#lightbringer series by Brent weeks

[elena-fishr]

Thank goodness for libraries

[comparativelysuperlative]

What was the book? With the Definitely Real Banishment

Spoilers (obviously) but it's the Lightbringer series. That villain was pretty good! The word-by-word writing is fine! The plot is, for several books' worth, aimed at being Very Generic Fantasy (for reasons that will make sense later). Incoming long post about its philosophy, with even more spoilers.

It's not often that I read a book and immediately go "I can tell you what kind of middle school this author went to." In this case, it was drawing on the author's experience of exactly the theology I grew up with, which was almost eerie.

(I read book one years and years ago, and didn't retain much other than "cool magic system." Probably everything in this post is true about book one as well, but I wouldn't know.)

Google will tell you that the series gets gradually very Christian, to the point where the climax of the last book contains a sermon. But it's more specific than that. These books scream "Protestant, American, classically educated, does not travel internationally very often, male, straight, probably white, the kind of person who would vote straight-ticket Republican until that meant Trump at which point all bets are off." I did not bother confirming most of those. They're just obvious.

The loudest part--to me at least--was the "classically educated." (If you're not familiar, it's this thing.) The series would mention quotes from fantasy medieval Catholics or fantasy ancient Greeks or whatever, and I'd recognize the quotes or the names because they'd be real people I ran across in school. Sure enough, author went to Hillsdale.

Lightbringer is interesting for having an actual vision of a conservative society, not just about hating the right/wrong people. Not being on that team anymore I don't actually like this vision very much, but compared to current conservatives, credit for having one at all.

Differences between people obviously don't affect your value as a person, they just might make it easier or harder or mean you have to specialize differently to accomplish as much For The Group.

(That opinion makes perfect sense for characters in an elite military unit/training for that unit. But that context is mostly specific to book two, and the philosophy really isn't.)

This applies to everything. Physical condition, including strength/weight/gender. Color-blindness. Superpowers. Being straight. (I'm genuinely not sure if that part was intentional. Characters kept getting distracted at terrible times, and the narration outside their head sounded exactly the same as when someone can't run a mile without Trying Very Hard.)

It does not matter whether your mental illness turns out to be literally demons in your head. Either way you've still got to either work through it or specialize around it.

Tradition matters, even when we don't understand the reason behind it.

If you happen to be in a fantasy book and have access to magic, consorting with demons is evil but fancy physics is fine. You can just BET this author got into fights with other Christians about whether Harry Potter was anti-Jesus.

"Irredeemably bad" isn't really a thing. "Not in fact going to be redeemed" is, but it's worth trying to show mercy if you have the chance. If you don't have the chance, kill 'em. Don't enjoy it, though.

Forgiving people for actually-bad things is hard, can't just go "idk, they're good guys now," but it's also important. (I do think this is underrepresented in secular fiction, where it's either depicted as "how could you work with THEM" or "come on, get over it already and team up against the whatever.")

One of the big reveals at the end is "the Christian God is real." The answer to the problem of evil is indeed the popular answer in the denominations I grew up with. Human choices something something mumble free will.

Very incrementalist. You do as much good as you can as fast as you can, but obviously without overthrowing the entire order or anything. Only evil opportunists would want to do that. Yes, even if the existing order is corrupt all the way through.

Speaking of which, you know that organization/political entity claiming to represent God? Corrupt all the way through. God is more personal than that. Protestantism!

Personal morality matters. Your leaders absolutely must be good people, or at least trying to be, or you're screwed.

Personal morality matters. It is safe to assume you'll end up as exactly what your peers expect of you, so pick good peers.

A man should be faithful to one (1) wife. Viewpoint characters speedrun figuring out the philosophy behind this.

(IMO monogamy was a legitimate human rights win by early Christianity, relative to what came before, and I think something similar applies in this setting. But since the real-life alternatives today are so much better than women being property, giving this a lot of screen time sounded like the book is fishing very hard for things historical Christianity did right.)

Also, once you are married you Are Married. It's not that changing that would be unthinkable, just that if you do treat it as an option you're obviously doing it wrong.

