Reviews with content warning for Violence - Lightbringer

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Lightbringer by Claire Legrand

19 reviews

valpyre's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

[audiobook]

I mean, this was a fine conclusion. I'm pretty much just glad it's over.

[major spoilers ahead]

As with previous book in the series, for me, the book dragged for the first half, and only really started picking up speed and interest in the second. Honestly, I would attribute most of that interest to Audric's chapters, which I actually found pretty compelling in his struggle with grief, depression, and leadership. Looking back, I can understand that Rielle was grieving too, but I simply didn't understand how she got so taken in by Corien each and every time,

to the point where she killed Tal after seemingly having come to her senses and taking some initiative.

Eliana's story was pretty good, what with the time travel and working through Simon's outward betrayal, but again, the first half was just a bunch of her being tortured, till she

started working with the Prophet and the action picked up.

Even so, the climactic point and ending fell a little flat for me -- to me, Eliana seemed to convince Rielle to not kill Audric fairly easily. Also I think LeGrand did a disservice by having Ludivine reveal herself as the Prophet in her own POV chapter, versus in Eliana's, as I think that would have been more impactful, even if similarly predictable.

Not to mention Ludivine has basically been everyone's punching bag for the entire series -- who knows why she is so helplessly devoted to her friends even as they berate her and shut her out at will for, frankly, no good reason. Her love for Audric and especially Rielle is no secret, and I wish they showed her that in return even half as much as she did for them.

I was also a little confused at the end when they started talking about repairing the gate -- both Eliana and Rielle knew the true deceit behind the angels being sent to the Deep, and I was surprised nothing was going to be done about it.

It seems like angels are there simply just as the Big Bads, with little nuance, except for those who cannot help loving, and dying for humans.

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claudiamacpherson's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Rielle is separated from Audric and Ludivine, and embraces her status as Blood Queen. A thousand years in the future, Eliana has been captured by Corien and brought to his city, where she is trapped and tortured. Scattered across the world, her friends must come together in a final attempt to save the world.

Honestly, this book was a bit tough to get through. I still enjoyed it and the story kept me engaged enough, but it was pretty depressing and had more violence than I really wanted to read.

The ending was...unexpected for me, which may be silly because it was essentially what they had been planning the whole time, with the whole traveling-back-in-time-to-change-Rielle's-mind plan. Somehow I still thought they were going to find a way to save everyone's lives in the "present" (Eliana's time period). I know that Corien and the Empire were really bad for a thousand years, but erasing all of those lives (including half of the characters we, as readers, have come to love!) felt wrong too. Though it was sad, I thought Rielle's ending was also fitting—a normal happy ending would feel forced and unrealistic after the extreme upheavals of her life. It reminded me both of Enna Burning, and how the elements almost overwhelm and kill Enna and Isi, and also how in The Lord of the Rings Frodo is too scarred after carrying the ring to have a happy ending. I did appreciate how the threads of the two stories came together, with both Ludivine and Zahra showing up in both times, as well as the scene with Simon at the end.

Happy ending meter (no spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

I guess it's happy? Sort of? But not really? This is a tough one.

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stormywolf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I've made no effort to hide how much Kingsbane's ending affected me. In fact, I've mentioned in several other reviews how depressed I was, and how I didn't plan on ever reading it again, regardless of my tradition of rereading series leading up to the latest book. It was really thanks to the audiobook that I ended up revisiting both Furyborn and Kingsbane, partly to refresh myself on the characters, but mostly so I could give a review of the audio throughout the series. And I will say, thanks in part to the year of letting my wounds heal, and having the expectation of devastation in my mind throughout the reread, I entered into this final chapter with a bit more hope than I last left off.

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, Lightbringer had some dark turns, but as a certain Prophet once said, "To rise, first one must burn," and this definitely turned up the heat. I didn't talk too much about the nitty gritty of the plot or the twists of this book, but honestly I didn't want to spoil more than I did. Just know that I was gripped at every step of the way, and had this not been a 12-hour read, I would have tried to devour it all in one go. I don't know that I'll be returning to dark fantasy soon, but for anyone who is a fan or is looking to dip their toes into the dark waters, I'd definitely recommend this trilogy. If you were as disheartened as I was after the second book, I can't promise it'll get easier to deal with the loss, but just as the title suggests, light is on the horizon if you can hang in there through the dark. And if nothing else, you can always let your hunger to see Corien suffer drive you forward.

