Light Bringer

So I only gave the last instalment in the series 4 Stars. Not because the story wasn’t amazingly written: it was. Not because the characters weren’t breathtakingly real: they were. And not because it ever got boring: it didn’t. No, Dark Age only got 4 Stars because it was, as the names suggests, just a little too dark for me, and I have a pretty high threshold for darkness. Having to listen to characters you’ve come to love being systematically bludgeoned again and again in increasingly harsh manners was simply too much for me and, despite the book being amazing, nearly made me quit listening. So it was with a healthy truckload of trepidation that I started Light Bringer, praying that Brown would have found a finer balance between the dizzying highs and gut-wrenching lows that he is so brilliant at writing. I am pleased to say that not only did he find that narrow line but managed to tightrope walk across it for the entire novel. This book was amazing.

Light Bringer picks up eight months after they seismic shifts and harrowing escapades of Dark Age, with our remaining cast of characters doing all they can to survive in the even harsher world they suddenly find themselves in. Darrow is reeling from the loss of his entire army and fleet over Mercury, Verginia is digging in for the inevitable assault on Mars, Lyria is trying to get the parasite dug out from her skull, and Lysander is doing what he can to rebuild Mercury and consolidate his newly won position of power and importance within the Society. Now the Virgina and Lyria chapters are great, really, but it is the Darrow and Lysander chapters that truly propel this book into its brilliance. On opposing sides of the war, the dichotomy between these two is fantastic. Yes, Lysander is ostensibly fighting for ‘the bad guys’, but we’ve come to see him as a decent person intent on doing all he can to bring order, stability, and reform to the solar system after over a decade of brutal devastation driven by Darrow and the Rising. I can’t go into too much detail for fear of giving spoilers, but the progression of Lysander’s character through this book is a fantastic piece of writing, and fantastic in that way of twists, turns, and blindsides that Brown has become synonymous with.

The story itself is vast and epic in the truest sense. Huge battles coupled with delicate intrigues all written in a way that keeps you constantly guessing and in a permanent state of worry for the characters. We learnt after the last book that there is no such thing as plot armour in this series, and subsequently there is a permanent state of unease whilst you listen as you know that no one is safe. This in itself is perfect because that is exactly how the characters themselves feel, allowing you to empathise with them on a level rarely achieved. Now where Light Bringer, in my opinion, has a superior narrative to Dark Age is that we actually get victories for our heroes instead of a steady stream of progressively bad tribulations. I’m not saying that it’s all good news for our beloved characters. Of course not, this is a Pierce Brown novel after all, but we do get enough light along with the bucketloads of dark that we are always driven to keep slogging through Brown’s mirky universe. The losses are tense and heartrending, and the victories are dizzying and explosive. The action and battle sequences are perfectly written, as ever. Whether it’s close in duels with razors or planetary assaults by waves of soldiers in mech-suits, the action in this book is truly astounding. That’s really what sets Brown apart from most other writers in my opinion. He can write some of the most engrossing, nuanced character interactions worthy of awards in their own right, and then slap you in the face with some of the best action sequences you’ll find in sci-fi. Then man has mastered both and knows how to perfectly play them off against each other. It produces a level of immersive pacing that few others can hope to match.

One thing that always blows me away about this series is its depth, and by this I mean the awe inspiring melange of historical, psychological, and philosophical concepts that Brown has used to weave together one of the most solidly constructed sci-fi universes I have ever come across. There are so many elements to this universe that fit together seamlessly that the product is truly ironclad even when things that would seem outwardly insane or too farfetched occur. Or maybe seamless isn’t the right word because this world is riddled with imperfections, but they are imperfections that are entirely believable and form the foundation for much of the strife ripping the solar system apart.  Brown hasn’t built some fanciful far-flung future or just some idealised utopia with a dark underside. This is a world that I fully believe has been the product of humanities best and worst aspects following a certain trajectory, with perfection in this series found within its honest and brutal imperfections.

In summation, I shot through this 30hr novel in record time, which is one of the highest compliments that I can give a book. This wasn’t just something I listened to when I was driving or working. This was an audiobook that I actively made time within my day to listen to because it was so engrossing, so exhilarating, and so beautifully written. This is a masterpiece of literature, regardless of whether you are a sci-fi fan or not. Brown has outdone himself once more.

As for narration, we return to just Tim Gerard Reynolds doing the narration as opposed to a different narrator covering each of the different character chapters, and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, having different narrators for different characters can definitely add something by giving each one a more distinctive voice, but when you have a narrator who is simply perfect for the narrative, then it seems like a waste not to give them all you have and let them run with it. Tim Gerard Reynolds is such a narrator, and his solo performance in this book was once again a masterclass in narration.

Score: 5.0 stars

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