The Burning White - Paperjale.eus

992 orrialde

English hizkuntza

2020ko abu. 5a(e)an Little, Brown Book Group Limited(e)n argitaratua.

ISBN:: 978-0-356-50464-3

(2 berrikuspen)

In the stunning conclusion to the epic, New York Times bestselling Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, kingdoms clash as Kip must finally escape his family's shadow in order to protect the land and people he loves. Gavin Guile, once the most powerful man the world had ever seen, has been laid low. He's lost his magic, and now he is on a suicide mission. Failure will condemn the woman he loves. Success will condemn his entire empire. As the White King springs his great traps and the Chromeria itself is threatened by treason and siege, Kip Guile must gather his forces, rally his allies, and scramble to return for one impossible final stand.

5 edizio

ghost with books 👻📚 (e)k Brent Weeks(r)en The Burning White liburuaren kritika egin du (Lightbringer #5)

"On ending well" my ass

3 izar

Edukiari buruzko abisua Spoilers about the end

Weeks wrote an essay explaining why The Lightbringer went from three books, to four, and finally five. He titled it "On Ending Well," and I suppose he hoped that the title and the essay itself might help him to do just that—end his story well.

It did not.

The end of this book—and, thus, the series—was a colossal disappointment to me. I almost gave the book a 1- or 2-star rating just for the end, but having tried my hand at writing stories myself, I decided that would be unfair. The majority of this book is actually quite good, I thought. Excellent pacing, gut-wrenching reveals, satisfying conclusions to some important story arcs—it's all there. This could have been great, if only Weeks had been willing to let his characters die; if only Weeks hadn't employed God Himself to save our protagonists.

There was a time when I was telling all my friends about this cool fantasy series I was reading. Now I can't recommend this to anyone.

How disappointing.

ridel@bookwyrm.social (e)k Brent Weeks(r)en The Burning White liburuaren kritika egin du (Lightbringer, book 5)

Conservative in Pacing, Imagination and Messaging

izar 1

The Burning White is divisive ending, and a great deal of your enjoyment will be dependent on your relationship with the Christian God. I understand the hate. There are many great critiques that analyze this flaw so I will instead focus in a different direction. I found the novel to be entertaining, but ultimately hollow as I finished the climax and denoument.

The biggest failure with this book is its literal size. It's HUGE. It's two books bundled as one. My expectations grew larger with every page that passed. Unfortunately it tells a simple story using the three-act structure, which means the pacing is incredibly slow. Everything in the first half is inconsequential and repeated four times for all four main characters. All the revelations are in the back half. By keeping all the good stuff to the end, final battles with multi-book villains are short, underdeveloped, and their resolutions …

The Burning White is divisive ending, and a great deal of your enjoyment will be dependent on your relationship with the Christian God. I understand the hate. There are many great critiques that analyze this flaw so I will instead focus in a different direction. I found the novel to be entertaining, but ultimately hollow as I finished the climax and denoument.

The biggest failure with this book is its literal size. It's HUGE. It's two books bundled as one. My expectations grew larger with every page that passed. Unfortunately it tells a simple story using the three-act structure, which means the pacing is incredibly slow. Everything in the first half is inconsequential and repeated four times for all four main characters. All the revelations are in the back half. By keeping all the good stuff to the end, final battles with multi-book villains are short, underdeveloped, and their resolutions feel disappointing. As a reader, I simultaneously feel cheated at the story being insufficient AND frustrated at how long the novel is.

When a book is large, it telegraphs the author's intent to wrap up the series. Therein lies the second failure: insufficient imagination. The Burning White wraps up the most pressing story events, but fails to address themes from the last four novels. The author's story outline was too conservative; more consistent with Act Two than an attempt to wrap up a five novel epic. There was little effort to change the status quo and events unfolded as expected from the end of The Bloody Mirror.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this novel. I was entertained but the investment of time was not worth the result. Even overlooking the Christian elements, I'm left disappointed with the worldbuilding, cheap character arcs, and simplistic resolution to previously complex plotlines. I'm quite sad that this is how it ends.

Not Recommended. Better you never read this and use your imagination as to how it all ends.

Gaiak

Fiction, fantasy, epic