Why I Gave Up On Brent Weeks (Night Angel and Lightbringer)

[@mikesbookreviews]

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.

[@arshgrewal9487]

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

[@Sighience]

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! 👌🏼

[@archlectoryarvi2873]

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.

[@samarthgupta2315]

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..

[@VicRibeiro777]

@@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.

[@jaiskoglind5762]

Me, who's read the first three Lightbringer books and loved them: 👀

[@fredrikgranstrom6743]

Really loved the first 3 but they fizzled out.

[@mikesbookreviews]

Ha ha, I encourage you to read and make up your own mind. Folks just wanted to know why I quit.

[@jaiskoglind5762]

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.

[@ReallyGoodandKind]

I loved them too. Thought it was brilliant.

[@Abunchaponys]

I’ve read the first three aswell. Haven’t gotten around to the rest but I enjoy it.

[@gayweiping]

Really like the The Night Angel trilogy.

[@DylanDoesBooks]

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.

[@callum7081]

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.

[@mr_carlyon]

Its worth a read just for the experience of the first books

[@DylanDoesBooks]

@@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

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

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.

[@SeptimusTSS]

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

[@mikesbookreviews]

Ha ha, damn.

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

@@SeptimusTSS Fair enough - I’m sure the plot deepens further in, and I actually enjoyed aspects of “Gavin” and his brother.

[@luketufts6827]

That’s actually very funny to me, the series isn’t my favorite but the plot and characters get very complex

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

@@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.

[@aey8737]

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!

[@NerdyDude186]

I'd recommend The graphic audio adaptation of the Night Angel Trilogy.

[@crelgen1588]

@@NerdyDude186 Seconded!

[@Ramseyreadsandreviews]

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.

[@mikesbookreviews]

Couldn't agree more! He is a very talented writer. His plot decisions are just suspect for me now.

[@avy_kay]

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)

[@drummerguy438]

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 :)

[@avy_kay]

@@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.

[@drummerguy438]

@@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.

[@avy_kay]

@@drummerguy438 No problem. Hope it was helpful :)

[@dontimberman5493]

Ya I feel you! Like abandoning friends.

[@kingtbird298]

The M. night Shyamalan line cracked me up

[@Badsauser]

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)

[@DarthLobitou]

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.

[@lukebatchelor717]

PARAGRAPH BREAKS!

[@DarthLobitou]

@@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 😅

[@winterwolf7423]

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.

[@mikesbookreviews]

It happens. That's the only way I can explain Blood Mirror being that high.

[@JoshKnoxChinnery]

There are so many uncritical/unconscious readers out there. I'm pretty sure they outnumber us.

[@TomorrowWeLive]

Rage of Dragons *cough*

[@turtleanton6539]

​@@TomorrowWeLive the book boy that black guy ? they seemed decent but never got

[@Tolmonster]

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.

[@jamespriest2984]

Same. Just reread NAT and NAN and started black prism and immediately dropped it. Just doesnt hit

[@spazmaticfanatic6235]

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

[@JoshuaFricke]

Everything came together so well in the end. I'm so sad it's all over.

[@asfaloth12]

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!

[@madisongoodyear5040]

Lmao I’m just a guy with WiFi 😂

[@ZamWeazle]

That made me laugh too! Mike comes out with some real gems sometimes 😂

[@virx227]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who caught that! I might have to steal that line...

[@joshuabergeron9731]

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

[@user-element115]

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.

[@MegaBaltimoreravensf]

Is no one going to acknowledge that rad shirt?? Stairway to Heaven still is a top 5 rock song

[@madisongoodyear5040]

His shirts are always fire

[@b_olson542]

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

[@VicRibeiro777]

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.

[@carlosandino5524]

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.

[@OtherTheDave]

Eh, WRT Andross’s ending, I mostly agree with Gavin’s initial take on that particular situation.

[@dylanbivins847]

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.

[@alynam82]

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

[@andreasxanthros5853]

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).

[@dylanhoyt1863]

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.

[@infamouscola]

i also have a love hate relationship good ideas but bad execution

[@rapturedmourning]

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.

[@millionth]

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.

[@Qwazim0d00]

I agree with you. I read the first Lightbringer book and bounced off.

[@FiestaBuckeye]

I absolutely loved them. The ending could have been better, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.

[@LynxieDove]

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.

[@MarinaAngelska]

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.

[@danielvanrooyen9602]

"I am just a dude with wifi" - Mike's Book Reviews. Classic

[@MrWesLockhart]

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.

[@FlyinTonite]

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.

[@danlnad]

That's ok that you didn't like a book series I enjoyed.

