the severity of each storm. The power section ends with the death of Frida and the younger son, Flip, and the untimely birth of Wanda. The second section describes water and follows the childhood of Wanda, his brother Lucas, and her father Kirby. The flow of words has fallen and the book plummets into ennui. Nothing salvages the flowery language of the opening section. ( )

I did not read anything about this book before I picked it up to read for a book club. I was therefore quite surprised when it turned into a futuristic novel of what might happen in Florida if global warming continued. While I appreciate the survival skills Wanda develops, the depressing scenario is hard to read. ( )

This was a beautifully written, elegiac story that paints a frighteningly realistic picture of what may happen once the effects of climate change ramp up. Set in Florida, it begins during a hurricane and follows the life of the girl born during that storm and named for it, Wanda, as civilization disintegrates and she must adapt to the new reality. I couldn't help comparing this to Brooks-Dalton's first novel, as the themes are similar: the placid endurance of nature, the reverence for a place, the sense of being isolated in a world that isn't cruel, necessarily, but is indifferent. The characters in this second novel were stronger, though. Wanda and her people were people I felt I came to know and understand. A lovely book, with an undercurrent of resignation that isn't quite hopelessness. ( )

Hurricane Wanda was the beginning of the end for Florida. It was especially life changing for the Lowe family – a time of utter devastation as well as the birth of their daughter, Wanda, born prematurely during the storm and named by her mother with her dying breath.

As hurricanes became fiercer and more frequent, the water levels rose throughout Florida. With each storm more infrastructure was destroyed until public workers like Wanda’s father, linesman Kirby Lowe could not keep up. One by one, the utilities blinked off – electricity, cell phone. Roads as well as supermarkets and gas stations were abandoned. Eventually entire cities were deserted and Florida was left to become wild once more.

Although Floridians had no choice but to leave, climate change was wreaking havoc everywhere. While certain areas of the country were moving more slowly toward extinction, there was no doubt they were moving.
.
The child Wanda and her best friend, a retired prepper named Phyllis chose to stay in Florida’s swamp land.

And then there is Wanda’s gift – a touch of magical realism through the story that may help save or sink them.

One cannot survive by desperately clinging and trying to restore what was. It’s a bit of a Buddhist twist for me – suffering is caused by attachment to what was; the only path is moving forward. ( )

A dystopian future due to the effects of climate change, very believable. Great characters. I agree with others that the ending felt rushed, but overall a great read. ( )

A beautiful though bitter climate future story. Florida is going under water bit by bit, and civilization slowly migrates north, leaving few people behind with no infrastructure to speak of. There are tiny bits of magical realism, and the relationships are strong and endearing. It's hard to call this dystopian when it feels like our very near future. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2023/03/review-of-light-pirate-by-lily-brooks.h... ( )

I am really starting to get into cli-fi aka climate dystopians! The Light Pirate chronicles the life of a young girl who was born during a horrible, life altering hurricane. Delirious and dying her mother named her after the hurricane itself and Wanda grows up in a world much different than that of her parents. Hurricane seasons get longer and longer and Florida is barely hanging on. It is slowly reverting back to its swampy ways and the United States is ready to cut its tether to it. Her father is a lineman - one of the people who keeps the power on - but with the near constant hurricanes - how much longer is that even feasible? Wanda's best friend and mentor is a woman who lives down the street and has spent her life preparing for this exact eventuality. Known as a survivalist - if anyone can withstand what is coming it's her. This book felt more real than not and as Venice keeps sinking and the sea level keeps rising - who knows what is in store for Florida during my lifetime. A unique and captivating read! ( )

Another dystopian novel with Florida returning to the sea due to more intense hurricanes and rising sea levels. Story focuses on a lineman in a small town who can’t relate well to people, not even his young family in favor of work. He is left widowed with a young daughter and 2 sons to raise. The book describes the gradual devastation of rising temperatures and how this town attempts to cope but ultimately fails. The daughter is our heroine. ( )

I have some deeply mixed feelings about this story, on the one hand the apocalyptic Florida the author builds sounds like the thing of nightmares, perhaps made all the more horrifying by the possibility of it becoming a reality if we don’t change our ways. On the other hand, I think this is really a story of perseverance and defying the odds. It has to be said that the main character, the unfortunately named Wanda, gets the cards stacked against her from the outset. Her ability to get up everyday and not just persevere but also thrive with the hand she is dealt is inspiring. This story contains a lot of heartbreak, but there is beauty also in the violence. I found it interesting that the vicious storms that consistently tear Florida to shreds are almost treated as a character themselves here, something ancient and indomitable that just keeps grinding away regardless of the scale of the damage. Definitely a unique tale. Thank you to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )