The Blood Mirror

So Much Love.

Honestly, ever since I started reading Brent Weeks, I've been trying to capture the feel of his glorious writing in all the wrong places. I keep picking up Epic Fantasies here and there and everywhere just trying to satisfy my fix. And yet?

Well let me be perfectly honest here. Less than a handful have matched half of the sheer awesomeness in the Lightbringer series. Many many more are lucky to fill this one's cup even to a third, or maybe a fourth of the way up.

Lightbringer is just that good.

This fourth book keeps up the pressure in no uncertain ways. It still continues to develop the magic system of forming light into solid shapes or burning gels or even just increasing intelligence, but it dives deeper into soul-casting show more and will-casting as well. I'm thrilled beyond belief. Rule-based magic systems are amazing, but rule-based systems that come with very well thought-out internal pressures and corrections, with quite this much depth of surprising reveals? It just blows me away. Seriously. This is one colorful tale. The battles are bright as hell. :) It's a creative masterpiece.

Characters? Oh god, I can't even begin. I love everyone. All the good, the bad, and all the myriad in-between. Yeah. I'm looking at you, Gavin Guile. Andros.

But who is the one that just deserves love? Kip! I don't care what anyone says. He's always been the man in my eyes. Any author who can take a mouthy fat kid and turn him into quite this much an underdog hero and eventually the hero of the realm with full marks has got to be brilliant.

Oh, I guess I just said that Brent Weeks it brilliant, didn't I?

Well I'm not taking it back! :)

These twists and turns have got me in a real whirl. I'm pretty much speechless in awe.

All this time, we've always been asking: Who is the real Lightbringer? The prophesy is so damn specific and open to interpretation all this time, and yet circumstances keep colliding in utterly different ways to fulfill it. :) I love how the books have been keeping me guessing.

But now we know. I'm so giddy. :)

Jeeze. My only complaint is that someone needs to change the blurb on this book from "Conclusion" and do it pretty damn quick. These stories are NOT done. Oh, maybe another complaint: Don't make us wait so long for the next one! :) show less

This is the fourth book of the Lightbringer series, and, while not as fast paced as the previous books, it marches inexorably and steadily towards the final book. It sets the stage beautifully and does a good job of keeping you turning the pages.

Karris’s roll was finally fleshed out for me. While she seemed one-note in the other books, in this one she really came into her own as a strong, female leader.

You can take your pick of villains. The Color Prince and Liv are still predictable and a bit boring. But Andross and Zymun and especially The Order more than make up for that. The Chromeria and the world as a whole have never had so many adversaries as they do going into the last book.

Kip and his Mighty are still corny verging on show more cringey. Their banter reads like an after school sitcom. Thankfully this is more than made up for with Tisis and Kip’s relationship. She quickly rose to one of my favorite characters. Likewise, Kip seems to have fully matured. No longer a whiny, slightly annoying child. His story is fun to read and he becomes a relatable protagonist.

But Gavin! My heart still belongs to Gavin and I found myself reading his chapters with bated breath. Will anything ever go good for him?

Speaking of characters my heart belongs to, Teia carries the weight of the plot, in my opinion and I love everything about her. Relatably human and yet still hero, I found myself angry with her, sad with her, and proud of her in her victories. She’s a beautifully written and complex female character, something hard to find in epic fantasy novels. (I’m looking at you, Wheel of Time and even LOtR.)

Also, I feel Gunner deserves a note. His chapters brought quite a bit of amusement throughout the series.

This book sets the stage for the final installment very well and I was eager to go on to the next book and find out the fate of the world and all the characters I’d grown to love (or hate). show less

Fabulous. So many twists and turns and unexpected reveals. Kip has become a great character - I've always liked him but I started to really like him in this book. And I still don't know quite who I should be rooting for, because no-one is perfect in this series and no societal aim is perfect either. Because even the seeming "bad" guys have some admirable aims.
I am listening to this via audiobook and Simon Vance is doing an amazing job with it. Straight on to the audio of the final book which is nearly 40 hours but I am really looking forward to.

Look at your mistakes long enough to learn from them, then put them behind you.

