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A review by courtney_saba
Lightbringer by Claire Legrand
2.0
And with that, it's over. And for the most part, I'm glad.
The disappointment is heavy because I could see the potential that was not utilized. This series could've been brilliant, but it was mired in mediocrity and average storytelling, with average characters, aggravating choices, and Mary Sue elements galore. Not to mention the weak character aspects, boring passages, and ludricous and stupid character behaviors and actions.
The author and story didn't know how to rise above the dark and depressing tone of the whole series. I love dark themes and dark books, but there needs to be hope and actual smiling/happy/funny instances scattered throughout the story in order for it to be a mature story and not so bogged down in hopeless circumstances. It was tedious to read because of this, with no light in sight. No comic relief or hidden gems of hope for the characters. Characters were cowards, weak even though they should've been strong because of the way they were first protrayed. Eliana was an assassin, but she always took the coward's way out or didn't do anything anyway. In this finale, she stepped up, but we were already down the dark rabbit hole of torture and hopelessness, and I couldn't feel anything other than impatience and exasperation.
Rielle became even more annoying due to her superiority complex and arrogance. I couldn't stand her chapters. For a being so powerful, she was extremely weak and whiny. Everyone hates her? (because of her actions, let's be real) Rielle decides to hate everyone, let an angel control her mind, feel absolutely nothing when said angel and she herself massacre people and perform sick experiments with beautiful creatures and children, and whine the entire time about how every one hates her. She was god awful. I've never been this annoyed with a character before. Sure, she redeemed herself in the end, but not enough for me to forget the 1200+ pages of the nonsense of being inside her head.
After Kingsbane's finale, I expected more from Simon and Eliana and that whole betrayal dynamic. He was a fountain of potential, but the author decided to leave him out for most of the book. It was to the point where I could see no redemption for him because he wasn't even present, and when he was, he was cold and blank faced. What a waste of potential. And what happened between Eliana and Simon before the final climax was rushed. I wanted more. Another bitter disappointment.
Again, I've said it before: Corien is too powerful. I don't care that he was a sort of prodigy when he had his original body. The Deep should've weakened him and he should have had limits. The climax between him and Rielle was really convenient also, is all I gotta say.
The one thing I loved about Corien was how the author portrayed his awe of, obsession with, and possessive nature toward Rielle. I could feel it infusing the pages as I read. Did he really love Rielle, as he often said, or was he so obsessed with her, her power, and what she could do for him that it really was only a toxic and pale form of love? I loved that about Corien and I thought it was well written. He was utterly him, with a single purpose and no qualms for atrocity, destruction, chaos, or torture. He was a delight to read.
All of the subplots and new character perspectives were boring and I rushed through them quickly.
Overall, I hated that it took 400 pages to get to the good stuff. The rest was fluff and dragging in nature. The ending was understandable, with a bittersweet epilogue, though. I wasn't dissatisfied with that. One perk, I guess.
So much potential. I'm glad I'm done with this trilogy.
Would I reread this book? God no. Once was enough.
Would I recommend this book? No, unless you need to finish the trilogy, then go ahead, but read quickly and skim only for dialogue.
Was I entertained? Simon is still my favorite, Corien was great overall, and the ending was solid, but the other 1200 pages from book 1 and 2 and the first 400 pages of this one were tough to get through, and I was bored and aggravated.
Thank God I'm done, Goodreads fiends.
The disappointment is heavy because I could see the potential that was not utilized. This series could've been brilliant, but it was mired in mediocrity and average storytelling, with average characters, aggravating choices, and Mary Sue elements galore. Not to mention the weak character aspects, boring passages, and ludricous and stupid character behaviors and actions.
The author and story didn't know how to rise above the dark and depressing tone of the whole series. I love dark themes and dark books, but there needs to be hope and actual smiling/happy/funny instances scattered throughout the story in order for it to be a mature story and not so bogged down in hopeless circumstances. It was tedious to read because of this, with no light in sight. No comic relief or hidden gems of hope for the characters. Characters were cowards, weak even though they should've been strong because of the way they were first protrayed. Eliana was an assassin, but she always took the coward's way out or didn't do anything anyway. In this finale, she stepped up, but we were already down the dark rabbit hole of torture and hopelessness, and I couldn't feel anything other than impatience and exasperation.
Rielle became even more annoying due to her superiority complex and arrogance. I couldn't stand her chapters. For a being so powerful, she was extremely weak and whiny. Everyone hates her? (because of her actions, let's be real) Rielle decides to hate everyone, let an angel control her mind, feel absolutely nothing when said angel and she herself massacre people and perform sick experiments with beautiful creatures and children, and whine the entire time about how every one hates her. She was god awful. I've never been this annoyed with a character before. Sure, she redeemed herself in the end, but not enough for me to forget the 1200+ pages of the nonsense of being inside her head.
After Kingsbane's finale, I expected more from Simon and Eliana and that whole betrayal dynamic. He was a fountain of potential, but the author decided to leave him out for most of the book. It was to the point where I could see no redemption for him because he wasn't even present, and when he was, he was cold and blank faced. What a waste of potential. And what happened between Eliana and Simon before the final climax was rushed. I wanted more. Another bitter disappointment.
Again, I've said it before: Corien is too powerful. I don't care that he was a sort of prodigy when he had his original body. The Deep should've weakened him and he should have had limits. The climax between him and Rielle was really convenient also, is all I gotta say.
The one thing I loved about Corien was how the author portrayed his awe of, obsession with, and possessive nature toward Rielle. I could feel it infusing the pages as I read. Did he really love Rielle, as he often said, or was he so obsessed with her, her power, and what she could do for him that it really was only a toxic and pale form of love? I loved that about Corien and I thought it was well written. He was utterly him, with a single purpose and no qualms for atrocity, destruction, chaos, or torture. He was a delight to read.
All of the subplots and new character perspectives were boring and I rushed through them quickly.
Overall, I hated that it took 400 pages to get to the good stuff. The rest was fluff and dragging in nature. The ending was understandable, with a bittersweet epilogue, though. I wasn't dissatisfied with that. One perk, I guess.
So much potential. I'm glad I'm done with this trilogy.
Would I reread this book? God no. Once was enough.
Would I recommend this book? No, unless you need to finish the trilogy, then go ahead, but read quickly and skim only for dialogue.
Was I entertained? Simon is still my favorite, Corien was great overall, and the ending was solid, but the other 1200 pages from book 1 and 2 and the first 400 pages of this one were tough to get through, and I was bored and aggravated.
Thank God I'm done, Goodreads fiends.