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Brent Weeks, The Lightbringer Series


Catalyst21

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If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. There is no big secret to it. 

Well, yeah. It's probably that way. But since there is a topic full of people praising these books I wanted to give them another chance before dropping them altogether, see if someone could point out the best point of the series and convince me to go on.

 

 

@Ashiok: Thanks for answering! If the main setting is the "school" then does it focus on the fine point of the magic system and religion? That would really interest me.

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Well, yeah. It's probably that way. But since there is a topic full of people praising these books I wanted to give them another chance before dropping them altogether, see if someone could point out the best point of the series and convince me to go on.

 

 

@Ashiok: Thanks for answering! If the main setting is the "school" then does it focus on the fine point of the magic system and religion? That would really interest me.

Both sequels are better than the first book, man. I don't know that there's anything else to tell you. Except maybe, I don't like the magic, either, but I like the series well enough. Give the second book a shot if you don't have anything else to read. Or read the first book again in a year or two, maybe you'll like it then.

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I tried to read the first one, got about 150 pages in and I just wasn't interested in it.  The magic system wasn't clearly explained early on, leaving me confused over their abilities (that and it seems to be similar to Sandersons system in Warbreaker).  I don't know....just didn't captivate or interest me.

 

I'll probably give it another shot.  Maybe it was just bad timing to read or something.

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I tried to read the first one, got about 150 pages in and I just wasn't interested in it.  The magic system wasn't clearly explained early on, leaving me confused over their abilities (that and it seems to be similar to Sandersons system in Warbreaker).  I don't know....just didn't captivate or interest me.

 

I'll probably give it another shot.  Maybe it was just bad timing to read or something.

 

I think Weeks wanted the magic to be more mystical in the beginning, but much of it will be explained in the first book.

 

Also, yes, it is similar to Warbreaker's - in fact, I think I've heard one of them sharing that he was concerned they were both releasing an epic fantasy book with light- and color-based magic (though there is an year apart between the two releases), but it turned out the magic was different enough to keep things cool.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is anyone else pissed off at the end of the kip/T arc?

Also, can anyone with the knowledge please explain the lore a bit more regarding Orholam, Lightbringer and Broken eye? What exactly does the eye do again, and why is the Lightbringer celebrated to return?

Just finished Broken eye and lore is confusing me quite a bit. Had a break halfway through book for uni work, and haven't read the 2nd book since it came out, which is probably why

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I myself am a little shady on the topic, but here's what I remember:

  • Orholam remains a mysterious god, we don't know anything here
  • Lucidonius, the first Prism, was by some accounts the (first) Lightbringer. Before he became the Prism to unify the satrapies, he was a member of the Order of the Broken Eye - an order of assassins who believed that killing a few key people is preferred over waging wars and things like that.
    • The name was, if I recall correctly, a mistranslation of his actual name or some such
  • As for the Lightbringer as a figure of lore and legend, it has turned into that over the ages. Now it's less of Lucidonius' name and more of the name of a mythical hero, similar to the Hero of Ages from Mistborn or the Dragon from The Wheel of Time.
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  • 1 month later...

Ok so I just finished 3 yesterday and I really liked it. It didn't have near the Oh RUST! plot twist 1-2 had imo but that's not necessarily a bad thing cause it made it much easier to keep track of everything.

I will admit that I was bored to tears and then just angry at the dopey teen love stuff. I used to not mind this stuff but I'm finding it annoying with each passing yr. I'm 34 so im just guessing the feeling comes from age, but really "He's hugging me, I should hug him back. The hug is over. Why didn't I hug him when I had the chance to hug him" argh

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  • 1 year later...

I'm going to revive this thread now because I'm fairly certain those of us following the series will want to discuss The Blood Mirror. I already have things that I want to talk about, but I'll wait until I'm sure more people have started reading because it's almost 100% spoilers. Obviously, I'll spoiler tag stuff if and when the discussion starts up, but I really don't think I should even tempt people to look by posting them at this point.

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Count me in!I knew it was coming out soon, but got busy with other things and was surprised when my preorder showed up. I was very irresponsible yesterday and let myself get dragged into it, skipping all of the stopping points.  Finished it today. I always plan to take the books slower, and I never do.

Initial, spoiler-free impressions: Great, as usual, and I absolutely loved big pieces of it. I thought the overall pacing was a bit different than, e.g Broken Eye. That made certain big reveals hit differently, on an emotional/reaction level. From a writing perspective, it was interesting to see how timing changed the reader experience. I'm curious to see how much of this is just my perception, and how much other readers agree.

@DSC01 I support the wait on spoiler discussion. How long do you think is appropriate?

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@ccstat I think a few days is fine, myself. Most of the active posters here are like you and me and will usually devour a book that they're into pretty quickly. As long as we use spoiler tags, I don't see a problem. I just think it's a bad idea to start posting them the day after release. I know how it is to be excited about a new book and unable to actually sit down and read it, but you do have time to occasionally check Internet posts about it. All of those spoiler-tagged comments start looking mighty tempting after a while.

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One thing I am not entirely happy about was the ending. Both Teia's and Kip's final chapters ended... off. Their stories were wrapped up, but not in a way I felt was fitting for end-of-book wrap-up. I didn't feel the finality there, not in the way I did with Karris and Gavin. I was also unhappy with Liv's development, it felt rushed, and I am not sure the direction she went towards the end could've been justified without a few more chapters to show how she got there. 

