Why I Gave Up On Brent Weeks (Night Angel and Lightbringer)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- Mike discusses how Lightbringer by Brent Weeks went from one of his favorite modern fantasy series to making him no longer want to read anything new by him going forward.
You can purchase the Night Angel trilogy here: amzn.to/33dXk9y
You can purchase the Lightbringer series here: amzn.to/3fwnfOL
Want to send Mike something? You can do so to the below address:
Mike K.
15201 Mason Rd
Suite 169
Cypress, TX 77433
Support Mike on Patreon: / mikesbookreviews
Join Mike's server on Discord / discord
Visit Mike's Amazon Wishlist: amzn.to/2zpHooW
Follow Mike on Goodreads: / mikesbookreviews
Follow Mike on Twitter: / zepp1978
Like Mike's Book Reviews on Facebook / mikesbookreviews
Follow Mike on Instagram / zepp1978
Follow Mike on TikTok / zepp1978
------------------------------------------------------
Theme music provided by Infraction
/ @infraction
Music used: Epic (No Copyright Music)
infractionroya...
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0(CC BY 3.0)
creativecommon...
------------------------------------------------------
#MikesBookReviews #BrentWeeks #Lightbringer
![เขามัทรี - เอ็กซ์ ศุภกฤต - จอนนี่มิวสิค [ Official MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AS9ufKuQIVs/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey bookworms! I get accused of only talking about things I love on this channel, so I hope you enjoy the venting of some frustrations here. As always, I welcome your differences of opinions. These are just mine.
Chill bro your content is great they are just a small minority complaining. How far are u in rhytm of war im 500 pages in
Sometimes something just doesn’t click, I know how you feel, much respect for going against popular opinion to show your side of the pi. Honesty is always best, an I don’t think you were over the top, nice video! 👌🏼
16:28
NO!
Night Angel was not amazing. I speak to you as someone who's survived the Trainwreck that is book 3 and come back to give report. Also there's absolutely nothing wrong with only talking about stuff you like. Life's too short to read shitty books.
Like Night Angel.
I found your opinion for the lightbringer closest to my own..Even the way series was recommended to us is the same
So everything is same as what you said till book 4 but unlike you I actually went ahead and read book 5, because the same friend who recommended it, said to me that book 5 gets better - It may not be the perfect ending but you get to see everything answered blah, blah ... Guess what....I found it to be as bad a books 3 and 4..Weeks after shitting all over his own story in book 3 and 4 couldn't redeem himself in book5
I was just so damn positive about this series.. even before going in I was ready to love it because of what i knew about magic and love it I did for about 2 and half books..
Fucking Teia man..Paryl could have been game changing..but fucking Teia just made me wonna strangle her with her master cloak..
@@archlectoryarvi2873 I don't know why people poop on night angel... It wasn't the best trilogy, but I've read worse, I enjoyed it quite a bit and the themes and ending stuck with me far longer than many other books I have read since.
Me, who's read the first three Lightbringer books and loved them: 👀
Really loved the first 3 but they fizzled out.
Ha ha, I encourage you to read and make up your own mind. Folks just wanted to know why I quit.
Mike's Book Reviews Yeah I know what you're talking about with the certain non-existent POV character and I'm...let's say hesitant to read about it.
I loved them too. Thought it was brilliant.
I’ve read the first three aswell.
Haven’t gotten around to the rest but I enjoy it.
Really like the The Night Angel trilogy.
As someone who hasn't yet dived into Brent Weeks, I sincerely appreciate honest views like these Mike. I won't completely disregard Brent, but at least I know it's a series I should be more cautious of reading/spending a lot of my time on. Love your channel.
I found the ending awesome and didn’t notice what he said in this so it might be like that for you. Personally I had more problems with the wheel of time.
Its worth a read just for the experience of the first books
@@mr_carlyon I found the first 4 Light bringer books in a charity shop the other day, couldn't really turn them down got them all for the price of 1 new book. I will try them eventually, not sure when
I read The Black Prism and decided not to continue with Lightbringer. I think I might have enjoyed the series if I had been about 13 years old, but the prose, characters, and plot lacked the complexity I usually prefer. Without some of the most severe moments of violence, I thought it would be more of a YA book, but a fun one with a cool magical system.
the plot has quite a lot of complexity actually, but maybe it doesnt come up too much in the first one i guess, but yeah, especially gavin's story has a lot of complex points
Ha ha, damn.
@@SeptimusTSS Fair enough - I’m sure the plot deepens further in, and I actually enjoyed aspects of “Gavin” and his brother.
That’s actually very funny to me, the series isn’t my favorite but the plot and characters get very complex
@@luketufts6827 Perhaps that happens in the later books? I don’t mean this disparagingly because I truly believe that YA books have an important place, but the characters felt cartoonish to me. I will say they were fun and even somewhat interesting at times - particularly “Gavin” and his brother - so I can see where someone would find the series entertaining.
