Hello again. Brandon’s assistant Peter here with another recommendation. It’s been a long time since the last one, whew!

Today the fifth and final book in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, The Burning White was released. If you’ve read the previous books, the most important thing here is: It’s fantastic, so go buy it. I do have some more thoughts below if you’re interested, but personally if I already suspect I’m going to like a book, I just go out and read it without first reading reviews so I don’t get accidentally spoiled.

For everyone else, if you haven’t read the series, I highly recommend it! I’m going to crib liberally from my recommendation for the third book in order to explain why you should read it.

If you’re seeing this review, you obviously like Brandon Sanderson’s writing. Well, when I read the first Lightbringer book, The Black Prism, back in 2012 or so, it was the most entertaining book without the name Brandon Sanderson on the front cover that I had read in years—and in many ways it was very much like reading a book that had Brandon’s name on the front cover. I loved every minute.

Now that the fifth book is out and the series is finished, does it hold up all the way through? The answer is a resounding yes. This is a fine example of what great epic fantasy is, and the ending is every bit as epic as I had hoped.

Before I get into that though, let’s go over my caveats from last time—the content issues that a Brandon reader may not be expecting. But first: if you haven’t reread the first four books recently, this book does start things off with helpful summaries. Reading those myself was a big help. Now the caveats:

Sexual content: There’s certainly more sexual content than you’ll find in one of Brandon’s books. Not only the few on-screen sexual situations, but banter and jokes among friends that have a sexual theme. The amount of this content increases somewhat in the fourth and fifth books, but it’s not particularly gratuitous. In fact, a major plotline of the fourth book includes the serious treatment of one character’s struggles with a type of real-world sexual dysfunction. That’s not something I’ve seen a lot of in genre fiction, and I really like the way that Brent treated it. Kudos.

In my book 3 review I wrote that there weren’t horribly foul-minded characters. In the final two books there is one character who has a very sick mind indeed, but thankfully we have very few glimpses into it. (Ugh, I hate this person.)

Language: Again, there’s more profanity than you’ll find in Brandon’s books. It’s believable considering the characters involved.

I also called out the writing style in my book 3 review, but it’s really a minor issue that doesn’t merit a bolded heading. Yes, Brent’s non-italicization of internal thoughts did take some getting used to, but by the fifth book it didn’t bother me.

Now, about that epic climax.

Like I said before, books like these are why I read epic fantasy. Strong male and female characters, well-defined magic, politics, fighting, cosmology, emotional entanglements, the works. There are times like in the middle of The Way of Kings where you don’t know where everything is going, but you’re along for a great ride, and everything pulls together eventually. I give some examples of that in my other review, but now we’re at the finale.

This is, at last, the book where everything really comes together. At the beginning of this volume it takes Kip a while to figure out what was bothering him about the situation at the end of the fourth book, but once he does, everything converges on one colossal final conflict. You know how the final book in The Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, has that 190-page chapter “The Last Battle” where everything comes to a head? Well, Brent doesn’t have his final battle in just one chapter, but it’s about 220 pages of nonstop climax, nearly a quarter of the book. It actually compares favorably to the one in A Memory of Light; there’s even a character detached from the others who in parallel undertakes a more psychological battle at the same time, the way Rand did in that book. When you start reading the climax, you’d best be prepared to not be able to put the book down for a long time. I lost quite a bit of sleep myself.

And that 220 pages is even more than it would have been in previous Lightbringer books. This novel is a long one—from chapter one to the end of the epilogues (yes, multiple) is 913 pages. The book is actually a few thousand words longer than The Way of Kings, because the publisher squeezed more words onto each page. And don’t by any means expect pages and pages of meal descriptions (though this book is all meat for sure). All you “big fat fantasy” lovers out there, this is one for you.

(Side note—there is a lengthy glossary/appendix at the end, but just so you won’t mistakenly think there’s a lot more left in the book than there actually is, these pages are helpfully marked in the hardcover with a grey edge. I think that’s a great idea! Doesn’t help people reading the ebook or audiobook though, alas.)

It’s not just a big battle. As with Brandon’s Mistborn trilogy, Lightbringer ups the stakes in the finale so that it’s not just a human conflict that matters. Things that were once considered only the realm of religion or myth spill out into the world of the characters, yet in a way that is deeply human. And as in the previous books, there are those “oh my goodness” moments where you have to reinterpret everything you thought you knew before about something, but since this is the final book there are quite a bit more of those. And it’s very satisfying.

What I appreciate most about reading a book is my emotional reaction. And there are a ton of character moments that prompt those emotions. Beneath all the magic and politics, this is truly a very character-driven book. Again and again, I laughed, I cheered, and I cried.

