A heart-wrenching standalone novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, We Burned So Bright follows an older queer couple on an end-of-the-world road-trip.
The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….
Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.
Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.
Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.
On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.
And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.
Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?
The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….
Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.
Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.
Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.
On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.
And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.
Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?
Title: We Burned So Bright
Author: T.J. Klune
Publisher: Tor
Expected Publication Date: April 28, 2026
Reivew:
Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Tor, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read/listen and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Is there anything Klune can write that I won't instantly adore? I think not! Every time I pick up a Klune book and step into the world he's created, I feel like I'm part of the cast going through the story and plot along with the characters. Feeling every emotion and falling deeper and deeper in love with what he's created. It makes it so hard to put into words my thoughts on a story or book. But here I go, trying my best to let you know exactly why you have top pick this one up and give it a try.
From the start I need to implore people to read the triggers in this book. There are quite a few. While I don't have any triggers, I can see how the things presented in this book could truly hurt those who are affected by them.
I need to talk about the narrator first, Kirt Graves! I think this is my first story listening to him. I do see he has narrated most of Klune's books, but I've read those all in print. But his voice, his pacing, his emotion, and the way he does the voices? All perfection. I'm sure the print version of this story would have had me hooked, but Graves took it to a whole other level for me. Now I want to go back and listen to all of Klune's books that I've already read just to hear Graves tell the story!
Have you ever read a story that just opened your eyes to things you thought you knew about but truly didn't? This story did that for me in such a way that it made my heart ache to know I was missing so much. I have to give some background. I grew up in a very liberal household. I'm GenX and my neighborhood in Brooklyn was very mixed with people are all colors, ethnicities, and backgrounds. My parents had a very large group of friends in the gay community there so, to me, being gay was just who they were. There wasn't anything odd, strange, or disgusting about who these people were, they were just our friends. But all those friends of my parents also purposefully chose this neighborhood just for that reason. I never saw them experience the hate that came along with who they chose to show the world that they were. And then this book told the story of two men climbing through so much just so they could love one another. and be together. Just so they could be parents. The hate and vitriol they experienced was something I just could not fathom. I know it exists, and has and did when I was growing up and I was lucky to not have to experience that or see our friends experience. Or perhaps they hid it from me so I would not have to see the ugly side of things? Either way, Klune shifted my shifted and my eyes were opened to how lucky I was to have been insulated from this growing up. How I was able to be open to however people chose to live their lives.
The story of these two men, Rodney and Dom, as they journey to take care of some unfinished business was just amazing. Their love and life were beautiful. I could not help but be amazed by their willingness to run head first into adversity and challenge everything. They were so very strong in their convictions. And their love for one another was palpable.
The idea that everyone might face the end of the world one day is not new to me. Growing up in the 80s, I am well aware of the feel of the Cold War. Of the idea that I could be blasted from this earth by things that are beyond my control. While the end of the world portrayed in this book is a natural disaster, the idea, the fear, the reality of it is the same. I knew going in there was not going to be a true happy ending to this story. After all, everyone and everything on earth were going to be taken out in the blink of an eye. But the way in which Klune got us there involved so much heart. And he shows how these two men accept their fate while looking back on their 40 years together and seeing how very much in love they still truly are.
My only critique, which did not lower my rating, was that this story is so short. Does that create an urgency that is necessary, it does. But I wish I could read Rodney and Don's back story (even though we get a good chunk of the flashbacks of it in this book).
Once again Klune has captured me with his compelling and layered story telling. Every topic he chooses to explore is thought provoking and touches on humanity in a way that really causes me to pause and reevaluate how I think about things. How he manages to make me fall for his characters to easily, I will never know. I even have some empathy for the vilest of the characters and that is not an easy feat!
This book made me laugh out loud many times. But it also made me think deeply about how I want to present myself, how I want to treat others, and how I want my children to treat others. And it definitely made me cry; tears of sorrow but also tears of joy for the full and loving life these two men shared. I'm profoundly moved by this story and cannot wait to see how else Klune will shift my mind in the future!
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