MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains.
But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend.
Marooned far from home after a devastating defeat on the battlefields of Mercury, Darrow longs to return to his wife and sovereign, Virginia, to defend Mars from its bloodthirsty would-be conqueror Lysander.
Lysander longs to destroy the Rising and restore the supremacy of Gold, and will raze the worlds to realize his ambitions.
The worlds once needed the Reaper. But now they need Darrow, and Darrow needs the people he loves—Virginia, Cassius, Sevro—in order to defend the Republic.
So begins Darrow’s long voyage home, an interplanetary adventure where old friends will reunite, new alliances will be forged, and rivals will clash on the battlefield.
Because Eo’s dream is still alive—and after the dark age will come a new age: of light, of victory, of hope.
MY REVIEW
I’m struggling to put words together on how wonderful Light Bringer, the penultimate book in the Red Rising saga was, Brown went out and shook me to my core and made me feel things that I was not expecting at all. There were times during the first 30% or so that I was left speechless, and times where I just needed a break because certain scenes just felt like they were dragging a little long. But then the culmination of those scenes hit and the understanding of why Mr. Brown took that journey, was worth it in the end. Something I didn’t really put together until now, partially because of some chapter header quotes by Homer, is that the story does weave in some of Odysseus’ journey and the perils he faced along the way to get home from The Odyssey, as well as a little bit of the revolt of Spartacus.
One of the best thing about this series has always been the strong cast of characters, and Brown continued to do an excellent job of building relationships between the characters. The relationships that are formed is what really Carrie’s Light Bringer in a different light because of how it shapes each character. Brown continues to do a spectacular job of giving me all the feels for these characters, and one of the minor issues I had in the last installment is no longer an issue! Because of the Spartacus and Odysseus references I mentioned, I also noticed that Pierce has basically set the characters up, mainly Darrow, to be a bit of a characterization of Sisyphus from Greek mythology, who was condemned to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to have the rock roll back down to the bottom every time he reaches the top.
“In the cold prison of our minds, we are alone with our self-hatred, our doubts, and guilt.
No one more than Sevro. A friend may reach through the bars and hold our hand, but they cannot open the door for us. Only the prisoner has the key. All I can do is remind him we’re waiting for him when he gets out.”
Pierce’s writing is something magical, it’s gritty and beautiful, and will always get my mind racing on what is going to happen next, because you never know with Pierce. Light Bringer was masterfully written in every single way that I can possibly think, which is why I didn’t expect to get hurt the way that I got hurt, but wow, Pierce really did decide to plunge a dagger in and give it a twist on more than one occasion. It was an enthralling symphony of emotions that had me whirling from the intensity of every scene, which had my heart thumping out of my chest. There were also some pretty amazing fight scenes left me absolutely floored. Pierce saves the best for last, because one of the absolute best scenes happens close to the end, and all I could do was grin from ear to ear.
On top of everything, Tim Gerard Reynolds comes back and gives yet an incredible performance with his narration. He really did a great job and put me in a trance by making me feel the pain, anger, happiness and joy of each one of the characters with his tones. I don’t think there was one voice that he did that I didn’t like, it was the perfect narration for the perfect series. While I didn’t hate the second trilogy, I was a bigger fan of the first one, and in my opinion, Light Bringer was on par if not even better than those.
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