Gay people don't exist. Any variety of non-straight, really. Nobody says that it should be that way. It just doesn't come up. Characters are written in enough detail that I can tell you how they'd react if you asked them, and it's mostly the "not my business" + "prefer not to think about it" kind of low-grade homophobia. A few would be explicitly okay with it. But it does not come up. If there were a gay relationship depicted, I'd expect it to be "coincidentally" problematic in some other way.

(I guess there's that one slaver-antagonist whose sexuality is just "sadist." Yeah, one might call that problematic.)

Practically dripping with Great Man Theory of History. There's a scene where the protagonist has a self-affirming/emotional moment about not relying on his family name and meritoriously earning his first kingdom. This is played completely straight.

Don't worry, he uses it for good. At least as much good as he can without overthrowing the existing order etc.

If there are end times prophecies, they might well be true but you can't trust any specific interpretation so it's wiser to just do your best without reference to the prophecy. (This is an interesting take! And not heresy but also not common! I bet the author's reacting against some interesting strains of fundamentalism there.)

A cool idea where angels and demons can be anywhere in any world at any time in history, but are very reluctant to actually do that because they can't pick the same time twice. You can just tell it's the author's Christianity headcanon.

You win by doing your best and having faith in God. The villains are very much a sideshow.

(I think if everyone followed this book's philosophy more it would be a mostly bad thing. Let's not do that.)

(But wow, I wish modern conservatives were only this bad.)

It probably sounds like I didn't like this series. But I did read five doorstoppers' worth. This post is just about the opinions, and the opinions sucked.

Anyway. This has to be on purpose, right, and 10 or 15 years ago I was pretty much the target audience for this. Guess I'm old.

I used to explicitly think "I'm Christian, but atheist fiction is more interesting," and this book is the kind of thing that...tries...to counter that. Fails, because resolving major conflicts with divine intervention is tricky to make interesting. But you'll see why it's going for Every Other Book, But Christian. (Also, the amount of sex in these books is much higher than you might think, given everything. I wish I knew less about what body types the author is attracted to.)

Anyway, I can't really say I would recommend it. But if you're interested in what would happen if Card or Sanderson tried to be Evangelical Lewis for adults, Lightbringer isn't bad.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - August 23rd - Couldn't Finish

as much as I love the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, I haven't made any attempt whatsoever to keep up with it for about 10 years now 😅 I will try to finish it one day but who knows when that will be

[mintmentos]

Do you ever read something and you’re like yep I’m horrified but it completely checks out

[joncronshawauthor]

Capers and Castles: A Guide to the 10 Must-Read Fantasy Novels Featuring Thieves

Fantasy novels often offer a unique twist to traditional crime stories, and tales about thieves are no exception. Whether it’s a heist gone wrong, a daring escape, or a cunning scheme, these stories are full of action, suspense, and thrilling twists. Here are ten must-read fantasy novels about thieves that will keep you on the edge of your seat: 1. “The Lies of Locke Lamora” by Scott…

[benzyonart]

[April 14, 2023]

Randal Richards, he's inspired by the lightbringer book series by Brent Weeks. He is a white Luxin user and all his freckles is the white luxin build up and it glows when he uses it.

[etoiline]

1, 2, 11, and 18 for the book ask!

How many books did you read this year? Goodreads says 44, so far. I'm going to try to read some short stories before the end of the year, try to get to a nice round number, or at least a slightly more respectable one (to me, anyway). I will not make it to my Reading Challenge goal, for certain, and that is almost certainly due to spyscrapper brainrot (both writing for them and reading fic about them). Those two boys will not leave my head, even after a year and a half.

Did you reread anything? What? Said reading challenge data says I reread 13 books this year, and they're all stalwart favorites. I did series rereads of Jim Butcher's Codex Alera and Brent Weeks' Lightbringer purely for comfort. I also reread Mary Robinette Kowal's Lady Astronaut books because the 4th book is coming out next year (and because they're amazing hard sci-fi stories, you should definitely read them). Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is another beautiful reread, somehow managing to blend plausible space science with delightful and emotional interpersonal drama. I reread the first book of the Percy Jackson series (and finally read through the rest of the series) because of @kennexara. And Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary got a reread because of news of the movie (also because it's a damn good book that, despite the most of it being between one human and one alien, is an amazing study of interaction). I am currently rereading book 1 of the Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings, though it's anybody's guess if I'll manage to finish it before the end of the year to have it count as reread this year, because BrandoSando writes thousand-page behemoths, but I do intend to do a series reread before reading the 5th book, which just came out.

