“There's a lot of difficulty in answering questions as to what kind of people the Krestge are because to get to know one is not to get to know all.

While some people are willing to forgive the crimes of the past, going so far as to start families with the Krestge, others see the aliens’ crimes as unforgivable. Some of the aliens’ descendants now live peacefully among humans. The book is also about the relationship between humans and their former antagonists, the Krestge.

But a deeper story follows the relationship of a mother and her young daughter, who is kidnapped and abused by a warlord building an army of child soldiers. The frame of Destroyer of Light is a mystery-a search for a missing boy. They are the survivors of the world described in Elysium-an Earth where four-dimensional aliens known as the Krestge have destroyed human civilization. Her new novel takes readers far into the future where humans are settling a new planet. Dick Special Citation and a finalist for the Locus and the Tiptree awards. (Dec.Is Jennifer Marie Brissett’s long-awaited follow up to her critically acclaimed debut Elysium, winner of a Philip K. Brissett deftly handles the challenge of a multitude of characters all being the same people in a multitude of places that are the same place, while exploring complicated questions about identity. Brissett’s punch of a debut is bewildering at first, but never so confusing as to frustrate the reader, and repeating elements and symbols help tie everything together-not neatly, for so much of the world is broken, but enough. Gradually the protagonist comes to understand what’s happening and step into the role of savior for the mysterious Elysium. As the fragments of story grow larger and more complex, Adrianne/Adrian continues changing, but Earth remains the same dark place, haunted by an event that alters or kills most of the population. But sooner or later, Antoine/Antoinette is always lost. The one love in her/his life is Antoine/Antoinette, who appears in a variety of roles such as lover, sibling, and friend. Adrianne/Adrian moves back and forth through recent time, switching sexes and situations-always with the same people, albeit in different roles-with each life interrupted and restarted by a mysterious computer code that he/she is occasionally vaguely aware of.

Elysium by jennifer marie brissett