I’d open my eyes and look out at the aching blue of the ocean–a color I had never seen in nature and that most likely only exists in the middle of the Atlantic, a gray blue like a storm cloud full of unspent lightning and unfallen rain.

Title: Lark Ascending (2022)
Author: Silas House
Pages: 288

I wasn’t just seasick; I was undone in sorrow.

Lark Ascending opens with our protagonist’s harrowing journey across the Atlantic Ocean as he flees fire-ravaged America. It’s a brutal voyage, rendered with mesmerizing imagery and soaked with angst. 

This is post-apocalyptic fiction, but House’s no-frills, plainly-told story is a refreshing change of pace from similar novels that might get bogged down with worldbuilding about the fall of our civilization. It’s visceral, heart-rending, but filled with hope and promise about the resiliency of a boy growing up under unspeakable conditions. 

★★★★