Light Bringer

5 stars — Light Bringer by Pierce Brown — 6 stars of pain, rage, and ugly crying

Summary: This book absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way, it rips everything open and then somehow stitches it back into something devastatingly beautiful. The finale hits like a sucker punch, I was sobbing and still thinking about it three weeks later.

Best part: The characters finally get the payoffs they earned over the whole series, just for Pierce Brown to brutalize your heart, those moments land so hard I laughed, flinched, and ugly cried in the same chapter.

Memorable moment: There are scenes that left me straight up shook, I kept replaying them in my head and could not stop thinking about one particular scene for hours.

On the craft: Pierce show more Brown writes like he is directing an action movie and whispering the saddest lines into your ear, cinematic, brutal, and heartbreakingly tender.

Who should read it: If you want a series that will haunt you, ruin your sleep, and still feel like a masterpiece, read this with snacks, a support group, and zero plans for the rest of the night.

Now if you excuse me, I am going to create a "Red Rising Survivor Group" on Facebook before whatever he has planned for Red God. Feel free to join! show less

A titan of a novel that in some ways takes the series back to its roots while simultaneously driving the plot forward and crucially developing many of the major players. In the 4 year wait between Dark Age and Light Bringer, I admit many of the finer details and smaller characters were lost on me. I would've appreciated a recap like many series do now, but Pierce pretty skillfully reminds the reader of the major events and I felt caught up before long.

Red Rising has gradually evolved from its decidedly Hunger Gamesy roots into a space opera epic that has shed most of its young adult trapping. Characters are human, noble and flawed. Darrow is still the clear "good guy", but there are very few characters in the series without some show more redeeming quality.

If you've made it this far into the series, you know what you're getting. This book does focus much more on Darrow, with Lysander sharing most of the rest of the screen time. Some of the earlier books got a bit too far away from Darrow for me, so this was a welcome. Some key players go MIA in the second half, but it makes sense for the plot, and Brown has built a ton of suspense leading to the next novel. That can leave this book feeling like a bit of a bridge novel. None of the series-long plotlines are resolved here. But it's still a great pageturner, and the last few chapters reach a new emotional high for the series.

Throughout the series Brown has built on themes of brotherhood and camaraderie, and that comes to a head here. I'll never pretend that Red Rising is the height of literature - at the end of the day it's a fun space fantasy - but there's some truly strong writing on display, especially at the very end of the novel. show less

Wow, where do I begin? I’m a Howler from way back to the first Red Rising book and have converted many to the Church of Darrow. However, a tiny confession, I almost gave up during the last book, Dark Age. It was exceedingly brutal, one scene in particular was too much. Just, too much. I still made my way through it for many moments of great storytelling between the brutal moments, even gave it a four star review. All this to say,for the first time I was really apprehensive about starting this book.
However, Pierce Brown gave me back the story and the characters that I loved in Lightbringer. This book felt a lot like his earlier work in all the best possible ways. That made it feel personal to me. The multiple POV’s had a flow to the show more way he set them up here. There was a heart to it that I had missed.
Yes, the war is waging on, there are moments of military campaigns that are well played out here that Pierce describes in breathtaking prose. Yet it’s the human moments, interludes with characters, glimpses of their hearts and souls that make Lighbringer sing.
As Pierce does so damn well, there’s a knife twist at the end that sets the series hurtling toward its conclusion. This book reminded me why I loved this world, these characters, and that bloodydamn Pierce Brown in the first place.
**⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️**
**Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this early copy of the book.** show less

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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THIS POST
Yeah, this isn't going to be my typical kind of post. I know deep in my bones, the way you know about a good melon, that if I tried my typical approach I'd probably finish this in December. And since I don't have that kind of patience—and this book was due back at my library on August 19. I'm in deep sh...aving cream already.

So, I'm just going to mention a few things I think are worth saying—and hopefully think of a conclusion to wrap it all up (but no promises).

* I need to start with the fact that I went into this with a wrong assumption—I misunderstood something I saw Brown say on Twitter some months ago and thought that this was the finale of the series. I started show more wondering pretty soon how that was going to be the case, but it took me far too long to admit that I misunderstood him and shouldn't expect any kind of bow to be put on things by the end of Light Bringer. Once I gave that up, most of my lingering questions about pacing and character went away.