Now that I think about it, it's odd how much I loved reading the book, but how many tiny details I can recall that I didn't like. I am going to need to make sure I curate my reviews a little better, make sure I don't convey negativity when I don't mean to.

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Argent, I think it's an artifact of the book being split. It was planned to be the final book, but now book 5 will be the final book. This book was not as satisfying as previous books because there wasn't really a meaningful climax or ending. Kip doesn't figure out what he's missing about the situation, and then we see the big enemy gathering at the end just as a hook for the next book.

Sometimes splitting works well, and sometimes it doesn't. This doesn't affect my enjoyment of the rest of the book, but it feels like I can't recommend it quite as wholeheartedly as usual until the final book is available.

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34 minutes ago, PeterAhlstrom said:

Argent, I think it's an artifact of the book being split. It was planned to be the final book, but now book 5 will be the final book. This book was not as satisfying as previous books because there wasn't really a meaningful climax or ending. Kip doesn't figure out what he's missing about the situation, and then we see the big enemy gathering at the end just as a hook for the next book.

Sometimes splitting works well, and sometimes it doesn't. This doesn't affect my enjoyment of the rest of the book, but it feels like I can't recommend it quite as wholeheartedly as usual until the final book is available.

Yeah, I figured it was because of the split. I don't think it changes anything in the long run - I will still preorder and devour the next one, and I will still recommend the series to anyone who is not tired of listening to me. But I have to acknowledge, at least to myself, that it (probably) could've been handled more gracefully. In theory. In practice there are things like deadlines...

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Just got done. I really enjoyed the story but was getting highly frustrated with a timeline issue. It came together but it coulda been handled a bit better I think. Also as I said in reading thread the chapter format compared to the other bks really got under my skin. In a world where Green matters more and more for my(our) kids this just seemed wrong..I counted as I read and there are 27 blank pgs in story space.

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12 hours ago, Briar King said:

In a world where Green matters more and more for my(our) kids this just seemed wrong..I counted as I read and there are 27 blank pgs in story space.

I read this a few times and I finally got what you were saying.  I was so confused at the thought of Green drafting being important to our kids.

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I finished The Blood Mirror yesterday and i´m somewhat dissapointed. Kips leadership just seems a bit too good compared to how we saw him in The Broken Eye. And i got really annoyed at

Spoiler

Real Gavin having only been a halluciation. Weeks plottwists are normally better than that and how did Dazen get new information (that Karris got raped by Gavin) from a halluciation? I mean he could have know and forgot because of the black luxin, but that is just the next point which annoyed me. The forgetting effect of black just is so convinient. We can´t trust anything which we were told about Dazen anymore because he could have just forgot and made ne memories up, for all we know he could have been a secret agent for the broken eye and erased his memory of it for some big gamble...

 

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  • 2 months later...

So I loved this series! All the way up until Blood Mirror. It is really feeling a bit too meandering to me.

 

Spoiler

The Kip/Tsis bedroom problems really wore thin and I was even more disappointed when that was what the book ended on. Then Mr Weeks has added a PSA about the condition. I dunno maybe someone close to him suffers from this and he wanted to work it into the book. It just went on and on.. Also some of the comments above ring true especially about the Dazen/Gavin hallucination deal. 

 

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  • 4 months later...

Just finished about 1-2hours ago. Was strange how quickly i devoured it. For me, great book overall, but i agree on the points others have raised. I feel a better cliffhanger would have been for Kip to discover what was wrong as the lovemaking scene was great but hardly a good place to leave it. I believe the Gavin hallucination twist was fairly explained as there was hints but i never saw it coming. I like the humanising of Andross in those moments and actually have a hate-to-love appreciation of the character. I'm keen to see how Teia and Dazen's scenes play out, and how exactly Weeks plans to finish this series, as he isn't one for highly detailed, in-depth backstory in regards to magic laws (which the Night Angel series also lacks) 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Just finished Blood Mirror.

Started the series a couple months ago.  Was feeling eh about Black Prism (Brandon has gotten me hooked on great/well explained magic systems, and the first book did nothing for me in that regard.)  But books 2 and 3 kept getting better and better, both in that regard and character development.  Gavin Guile is one of my favorite characters ever.

However, I HATED the twist at the very end of Book 3.  Too out of nowhere for me, and felt more like a shock value twist as opposed to a natural one.  (Which sometimes I don't mind, this just didn't feel like a shock value twist type series.)

Book 4 was more gripping than I realized, simply because as I was reading I didn't realize how fast I was burning through it.  I actually didn't mind the twist mentioned above, I think because it was explained rather well.  (In theory, that one character could be lying about the whole thing.  But that's highly doubtful.)  However, I REALLY don't like that black luxin is basically a get out of jail free card to change nearly any plot development that happened previously.  Maybe that's a bit hyperbole, and I get from a writing perspective it opens a lot of doors, but still, as of now I'm not that big a fan of that development.  (Though I'd love to know all the effects of White Luxin.)

Character development in book 4 was great, and there is more humanization and depth to most of the mains than I expected.  I just HATE how the book simply...ended.  Liv and the banes felt so, so rushed.  And it felt like I was watching a movie that cut out with 30 minutes remaining.

Still, after book 3 I was iffy about finishing the series, but now I'm hooked.  Though I can't see how all the major plot points can be wrapped up in one more novel, no matter how long.  (The White King war, sure, but right now I'm FAR more interested in the supernatural stuff - the Nine King's cars, that rarely seen librarian whose name I forget, the super villain that showed up briefly in book 3 etc.)

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