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? I don't know about favorite, but I did enjoy finally getting around to reading the Percy Jackson books (the first series anyway, lol). I read the first one long long ago when I was still buying physical books in stores, but never got around to finishing them. To save Kennie the trouble of explaining everyone's relationships I finally checked them out of the library :)

How many books did you buy? I tend to read most of my books through my local libraries' Libby ebook lending programs, so I don't buy a whole lot of books anymore. I did, however, finally pick up the ebook copies of one of my favorite series ever, The Lighthouse Duet by Carol Berg. Those of you who like your fantasy with an entire helping of nature metaphors will probably appreciate these books. I like them so much that one of my bridesmaids carried the first book in this duology down the aisle instead of flowers. I also bought the aforementioned 5th book in the Stormlight Archive, but it won't get read for months and months. And I backed MRK's Lady Astronaut short story anthology/the 4th book kickstarter; though these books won't arrive until next year, so you can decide whether you count those as being "bought" this year. I also bought a few cookbooks and the deluxe version of the Jedi Survivor art book (who's surprised).

-> end of year book asks!

[hungerpaste]

Finally getting around to reading the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks and it is excellent but I especially appreciate how much personal research he must have done just to passively include all the characters physical realities in their chapters.

Teia is a great example. Having to run while others jog to make up for stride, never getting to tune out at the market because being in a crowd means playing dodgeball with limbs. As a shorty myself boy can I relate.

There's no way this tall (at least from my perspective) white man could have thought of this without asking or keenly observing people he knows. Something something true care and diligence something something fits a series that celebrates and examines different characters and potentials

[ohheyitsjustbear]

what are you currently reading?

Hiiii 🥰 currently finishing up The Burning White by Brent Weeks, the finale to the lightbringer series 😌

[brongusthearcanist]

Ok I NEED people who were around and paying attention to Lightbringer (Brent Weeks) when it was coming out. I love the series but I think everyone knows what I'm talking about when I saw WTF happened in Blood Mirror. I'm halfway through burning white cause I need to know how this ends.

The series always struck me as well outlined, with lots of foreshadowing. I mean for fucks sake the title Black Prism isn't really explained until book 3 at least. Which I like and kinda makes me think he didn't just make it up at the last minute. But I also refuse to believe that Brent would've written POVs for a character that was never real. I have no problem with Gavin being the Black Prism, and the memory loss. BUT GAVIN DYING BEFORE THE BOOK STARTS AND WE'VE BEEN WATCHING A HALLUCINATION, makes very little sense to me. I heard something about Brent having lost the manuscript for either book 3 or 4 and had to rewrite it, but idk if that is true. Someone please tell me why he did this!!!!

Side note, I still really like the writing and the magic, characters, and world. The story is so tightly written but this plot point is super odd.

[hydrogenandhelium]

Oh reading update I should have given you guys a couple of days ago!!!

Wow this ended up being longer than I expected. Preview of what I talk about below the cut so I don’t take over everyone’s homepage if you’re only here for cosmemes: Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon), The Slow Regard of Silent Things (Patrick Rothfuss), Kings of the Wyld (Nicholas Eames), The Broken Eye (Brent Weeks)

I finished priory of the orange tree. I loved it, but I felt like the last 300 pages or so dragged until I got to the ending. It could just be me though, the changes at work really cut into my reading time so I spent more days reading that book than I’d planned. Definitely recommend, it’s got dragons and politics and court intrigue and queer rep and spies and secret sects and all sorts of things.

Then I read the slow regard of silent things in one night. It was cute and weird and a lot of fun. I wouldn’t consider it essential reading for kingkiller chronicles, but it IS Auri’s pov and she’s definitely my favorite character so I could t skip it. Another highly recommended, and it’s spoiler free so if you just want to read a week in the life of a quirky girl with maybe OCD and definitely anxiety living in the tunnels under a city, I’d recommend it. The tunnels are cool, not icky, there’s an abandoned ballroom down there!