I have never read anything by Weeks, but I have to compliment the way you presented your ideas. You made it clear it was not for you specifically, but I am not discouraged from giving Weeks a try by the end of the video, which is what I was expecting given the topic. Great work!
I'd recommend The graphic audio adaptation of the Night Angel Trilogy.
@@NerdyDude186 Seconded!
Reading Lightbringer felt to me like reading a Discovery writer as he keeps changing his mind and coming up with new interesting characters and ideas while abandoning his previous ones. (for both good and bad)
A year ago I know. But could you explain a little bit about "changing his mind"? I've been writing some of my own and feel it is inspired a bit by Brent Weeks.
I haven't noticed major shifts when re-reading but I'd love to know what came across as heavy changes to you. If you don't mind. No worries though, again, you posted this a year ago :)
@@drummerguy438 Keep in mind, it's a long while since I read those books... But the thing that I can remember as notable, is Liv and Teia (?) I think they were called. While I don't mind where they end up (I particularly liked Teia's story), I remember thinking their introductions were very similar. As if Liv was created, and then her story suddenly went of in an unexpected direction, and so he came up with Teia instead to take her 'original' place.
It's as if he started their story in one direction, and then got bored with where it was going, and came up with a completely new idea and direction, and went of with that for a while, and then decided on a third one. While I don't think everything needs to be foreshadowed or follow neatly (unexpected this are realistic), it did feel like a whole lot of words were spent building up a situation and carefully crafting a status quo for a character, that was then discarded and thrown to the side quickly, never to be relevant again (mainly thinking of Liv).
Again, it is a long while since I read those books, so I could be misremembering, or I might have different thoughts on it today, but that's what I thought at the time.
@@avy_kay Thank you very much for taking the time to write that out. I really appreciate the effort you put in. Your insight is genuinely appreciated.
@@drummerguy438 No problem. Hope it was helpful :)
Ya I feel you! Like abandoning friends.
I love Weeks work. The way he does combat is so good. I really enjoy that. I know it could have editing in the last two books but I really enjoyed the way it ended.
Couldn't agree more! He is a very talented writer. His plot decisions are just suspect for me now.
I really, REALLY liked The Night Angel trilogy, even when that third book went kinda sideways with the expectations it was building up and how everything got resolved (I actually think Night Angel could've benefited from being five books to flesh out its world and characters, because there were a lot of amazing ideas there that felt rushed out the door), but what I liked the most about it is that Amazon recommended the Mistborn trilogy box set when I bought this box set, and that's how I got into Brandon Sanderson. With Lightbringer, I was taken by the first book, but the second kinda started to let me down halfway through, and by the third I decided to go with the GraphicAudio version and stuck with it for the next three books, which made it bearable but, well, barely. Sometimes things falling apart for the protagonists is a good twist, it's even part of Campbell's Hero's Journey, but there's a point when things not working for them become as predictable as a happy ending (in an eucatastrophy sense) is to classic fantasy, and the actual twist is things going well for them. Sadly, Brent Weeks just decided to kinda vent the worst of grimdark and make it rain upon his story while also having a severe identity crisis on whether he wanted his characters to be liked or hated. And it all ended up being stretched thin and even then not everything could be resolved in a satisfactory manner. He and Martin and Abraham and Rothfuss did help me with a presentation I've been given on a regular basis since 2019 on new fantasy's obsession with what in Spanish I call the Three T's: "Tripas, tetas y traiciones." (Guts, tits and treason) while using fantasy merely as an excuse, a device and not a genre. It's all about the graphic disembowelment (and equally graphic description of bodily excretions and their odor upon death), graphic sex that would make Ron Jeremy blush, and politics. SO MUCH POLITICS. Like you say, there's a market for this (well, except Abraham; Dagger & Coin went overboard with this, set up "12 races of humanity" yet they were completely interchangeable and nothing felt fantastic in the least, just banking and politics in a Renaissance setting), but I'm not it. There's grimdark, say Joe Abercrombie, that goes to real dark places but without forgetting to put its fantasy setting first and foremost, and there's contemporary fantasy that wants to be dark and shocking and violent and "adult" to the point where it's just gratuitous, unearned and downright "edgy" for the sake of edge alone.
PARAGRAPH BREAKS!
@@lukebatchelor717 Nah, they deprive a rant from its condition as such, and instead it becomes just another plain argument. Though I must say I certainly agreed with you back when I translated a book of short stories by Barry Callaghan; the man simply just won't pause for a second, barely a comma, much less a paragraph break. Stylistic decision, infuriating though it may be 😅
The M. night Shyamalan line cracked me up
It's disappointing when a fanbase for an author will upvote a series to the point where even the worst installments have higher ratings and accolades they don't deserve. The same thing happened with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Veronica Roth's Divergent series. Fans of those authors wanted the works to be highly rated because they were fans and refused to acknowledge the flaws in the works.
It happens. That's the only way I can explain Blood Mirror being that high.