As in my earlier review, I’ll run down the characters here:

Kip: Even Andross Guile manages to be impressed by him, and if you’ve read the books you know that’s saying a lot. He continues his growth from the fourth book and really becomes a great leader. Like the best of them, he’s willing to sacrifice for his people, and oh boy does he.

Teia: Continues to be one of my favorite characters. What she has to do in this book is heartbreaking, with very serious consequences to her personally.

Gavin: He’s really been put through the wringer recently, and that doesn’t stop. Facing his flaws head-on leads to a few things we’ve been wishing would happen for quite a while.

Karris: I said I couldn’t wait to see what she did next, and I’ll just say that I was not disappointed.

Liv: Her transformation from the beginning of the series until the end is a very different character path from what we usually see. I somehow feel bad for her and admire her at the same time.

The Mighty: Kip’s friends really stood out to me in this book more than previously. They’re a lot more individualized and I finally feel like I really know them. There’s a very believable decision on their part that goes horribly wrong. Gee thanks, Brent.

Murder Sharp: I really never expected to list him here. But somehow he earns this spot. There’s a depth to his character that I really appreciate.

Andross: Comes even more to the forefront in this finale. As the character who really embodies “the ends justify the means,” some big surprises for him are still in the cards.

Again, I love how important the family relationships are in this series. Decisions of parents, grandparents, and siblings decades ago have far-reaching implications on the current story. It shows a verisimilitude that I’m very happy that writers like Brent are putting into their books.

I loved reading this series, and it came to a very satisfying conclusion, even though not every character’s fate was what I wanted it to be. That’s just the sign of good writing. Now, I’ve heard that next Brent will be going back to the world of his Night Angel series, so I’ll have to start reading those!

It’s Brandon’s assistant Peter again with another book to recommend to you.

I first read Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs (which was released today) back in November when an early copy was sent here to the Dragonsteel offices. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to think of the best way to describe it.

As usual, I read this book completely cold, without reading any description. And I loved it. I then recommended it to Brandon’s other assistant Isaac to see what he thought. Here’s what Isaac says:

If Peter Ahlstrom tells me I should read a book, I listen because he hasn’t yet steered me wrong. He’s consistently handed me books that I absolutely love. I don’t know if that’s because our reading tastes overlap quite a bit, or if he’s got some kind of Sandersonian magic system at his disposal that allows him to crumble the pages of old texts in order to peer into my reader’s heart and find books that meet all my fondest dreams. I suspect it’s the latter, especially when it comes to City of Stairs. He recommended I read the book, and I loved it. I’ve read very few books that feel engineered specifically for me (Brandon’s books qualify, and I assure you that I’m not obligated to say that), but City of Stairs also stands in this group. 99% of it was made just for me. If Peter has the magic to find the books that speak to my reader’s heart, then Robert Jackson Bennett has the magic to look into my heart and write the book I want to read. The characters, the world, the gods, the city, the horrors—this is my kind of book! I can’t wait to read the sequel. Heck, I can’t wait to re-read the book when it’s released on Tuesday! When Hugo nomination time comes around, I’m putting City of Stairs on my list.

Yeah. Honestly, it’s that good. If that’s enough for you, go and read it now. Here are the caveats. After them I’ll try to describe the book (but won’t give too much away).

Sexual content: There’s nothing onscreen except perhaps one vague scene. The aftermath of and leadup to sexual content appears a couple of times. This is a minor aspect of the book as far as screen time goes.
Language: There’s some profanity, particularly in a few scenes. There is also language of a sexual nature. One particular scene has some of this, and it’s one of the most powerful scenes in the book. Thus it’s not gratuitous at all, though it’s something some readers may not want to see, so I’m mentioning that here.
Writing style: This book is written in present tense. I know that annoys some readers. For me, while I’m more used to books written in past tense and present tense can be a bit jarring at first, it quickly becomes transparent and I stop noticing it.

Although I loved the book, and I also love Brandon’s writing, I’m not saying this book is like one of Brandon’s, not like the Brent Weeks books I recommended two weeks ago. People have different tastes, and not everyone will agree with me on this book. I hope many of you will.

A few years ago at the World Fantasy convention in I forget what city, I picked up a copy of China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station. I didn’t read it immediately, but eventually I got around to it, and it was quite an experience. The imagination that China put on display in that book was surprising, and the mystery plot was fascinating. However, the ending of that book left me cold and depressed. (I’m pretty sure that’s what China wanted.)

Reading City of Stairs was a bit like reading Perdido Street Station—but not quite as weird (there aren’t any beetle-headed people, though there is a sort of Lovecraftesque monster that gets loose at one point). The writing style is easier to get into. And most importantly for me, the book is satisfying rather than depressing.

Like Perdido, City of Stairs runs on a mystery plot. And like in Perdido, the city itself becomes a character of sorts. The eponymous City of Stairs, Bulikov, was once ruled by a handful of gods who walked among their worshippers—and the worshippers intermingled, even though each god’s tenets disagreed with the others’. The divine nature of the city once allowed its citizens to rule the known world.

Now, the city has been conquered and the gods are dead. And, what I find most interesting, worship of those gods—even their public acknowledgment—is illegal. What happens when your gods are defeated in battle and you can’t worship them anymore or even admit that they once existed? What does that do to a society?

The city itself is also broken. Built on divine power, when those divinities fell, many areas of the city simply vanished. Other parts became a shadow of their former glory. Other parts seem to be not quite right when you look at them closely.

Into this situation comes Shara Thivani, of the conquering nation, investigating the murder of a former mentor. And her investigation leads to greater questions. For the conquering nation hails as a hero the man who killed the gods—but no one really knows how he did it. And some of the outlawed divine magic still works—and why is that, if all the gods are dead?

This is not a grimdark book. The characters are good people trying to do good things, though they often fight with impulses to do otherwise. There are antagonists who are not nice, but they are not evil—they are trying to do what they think is right, in their own way. And that’s the best type of antagonist as far as I’m concerned.

One more thing I want to say is that I’m happy there’s going to be at least one sequel. But the story in this volume is very satisfyingly complete. The next volume, I’m pretty sure, takes place in a different part of the world. I do like continuous epics, but from time to time I also like reading books that stand on their own very well. City of Stairs does that, and it was such a joy to read.

So, once again, this recommendation has meandered quite a bit. The best thing I can say is simply to read the book. There’s a preview chapter here on Tor.com. Or if you want to see what Brent Weeks has to say about the book, you can read that here.

Enjoy.

Hello there! Brandon’s assistant Peter here. This is the start of a sporadic feature on Brandon’s blog where I recommend something to you. But don’t worry, this probably won’t happen very often. I am also going to recommend something else to you in two weeks, but then who knows when the next time might be? Not I. Since you never can tell when something awesome is going to come along.

Today marks the release of the third book in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. Many of you have probably read Brent Weeks’s books before, but if you haven’t, you’re in for a treat.

Now, when I read a book, I often prefer to go in pretty much blind. I hardly ever read the website description, the cover flap, or the back of the book, because I want to preserve as much of the surprise as possible. Of course, that makes it hard to know what to read in the first place.

But this may help: If you’ve come here, you obviously like Brandon Sanderson’s writing. Well, when I read the first Lightbringer book, The Black Prism, two years ago, it was the most entertaining book without the name Brandon Sanderson on the front cover that I had read in years—and in many ways it was very much like reading a book that had Brandon’s name on the front cover. I loved every minute.

If that’s enough of an endorsement for you, then you should go out and read The Black Prism now. But let me get the caveats out of the way:

Sexual content: There is some, a bit more blatant than in Brandon’s book Warbreaker (for comparison). I think there were two minor scenes in the first book, one or two in the second book. The third book has slightly less, yet it is an important plot point. There’s a scene where someone’s thought process in this area is explored, and it perfectly captured the emotional state inherent in such a situation. Very well done, Brent.
Language: There’s profanity. Not everywhere, but if as a reader you like to avoid certain words, you won’t avoid them in the third book. It feels like there’s a bit more profanity in this book than the previous two, but it’s hard to say. There are not any characters who are horribly foul-minded, which I appreciate.
Writing style: Brent does one thing with his writing in this series that takes some getting used to, and that’s not italicizing internal thoughts. That’s a writing trend that can work very well in first-person narrative, but it can be a bit jarring in third-person narrative where the thoughts switch to first-person as thoughts usually are. After a while my brain gets used to it while reading, but it’s a bit unusual so I’m letting you know ahead of time.

Now, just saying “read it if you like Brandon’s books!” might not be enough for you. Let me talk a little about why I like the Lightbringer series. (I hope this doesn’t get too disorganized.)

As I was reading the new book The Broken Eye a couple of weeks ago, this conscious thought crossed my mind: Books like this are why I read epic fantasy. Strong male and female characters, well-defined magic, politics, fighting, cosmology, emotional entanglements, the works. There are times like in the middle of The Way of Kings where you really don’t know where everything is going, but you’re along for a great ride, and everything pulls together eventually. Lightbringer delivers.

Let me point out one thing in particular. Sometimes I read a book and the characters exist sort of in a vacuum, as if they sprang out of nothing. In real life, everyone has a family, and family members are often the source of conflict. In Lightbringer, fiction reflects reality, and all the important characters are connected in one way or another. There’s the two brothers Gavin and Dazen, who ripped apart seven nations in the war between them years ago. There’s Kip, Gavin’s bastard son who was raised never knowing his father. There’s Karris, who was supposed to marry Gavin years ago, but fell in love with Dazen, and is now a bodyguard who kicks butt. There’s Liv, whose father was a general for Dazen and then joined Gavin after the war, and who can’t understand why her father would switch sides like that. There’s the Color Prince leading a new rebellion, and the talented hothead Zymun, and both of them have connections to the other characters that are not immediately revealed. There’s Gavin’s father Andross, who is or seeks to be the power behind the throne. His interactions with his grandson Kip in the second book are a type of generational conflict I haven’t seen before, and it was highly refreshing.

The political system is also fascinating. The relationships between semiautonomous nations show a very fluid dynamic with a lot of shades of grey. It was pretty clear by the second book that there’s something seriously wrong with the society of the Chromeria, though it was also clear that the Color Prince’s proposed solutions had their own issues. Now in the third book we start to see some of the historical reasons for what’s wrong with this world, but we’re still scratching the surface. I’m really looking forward to finding out more as the series continues.

Now, a note about the structure of this series. When I read the first book, The Black Prism, it felt revolutionary to me, fresh and new and exciting. The second book The Blinding Knife continued the story, though it felt less revolutionary, but instead was evolutionary. The characters and the exploration of the magic system bumped to the next notch, but did not immediately astound me. I came to realize that’s just fine. I can’t expect every book two to be as eye-opening as every book one. Nor is this a trilogy where everything will be wrapped up by the third book. (I think it’s slated to be at least five books four books, even if I want more…) Book one set the stage, and future books let everything play out. Some books are great standalones, one-and-done, but some stories are meant to take up multiple books where you still can’t wait for more.

The Broken Eye continues the trend started by the second book. There are some “oh my goodness” moments where you have to begin to reinterpret many things that have gone before, but for the most part you’re with characters you love while they get closer to their goals or make well-meaning mistakes that screw up their lives even more than they were before.

Something else I should shoehorn into this post just because Brandon is a huge Magic: The Gathering fan is that starting in the second book there’s a familiar-seeming card game that plays an important role. That seems like a risky move on the author’s part, but he really pulls it off.

For those who enjoyed the first two books and want to be reassured about the third book, here’s what’s going on with the characters.

Gavin: Always an interesting character to read about, in this book he becomes more of a reactive character than an active one, which changes what it’s like to be in his point of view. But he still has that Gavin attitude, and still shows why I want to root for him despite his flaws.

Karris: Really comes into her own in this book. She’s had a lot of the spotlight before of course, but here she takes on the role that will carry her through the next books. She has to face down some consequences from her past, and make hard choices. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Teia: Continues her awesomeness from the second book. It’s with Teia that we see the most exploration of a new side of the magic system, so there’s a lot of sense of wonder there. Her role is also one of the most dangerous, which had me on the edge of my seat.

The White: One of my favorite characters in this book. That’s all I want to say about her, really. Just go experience what she does.

Kip: It’s with Kip’s storyline that we also see an expansion of the cosmological aspects of the book. There’s a point somewhere after the 2/3 mark of the book where something happens that…well, it’s one of those “oh my goodness” moments I mentioned above. The sparring with his grandfather develops in interesting ways, and he also comes into his own as a leader. His interactions with former rivals in Blackguard training show a lot of growth. His emotional progress is fascinating on many levels, and it’s a testament to Brent Weeks’s character-building skills that Kip ends up in quite a different place from where he was at the start of the series, but every incremental change is completely natural. His insights into other characters also show a lot of maturity, and a certain scene where he talks about Ironfist and his brother Tremblefist was masterfully written.

Liv: After taking a major role in the second book, we see much less of Liv this time around. What she does is still important, but it’s mostly setup for the next book. I loved her in the previous book so her reduced role here was a bit of a disappointment, but she’s clearly pivotal to what will happen going forward. And what we do get of her is good stuff.

Something else that you should not expect in this book is another huge battle. The battles of this book are on a more intimate scale, but they’re no less important than what happened at the end of the second book. Yet these intimate conflicts also let you glimpse the grander war that’s been going on behind the scenes for centuries, of which a rebellion like the Color Prince’s is merely an outer symptom.

Ultimately, it’s hard for me to say anything more useful than what I said above: Books like this are why I read epic fantasy. Go read and enjoy.