Now I’m reading Kings of the Wyld. I’ve seen it described as the A-team reunited and someone’s wild dnd campaign. I’m only on page 70 but I’m already comfortable saying those people are wrong. This is a 70s rock band trying to hold a reunion tour in 2010 when emo reigns. I’m really enjoying the campy humor especially after priory of the orange tree, which was so so so serious.

I’m also about halfway through book 3 of lightbringer (the broken eye) too on my audiobook. I’m liking that series a lot. Brent Weeks isn’t great with characterizing women and I’ll never argue with that but I think people overstate how bad he is. The women of Night Angel seriously needed some personality but the women in lightbringer actually have agency and a lot of depth. They’re not perfect and Karris is more motivated by men than she probably should be, but she still makes decisions for herself. And Teia might be my favorite female character he’s written. So it’s not all bad, just depends on how sensitive your meter is for unintentional sexism. For me, I tend to be more forgiving of older books than newer books, especially when you can see the author is making an effort to improve.

I think that’s all I’ve got. Based on how fast I’m going through kings of the wyld in the rare opportunity I do get to crack it open, I’ll go through it pretty fast, so I’m already starting to think about what I’ll be reading next. I’ve got a few things standing out on my bookshelf to me right now but we’ll see how I feel when it’s time for the next one. Mood reader problems I guess 😂

[demeruart]

An NPC of mine from my D&D game I’m running. Her name is Marcy and she became that Monster (called a magewight in my game). The party reversed the transformation and she’s retained some of the qualities.

I had a lot of fun with this design! Magewrights were inspired by the Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks which I read years ago (I think I used the same name too).

Feel free to use the portrait or monster design in your own home games! If you come up with a new story for the character let me know, I always love hearing about people’s games.

[mintmentos]

Considering everything that goes down why was the only time I cried over teia hugging her dad

[jadedandconfusedao3]

10 Books to get to know me

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like.

Thank you to @bluesundaycake for the tag.

So I'm going to start with what the hell is this non-ancient business? I am going to take that at face value and not mention The Odyssey because that is an actually ancient book. I know the rules are just trying to say not an old book but I am old so everyone will just have to deal.

Distress - Greg Egan

This is my favourite book. It was written in 1995 and I have to mention that because it was so groundbreaking for its time. This was the first time that I had ever read a story where someone who was Agender was a character. Akili is the main love interest in the story and will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Essentially the book is about a strange mental disease that is spreading throughout the globe. At the same time the physics world is all excited because Violet Mosala is developing a new Theory of Everything. The story follows the life of Andrew Worth who is science journalist covering the theory.

The reason I love this so much is because the main moral of the story is that no one can know what anyone else is thinking. You can stereotype as much as you like but you can never truly know. It's why I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Enders Game Series - Orson Scott Card

Yes. You're going to get a lot of science fiction on this list. Just deal with it.

What's not to love? It's dark. The morals are so grey. What would you do to save humanity? What is a bit of casual Xenocide between friends. The characters are brilliant and nuanced (Bean is my favourit). The story makes you question how horrible of a person you are. Brilliant.

There's way to much plot to summarise but here is the brief. Aliens attacked earth. The government created super intelligent children and trained them for war to beat the aliens. These are their stories.

The Lightbringer Series - Brent Weeks

There's a couple of reasons why this is one of my favourites but I will start with the plot. It really is just one of those child presents with phenomenal powers, learns to use them and eventually ends up saving the day. Here's where it's different.

The world building. This magic system is one of the most interesting and creative ones I have come across. It's based off colour and light and is just so well thought out that it makes me... Hang on I have a gif for this.

Secondly the freaking Gavin twist! If you've read the series you know what I'm talking about. I won't do any spoilers but just know there is a twist and it changes everything.

Silverthorn & A Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E Feist

What can I say about this one. You may be surprised that it's not Magician and that I didn't say the whole series but these two go together and are so mean so much more to me than the rest. Why? It's Prince Arutha's story. Prince Arutha is such a second child and I just vibe with that. His brother is handsome and charismatic and everyone loves him but Arutha is smart and canny and not as well liked but he is also fair and kind and honestly I could just go on about him forever. The story is gripping and heartbreaking and brilliant.