There are so many uncritical/unconscious readers out there. I'm pretty sure they outnumber us.
Rage of Dragons *cough*
@@TomorrowWeLive the book boy that black guy ? they seemed decent but never got
9:45 there's actually some truth to that! Blood Mirror was supposed to be the final book in the series, but Weeks decided while he was writing it that he'd split it up into two, hence we got Blood Mirror and Burning White.
This was a really interesting watch! I personally love Weeks' books, but I can def understand why you dislike the later ones. The twist in Blood Mirror was... far fetched to be sure, but I honestly kinda liked it. Also you mentioned it's a coming-of-age story, which is exactly why I think the older cast (Gavin and Karris) get sidelined a bit more in favour for the younger characters like Kip and Teia; passing of the torch and such. Gavin is my favourite character of the series, so I can agree this was a bit frustrating, but Teia is my second favourite character so I didn't mind it too much xD Also Liv got pushed to the background cuz a lot of people didn't really like her in Black Prism and Blinding Knife, so Weeks reduced her screentime significantly, which I also think is a pity. I have not read Burning White yet, so I don't know if he will stick the landing, but I have faith!
(also I'm a new viewer and I'm so freaking jealous of that monster bookcase behind you xD)
I was the opposite. I loved The Night Angel trilogy. Read book one of Lightbringer and said “Well. . . That’s too bad.” And dropped it forever.
Same. Just reread NAT and NAN and started black prism and immediately dropped it. Just doesnt hit
I was literally reading through Lightbringer and watching your videos after every book, then I got finished with Blood Mirror and was like.... where the hell is his Blood Mirror video at? lmao
But honestly, I'm close to half way through Burning White and I think it makes up for a sub par Blood Mirror. I didnt like Blood Mirror that much but I also didnt hate it either. I think alot of it has to do with the fact that i'm listening to the Graphic Audio version and I really love their voice acting and the music really brings out the tense scenes. But I always respect another mans opinions and give you props for being able to come out and say you hate something when It could possibly turn away some of your viewers. Especially now adays when everyone gets so butt hurt about every little thing. Hopefully you finish the series one day tho, I would be looking forward to seeing your opinion on the series as a whole. Thanks for the videos man
I read the whole series and really loved the first three books, the fourth one felt like set up for the fifth book and was okay for me, I wasn’t the biggest fan of that one twist you spoke of either, the clues are there for it and it felt planned, but it was weird especially considering the POV chapters. The last book was a step up from the fourth one and was a fine ending. I’m guessing you would only enjoy it slightly more than blood mirror so I wouldn’t be eager to read it if I were you.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. His books are on my TBR, and I hope to read them at some point, but will definitely manage my expectations. Thanks again!
Ok so I am a huge lover of the Night Angel Trilogy. I am constantly talking about it. I could not get into the LightBringer series.. it lost me very quickly. Hearing what you say about the books, I can see your points. He builds this amazing dark world in the Night Angel trilogy of the underworld, but after the first book, it kind of steps away from that set up and I feel a lot of potential is lost. Durzo is by far the best character and a lot of stupid things happen when he's not around. Kylar seems to drop all his teachings after the first book. I still love the series, but I do agree with you completely
I've not read brent, but I still plan to one day. However, I'll break out the sage advice: life is too short and there's too many books out there. If it feels like work, dump it and move on to the next... so, I support the choice to move on and continue with books that gets you right
I had a soft spot for the Night Angel series, but I like ninjas and assassins and the like. I totally ripped off the main character to play in a D&D game. No regrets
Yeah, I also enjoyed the series.
I started with the prequel novella, which in hindsight may not have been the best idea. The reason being it assumes you already know some of the magic system...
Well after i finished the trilogy i reread the prequel and enjoyed it much more, getting to know Durzo better is a win for me.
I've heard people complain that NA doesn't know if it's YA or grimdark, and here Mike raised the same point...
I don't get it...
It is a coming of age story... I wouldn't put it in YA.
I agree with some criticisms and yes the first book was a bit rough around the edges, but i really enjoyed how mr Weeks "Stuck the landing."
I'll definitely reread the series when I get a chance.
Lmao I’m just a guy with WiFi 😂
That made me laugh too! Mike comes out with some real gems sometimes 😂
I'm glad I'm not the only one who caught that! I might have to steal that line...
I couldn't make it through Way of Shadows and so ended my Brent Weeks journey. But as you say, he was trying to appeal to two different markets. And this is something Ursula LeGuin argued against authors doing. She advocated creating art rather than writing to market (and publishers' interests).
"I am just a dude with wifi" - Mike's Book Reviews. Classic
Ah, this is really sad to me because personally I love the Night Angel series because it was my introduction into reading fantasy books.
& it was your reviews and Daniel Greene's of the first 2 books that got me into Lightbringer
So far I have read the first 2 books and really loved them and I own the 3rd but haven't read it yet because I started reading other fantasy series you have reccomended. But I personally LOVE the first 2 books so far and the first half of the 3rd book that I have read.
