The Burning White

If there's one thing I can't stand in books, it's when the plot is driven by the mistakes made by the protagonists.

Unlike the previous books in this series, it's difficult to root for the heroes and heroines at any point of time. You see them make so many mistakes that when their actions catch up to them, all you're left with is a feeling of crushing inevitability.

These mistakes are so bad that the only way out that the author could find was deus ex machina: the introduction of a literal, physical God.

For a series that did so well, so far, this is a disappointing conclusion.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I enjoyed the series as a whole. The characters are amazing, Andros Guile is amazing, he shines the most for me here. I'm not entirely sure though how I feel about how things were ended. I feel characters grew really well, I don't know, I'm torn, I really enjoyed it but there's also something that wasn't so great that I haven't yet figured out. The magic system was incredible and really well thought out, I enjoyed it.

SPOILERS

- The ending is too happy, I hate that. It feels like everything just worked out for everyone and I didn't like that.
- I hate that Kip died and came back to life. Id have liked it better if he either stayed Alice or stayed dead
- Liv's story just went nowhere
- The white king just died, he wasn't a great big boss
- Android just became a good guy from nowhere, that wasn't great
- The immortals didn't really need to be there in my opinion, they didn't do or archive anything really. Their presence didn't change much.

I had a lot of fun reading this final entry in the series, but much like a good friend, it felt like it overstayed its welcome near the end. I feel like the author tried so hard to not have another book that hell or high water everything made it in this book. There was so much detail that some scenes seemed to drag, and the frantic pace that plot threads were resolved was a little hard to follow at times. Still a solid conclusion to the series, if a bit long.

Executive Summary: This series has been up and down for me, but Mr. Weeks really stuck the landing with this book.Audiobook: Simon Vance is one of my favorite narrators and does another excellent job here. Not only does he have a great reading voice he does a variety of voices that really make an audiobook above and beyond for me.Full ReviewI'm still not sure how I feel about Mr. Weeks as an author. After nearly rage-quitting his Night Angel series, I wasn't sure I wanted to read another book by him again. However the recommendation of friends and the cool sounding magic system made me consider giving him another try to...mixed results. I loved the magic system but [b:The Black Prism 7165300 The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1) Brent Weeks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327921884l/7165300.SY75.jpg 7534979] felt very juvenile throughout.Despite that, I continued on and liked the later books a lot more....until I didn't. I thought the series took a step backwards with [b:The Broken Eye 12652457 The Broken Eye (Lightbringer, #3) Brent Weeks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1376583941l/12652457.SY75.jpg 17766175]. I could never drop that feeling of a juvenile tone.So while I was looking forward to this book, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it quite this much. Anyone who follows my reviews knows I don't give 5 stars lightly. The easiest measure for me of a 5-star book is one where I'm finding reasons to listen to just “1 more chapter”. I'll do a bit of extra work or just sit and stare at a wall for a few minutes if it means finding out what happens next.There was a lot of that here. And this was a loooong book. I'm still not sure how I feel about Mr. Weeks as an author. I don't recall being annoyed in this book as I was during the past ones. Has he finally turned a corner? Should I try out whatever series he puts out next? I'm still not sure yet.I am however glad I gave this series a try and stuck with it.

Oh my, such a great read.

I love how Weeks can weave multiple storylines together, and each one of them goes three layers deep in what a character thinks happened, what he thinks the other character thinks happened, what actually happened or what should have happened. Think House of Cards meets fantasy.
In the Lightbringer series Weeks even manages to weave in a whole religion/magic system and dependent culture which is on point.

Definitely recommend if you loved this style of writing from his first series the Night Angel trilogy. If you need to decide whether reading the Lightbringer of the Night Angel trilogy, I would recommend the Night Angel trilogy because I think the ending of that series is magnificent (though heartbreaking).
If you're more the magic - fantasy fan than go with Lightbringer.
But actually don't choose and read both!