[@thomaskittock2866]

No it's not.

[@DarceyRecords]

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.

[@animalobsessed1]

The way I see it: I honestly don't remember the ending of Lightbringer. Just entirely deleted from memory. I can believe people that it was bad, but I just don't care, so long as the journey to get there was fun. I think the overarching story was never the thing that had me hooked on the series; it was the friendship and banter that was constantly happening between Kip's friend group (which only really got going in the later half, if I remember correctly?), as well as the nuance/moral grayness of Gavin, Andross, etc... and then I also liked Zymun - not so much anymore in the end; This was just one example of inconsistent characterization in the series, but at the end of the day, it wasn't enough to ruin my enjoyment. When I open the book and reread an individual scene, I can still get that same hype/giddy feeling, and that's what matters most to me.

[@Watchmen98]

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.

[@williamjones3534]

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.

[@nathanliteroy9835]

@@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.

[@williamjones3534]

@@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

[@gaberodriguez4023]

Everything you say in this video is exactly how I felt about Robert Jordan after LORD OF CHAOS.

[@mikesbookreviews]

Hmmm. I can see the complaints.

[@todostranslatorindianapoli9382]

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.

[@Orik960]

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!

[@bernhardrenner5176]

Well said. Also disagreement is not the same as criticism.

[@RockyOutcrop]

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.

[@RockyOutcrop]

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.

[@clarkkentnaruto4322]

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.

[@KFoxtheGreat]

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

[@noparkingtuesday4283]

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.

[@elishagraus8513]

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"

[@user-element115]

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.

[@TRUc972]

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.

[@AlyssaReids]

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.

[@rosseller2045]

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...

[@osoisko1933]

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.

[@VicRibeiro777]

Don't poke the Mike, let him have his contradictions, it makes for a more complex and interesting Mike xD.

[@mastersal4644]

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.

[@dandylion173]

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.

[@akashas6012]

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

[@alexbenjaminrosenthal3989]

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.

[@covya]

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.

[@mikesbookreviews]

Just terrible.

[@damonke79]

Insane that you brought up Song of Susannah. I actually stopped reading the Dark Tower series years ago on that book. I just wasn't enjoying it. Now it's been so long that I would have to start the series over. As an avid King fan, I feel like I owe it to myself to someday finish it

[@RockyOutcrop]

Oh Stephen king is awful.

[@damonke79]

@@RockyOutcrop Early Stephen King was incredible.

[@pglinvik]

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.

[@physninja]

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

[@timzales5344]

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.

[@luckigolfer]

No series is perfect but I really liked the beginning and end of the Lightbringer series.

[@mikesbookreviews]

I'm glad others got what they were looking for. Just felt like a huge missed opportunity to me.

[@luckigolfer]

@@mikesbookreviews can't say that until you finish the series ;)

[@Michael_L_Morrison]

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.

[@mikesbookreviews]

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.

[@akashas6012]

Love your honest opinion

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

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).

[@zachthehunter]

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.

[@TimeLady128]

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!

[@darthblue75]

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.

[@jan-helgeasgautsen5162]

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.

[@paniklewe]

I quit too in the first

[@nightmarishcompositions4536]

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.

[@damianrives563]

I felt the same after reading the 3rd entry to the Enders Game series

[@ivanjelenic5627]

The books from Bean's perspective were good iirc. At least the first one, Ender's Shadow.

[@whispersofthewind8401]

Well... that is kinda disapointing to hear. Still I am willing to try out the series at some point. Hopefully it will work for me. But I will put it aside to focus on Malazan for now. Which has been amazing so far (last book atm) and made me want to continue with the other works aside the big 10.

[@mikesbookreviews]

I always encourage folks to make up their own mind. There are still plenty who say they enjoyed it.

[@jimave]

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.

[@jaxselvig537]

I’m gonna comment before I listen because I don’t know what to expect and light bringer is my favorite book series. I didn’t like night angel as much but it’s gonna be hard to stomach listening to someone say bad things about my favorite thing, but I am kind of curious because I love it so much I can’t even fathom what you are about to say. I’m usually pretty imaginative and I’m stumped for the for the negative things. I’ll get to watching now.

[@jaxselvig537]

Okay, I feel like we disagree. You at least hype out the first three, I feel that way about all of them. This is going to sound mean but I think it may have went over your head or you missed some things. I mean that in a not mean way. I don’t feel like blood mirror was a hiccup but to each their own.

[@DarceyRecords]

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.

[@fredrikgranstrom6743]

I would like an in-depth rant.

[@mikesbookreviews]

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.