The character arc for Andross is so great. The plot reveals in book 5 explain so much in the gaps because the characters POVs did not know. The ending that many don't like is earned and foreshadowed.
He has said the next book is going back to the Night Angel world. The combat in that series reminds me of the movie The One.
Spoiler:
I liked how the "bad guys are the good" in Night Angel.
Eh, WRT Andross’s ending, I mostly agree with Gavin’s initial take on that particular situation.
I absolutely loved them. The ending could have been better, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.
Everything came together so well in the end. I'm so sad it's all over.
I adored lightbringer. Top 5 completed series for me easily. I would breakdown the books like this: 1 and 2 are five star books. Some of my favorites of all time.
Book 3 is a 3.5. Book 4 is a 2.5. and IMO book 5 ties it all together with a solid 4.5. Much of books 3 and 4 could have been combined for a tighter, less meandering, and more impactful story.
Not to spoil much but I don't think your qualms with the POV chapter not existing will be as strong after the completion of the series. I think Weeks knew this would upset people but I think he did a great job answering that question although many people complain that it falls too heavily in the deus ex machina camp.
I'm bummed you didn't enjoy it but you're right, in the end there's so much to read and I would never tell someone to read something they weren't enjoying.
What would you say is your top 5 series? This is my 2nd fantasy series, I started with throne of glass and I'm liking it so far halfway through the first book.
That's ok that you didn't like a book series I enjoyed.
No it's not.
I feel the same. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I completely disagree with this review of both series but I’m okay with that. I still love it and will revisit both series.
I've had a love-hate relationship with lightbringer from the beginning. The first book wowed me, but the prose is constantly hyperactive and at times sounds like an 8th grader trying to articulate something as deep and complex as a song of ice and fire. That being said, I'm glad I finished it. He does fumble the ending, but I was expecting it, and overall I'd say I enjoyed the ride. To be fair, I do stagger my reading, switching between different genres. I've never binged a series and I promise you if I binged lightbringer like you did I would have never finished it. I hope you pick up the burning white someday so you can be marginally disappointed yet awkwardly satisfied like the rest of us.
i also have a love hate relationship good ideas but bad execution
The ideas of a good story were there, but there was something wrong with PoV tone. The males had the introspection of 8th graders. The girl was what an 8th grade boy thinks of a girl.
I agree with you. I read the first Lightbringer book and bounced off.
Is no one going to acknowledge that rad shirt??
Stairway to Heaven still is a top 5 rock song
His shirts are always fire
How do you reconcile King's abilities (or perhaps lack there of) to end a book? He builds great worlds, beginnings of stories, characters, but many of his books don't stick the ending...
I know you're looking for an answer from Mike, but it comes down to the drawback being on the gardner/discovery/pantser side of the writing process scale. King leans heavily on this side. Usually this leads to a lot of the strengths of King that you listed. One drawback is they just go where the story leads them, which doesn't always produce a great ending.
Do note I'm not shitting on this process since I lean on this side of things too when I write. Gotta know your weaknesses as much as your strengths.
Don't poke the Mike, let him have his contradictions, it makes for a more complex and interesting Mike xD.
With book 5 I forced myself to get to half way and nearly DNF’d. I pushed through to 75% and again nearly DNF’d. I had lost all interest and didn’t care what happened. I ended up picking up another book and just getting through 10-15 pages of the burning white a day. It took me ages to finish but I just couldn’t stomach it anymore.
I'm in the love them category... but I do appreciate you giving me things to think about as I restart the night angel trilogy.
Everything you say in this video is exactly how I felt about Robert Jordan after LORD OF CHAOS.
Hmmm. I can see the complaints.
I often agree with your opinion on books Mike, and you introduced me to my new favorite author Joe Abercrombie!
In this case I landed in a completely different place from you on Weeks and the Night Angel trilogy. I love both in spite of and sometimes because of the reasons you listed! And I still value your opinion and your channel.
Just wanted to put this out there because sometimes it seems disagreeing on what we like can be taken as a personal attack, and it isn’t. People experience art differently. That’s ok.
Keep up the good work of inspiring people to read and love books!
Well said. Also disagreement is not the same as criticism.
I had read the Night Angel trilogy a few years ago, and while I mostly liked it...I didn't feel terribly inspired to read more by him. But then when I was reading a blog of a new favorite author (Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician series.) And I came across a book trailer for Black Prism and gotten intrigued. While I'm a character driven story fan for the most part, I love extensive and well thought out world building and magical systems.
I didn't read Night Angel but I was going to leave this long comment about falling out of love with Lightbringer. I don't have to though, because you summed up my exact feelings and thoughts on this series. The only difference is I couldn't finish Blood Mirror and this video has finally helped me move if from the Paused shelf to the DNF shelf. I have no problem ditching a standalone book but it took me so long to finally DNF Lightbringer because I loved the first two books so much and I needed closure. Unfortunately I really don't care anymore, maybe I will just google the ending. The funny thing is, I recommended this series to a lot of friends when I started it and they have all given up on it as well after loving the first two books.