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bee94's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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wordsofclover's review

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don't really know how to accurately rate this book because while I love this trilogy so much, this was definitely the least favourite book for me both in reading experience and the contents of the story. I give it 4 stars but it might more accurately be a 3.5 (and maybe even a secret 3? I DON'T KNOW!).

This book contains a lot of Corien and Eliana in the future timeline as Corien plays with Eliana to try and get her to use her powers, meaning he might be able to return to Rielle. But Eliana is stronger than he thinks, and even though she is suffering from grief, heartache and betrayal, she won't break. In the past timeline, Rielle has also run to Corien and is losing herself more and more to the Empirium, forgetting who she really is and how much the people in her life like Audric and Ludivine love her.

I did really like having more POVs in this book from Audric and Ludivine because they are characters I genuinely just love (would die for them both tbh) but overall this book just stressed me out and made me really sad because so many awful things were happening (some of them by the hands of Rielle - a character I've loved and defended).

I felt very frustrated by a lot of Rielle's decisions in this book and it was very hard to read at times seeing her choose the wrong thing again and again while on the other hand, there was a real lull in Eliana's story as it felt the same kind of thing was happening - there is only so much you can read about forced dreams and mind torture.

Ludivine was the really interesting character in this as we saw her really develop into something amazing. I've always loved Audric, Rielle and Ludivine's relationship in this book and there were parts of Lightbringer that brought me to tears when these memories were brought up and pain both Ludivine and Audric felt over them.

I do agree with some other reviews that the ending, and how some of the characters were treated felt a bit abrupt and more time here (and maybe less in the mind dreams) would have been beneficial.

I can't say I'm unhappy with the ending but it definitely left a very bittersweet feeling in my mouth. I do hope we get more books in this world as we haven't learned even a real smidge of what the Emperium can do - and maybe Eliana has many more adventures ahead!

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haleybsreads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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alizam's review

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book crushed me, in the best and worst ways. It made me realize that, essentially, the plot of this trilogy is "things get worse, and worse, and worse". Lightbringer, and the entire Empirium Trilogy by extension, does that very well.

It is, essentially, all setup for a canonical time-travel fix-it fic.

Despite my lack of interest in any character except Corien, Remy, and Ludivine, it is a compelling story arc. This book revolves around impossible choices, and the human cost of those choices. The "happy ending", I would argue, makes the rest of the series more depressing in hindsight.

The Bad Future of Eliana's story never happened, thanks to a time travel shenanigan handwaved by the narrative, but in handwaving that it makes her whole plot arc feel pointless. Everybody dies except Eliana, Simon, and Audric, three characters I do NOT give a shit about.

And I have to bring up the problem with this book that is heavily discoursed by book twitter et large: Yes, there is explicit sex. No, it's not appropriate for the young teens who will read this.

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deedireads's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Lightbringer isn’t perfect, but it is the sweeping, exciting, heart-wrenching conclusion to the Empirium Trilogy we’ve been waiting for!

For you if: You read and loved Furyborn and Kingsbane.

FULL REVIEW:

“Love is the one constant force that no violence or despair can diminish. We must hold onto the light of this truth, even when the world grows dark. Especially then.”

I’ve been waiting for Lightbringer since the moment I finished Kingsbane, which ended on a huge cliffhanger! And finally, a few weeks ago, it landed in my hands — all 600 pages of it. And now, friends, I’ve experienced the exciting ending we’ve been waiting for.

I’m not going to recap the plot because I don’t want to spoil the first two books, but here’s the 1,000-foot view of the series: We have two main characters, 1,000 years apart: Rielle, who has more magic than anyone else, and Eliana, who fights her way through the world that was created when Rielle fell.

Lightbringer itself was great. I do think that it could have been shorter, and the pacing in the first half frustrated me a little. But the ending was worth it. So good!!! My heart!! I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you liked the first two books, I think you’ll be happy with this conclusion.

If you like to read adult fantasy series about characters who love big, fight hard, and bleed for a better world, then this is the one for you. READ IT.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Violence; Relationship abuse; Suicidal thoughts

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kpburk's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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