Disclaimer: This is a spoiler-free review of Light Bringer, the 6th book in the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
Nerding Out After Much Anticipation
As my writer’s group has been made well aware, I am a big fan of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series. The first book captured and excited me like few books have, and I couldn’t wait for more of his exciting blend of science fiction and fantasy.
Fortunately for 2018 Corey, I was a few years behind, and the trilogy was already out. So I read the whole thing in quick succession, followed by Book 4, which had started a new trilogy. While Iron Gold (Book 4) was not quite at the same level as the first 3, I loved it all the same and was interested in the next natural progression of the story.
Book 5 – Dark Age – came out just a few months later and felt more exciting and shocking, so I got my fill of Red Rising all in about a year’s time. And none too soon, either, since I had just gone through a devastating breakup. Being able to escape to this rich and interesting world eased my time of recovery.
That was about 5 years ago. Even if you had been following Brown’s work since 2012 and the original book, you usually only had to wait about 2 years for the next one. I had read 5 books within a year and then had to wait 5 years.
Thankfully, unlike back in the day when I had to wait for Order of the Phoenix, I was still excited and eager enough to go visit Pierce for a Q&A and book signing in Toronto.
There had been so many questions left unanswered. I had started re-reading the original in anticipation. It was pretty much as great as I remembered it, although a lot of the fun of not knowing the story was no more.
When I got to Indigo Yorkdale, it was there on display: in glorious black and gold with an emblem of a horse on the front.
I thought, “Who is the ‘light bringer’? Is it Darrow? Or is there a wordplay here? Would the series’ new villain feign a righteous persona and attempt to bring light to the dark age that had befallen Golds?
The Q&A was fun, basically a bunch of nerds asking super nerdy questions and a writer-nerd nerding out with us and then signing our books.
Still, I feared the worst: that finally, Brown would underdeliver. That, because of the pandemic or fatigue or just being tired of writing in the same universe for years, he’d deliver a lackluster story.
Thankfully, just chapters into the story, that worry became hope. 700 pages later, that hope was fulfilled.
Alright, now for an actual review…
Pierce Brown’s Best
Light Bringer is fantastic, and if you love Red Rising or want to get into it and not be disappointed, you can rest assured that the second trilogy, while great overall, gets better in its 2nd and 3rd iterations.
Brown’s writing might be the best it’s ever been. The action is still great, and I found I got less action fatigue here than in other books like Morning Star. Brown and his team have figured out a better balance; they’ve clearly cut parts of a story that didn’t need to be there on the page. The writing itself, the voice, all of it comes together well. Brown is clearly a matured craftsman a decade after his first release. I experienced the contrast since I read the first book before reading the 6th; the difference is clear. The freshness of the Red Rising world isn’t there in book 6, nor should it be. But the potency of strong verbiage and nuanced diction sure is.
The story itself is a delight. It has lovely, difficult twists, high stakes, emotional progression for Darrow and a great, rich cast of others. Each character is faithful to those who have been followed for an entire series. I love each of them, old and new.
I enjoyed Darrow a lot in this book, particularly his changes and his maturation. It feels natural and satisfying. I also appreciated Diomedes and what he represented in the potential of the Golds.
If I had any gripe with the book, it may be that it feels disjointed somewhat from its predecessor Dark Age. There, several plot arcs were started that I was expecting to be finished here. Instead, it seems that Brown took a different route, or is waiting til Book 7 – currently named Red God – to re-open and close them. Others are closed very quickly in early parts of Light Bringer. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it is somewhat of a letdown that we, the reader, don’t get to experience those plotlines close and are instead told that they are closed. But alas, the story still progresses naturally out of Dark Age and onto the next inevitable chapter that will bring us, eventually, to a conclusion in Red God.
I’m hoping we don’t have to wait as long for the finale, but as with any form of media, I would rather wait in anticipation and be satisfied than receive rushed material. And if there is a series that deserves a strong, thrilling conclusion, it’s Red Rising.
Thanks again, Pierce.
