If you thought the first book in this duology was crazy, get ready for things to get insane! This time we're following Joe as he, Becky, and the other escapees struggle to stay one step ahead of their former captors. Joe is the most wanted man in America and no where is safe for his group, plus he's hindered by wounds and struggling to keep everything together.

Joe and Becky really push boundaries in this and I was constantly on the edge hoping they weren't caught or killed. There is a lot of killing in this and the story is not for the faint of heart. Both our main characters have been through so much and they're constantly in danger, I just wanted them to get away and be happy.

The ending of this was not what I expected, though it fit the theme well. I'm glad I was able to check this duology out

I wasn’t sure if I would like this one since it’s not my typical genre but it wasn’t that bad. It was slow for me and I found myself spacing out but I really enjoyed the ending!

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

This book instantly drew me in, I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style. I highly recommend picking this up!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Interesting and fast paced with a unexpected ending, not really my cup of tea but not bad

Awkward. I didn't realise this was a part of a duology!! So this was interesting to say the least. I think if I had read the first one, perhaps my star rating would have been higher, having the foundational ground laid out for me as such.
Decent enough story though, plot did feel as though it was stretch in places and it was time to keep moving on but over all not a bad read. I would recommend not following my footsteps though and read the first one before beginning this one!

After reading Try not to Die: Brightside by Mark Tullius and Dawna Gonzales I was excited to see that Net Galley had Beyond Brightside by Mark Tullius available as an audiobook. This is the second full book in the Brightside Saga. I would highly recommend reading the first book before starting this one. The first book will give you a good amount of background. There were times when the story line dragged a bit and that is why I feel it was 3 stars. It is good, but not something you have to run out and read right away.

Mind readers are feared and placed into an encampment. Joe Nolan and a few other mind readers escape to try and find a better life. This book explores what happens next and if they can truly be free.

Thank you Net Galley, for my copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

#BeyondBrightside #TryNottoDieInBrightside #NetGalley

It doesnt support or open after I download the pdf version of it. It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com I cant read the book from here. Please look into the issue

This second book in the duology is definitely on the darker side. Having made a violent escaped from Brightside, Joe and his friends are on the run and are being hunted by everyone. Even though they are all in constantly in danger, Joe is determined to help destroy the corrupt system that created distrust and hate within their society. There is plenty of fighting, violence, betrayal, pain and anguish in this story. It is fast moving and the struggles the characters face pull at your heart. The narrator of the audiobook did a good job of bringing out the despair and desperation and made the characters easily distinguishable. Even though this story is well written and moves along at a good pace, I did find it a bit too depressing for my liking. If you are looking for a happy ever after type story then this book is definitely not for you.

I DNF this audiobook because I found that this is the second book in the series. I want to read the first book first before I listen to this audiobook.

I didn't feel like I had missed much by not reading previous to that short story, though I think I would have been more lost without that prequel. The story is fast-moving and thought provoking. It wasn't a terribly new concept-that of people with abilities being feared and persecuted-but it was a good take on the situation. There is quite a bit of violence to this book. That isn't really surprising. Often, it seems as if the characters aren't making choices but are being lead along by circumstances with no idea what will come next. As the reader, we were right there with them.

This is the conclusion of the gritty Brightside Saga. The feared mind readers have broken out of Brightside.
Joe and his friends will try and bring down the establishment that encourages people to turn on each other.
But who can they trust?
I have to confess that I have not read this saga so far and it is out of my comfort zone. However I can see it is a well written and has a strong
I would recommend this saga to lovers of fast moving fantasy/utopian/action stories

“That’s it?”
That was what popped on my head as the last word on the audiobook faded.
It is true it said on the book description that it’s a dark story but I read other ‘dark’ series or books where the main character I was rooting for from book one died - Fires of Heaven by R. Jordan. The main character died but he left a better world - that’s my take on dark stories.
In this book, however, all the characters I got familiar with died - suicided to be precise. I mean what is the purpose for the main character to mutilate himself from chapter one to death on the end only to die leaving his world as ugly as it was in the beginning?
To save a character we’ve only met at the last part of the second to last chapter?
Not a book for me. Or a book I would want my teenage son to read.
The good side. It’s thriller with lots of fighting and would definitely warm your blood - the fights I mean. Romance? Eh, the best I can say is an encounter. There definitely is a story in here, a good one even specially when the good guys rally with all their heart and might. It is told well, too. My take is that this book tells anyone different who was treated bad to fight back to the death even if you just scratch the big bad enemy.
Sigh, I really did not get what I expected from this audiobook conclusion-wise but it was not a hard listen for me because the created world was great and the good guys are worth rooting for.

This dystopian novel was definitely interesting. I would have liked for the female characters to have a little more depth, but other than that, this was a decent read. You will find yourself rooting for the characters even though they are arguably the "bad guys". Thank you to NetGalley and Vincere Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for a copy of this book for an honest review.

If you thought the first book in this duology was crazy, get ready for things to get insane! This time we're following Joe as he, Becky, and the other escapees struggle to stay one step ahead of their former captors. Joe is the most wanted man in America and no where is safe for his group, plus he's hindered by wounds and struggling to keep everything together.

Joe and Becky really push boundaries in this and I was constantly on the edge hoping they weren't caught or killed. There is a lot of killing in this and the story is not for the faint of heart. Both our main characters have been through so much and they're constantly in danger, I just wanted them to get away and be happy.