On one hand, [b:The Blood Mirror|29467232|The Blood Mirror (Lightbringer, #4)|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458662967s/29467232.jpg|24509684] takes the storyline of the previous books and turns it up even more.

Kip's and Tisis' storyline I really enjoyed. Kip is really coming of age and turning into a leader. He's a nice mix of Gavin and Andross and has a whole cast of wonderful supporting characters. One really strange feeling bit: there's quite a lot of subplot dedicated to the fact that Kip and Tisis can't have sexual intercourse. It's a real condition which can wreck havoc on people's relationships, but it just feels very strange. More show more like Weeks learned about the condition and wanted to fit it in rather than it naturally fitting in the story. I'm not sure what to say other than that.

Gavin's storyline... is crazy. It epitomizes the idea of an unreliable narrator, while at the same time giving us a lot more world building. And when he finally gets out of his cells.... Man. I'm really rooting for him, but I have no idea how that can ever turn into a happy ever after.

Speaking of which, Karris is a badass. She gets another serious upgrade and we get to see a whole new political side to her, while still fitting in her warrior training, even if she's going to have some issues if she keeps pushing as she does.

Liv? I already disliked Liv in previous books. Nothing changes here.

Teia? She's... I liked her a lot more. Now she's stuck between a rock and a hard place and really not changing for the better. She's got some serious issues to work through.

Holy crap though. The twists.

On top of that, the world has gotten quite a bit bigger. We learn just how there were two Prisms at the same time and what it means to be a Black Prism. We see more characters raised as gods, along with a whole cadre of extra dimensional beings with some interesting rules¹. We're finally getting answers to all manner of questions... which makes it all the more frustrating that this is the last currently published book in the series. I want to know more!

Major huge twist 1: Original Gavin died at Sundered Rock. He was never locked in the prison Usurper Gavin built and Gavin-the-latter did not actually kill him when he escaped. I actually called this one (something just never felt right about that), but holy crap to see how that all played out...

Major huge twist 2: Andross is actually Kip's dad. So Kip is actually yet another of the Guile siblings. Did not see that one coming. Not sure what to think of that. Oy.

Overall, if you've made it this far, you're going to read this book and hopefully enjoy it. If you haven't read the series... why are you starting here? :) It's a solid book and I really want to see the next one. That's what I get for starting a series in progress...

This wasn’t shit creek. This wasn’t no paddle. This was shit ocean. This was I can’t even see land.

¹ They can appear in any time or place throughout history, but they can only be in each specific time or place once. So if they appear in a town square somewhere, they won't be able to visit that same town square again. If they appear on New Years of the Year of the Fruitbat, they won't be able to do so again. It's a fascinating way to limit omnipotence and make super powerful beings think about how to user their power. show less

So, I guess it had to happen. One of these books had to be "meh". This felt like a stepping stone to the final book and it kind of shows in the pacing. It felt less like it was about the people, which was the strong point of the former novels IMO, and more about moving chess pieces into place. It was all movement and setting up and little development, or at least not development that felt earned.

Don't get me wrong--I still liked the book and this series is fantastic. But overall, it didn't feel nearly as polished as the first three.

Now, to wait for the final book...

I've begun to realize these expansive, elaborate magic systems will probably never number among my favorites. They always start intriguing, but the rules and subsets and then new rules/items appearing, (seemingly as they come to the author), ofttimes lead to convenient moments. A slighter form of deus ex machina, if you will, although Weeks has always maintained apparent equal footing on both sides. And I know forming these scenes demands a great undertaking of creative juices, but sometimes I just get lost in the hubbub, never knowing what might occur/be possible. I have not studied the rulebook, or the series for inconsistencies, nor will I; regardless, the scenes do remain creative.

But still, having said all that, Weeks manages to show more entertain, characters charm, humor, urr, stay consistent from the bedroom to the gallows.

Rounded up. show less

The action picks up in this one as several of the plot lines in this series start to come together. I liked the action and plot in this one better than previous books, as there was less endless political maneuvering and more activity on the part of almost every character. Weeks has created a complex setting and there is a lot of good detail in the book about situations and characters, this series continues to surprise me with the quality of each book.