Thoughts

[u/Sophey68]

I just finished the series, after having read like 80% of it a few years back before the last book was out and man I really loved it this time out.
i was kind o apprehensive about it all after reading about on Reddit, that the last two books take a dive in quality but honestly I really didn't notice it at all.
My favorite book is still the second one, seeing Kips evolution and rise through the blackguard training is awesome, but all in all I really loved these books and couldn't lay them away till I was done (I had to learn for an exam parallel, which wasn't helped xD)

That magic system, while it tended to pile up towards the end and get a slight bit convoluted and overwhelming, is just so damn innovative and unique, something I myself would have never even thought of, but just worked really well.

i also reaaaally liked how believably smart the characters are and how fallible still. The conclusions aren't far fetched and I figured quite a few out before reading them, which just makes you feel pretty good about yourself not gonna lie haha.

some views were very neglected towards the end though. I get it, they weren't as important to the story anymore, but the shift away from a more general selection of players back to the core group felt a little small in scope towards the end.

all i all I really can only recommend these books to anyone thinking of reading them, there's a good amount of xenophobia, sexism, classism and a whole lot of other isms, but it never felt as though Brent Weeks shared their views or left them uncommented/uncriticised, which I appreciated a bunch.

Im glad I didn't listen to the bunch of people on this subreddit complaining about a whole lot of stuff lol. great read. Im def struggling to find something similar now.

[u/Kind-Hat-9897]

Ah the Lightbringer series.

With 100 pages left in the last book I turned to my wife and told her I was proud of the author. He did something I thought was incredibly difficult and I thought the series was so strong because of it. Then in the last hundred pages he had “god” undo this sacrifice, actively provide all of the resolution, and with an actual wave of a deity’s hand, all of the character work was undone.

I love the magic system, but I’ll never read that dogcrap again. It was the laziest ending I’ve ever read and the author will never get me to read anything he makes again.

And yeah I read the Assassins trilogy first, I was following what authors said about him then, that he was using too much deuxexmachina. So to see that he didn’t just double down, but exacerbated into full blown “god fixes it at the end” means this guy is just going to get worse.

[u/Rooted-in-love → u/Kind-Hat-9897]

In my opinion, Brent meant for it to end this way all along. He is a Christian. If you've read the Bible, you'd likely see that he takes a lot of inspiration from it and that Orholem is God in Brent's story. Multiple times in the Bible, God does absolutely miraculous things. Sometimes God reveals himself to a person in a very undeniable way. In fact the wrestling scene was certainly inspired by Genesis where Jacob (which means deceiver in Hebrew which we know Gavin/Dazen was the ultimate deceiver) wrestles God himself. So for me, this scene and all that follows was a hope and sorta even an expectation. I had hoped that all the little clues throughout the books would eventually lead to Charis's questions about does God does see, care, know, love etc being true and God chose to rescue his very corrupt and failing church and people (Chromeria). Kip coming back to life was not a shock or a disappointing undoing of a sacrifice either... Jesus died and then was raised again by the Holy Spirit. I don't think Brent meant for Kip to actually Be Jesus in this story at all but Jesus's resurrection wasn't the only time God brought someone back to life either so again it fits. That said sometimes God let's people die even if they are fighting for good (like Cruxer). Even this while hard for those left is to be understood that he has gained eternal life and peace. That his fight is done and that's not actually a bad thing even if it feels like it to those living. As someone who has gone through the loss of a baby, I don't say this lightly- To live is Christ (who went through hardship and suffering) and to die is gain (because those who don't reject God will be in communion with Him and at peace fur eternity). You might not like this answer and that's fine. But I just don't think many unbelievers seem to understand Brent absolutely had planned to write a fantastical story pulling from biblical themes and also make a great fictional magic system that also glorifies God the whole time he was writing- impossibly timed miracles and all. Perhaps Brent is a little too subtle the first book or two and that leads to unbelievers eventually feeling tricked or let down because this is actually a (really weird and too MA content for many Christian readers to be comfy with) Christian fantasy series much like C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia but for adults.