The ending of this was not what I expected, though it fit the theme well. I'm glad I was able to check this duology out, I needed an action packed story to break up the monotony of my current reads!

I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is clearly a dystopian book made for guys. The amount of gross out in it was over the top. The female leads one defining trait was that she's a girl. The characters gave me no reason to care about them at all. I dnfed at 72%, that far in and I can remember the characters' names and I don't care if they complete their mission.

I listened to this on audio, and the narrator was so monotone I wasn't sure if it was even read by a real person.

Welcome to a dystopian sci-fi version of our world, where a fraction of the population possesses special telepathic abilities. Ordinary people are led to distrust, fear, and even loathe these “thought thieves”, and the powers-that-be scheme to lock them up in containment facilities, like Brightside. We enter the story mid-rebellion, alongside a handful of telepaths who have escaped Brightside with the help of sympathetic neurotypical facility staff. Running for their lives, with hopes of being smuggled out of the country by an underground network of sympathizers, our heroes instead find themselves neck-deep in a much larger plot.

While I did enjoy this audiobook very much, I found the narrative style of jumping back and forth through time jarring and disorienting. Sometimes it makes sense if what you’re revealing through these switches needs to be chronologically staggered that way—for instance, it could have led us to some important disclosure about how they escaped the facility that will change how we perceive everyone—but it completely failed to deliver and only added confusion rather than clarity.

I think the most original (to me, at least) element of this story was the ineptitude of the main character, Joe, after having a leadership role foisted upon him due to his parentage rather than his actual leadership skills. It made me reflect on what we mean by “inept”, what we look for in our leaders, and how much blame or responsibility for a failed plan we can realistically attribute to just one individual. Is Joe inept, or is he just human? Are his guilt and self-blame well-founded, or is he experiencing a form of impostor syndrome? Or, considering how he spends the entire book injured and experiences flashbacks of previous trauma and symptoms of PTSD, could this possibly be an interpretation of what a vulnerable masculinity looks like? Does he lack the right instincts and quick-thinking we demand from leaders in some contexts, or are we just so used to seeing reckless younger men in similar fiction that Joe’s careful reflection and consideration of possible risks strikes us as ineptitude rather than prudence, maturity, or accountability?

I was also intrigued by the way his 16-year-old “sidekick”, Becky, seems to possess far more innate leadership instincts than the so-called leader himself. Or, considering how her teenage brain is still developing and does not have a concrete, grounded appreciation of risk, maybe she just gets lucky when her snap decisions often turn out well?

This story keeps reminding me of Neal Shusterman's "Unwind", which I LOVE and have listened to multiple times. "Unwind" is also about a rebellion by stigmatized young folks led by a suddenly infamous young man who seems reluctant to step up to the leadership role foisted on him.

One last thought: I was so amused at the frequent references to toilets. Most thriller authors don’t bother to work out the logistics of how one navigates the call(s) of nature while on the run or in hiding, nor do they consider the various ways we use toilets for reasons other than intended (it’s pretty much just a fancy chair, right?), so I really appreciate the realism that these details lend to the story.

I found Beyond Brightside to be a highly enjoyable listen. It was fast-paced with enough action to keep the listener engaged without sacrificing character development. As the last book of the trilogy, I thought it put a good bow on the end, giving closure to the storyline. If you enjoyed the other two books of this trilogy, then you will enjoy this one as well. Based on my enjoyment of this book, I will be looking out for future novels by Mark Tullius.

I am fairly new to Brightside. I first visited with the audiobook "Try Not to Die in Brightside", a short story in the Choose Your Own Adventure style. That story focused on an escape from the town of Brightside, a small California town where people who can read minds are basically held prisoner. We saw that story throughs the eyes of Becky. She was new to Brightside.

This story picks up where the short story left off. We are no longer seeing through Becky, but she is still with us. The telepathic citizens of bright side had made a violent and deadly escape from the town and now they are trying to figure out what to do. Joe is injured in the escape and it doesn't get easier for him as time goes on. We meet up with him and Becky as they try to navigate after the escape. They are being hunted. There may not be any safe place to go. Should they run or fight?

I didn't feel like I had missed much by not reading previous to that short story, though I think I would have been more lost without that prequel. The story is fast-moving and thought provoking. It wasn't a terribly new concept-that of people with abilities being feared and persecuted-but it was a good take on the situation. There is quite a bit of violence to this book. That isn't really surprising. Often, it seems as if the characters aren't making choices but are being lead along by circumstances with no idea what will come next. As the reader, we were right there with them.

If you like an adventure and don't mind some violence, this may be the series for you. Thanks to Mark Tullius, Netgalley, and Sincere Press for the ARC. Please see this review and more at my blog: https://readeotw.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/beyond-brightside-by-mark-tullius/

I had no knowledge of the Brightside saga before reading this book. I got really excited about reading new books and kind of went on a frenzy of requesting titles, and I skipped over the part in the description of this one saying it was a sequel. (Sorry, Mark Tullius!) I found it wasn't hard to follow without reading the first book, but I will be picking it up when I'm able to. (I recently moved and don't have a job yet, so I'm trying to be financially responsible, and *not* spend all of my savings on new books. Trying.)

This book surprised me. Tullius paints a vivid picture in all of his descriptions. I was hooked on the storyline within the first chapter, and I love the inclusion of a character with disabilities. Thank you for allowing me to read a copy of this book! I look forward to reading more of Mark Tullius' work.