A fitting end to a wild and unique paranormal fantasy saga.
The concluding installment of Hincker’s The History of Light pentalogy chronicles an emotionally fractured painter’s attempt to save the world.
Skysill Beach, an artists’ colony/tourist trap on the Southern California coast, has seen better days: A curse is “dismantling” the world, and everyone outside of the colony may already be dead. Asher Gale, a painter and recovering drug addict at Skysill Beach, has visions (or twisted hallucinations) increasingly filled with apocalyptic images: “I saw the Earth devastated. Everything shattered. A dark disk in the sky. Cities leaning, empty, oceans dried, mountains thrown over.” Reality isn’t much better—the sun has begun to inexplicably go out (“there was a round, black disc in the sky in its place, and darkness deeper than grave shadow everywhere I looked”). Nightmarish monsters are falling from the sky, and grotesque spirits are emerging from inhabitants’ backs like cicadas freeing themselves from shells. With his girlfriend Caroline dead and his essence progressively fracturing, Ash must somehow figure out how to stop the curse and free billions of spirits stuck on Earth yearning to travel through dimensions to the Forgiving Sea, where they can wash their spirits clean before time ends. While this story works well as an eschatological fantasy, it’s ultimately not so much a narrative about unlikely heroes at the end of the world as it is a story about the transcendent power of love. Although Hincker heaps on Ash’s sarcasm and snark throughout the series (sometimes to the detriment of the story’s intensity), the emotional connection between him and Caroline is intense and authentic. Their relationship is the fuel that powers the narrative to its stand-up-and-applaud conclusion. Readers will be enthralled right up to the very last page.
A fitting end to a wild and unique paranormal fantasy saga.Pub Date: June 14, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
A tender reminder that gratitude is a path we choose, one conversation at a time.
In Green’s inspirational novel, a journalist boarding the wrong train discovers the right moment to speak the words that matter.
Daniel arrives at the Beacon station carrying a leather notebook filled with an unfinished eulogy for his still-living grandfather, only to be swept onto the mysterious 5:07 Gratitude Express, a steam locomotive that appears “for those who want to express gratitude.” His uncanny journey sends him through vividly rendered moments from his own life, where he witnesses the ripple effects of kindnesses he has offered and reunites—sometimes for the first time—with people who were permanently shaped by those actions. Each stop brings a new encounter: A childhood classmate says, “That morning, you altered the course of my life”; an elderly woman confesses, “Your simple act of kindness saved me that day”; a mentor tells him, “You need to figure out what you’re good at and what you like to do. Because when you do that, your potential is limitless.” By the time Daniel reaches Cedarville, intent on seeing his grandfather—the person who most profoundly shaped him—his reflections echo the conductor’s warning that “Time is unpredictable, and unsaid words bring pain and regret.” What follows is a moving affirmation of connection that honors the story’s central message: Appreciation should be expressed to the living. Green structures the narrative as a fable, with emotional clarity and cinematic pacing. The train’s dissolving walls, the recurring whistle rising “high into the dark sky,” and the symbolic briefcase filled with long-kept letters lend the tale a gentle magical-realist texture. While the storyline remains linear and accessible for all ages, the themes—regret, legacy, and intergenerational love—invite adult reflection. The prose is simple, intentionally so, grounding the fantastical elements in an earnest emotional register. This is not a plot-twist-driven story; it’s a quiet parable urging readers to act before time steals their chances. Readers who appreciate heartfelt, uplifting narrative journeys will find resonance in Green’s message.
A tender reminder that gratitude is a path we choose, one conversation at a time.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9798891385252
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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