* Lyria. If Brown had done nothing else impressive with the post-Morning Star books, what he's done in creating and growing this character would justify the time reading them. I just cannot get over her. At this point, I enjoy her more than Darrow, Virginia, or the rest. Kavax and Sevro are the only characters that compete with her for my affection. Also, Brown did an excellent job of faking the reader out when it came to her character arc after the last book.

* Darrow grows more in these pages than he has since...maybe The Institute. Or probably with Lorn. And a lot of that has to do with the right book being given to him at the right time in his life. (maybe my libro-fixation makes me focus on that part, but, I'm right). I want to see this change in action more—but what Brown does here gives me a lot of hope for our hero. Assuming The Reaper is our hero by the end.

* I really, really, really, really want to know how long Brown has been plotting out the major events of this novel—has he been building up to them since Iron Gold or before? Or were they things that came into focus when he started planning Light Bringer? It won't change what I think of them (devastating, brilliant, etc.)—it'll just help me understand how he works.

* The bonds between so many of these characters are fantastic. Particularly between the classmates turned colleagues turned friends turned enemies turned uneasy allies turned brothers. (or relationships that follow similar paths) How these people can be bound up so tightly with each other after all they've gone through is something else. So many times I start off thinking, "There's no way that Darrow/Lysander/Victra/Whoever is going to trust them is there?" And then they do—and I buy it every single time, just the way that Darrow/Lysander/Victra/Whoever does. And I'm caught as off-guard as they are in the significant percentage of times they end up getting betrayed.

* I cannot believe how often these people make me laugh—genuinely laugh. In the midst of all of the death, destruction, revenge, societal upheaval, and uncertainty—there's a core humanity at work in them all.

* After all these thousands of pages (especially when I count re-reads and audiobook listens)...how can Brown completely surprise me the way he does? I can't even count how many double-crosses that become triple-crosses then go awry and end up becoming alliances that are quadruple-crossed in this book alone. (And that's not a spoiler, if you've read the series, you know that's going to happen—and I likely left off at least 5 backstabbings).

* Speaking of stabbing...Brown's action scenes—particularly when it comes to small groups of people fighting—one on one, two on two, one on five, etc.—are just great. He's never been shabby at this, but it felt like he topped himself here. (as he has in each successive book).

* Sevro, Sevro, Sevro...I felt so bad for him through so much of this book. Even before he inadvertently found out what happened to his family in Dark Age. But you never want to count the Goblin out, right?

* Although, the fox Sophocles just might have done a better job of breaking my heart. Not that it's a competition.

* There's a fantastic potential spin-off series introduced around the mid-way point. I hope Brown doesn't give it to us (although I'll read it if he does), I think I'd prefer my imaginary version of it.

* The bond that I referred to earlier is seen in loyalty, forgiveness (and the ability to work together when that forgiveness hasn't been granted), and best of all, a humor based on shared experiences and attitudes. The humor in this book is almost never situational (too grim for that), or physical (outside maybe of Sophocles)—it comes from old friends being rude to one another, making a joke in reference to something that happened a decade or more ago, etc. And it works—you can't help but chuckle alongside these men—even when they're likely saying goodbye for the last time, they can make you laugh. Well done, Mr. Brown.

LET'S SEE IF I CAN WRAP THIS UP
I really think I could just keep going flipping back and forth through the pages of the book and coming up with more and more bullet points to ramble about. But who wants to read that? (especially now that I see that I've repeated myself)

I really wish I spent time in discussion groups, fan sites, etc. for this series, so I'd have known that this wasn't the ending before I started. That preconceived notion really skewed things for a while. Oh well. Like I said before, once I started thinking of this as penultimate—everything clicked.

I do think it's time for Brown to tie this up—as much as I love this series, readers can only take so many Master Plans that go awry when they meet other Master Plans only to uncover someone else's Deeper Master Plan working against both.

But it's been—and will be—quite the ride. These characters are so full of honor, and nobility (of various types), that even when they're "on the wrong side" it's hard to think poorly of them until they've turned into hypocrites or something. Brown gives us a great picture of so many people working for the common good—if only they could agree with what that is. Chess masters vying against one another to help their picture of the best for society to come about. Sadly, their moves aren't made with game pieces, but with thousands or millions of lives at a time.