I am genuinely saddened that you didn't finish the night angel trilogy at least. It's got a really good and satisfying ending. I assume you stopped reading while Kylar was in Carnarvon, cause the story does slow down a lot there, but it speeds up really quickly.
I completely understand about Lightbringer though. While I still love that series for it's amazing magic system, intricate story telling and a main character that I can really identify with. He really did jump the shark. Brent intended it to be a trilogy, and he says the story just got away from him (whether that is true or not... idk. Maybe he was just trying to eek out some more money by extending by two books). I really think it is worth reading for the ending though, while it was cheesy, I think it was the ending the story both needed and deserved.
Finally someone says it!
That plot twist was so horrible, and clearly not planned from the start. Just halfway through the book the author says "lol let's throw away all the buildup I did for a dumb shocking twist"
elisha graus I think the twist was definitely planned, but I didn’t like it either, there is evidence for it way back in book 2 and maybe earlier.
Spoilers for one example
In book 1 the real Gavin made it to the green cell. When fake Gavin checks the alarms to see if he escaped he notes that they didn’t go off for some reason since there was no one actually there. I think the POV chapters that were supposedly dreams of fake Gavin kind of ruined the twist although those were some of my favorite chapters.
Something similar happened to me when I tried to read the Mistborn Trilogy. I have all the copies and standalone paperbacks. I got bored midway towards the second book and struggled to finish it (Reading the final 100+ pages of the second book kind of reignited my interest). I read halfway through the third novel and just gave up... I love Brandon Sanderson's Elantris & Warbreaker, but I can't seem to want to finish Mistborn... I think because I felt too many POV's were introduced (in the last book), or I didn't quite like to read through the minds of Sazed, Tensoon, & Spook. It took some time before I returned to reading his work. Had to read the last three Wheel of Time books and after a lot of pondering... will start with Way of Kings next year (first time).
I just stumbled across your channel here and, having DNF'd Night Angel, Demon Cycle and Lightbringer at near the same spots, I feel seen and understood.
Would love a more detailed explanation (Not caring to avoid spoilers) for those of us that finished and loved all five books (some more than others obviously). Just would love to hear what didn't work for you in 3 and 4 and why it irritated you so much.
When he started it, Lightbringer was supposed to be a trilogy. He should have kept it that length and then MAYBE it would have been better. I finished it mostly as a tribute to how good the first two books were.
I got off that ride with book one. Good world building however very soap opera-ish and very Deux Ex Machina in that it was obvious the characters was doing things because the plot said so. I enjoyed the first 2.5 books of the Knight Angel series. The first half of the last book was decent but then it was like he was under a dead line or something and just rushed it. The series could have been a four book series instead of three. It screamed it needed it.
@@williamjones3534 Oh my god, finally someone who thinks like my among the chorus of people praising pretty mediocre series. It was clear from the first books ending that the author was interested in twists and revelations and didn't care for characters or plausibility, it's just all so over the top.
It's not just last two books that are bad, whole series is that well written. I had a suspicion that Weeks wouldn't be able to land a Lightbringer ending because he couldn't end any satisfying conclusion and suspense at the beginning - just a bunch of sudden twists that promise new adventures, while also breaking at least one character for some reason.
@@nathanliteroy9835 Agreed! you have a better thought out reasoning than mine. The sad part is I thought he had potential with the first two books of the "Night Angel" series
I can really appreciate these kinds of video on why someone dislikes an author. Personally, I find it rather weird that so many people like certain writers then why I read them, I find them boring and find a lot of issues with their writing style that turns me off from their writing. Brandon Sanderson is like this for me. I think his dialogue is so bad, I feel embarrassed for him. How people can like him is amazing. The man really is a bad writer. But, to each their own, but I do appreciate videos like this that talk about that bad or even the disappointing aspects of a writer.
Thank you
I have listened to both series twice. There’s some fluff in the lightbringer series that wasn’t needed. It could’ve been cut to 3 books. Some pacing issues. I do like his stories.
I gotta say, you dipped out at the right time. I totally understand you calling book 4 a "hate read"... I struggled very hard. The Burning White was so much worse. It was so hard to read. I was furious the whole time. It's so disappointing because the first two really were just excellent! I fully think Weeks could maybe write one of my favorite series, Lightbringer just was not it. Tis a shame! But if you ever want to be angry at a book, pick up Burning White.
I'm sorry this happened. I hate when I have to give up on an author. It's always frustrating. Luckily there is an endless sea of authors.
I agree almost totally with you on Lightbringer (haven't read Night Angel). I finished Lightbringer, and book 5 was better than book 4, but I have similar issues with that one as well.
