I really didn’t want to finish this book.
Not because I wasn’t enjoying it. Quite the opposite. I’ve spent the last several months working my way through the Red Rising series, and somewhere along the way, reading these books became part of my nightly routine. I’d actually look forward to getting in bed early just so I could read for an hour before going to sleep.
I’ve read six of these things now, pretty much back to back. And knowing that Red God isn’t out yet, I found myself deliberately slowing down toward the end of Light Bringer. For the first time in the series, I couldn’t just pick up the next book.
That kind of sucks.
I’ve since started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, which I’m enjoying, but man, nothing quite hits like Red Rising.
Anyway, onto the book. Spoilers ahead.
My favorite part of Light Bringer was Cassius. Really, his entire character arc might be one of my favorite parts of the series.
Cassius has been around since the very first book. He and Darrow started as brothers, became enemies, and somehow, after everything they’ve been through, found their way back to being brothers again. Watching them rebuild that relationship throughout this book was awesome. I loved seeing them together, especially Cassius helping Darrow rediscover himself and become a better fighter.
Darrow’s development was another thing I really enjoyed. He’s spent so much of this series being an absolute force of destruction, and for good reason. But you can tell that everything he’s been through has finally started changing how he approaches things. His development of Breath of Stone felt like a pretty good reflection of that. He’s still Darrow, but he’s learning that there might be a better way to do things than just smashing through everyone in front of him.
And speaking of Breath of Stone, the fight with Volsung Fá was fucking sick.
I will say, though, that fight seemed to go on forever. At a certain point, I was wondering how much longer these two were going to keep beating the shit out of each other. Still, watching Darrow finally take him down was one of my favorite moments in the book.
Atlas was another interesting part of the story. The sheer amount of manipulation that went into his plan for the Rim was crazy. He had so many different people and factions doing exactly what he wanted without them even realizing it. I also loved that Cassius got to be the one to kill him.
Which brings me to Lysander.
What a fucking piece of shit.
I’ve gone back and forth on Lysander throughout these books. I could at least understand some of his thinking, even when I didn’t agree with him. But killing Cassius? Are you fucking kidding me?
Cassius practically raised this kid. He spent years trying to teach him how to be a decent person, and Lysander kills him because Cassius won’t let him walk away with a weapon that could wipe out an entire Color.
I was genuinely sad when Cassius died. I loved that character. And after everything he and Darrow had finally worked through, it was brutal knowing they’d never see each other again.
Then Lysander turns around and betrays the Rim, too. After everything Diomedes was willing to do to find some kind of peace, Lysander just throws it all away. I really hope Diomedes gets his hands on him in Red God, because that dude has it coming.
There were a couple of storylines I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of, either.
I really thought Lyria was going to go through with the Figment parasite. That seemed like such a big thing to introduce, and then she just decides not to do it. I have a feeling there’s more to that story in Red God, because otherwise I’m not really sure what the point of introducing it was.
Quicksilver’s secret project was another one. The whole generation ship reveal was interesting, but I didn’t really understand what it was supposed to add to the larger story. Maybe there’s something more there, but it didn’t feel particularly impactful to me.
And then there’s the ending.
I don’t think I felt very satisfied when I finished Light Bringer, but I also don’t think I was supposed to. There’s still so much shit that needs to happen.
We barely even touched on Adrius’s clone in this book. What’s going to happen with Atalantia? What’s Lysander going to do with Eidmi? How is Darrow going to get back to Mars and deal with all of this? And where the hell does Diomedes fit into everything that’s coming?
It feels like Pierce Brown still has an enormous amount of story left to tell, and somehow he’s supposed to wrap all of this up in one more book.
I don’t know how he’s going to do it.
But I’m looking forward to finding out.
More than anything, finishing Light Bringer made me realize how much I’ve enjoyed reading this series. It’s been something I genuinely look forward to every day. Six books, thousands of pages, and I’ve never really gotten tired of spending time in this world.
I just wish I had another one to pick up tonight.