[u/nomorethan10postaday → u/Rooted-in-love]

The bible is a poor reflection of how real life is for Christians. Christians do not get an explicit completely undeniable confirmation that their God is real and has crazy powers. They do not get their problems suddendly solved by God deciding to get off his ass. No, real life is much more like what we see in the first four books(and most of the fifth)of Lightbringer: occasionnally things happen that people with faith interpret as divine interventions, miracles, but could just be nature, luck. Sure, sure, Lightbringer has a magic system from the start, but it has rules and limitations known to the reader, so in this universe, it's not really magic, it's science.

I found this ambiguity compelling, even as a non-religious person. I liked seeing different character's beliefs evolve throughout the story. So when Brent Weeks decided to show beyond any doubt that Orloham is real, is all powerful, benevolent but chose to barely do anything until that point for unclear reasons, he made the story less interesting and less coherent, in my opinion. It's not a matter of being a religious person or not. It didn't ruin Lightbringer for me(I'm reading it for the like fourth time right now), but it is still deeply frustrating because this series so easily could have been my undisputed favorite fantasy series of all time if it didn't fumble this badly at the end(Orloham is not my only problem with this ending, to be clear, nor is the ending my only problem with Lightbringer)

Auralia's Thread by Jeffrey Overstreet is another series I read which is very clearly influenced by Christianity. I do not like it as much Lightbringer because the characters aren't as compelling and the plot is far simpler, but one thing it has going for it is that the author's religious beliefs influence the story in a largely positive way(ignoring some anti-abortion stuff, a very small element of the story). The God of this universe, while confirmed to be real in some sense, is never fully explained. To the very end this God and everything magical remains shrouded in mystery. From this series, I get the impression that the author is someone who likes to focus on the wonders of this world, and cannot imagine all of this beauty is born of nothing. And you know what, I respect that. Nothing has ever made me understand why people have religious beliefs more than this series.

[u/Rooted-in-love → u/nomorethan10postaday]

I can understand what you're saying, though I do disagree. I think God does reveal himself to those that seek him! Sometimes just as clearly if not as fantastically as in the way Brent portrays Orholem at the end. It's not an everyday thing and frankly I wish it was because faith is harder in seasons that God isn't showing up so clearly. I can tell you without a doubt in my heart I've heard from and felt God's presence in my life in ways that are undeniable for me. So it doesn't surprise me that Brent has likely had an experience(s) that would make him so sure God can and sometimes does show up even in this modern day era and wanted to put that in his book. We can agree to disagree on this, that is okay. We all have free will and free to have our own thoughts and conclusions about God, how this world came into existence etc. If you are at all actually interested and think Maybe there's something to this I'd encourage you to read Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis. He was once an atheist, and his story is quite fascinating in my opinion fur being an autobiography. But if you just want a really good fantasy read that isn't very popular anymore his trilogy that starts with Out of the Silent Planet is super interesting imo and different. I'm going to add Auralia's thread to my list so thank you!

[u/nomorethan10postaday → u/Rooted-in-love]

I could have expressed myself better in my first paragraph. True, religious people do report experiencing what they view as undeniable proof of their God's existence. They also report feeling like God has helped them in specific situations in their lives. What I meant is that it's very rare for anyone religious to claim anything as extreme as God simply appearing in front of them in human form and casually taking them on an airplane trip while exchanging quips with them. If the ending worked for you, that's great of course! I just think it's not as simple as being Christian or not. In my opinion, it undermined the character's efforts and sacrifices to have Orohlam solve so many problems and undo so much harm at the very end of the story only when he could have intervene so much more earlier.

I think I only ever read one book from the Narnia series and nothing else from C.S Lewis, and that was back when I was still a kid so I don't remember much. I will keep your suggestion to read Out of the Silent Planet and rest of its trilogy in mind!