Burning White continued the plot twist problems of Blood Mirror. I felt like the last two books of Lightbringer belonged in a different series than the first two. Not necessarily a bad series, but a very different one with different characters, magic system, conflicts and world. I did like Night Angel a lot, but I was a teenager who was craving grimdark when I read it, so I fit the demographic perfectly.
Blood mirror needed to be chopped down for sure. Cause he doesn't have enough time for burning white. The ending felt so rushed cause he didn't want a 6 book. But I enjoyed the series for the most part
Finally, another person who gave up on Lightbringer. I quit halfway through the first one through. I was really exited after lots of hype, but it Just was not for me.
I quit too in the first
I’ve tried reading the first book like 7 times and never made it past 200 pages lol. I should probably just give up. Sadly I didn’t like Stormlight Archive either.
LOOOOOOOOOOOL “jump the shark so high it’s still floating around Mars”
I’m gonna steal that
Hi there Mike. I have tried to listen to the Audio book versions of the first book in both of his series, and to this day, I can't remember anything that I listened to. I always wind up wandering to other books. Anyway, I wanted to let you know, that I am now 43% into the Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan. I just need about 10 more days, and I will be ready to start the Lord of Chaos. I am also currently reading the 37th volume of the Fairy Tail manga, which has been fun.
Yea, the twist with Gavin, that basically undid the twist in book 1? I set it down shortly after that. I get it, there's the concept of the unreliable narrator, but I REALLY didn't feel like that was foreshadowed at all, beyond a few bits in book 3. I don't know if I just missed something, but it killed it for me.
Just terrible.
If you had problems with Lightbringer in Blood Mirror, Burning White is definitely not worth it for you to read- I was still a pretty big fan of the series up to Burning White, but felt that it fell pretty flat, even worse than the later books of Night Angel. I was really impressed and a giant fan of the first several books of the series, but I agree that the later books didn't hold up to their promise.
No series is perfect but I really liked the beginning and end of the Lightbringer series.
I'm glad others got what they were looking for. Just felt like a huge missed opportunity to me.
@@mikesbookreviews can't say that until you finish the series ;)
I loved this series, but even I didn't like the ending. If not for how badly it finished, I'd have this series comfortably in the top 3 fantasy series.
I know these issues must have been there in book 4, but I don't remember them bothering me
I didn't see any issues with the first 4. Maybe on a reread and ill pick up some issues. But book 5 was so frustrating. All the stakes were completely ruined. So frustrating.
I had to come back and leave a comment on this video. I think you were very honest and good natured in here. The series didn’t work for you and that’s ok but I loved the fact that you didn’t rant or were not disparaging. I am a Week’s fan and loved Lightbringer but I respected your take. I can’t believe you got crap for the video.
I could not make it through Way of Shadows. Like you said, I just didn't care about any of the characters. I did try, I even got the audiobook to try to soldier through it. I got to about 50% and gave up. I just didn't care.
I read Night Angel and thought it was good, but not very original. I wasn't in love with the Lightbringer series, but I was enjoying it through book 3. It seemed to be going somewhere fun. Book 4 was bad. I only read book 5 because I'd gone that far already and it totally fell flat with me too. I think your "Can't stick the landing" observation nails it.
You couldn't be more on the mark with the whole Lightbringer series! I was thrilled after reading book 1 thinking I had found a new favorite series and author, and it was just a steady and steep decline all the way through to the end.
In the name of all that's holy never read book 5, which I hate-read-sped-through and which just seemed like an author flailing and having no clue how to bring everything to an end. His decision to blow up the planned last book of the trilogy into 3 books was self-indulgent and brutal in retrospect, since there just wasn't enough there. In the last two books he lost everything that made book 1 so kinetic and fun (including sidelining his incredible magic system for some reason).
I DNF'd on the first book. I just couldn't get into the magic system. I respect that many like it, but it wasn't for me. As for Song of Susannah, there is alot of good stuff in that book. I always look forward to this book on a reread. But I do understand why it doesn't work from some, and . . . to each his own. I'm good with it.
I'm slowly doing my Dark Tower re-read when it comes up on my ITM schedule and I'm curious if I'll feel differently about SoS at this age.
You don’t dig Brent Weeks. That’s fine. You’re a Sanderson fan so I can’t knock your taste 😂. I really enjoyed both series. I also got into fantasy with Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy back in the 90’s so I don’t mind when things don’t go as how I would want. It makes things more interesting for me.
I actually really loved the Nightangel series. The system, the characters, their motivations, all the big and small things about it. It is the series that made me not give up on fantasy after everything else just started to taste the same. I still return to it occasionally. The black Prism....I have it on my shelf, had it for years and did not get past the first couple of pages. Something was different about it. Maybe it was because the translator to my language for the Weeks books changed, I don't know. With Sanderson I was held at gunpoint and for me personally it made me love the Nightangel Trilogy even more, because it did so many things right that the Stormlight Archive just plainly butchered. Sanderson worldbuilding is phenomenal, but there are issues with his overall characters and the plot that are nonexistent in the Weeks books. People do not have to agree with me and probably never will, but I love the way Weeks hinted at things and managed to play with what to say and what not to say to still make his story work. Anyway, cheers, everyone read what makes you happy!
