The Brilliance saga is fucking awesome.

Really, there’s no other way to describe it. Well, that’s not true. I could call it mind-bogglingly incredible or shit-faced genius or insane amazing awesome-balls good, but really, fucking awesome sums it up.

It’s everything superhero stories should be, and aren’t. The setup is pretty simple: 1% of all humans since 1980 have been born with abilities and now humanity stands on the brink of war and blah blah blah. But where the Brilliance saga becomes, well, brilliant is how it treats this situation. Its hero is Nick Cooper, is both a Brilliant (he can read intentions and body language) and a government agent, and so has what we might call conflicted loyalties. Cooper’s goal is to protect the US from those who want to destroy it, Brilliant or not, and that’s where the saga gets its oomph. For all his powers, Nick’s fallible and fragile and constantly trying to balance a web of conflicting loyalties.

Sakey’s story feels like it’s set in the real world, in a constantly shifting, unstable landscape, and it’s all too easy to imagine the events actually happening. More importantly, when it comes to the safety of his characters, Sakey gives zero fucks. Shit gets real, real fast.

Books 1 and 2 (Brilliance and A Better World) were among the best action thrillers I’ve read. Book 3 – Written In Fire – had a lot to live up to. And it did. It really did.

Here, I have a problem. I can’t tell you why. To do so would be to spoil things in a really hideous way. This is a story that you just have to read. And please do read it. It’s one of the most unique series I’ve ever come across.

Ignore the cover though. The cover is ass. Which I can’t understand, because the covers for the first two books were great. Take a look at the cover above, in all its swirly, generic, can’t-be-arsed glory, and then look at the covers of the first two books below.

Doesn’t make a lot of sense, huh?

But look, forget the covers. Go buy the books. They are…well, fucking awesome.