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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I must confess I was a bit weary going in. I really HATES the end of Weeks first series, and so I hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat experience.
Suffice it to say - it wasn't! This was an utterly fantastic and all around satisfying end to the series in my eyes.
He manages to actually weave all the different strands together and make it work. there's also oh so many twists and turns! I had to take a short break every so often and readjust my brain after I got new information - in the best of ways. This one was not predictable. And that is incredibly high praise as so many fantasy books are once you read about a thousand of them...
The characters still grew to the very end, and I loved following them to the very end! The very, very end - as there is a little surprise for those who don't stop at "the end" but keep reading acknowledgments and all. That was a really nice reward! Especially as Weeks Acknowledgements are sometimes as good as other people's books.
I have one single gripe about this - but I won't say what it is as even just the most basic hint would be a massive spoiler. Suffice it to say it was just the one, and so it didn't really tarnish my overall enjoyment much over the "not again" moment.
In short - bloody brilliant and I loved it to bits! Reread in short order just to really digest it all...
Suffice it to say - it wasn't! This was an utterly fantastic and all around satisfying end to the series in my eyes.
He manages to actually weave all the different strands together and make it work. there's also oh so many twists and turns! I had to take a short break every so often and readjust my brain after I got new information - in the best of ways. This one was not predictable. And that is incredibly high praise as so many fantasy books are once you read about a thousand of them...
The characters still grew to the very end, and I loved following them to the very end! The very, very end - as there is a little surprise for those who don't stop at "the end" but keep reading acknowledgments and all. That was a really nice reward! Especially as Weeks Acknowledgements are sometimes as good as other people's books.
I have one single gripe about this - but I won't say what it is as even just the most basic hint would be a massive spoiler. Suffice it to say it was just the one, and so it didn't really tarnish my overall enjoyment much over the "not again" moment.
In short - bloody brilliant and I loved it to bits! Reread in short order just to really digest it all...
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
In the finale to the Lightbringer series, Kip has found himself a leader operating on the scale of kingdoms. The Chromeria is preparing for war. Gavin has been taken by Gunner and is being forced to kill God.
I was warned by the internet that this finale was not great, that it went too much into deus ex machina, etc. I wasn't a fan of book 4 - which was also the consensus - so I was quite afraid going into book 5. It's possible that because of my low expectations, I came away feeling better than most fans of this series, but I think I genuinely liked this more than other people did.
I think the strong suit of this series is its characters. They are all on very distinct journeys and all contribute to the plot and emotional stakes of the whole. Kip is of course my favorite; I've loved seeing him grow from a bumbling bullied kid to a leader (very Percy or Kaladin, my favorite arc). I think this book did a great job of capping off his journey specifically. As for other characters, Teia is probably my least favorite perspective but she still had a lot of times she shined. Keris didn't get quite the screen time I'd like for how much I'm invested in her, but I enjoyed when we did. Gavin had a plot that was chock-full of philosophical questions that ended up working well for me, despite being on the nose. And finally getting to see some from Andross' perspective was an absolute treat.
Onto stakes, plotting, and pacing. I did feel like this book was the culmination of all the efforts before. The first 80%-90% of this book we're gearing up for this final battle, and it feels of epic proportions. There's so many chess pieces to put in place, and some of those scenes are of the best in the series (The final game? Fantastic). However, the payoff of the battle does have a heavier reliance on deus ex machina than I would like, especially when these elements were only really introduced in this book and not in the other 2400 pages of the series. I agree with the internet that that is the book's weakest point, but not to the extent that others were saying it ruined the book. I also really liked the number of answers about magic, plot, and characters we were given, and how some things are still left up for debate.
Other various thoughts: Shout out to Brent Weeks for starting each book with a full series recap. That should be mandatory in my opinion. I struggled a smidge with the dramatic irony - there's some very important information about who is who that the audience knows that the characters don't, and I couldn't keep track of what they knew. Lastly, the fatphobia reared its ugly head again in this book. Really wish that would have been left out of the series because it's cruel for no reason, and at some point just feels like the author's own biases.
Overall, I pleasantly surprised with the quality of this finale and am so glad I stuck out the series. I've not been recommending this enough! My final ranking of the series would be: Books 2 & 3 on top, 1 & 5 in the middle, and 4 wayyyy in last.
I was warned by the internet that this finale was not great, that it went too much into deus ex machina, etc. I wasn't a fan of book 4 - which was also the consensus - so I was quite afraid going into book 5. It's possible that because of my low expectations, I came away feeling better than most fans of this series, but I think I genuinely liked this more than other people did.
I think the strong suit of this series is its characters. They are all on very distinct journeys and all contribute to the plot and emotional stakes of the whole. Kip is of course my favorite; I've loved seeing him grow from a bumbling bullied kid to a leader (very Percy or Kaladin, my favorite arc). I think this book did a great job of capping off his journey specifically. As for other characters, Teia is probably my least favorite perspective but she still had a lot of times she shined. Keris didn't get quite the screen time I'd like for how much I'm invested in her, but I enjoyed when we did. Gavin had a plot that was chock-full of philosophical questions that ended up working well for me, despite being on the nose. And finally getting to see some from Andross' perspective was an absolute treat.
Onto stakes, plotting, and pacing. I did feel like this book was the culmination of all the efforts before. The first 80%-90% of this book we're gearing up for this final battle, and it feels of epic proportions. There's so many chess pieces to put in place, and some of those scenes are of the best in the series (The final game? Fantastic). However, the payoff of the battle does have a heavier reliance on deus ex machina than I would like, especially when these elements were only really introduced in this book and not in the other 2400 pages of the series. I agree with the internet that that is the book's weakest point, but not to the extent that others were saying it ruined the book. I also really liked the number of answers about magic, plot, and characters we were given, and how some things are still left up for debate.
Other various thoughts: Shout out to Brent Weeks for starting each book with a full series recap. That should be mandatory in my opinion. I struggled a smidge with the dramatic irony - there's some very important information about who is who that the audience knows that the characters don't, and I couldn't keep track of what they knew. Lastly, the fatphobia reared its ugly head again in this book. Really wish that would have been left out of the series because it's cruel for no reason, and at some point just feels like the author's own biases.
Overall, I pleasantly surprised with the quality of this finale and am so glad I stuck out the series. I've not been recommending this enough! My final ranking of the series would be: Books 2 & 3 on top, 1 & 5 in the middle, and 4 wayyyy in last.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Yes there were a few deus ex machina moments. It wasn't the perfect ending BUT I didn't feel that way until I started looking to see what other people thought about the book. So many emotional roller coasters in this book. I felt so much through the book. It has been a long time since a book made me really feel for the characters.
Really truly only have one issue with this book and I can get behind the decision BUT it's hard for me to understand how the characters just accepted what happened.
Really truly only have one issue with this book and I can get behind the decision BUT it's hard for me to understand how the characters just accepted what happened.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes