Stripped of both magical and political power, the people he once ruled told he’s dead, and now imprisoned in his own magical dungeon, former Emperor Gavin Guile has no prospect of escape. But the world faces a calamity greater than the Seven Satrapies has ever seen… and only he can save it.
As the armies of the White King defeat the Chromeria and old gods are born anew, the fate of worlds will come down to one question: Who is the Lightbringer?
It’s a difficult thing to end a series, and it gets more difficult the longer the series runs. There are plot-lines to wrap up, mysteries to be solved, and characters to do justice to. And if you don’t stick the landing… Well, we’ve all seen the reaction to Game of Thrones.
But if you’re reading a review for the last book in a series, particularly if it’s a series you love, chances are that theres only one thing you want to know.
In this case: did Brent Weeks stick the landing?
Well let me put you out of your misery… He did.
All of your favourite characters are given time to shine. Be that Kip, Karris, Gavin, Teia, Liv, Andross, Gunner… or even Murder Sharp. Weeks manages to pull together all of the events he’s been building up over the course of the five books, resulting in a thrilling finale packed with action, colour, and emotion. He unveils secrets about the world. He puts his characters through the wringer. He even — imagine this — reveals the identity of the Lightbringer.
But it takes a bit of work to get there. Admittedly, I’m one of the readers who felt that the fourth book in the series fell a little flat. Besides a few juicy revelations, most of that book felt like build up.
And the first third or so of The Burning White continues that theme. As I’ve mentioned, there are a lot of pieces to move around the board when it comes to the ending of a series, and Weeks takes his time putting these pieces into place. While we as the readers are preparing ourselves for the traditional epic fantasy Final Battle, the characters go through their own preparations. There are secrets to uncover, plans to be made, and pep talks to be pepped.
Actually, now that I think about it, there really are quite a few pep talks in this book.
But following on from this slower first third, the story roars into life. There are battles galore. Magic is thrown around left, right, and centre. It’s exciting, engrossing, and it’s almost everything I could have hoped for. We delve into the past of one Andross Guile, and we even get to witness another few games of nine kings. We see the conclusion of character arcs that we’ve been following for years, and for the most part, these are satisfying. I will say that the conclusion to Liv’s story left me a little cold, but this was offset by how much I enjoyed the others.
However, I found at times that solutions to certain conflicts or circumstances seemed to come out of nowhere. The hard rules of the world, which up until this point have been quite rigidly adhered to, are done away with at times because of Religion or Faith. I kind of expected this going in, since the final book in Weeks’ Night Angel trilogy does something similar, and so it wasn’t something that I minded too much. But then, I’m more than willing to abide by the “rule of cool” as a reader, while I can imagine some others might have quite different opinions.
But overall, this was a book I really enjoyed, despite the slow start. It touched on everything I wanted to see before the series ended, and it stuck the landing in a way that left me satisfied and entertained. I’ve spent a lot of time with these characters and I’m thrilled to have see that they were done justice. Brent Weeks has a knack of building magical, intricate worlds full of history and secrets, and I can’t wait to see what he writes next.
