I don’t know why, but the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks seems to be one of those hugely successful fantasy series that nobody has ever heard of. I mean, I don’t think I’d be too far off if I said it has probably sold a couple of million copies, and yet you’ve probably not heard of it. I hadn’t heard of it myself until I read it a couple of years ago, and then I ripped through the entire five book series in a few weeks.
What are the books about?
The series is set in a world where magic comes from the manipulation of light. Few people have the ability to control one color of light, very few a couple of colors, and the ruler of the world, Gavin Guile, can control them all. That’s why he’s known as the Prism.
With political upheaval, the approach of war, and religious fanaticism, Gavin finds himself in a fight for survival.
Actually, the protagonist of the series is Kip Guile. Kip (I don’t like that name) turns out to be the illegitimate son of Gavin, who slowly learns his powers (the same abilities with light), and eventual arrival to meet his father, who has never known him.
There is of course a whole lot more to it than just that. The fighting heats up, there’s an ongoing thing about someone being imprisoned, and variations on rebellion, along with a love story.
Still, it is well-written, it is intriguing, and I very much enjoyed reading it.
The Themes of the Lightbringer series
Moral Complexity
How often will this be a theme in a fantasy novel? All of them? Every time you think someone is irredeemably bad, they do something good. Every time you think they’re good, they do something bad. They justify their actions by the outcomes. They decide to do something which may or may not be bad, and you can’t necessarily tell when the choices are made. Ambiguous is the name for all of it.
Power and Corruption
Is someone doing the right thing for power? Perhaps. Are they doing the wrong thing to gain power? Perhaps. The series gives us every side of the coin (I may be mixing metaphors here) when people are taking actions to gain power. The most responsible and powerful people will do things just to gain even more power. Just like real life.
The Journey of Identity
Perhaps the part I liked the least, and perhaps the most fantasy-story part of the books, is Kip’s journey from unknown and unloved little fat kid who’s bullied into the strongest and most powerful person in the world. Yes, his story changes as it goes along, but it did grate with me how his ‘true identity’ was discovered by him working out and gaining strength and muscle.
A Character of Great Interest
I have to use Kip Guile as the example here. He’s really the central character of the series.
He starts out as this whiny annoying kid, convinced he is useless and apologizing for himself all the time. I will admit he irritated me so much I almost put the book down more than once.
He grew from these insecurities and self-doubt once he discovered how powerful he really was. He still struggled to prove his worth at every step. It’s a traditional fantasy character progression. Gain everything but still don’t believe in yourself. At some point it becomes annoying, and these books did cross the line a few times.
I guess I like to compare younger characters, because I couldn’t help but think about Lassen in comparison to Kip.
Lassen takes almost the opposite journey. The son of a king, he has everything and thinks he’s going to get more. His privilege blinds him to what people really think of him.
It takes several setbacks and a journey for him to discover his place, and realize what he really wants to be. We end his story with him trying to take his future in his own hands. Perhaps he will be successful, perhaps not (yet to be determined), but it will be his choice.
Contrast this back to Kip, who has discovered the power within him, which isn’t something he earned but was born with. By the end of the series he’s using it to get anything he wants. Like I said, opposite journeys of the two characters.
Other series to read
I’m only going to recommend one series to read in relation to this one. The magic is the entire basis of the story, dominating almost every aspect of the world. I can’t think of many books where that’s the case, but there is one I’ve previously talked about.
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson: Like Lightbringer, Stormlight is dominated by the magical system. Both have well-developed worlds with intricate plots and similar themes. Both also seem to have the magic system being the primary focus of the stories.
Really it goes back to the idea of hard magic versus soft magic. In a brief way of describing these, hard magic has very specific rules about how the magic works, while soft magic doesn’t. Google it for much more information than you might ever want to know.
Both Lightbringer and Stormlight are hard magic stories. Very specific rules about what one can do and how they do it.
As I write this I realize I tend to prefer the softer side of magic. I’m not so much into the idea of doing X to get Y result, and having it spelled out by the author. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just a matter of taste.
In Conclusion
The Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks is a fascinating look at an interesting world. It doesn’t grip me in terms of liking the characters, and I’m not sure about the magic system either. So why did I like it so much? What made me keep reading the books I wanted to put down so many times? I can only guess it was how well-written it was, and the author’s ability to keep hooking me into the story.