[@THX-bz8bi]

Me too i want a rant but this will do.

[@locolima279]

Join the Discord, fellers. We trash it plenty.

[@janehexum4093]

i think you made the right choice iv read all 5 books and it just feel like the author changes his mind over and over and the main villain seemed like a place holder i kept waiting for the real villain. the last book felt like the author was just writhing not telling a story

[@Rendref]

Brent Weeks has a lot of ideas in his books that are not getting fleshed out the way they should on the pages. The whole Liv arc and creatures from other dimensions is just not fleshed out, and I think Liv is almost dropped/does not matter by the end. The same, only worse in terms of execution, was happening in Night Angel. But Night Angel is amazing in terms of plot, but so many things there just feel like a rushed outline of a million ideas. In some way, Lightbringer was the same, only done better. And yeah, some of those twists in later books felt like they just there to have a twist. That particular twist you were talking about, I think it would have been much better if that was left how it was in book 1 and explored further. It had so much implications, unfortunately, opportunity missed for me too.

[@DiddntFindANameLol]

I'm so upset about Liv. He's explained a couple of times that he moved her to a background role because she wasn't recieved well and a lot of people seemed to dislike her chapters. Massive misstake imo. Left us with a half-told arc for a very important and nuanced character.

[@Rendref]

@@DiddntFindANameLol really? That was a stupid move. Despite people liking or disliking her, it was a huge part of the plot. And her latter interactions with the gods were pretty cool and could have been full of lore. Instead, we got a blip and the blip has died. Authors should not listen to fans outcries, I guess is the lesson

[@DiddntFindANameLol]

@@Rendref Especially with book 5 being a thing! Her chapters were my favourites, simply for the fact that it gave us a way to understand wights and gods a lot better..

[@Shiznaft1]

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..."

[@paulwalpole6103]

I audio'd The Black Prism recently and have to say I don't really feel compelled to jump back into the series. I probably will, but I have read / listened to any number of books since then whose sequels are already calling me more than the second Lightbringer. I wouldn't go as far as saying I am done, only based on one book, but I am holding at 'muh' station right now for sure.

[@sstavlo]

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

[@jujubean9063]

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.

[@jujubean9063]

Typed on phone. Sorry for the poor writing.

[@LightningRaven42]

You talked about hate reading and mentioned Demoncycle, one of the handful of series that royally pissed me off. I never had the displeasure of reading something that I hated so much as that series. Maybe The Left Hand of God trilogy. Maybe. Book 1 of Demon Cycle was good overall, except the ending of Leesha's character arc, it was a terrible character choice that only made her worse in the long run. She was my favorite character. Then in Book 2 is when the soap opera stuff starts to ramp up, if before things had that tone for a reason since it our characters lived in small communities in book 2 things start to lose its charm. Leesha once again takes the spot as the worst character, now she's in her full blown Mary Sue self and then the author makes probably one of the worst, dumbest and terrible choices I've seen for a character ever, making Leesha literally fall in love with the guy that's been raping and pillaging her people and threatening her recently established village. Yuck. The author even have the gal to try to retcon it on the next book by saying that her actions were more calculating than they actually were, since we were inside her head during the whole damn book previously and she literally was fawning over the rapist conqueror (Jardir isn't a terrible character, but he is a terrible human being and I fucking hate fanatics) and said that when they "made love" it was during the day. Holy shit, that was awful. Not even Leesha's mother was so hateful. I dropped things in book 3, when it became a full-blown soap opera with Leesha having everyone loving her, Arlen becoming a complete idiot and Jardir basically being an anime shounen protagonist, having every kind of power freely handed over to him. Sorry about the rant, but I mentioned that I hate read it for a reason.

[@aysseralwan]

I didn't hate read it but back then it was one of my maybe first 3 or 5 series I've read and therefore back then I rated it higher than I'd do now but even back then I can agree with you on Leesha. She wasn't my favorite (I am generally not very fond of a lot of female characters because I can't relate) but I liked that she knew what she wanted and was a clever girl in the first book. Then later she gets raped and somehow falls in love with every second character and out of nowhere she can do everything (f.ex. Arlen was always the one that was good with Wards but after like a month or so of training from Arlen she somehow goes from not even knowing basic wards to deciphering wards that were lost for millenia or centuries and coming up with new ones that are as potent as the old ones), then like you said she falls in love with the person that invaded, raped and enslaved a whole nation and then at the end she is somehow a shrewd leader, politician and economist (is that the word, like an economy business guy lol) even tho she is just a girl from a small village that just knew about herbs and stuff. So yeah in short she is a mary sue. And I realized that the author was in general very bad at writing female characters in my opinion. I mean every female character except for Jardir's first wife Inevera or how she's called was at some point raped. And in Leesha's case it did nothing for the character except that she somehow started f*cking every second guy which I think is not how that usually goes. I did like the plot tho but it felt rushed at the end and Jardir, Arlen and Arlen's wife (was it Reena?) were OP