Wool, Shift & Dust - Hugh Howey

This is post apocalyptic conspiracy gold. The human race consists only of what is left living inside giant bunkers in the ground that they call silos. The atmosphere outside is so toxic that no one can go outside. The series starts with an execution. You see they don't have the resources to have long term prisoners so if anyone does something that deserves long term incarceration they are executed. How are they executed? I'm so glad you asked. They are sent outside. They are sent outside with some cleaning supplies and are asked to clean the windows of the silo because they are always filthy as no one can go outside to clean them.

Anyway the political plotline is good, the conspiracy is better and the main character is a tough as nails BAMF called Juliette.

Beauty - Sheri S Tepper

Trigger warning: Rape/Non-Con

No one mixes fantasy and science fiction quite like Tepper and she does it best in this book. It is like a love letter to the fairytale genre. One of the best parts is picking out which tale each character represents. It has time travel, fairies, love, trauma and everything in between. It follows the story of Beauty as she tries to escape a curse to be with her one true love and instead gets lost in time, space and between worlds.

Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat

The first magical realism of the list. I didn't know this when I started reading it but the whole crux of this story is that Pacat was trying to write the worst set up for a relationship that she could imagine and oh boy did she. You will not see it coming but it is so so good.

Anyway the plot is this. Will is your typical chosen one working to stop the rise of an evil Dark Lord with the help of a few people including Violet his crush. It has references to the crusades and the lost magic of the old world and a unique secret order. Here's the thing. Nothing is what you think and the twists in this book are freaking amazing.

If you've read it hit up my DMs because I cannot talk about it enough and I am dying to read book two (coming out Dec 2023).

I've also read her Captive Prince series which I also enjoyed and was almost included in this list.

The Hunger Games Series - Suzanne Collins

We all know this one. If you don't what rock have you been hiding under. I do love tragedy.

That said I know not as many people have read "A Ballard of Songbirds and Snakes" but please do. Everyone keeps asking me how can I get past Coriolis Snow being the main character? If you haven't guessed by now I love villian origin stories and this is a bloody good one.

Does it excuse who he is and what he does? No but that's part of why it's good. How can we not get behind a spectacular fall from grace. Just read it.

The Wayfarer Series - Becky Chambers

I can't believe I almost forgot this one! Becky Chambers is here writing freaking cutting edge romance. The first book ends in one of the most heartbreaking tragedies I have ever read. Her universe and world building is so creative and different that nothing quite matches it.

Essentially in this universe humans have no home planet. Earth was destroyed hundreds of years ago so we are the immigrants and the minority in the galaxy as we have no home of our own.

Each book is stand alone but I would recommend reading them all as they are that good. Each explores a different set of characters and stories with some overlap so you do get the occasional callbacks to previous books. These are full of characters trying to get by while compromising and appreciating their differences.

Truckers, Diggers and Wings - Terry Pratchett

I had to mention something by Terry Pratchett and I choose this one because it was the first. Soul Music was a close second but this one has such a special place in my heart. It is the story of the nome Masklin who grew up in a hole. A literal hole. It follows his story as he learns that the world is much bigger than he grew up to believe.

I don't know if you know this but I grew up in a small country town halfway up the coast of Western Australia. This book speaks to me because it resonates so much with my personal story because I did grow up and find out the world was much bigger than I had ever realised.

Ok I'm done. That took forever. I may have lost count.

Tagging @dont-stop-her-now @artemisdraws14 @mistresslynndramione @bookloverdream-blessedindeed @efinna @goodnight-fraublucher @bluestringpudding @princessma1foy

[xnekoyokaix]

Book suggestions please!

Locklyle fans, what do you suggest as other series to read? Always looking for new book series and feeling like I've read everything good 😅 I read a lot.

Other books I loved, anything by Terry Pratchett, Black magician Trilogy by Tradition Canavan, the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, Crow Investigations by Sarah Painter, Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Lightbringer Saga by Brent Weeks, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett, Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas, Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore and so on!!