Don't read the Burning White. Seriously. I was kinda ok with your complaints going into it, and he wound up on my Do Not Read list coming out, so I can only imagine where it'd put you.
I liked the first two entries in The Night Angel Trilogy, but the last entry was a slog to get through considering the fact that there were many characters that I did not care for at all and the battles taking place were honestly very boring. Seriously, I was bored out of my mind and I don't think that there were sufficient payoffs for the characters that I was invested in, aside from Logan, maybe. However, I don't regret reading that Trilogy and I may give Brent Weeks another shot.
Hate read is the perfect description on how I felt about the burning white. I feel like I finished it out of spite like the book actively did not want you to read it all the way through. First of all it should’ve been two books 1st half of the book not that bad then when it got to the big battle part that should’ve been the second book. It felt like none of the decisions are sacrifices. The characters made had any consequence and he was just trying to have the worst hot take ake on how the book should end
The fact that you hated where it went so much makes me curious and now I wanna read it.
Good! I always encourage folks to read and make up their own mind.
I couldn't disagree more. But hey people like what they like. I feel the same way about Sanderson. He's a good writer, but I don't get all the fanaticism. I read the first two of Stormlight Archive and couldn't go any farther. Most overrated books I've ever read.
I don't blame you for not finishing the series.
I rode through it all, and while i largely enjoyed it, I don't see myself going back to it
Night Angel is the reason I stopped buying books I haven't read. I really spent $30 bucks on the 10th anniversary omnibus to hate the first book so much I couldn't even finish it. What's worse is that edition is now going for ~$80 and I sold it to my used bookstore for $5 😒
I’m on the third lightbringer series. For me, it’s good entertainment. Some of the side plots suddenly change throughout the series but it didn’t bother me much. It does feel like Weeks will just write in changes to the books without attempting to foreshadow while writing. He seems like a pantzer rider to me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this at first, but I realized that the story entertains me so I was just being picky. The book makes me laugh, makes me want to pump my fist, and can even bring a tear to my eye. Overall, they’re great. I’ve heard the last two aren’t as good but my expectation isn’t very high. I’m just reading for cheap entertainment, I wouldnt call his writings masterpieces, but they are enjoyable. I’m easy going though so as long as there is magic I’ll likely enjoy it. I don’t expect character masterpieces or incredibly intricate world building, but I am pleased when I run into it. To anyone reading, I think lightbringer is a great choice if you just want a fun story and you don’t plan on taking it seriously.
Typed on phone. Sorry for the poor writing.
I am plan to read the first three books. I have read black prism, it was a slow start for me. I had to keep rereading; the book wasn't holding my attention. But I found the book intriguing. The book was OK. Now I must decide if I want to continue reading the rest of the series. I find the politics or religion intriguing (the prism, drafters, wights, white)... The characters not so much. Don't really care what happens to any of them. So I will try the next two in the series
I didn’t go pass book 1 of Lightbringer.
You saved yourself some anguish.
I couldn't get into the Night Angel series and hear so many mixed things about Light Bringer that I generally have no interest in Weeks. It's good to hear a bit from someone who has read more of his stuff
Oh man this video is right up my alley. I think you made the right decision because book 5 was my least favorite book ever.
I feel like many authors become victims of their own success. Once they become a best-selling author, they'll have several books in the works at the same time with sharp deadlines. So, quality is lost in later books. Whereas, before they were successful, everything they wrote was a passion project.
Man, I was about to start this series. I looked up the spoiler in it, and yeah, that would have really upset me four books in! I’ll still give the books a shot, but yeah, I’m glad I know about the “twist” in question.
Sounds like he just needs to stick the landing. To be clear: I haven't read anything from him.
All due respect to Mr. Weeks, I am not a fan of his work. When I read his assassin series I put him on the "Do not read" list. "Wet boys..."
I liked the Night Angel trilogy but couldn't really get into the lightbringer series. I read some of the first book but it wasn't for me.
Hey, my eyes bleed when i try to read Abercrombie, not your fault or Brent's, sometimes things Just don't click
I may be the lone voice here...but I actually generally enjoyed the Lightbringer series. I thought Liv's arc was interesting although she was never a character I was interested in, and Gavin/Dazen's arc was especially interesting. I loved Teia's story arc which is what really made the story for me.
However if you didn't enjoy Blood Mirror then I don't think The Burning White would have changed your mind.
And as for the Night Angel trilogy, it was enjoyable and read like YA to me, but I had problems with the ending.
But don't worry...we won't fall out over your opinion of Brent Weeks writing. 😉
I have read the first book and I'm about 1/4 of the way into the Blinding Knife. I don't think I'll finish this book. I'm surprised you enjoyed the blinding Knife so much, must have been the Harry potter / name of the wind and so on magic school coming of age stuff you liked.