I'm, of course, ignoring the few giant vacuums of decency with a hunger for power and destruction that are also running through the pages.

In Dark Age (and I'm going to be vague just in case someone hasn't read it yet)—there's a scene when someone holds down a dying foe, cuts out two giant strips from their back to reveal their ribcage and organs—and pour salt on the wounds. There are a couple of scenes in this book that felt like that. (except for the fact that I was in my recliner sipping on something cool while reading). And with at least one of those scenes the person I was having my heart torn up about was a character I either was bored by or didn't bother to form an opinion of until this book. But over the course of the novel, Brown's able to get every one of these modified humans to become a person practically as real as any flesh and blood creature you run into.

It took me less than 50 pages into Red Rising to be awed by Brown and thousands of pages later, he's still doing it to me.

Go read this series. show less

Book 6 in the series, and surprise! It's not the end of the second trilogy; there's one more volume to go. My criticisms of the last two books remains: the story is so sprawling and complicated, with so many characters (including tons of references to characters who are dead but remembered) that it's really hard to keep everyone straight. It doesn't help that I'm reading the books now as they're being written, so the years between books make it even harder to remember.

That said... it's great entertainment. The reader has to let go and accept that our heroes will be rescued only at the last second; and will always gain freedom eventually from capture, whether by talking their way free or escaping. And double-crosses have stopped show more surprising the reader, as we get a fresh one every 75 pages or so.

When you start a 7 book series with a training institute in which dozens of children are brutally killed- BY DESIGN!- it's pretty tough to keep increasing the stakes, but Brown manages to do it. Here in book 6 we've basically come to near-genocide in battle, and it looks like book 7 is set up for 100% genocide as a possibility.

On to the plot (I need these details to refer to in two years when the final book comes out). We start with Darrow hiding out in an asteroid since his narrow escape from the last battle, when he was rescued by Cassius. Meanwhile, Atalantia is plotting her victory over the Republic along with giving the Rim Society their comeuppance after they betrayed the Core and declared independence. Lysander au Lune is a puppet of Atalantia, with a plan to marry her so she can rule through him- he's not too keen on the idea, as he has learned that she is responsible for the murder of his parents (though she doesn't know he knows). The Rim armada is in the Core, now agreeing to help defeat the Republic, and Lysander manages to foil Atalantia and get the governing council to attack Mars now instead of waiting. Meanwhile, the Obsidians, under their cult leader Fa, have left Mars and are terrorizing the asteroid belt and heading for Jupiter to terrorize the Rim Society. As the battle for Mars starts up, Darrow is sent from hiding to the Rim to secure allies and bring back more troops and ships, which won't be easy since he already betrayed the Rising in the Rim in a previous volume, the price to keep the Rim Society out of the war at that time.

Alright- too complex, and I don't want to spoil more. The POV characters are Darrow, Lyria, Virginia, and Lysander. The latter is cast quite sympathetically, though he seems like an enemy to the Republic. The Big Bad now is Atalantia though, and her minions, who scares the hell out of everyone and doesn't seem to share the honor code that others do. Diomedes, a Rim Knight, is a prominent character too, hostile to the Republic but also cast very sympathetically. Brown does an amazing job convincing the reader that these characters are acting honorably, even as they all stab each other in the back constantly- they are constantly between rocks and hard places, with conflicting oaths and no way to stay pure- that's one of the points of the story, that nobody can stay pure unless they want to end up very dead.

Maybe I'm too harsh with my ratings of these last few books- they are great page-turners and I can't wait for the next one. show less

Fading on the series now. The problems that I found in Dark Age are here too: the story is bloated, it's far too long, there are way too many characters and factions, everybody speaks like they're an omnipotent Shakespearean Greek Chorus and it's beginning to feel repetitive.

That being said, some chapters were thrilling. When Brown hones his focus on just a few characters the story is a joy to read. Loved the fight in the hangar. I was a big fan of what he did with Volsung Fa's character, the chase over islands was really fun.

I'll read the seventh and final book, but I'm hoping for less sizzle and a smaller scale. Which is very unlikely.