Lightbringer

After screaming for months trying to get over the ending of KINGSBANE, I was so very happy to finally be able to pick up this book. This kills me to say, but... It kind of fell short? What I loved about the first two books was the fast-paced narrative, with a lot of twists and turns and a wickedly dark atmosphere. While this was dark all right, the first two-thirds of this was so slow. Nothing happened and there were a bunch of POVs I really couldn't have cared less for. I did like seeing Rielle fall more and more into madness, because that made sense in regards of the first two installments, but that enjoyment was dampened by the slowness of this book. I enjoyed the characters - especially Eliana, and Audric's growth. I think he really settled into the great man and king we could glimpse from book 1. I was happy to see how everything went down during the last third of the book, and if the entire book had been this exhilarating I might've given it 5 stars like I did the first two, but unfortunately I can't, because I was bored at first. I do want to point out that this is not, by any means, a bad book. It's a great one and a good sequel and a solid finale. It just doesn't totally live up to my expectations.

Ordinato questo libro per un regalo, arrivato in tempi brevi ma in pessime condizioni: parti danneggiate, copertina piena di macchie sparse. Ho quindi richiesto immediatamente un reso e come visibile dalle foto il libro arrivato in seguito è nelle medesime condizioni del primo: copertina macchiata e rovinata. Che dire, davvero indecente soprattutto considerando che sono due copie diverse entrambe rovinatissime.

Beautiful book, awesome end to the story.

This is the 3rd book in the series and it's awesome! Definitely get it. A great author who really sets up a world amazingly!

TW: violence, torture First off, why can't I give this more than 5 stars? Just wondering. I absolutely love Rielle. She's hands-down my favorite character in this series because I love stories about heroes-turned-villains who walk that line between good and evil. Watching her descent into darkness and her journey beyond her humanity was kind of incredible? I honestly wish that more YA books were willing to delve into this morally-grey territory with their heroines, because it makes the narrative just so much richer and more fascinating. God, I was so anxious during this story. The whole Empirium trilogy is such a rare treat in YA Fantasy because it absolutely does not follow conventional YA tropes and works with so much scope and nuance. Certainly, you know that some plot beats are inevitable: Rielle will turn dark and resurrect angels (because it was already foreseen in Eliana's timeline) and Eliana will bring light back to the darkness (because that's what chosen one's do). Beyond that, though, I can hardly guess what comes next, and I can't trust Legrand to NOT kill any of my faves. Eliana's story has always been less interesting to me because she's more of a classic antihero-turned-hero YA chosen one, but I just have to praise Legrand's structuring because her journey parallels Rielle's so well. Her suffering and growth were developed wonderfully and I was quite proud of how far she'd come since Furyborn. I was actively rooting for her every step of the way. Some side relationships feel forced or out of the blue, and sometimes it feels like there are too many POVs to the point where I want to hurry up and skip back to Rielle/Eliana. That being said, the depth of emotion and pain and grief feels incredibly raw. People make the wrong choices and people suffer the consequences. There are genuine stakes in this story and that gets me really engrossed. Furthermore, Legrand's writing is just so good. Such gorgeous and vivid prose all around. Fun fact, there's so much casual rep in this world and I just think that's neat. Queer and/or POC kings and queens and rebels and pirates. Plus two bisexual queens as our protagonists. I'm not sure if there was disabled rep, but there was certainly a lot of thoughtful portrayal of mental health issues that I found refreshing to read. I really hope that Legrand continues to write in this world, honestly. I still have so many questions about the time of the saints, and about whatever potential story could come from the ending now that the possibilities seem endless. Nevertheless, I feel that this really is the sort of tale that could be Legrand's magnum opus, and knowing that this is the story she'd been nurturing for 16 years makes so much sense because there has been so much love and care put into crafting this series.