I'm reading it noticing things like the lack of continuity when one pov ends with a cliffhanger and when we return to that pov it's gone. Or the repetitive sections where he has forgotten to hit delete so we need to read the same paragraph twice and so on.
Was hoping it would get better and went looking for some reviews of later books and now I see that there's almost no chance I'll finish this series. Cheers.
Also your comment about how he watched assassin's creed and shoved it into his story is similar to how I feel about lightbringer..I think he wrote it then after decided to make it so the brothers had swapped places. The problem being so many bits of the story make no sense because of it. Things like the emotions people feel etc making absolutely no sense unless he had switched it after and then not done a great job adjusting all the story around it.
I finished both series and I agree with you about his inability to finish endings well
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
I'm almost at the end of the Burning White, and my thoughts overall are very similar to yours. Making Dazen a figment of Gavin's imagination absolutely killed the series for me. I'm going to be honest, the conflict between the brothers was the point that made me so interested. Killing Dazen already abruptly killed my love for the series, but then making him imaginary made me angry. I ranted to my partner tonight about how mad I was that I invested so much time in this character and was the main point of my interest be ruined so much. I told her I'm struggling to finish The Burning White because I just don't care about the characters and conflicts, especially with the direction Brent took the series. I've never had a series get me so hooked at the beginning, only to kill the momentum multiple times and have me struggling to finish the series, and it is really astounding, because I usually tend to enjoy series more as I continue the books. So it made me happy to see someone have very similar thoughts about the direction and choices of the series.
Lol you mean gavin was a figment of dazens imagination..... since you know.... gavin has been dead since the start.
@@gradoisx2348 Yes, but the story continues to refer to them with their swapped names, until the end of the series
I'm reading Lghtbringer for research purposes rather than for pleasure. I noticed the cracks in the story all the way back in book one. The things taht Brent does wrong, he does consistently. I admire the work and the world building. I would much rather he were running a D&D campaign for me than a fantasy book series. He has a horrible sense of time, logistics, and realistic events. He has omnicient villains with so much plot protection that it is disgusting. He writes so many throw away scenes for such obvious reasons that it becomes a chore to slog though them. (Kip stopping at a campfire to seek food in the army camp, back in Book 1 is such a scene.) Back in book one, I noticed that some of the characters experienced about a week of time, while others experienced about a month of time and another character had even more than that. Yet, they all interacted with each other so it shouldn't have been possible.
He has so many characters that just defy logic and reasonability that it knocks me out of the story. My eyes are rolling so often that they hurt. I want to finish the story for completeness but I don't enjoy it.
Yup .. First 2 books were great, 3rd and 4th weren't bad but not great either .. 5th was a complete letdown for me
But i read it for closure
Demon cycle from Peter V Brett and The Shadow Campaigns from Django Wrexler were simillar letdowns in 4th and 5th book
Shadows edge almost made me give up on the series, beyond shadows has still had some questionable parts but so far it hasn’t been as bad
I wonder if he has any idea that some of the inconsistencies or wild twists that seem overkill are actually little pieces that link the two series together and technically in theory i think real life. It hasnt been explicitly stated except a reference i think in either night angel nemesis or burning whites author notes at the end. And some obvious things like them quoting pulp fiction and plato
i quit on the third book{Lightbringer}. Still cant put my finger on why? Have no interest in picking it back up.
I had the same feeling. Made it though book 4 and gave up.. The quality dropped drastically after book 2.
I'm on book two and I am already getting annoyed with some of the stuff in there, you're saying it gets worse? Oh boy.
I liked his Night Angel Trilogy more than the Lightbringer series, but overall I have a problem with how he portrays women and relationships with them. How the ugly/broken/ not the sexy type gets pushes off and the guy ends with an Aphrodite. Then there is the way how he describes women which makes me feel uncomfortable.
Additional the problem with Lightbringer was, it felt that the author wanted to continue when there were so many points where the story just could end. Yeah, cool magic system, but that's it. Overall didn't like most characters. Book 3 and 4 were so boring, that I just couldn't finish the series.
Yeah, normally things like that don't bother me much, but somehow it always felt so on the nose and story breaking when things relating to women were described.
He should have just left all that stuff out. Few read Fantasy for the romances, those always tend to be either awkward or uncomfortable for some reason. It's a shame really, well written subtle romantic tension can really add to story arc and general enjoyment when well done.
I would like an in-depth rant.
This is about as far as I'll go. I don't read a lot of books that get true vitriol from me. Too many good books to read.
Me too i want a rant but this will do.
Join the Discord, fellers. We trash it plenty.
The second Night Angel book is so bad. Half the book is the main character complaining about how horny he is. The final battle is cheesy and underwhelming.
Opinions are fair, personally I found the end of the night angel trilogy amazing. I would def recommend it. Books ofcourse are like paintings, eye of the beholder.
What a coincidence! I too am “just a dude with Wi-Fi.”