[@aysseralwan]

Sorry for my rant but when one starts a rant I also go off the rails

[@LightningRaven42]

@@aysseralwan Inevera wasn't exactly raped, but her training ended up with losing her virginity to their "god" in the ritual involving a sex toy. One thing that actually made me drop it, beside the several problematic character choices, was the fact that the series quickly moved on from the effects of fear on humanity and the clever world built up by the first book, to a very by the numbers fantasy story with prophecies and relationship drama... The main difference being all the rape, polygamy, and last but not least, shitting on graves. The corelings were trivialized in the second book and some random hivemind dudes became the main villains, rather than a story about human conflict with a society constrained by a force that kept them truly oppressed. Instead we got boring jihads, an anime shounen protagonist as the antagonist and lots of poorly written romance.

[@ZamWeazle]

Even though i loved most of the first Demon Cycle book : The Painted Man (over here in the UK) I largely felt the same especially with regards to the second book. The 3rd was a real struggle and i eventually DNF it around halfway! Leesha evolved into a proper Mary Sue, I also wanted more of Arlen but got nothing but Jardir and Inevera who i just couldn't connect with at all. According to Petrik on goodreads; The Skull Throne was mostly just the continuing soap opera..ugh! It's a shame as the first book was an excellent fantasy story, with a real interesting premise. 😑

[@LightningRaven42]

@@ZamWeazle The author definitely didn't know how to evolve the series afterwards. Well, now I can read Joe Abercrombie, so I don't have any need for grimdark stories for a while. Far better written in literally all aspects of storytelling than the Demoncycle series, including its first (and best) book.

[@celestialdemon1316]

I finished the series, but I agree with what you said about the twist in this one. I thought the shocking death in The Blinding Knife was absolutely brilliant, but to see it undone in book 4 was so disappointing.

[@clairemeehan7250]

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. 😉

[@charlespeter5610]

I finished both series and I agree with you about his inability to finish endings well

[@xcBlackDiamond]

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.

[@danielvanrooyen9602]

Bought book1+2+4 of Lightbringer on 50% sale yesterday, good timing with the video, but still looking forward to give this a good old college try.

[@eyenuh300]

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.

[@adamkosmak5083]

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.

[@gradoisx2348]

Lol you mean gavin was a figment of dazens imagination..... since you know.... gavin has been dead since the start.

[@adamkosmak5083]

@@gradoisx2348 Yes, but the story continues to refer to them with their swapped names, until the end of the series

[@aepoful]

Oh. For me, the Lightbringer was one of the best trilogies written by Brent. Up there with the Stormlight (I've read almost all of his books). I've absolutely loved the "physics" of the world and the characters and the unique plotlines.

[@mikesbookreviews]

If it had stayed a trilogy, I might have agreed.

[@fast.food.ninjalarry954]

I am a relatively knew reader and before i start a series i really try to see if i ll like it by checking on reviewer's such a yourself. I cant imagine starting a book series and not ending it yet.

[@fjuran1]

Read the Night's Angel series and liked it. Have the entire Lightbringer series on my TBR, I am kind of bummed out here. Not sure whether I should make the investment in time, and try it anyway, with so many other books to read, on my TBR mainly the Malazan.

[@Ulmo90]

Yeah, Lightbringer had a few bumps, but I actually enjoyed Blood Mirror, but I don't exactly remember which parts of the series I struggled most with. But I'm overall happy that I read the series and I loved the magic system, so I would not mind to return to the world somehow, perhaps in the style of Abercrombie's stand-alone novels

[@clydebillingsworth8574]

I read through book three and havent come back. Agreed. I tore through the first two. After three i tried the 4th but the magic was gone. Thats my habit though is i will let things drop if im not loving rhem

[@xXBurgman86Xx]

I'm a gonna just say my first dive into Fantasy was Night angel and i was at a stage in my life where i didnt want to be in my own head so i dived into these books, and moved onto Lightbringer took a fair bit of time to get into Black prism, i understand alot of people didnt like the broken eye and yes i feel like it ended quick but after a re-read i got a soft spot for it, then i moved onto Brandon sanderson

[@ZYXPQI]

Shamelessly love this series. Appreciate the input though

[@yves2016]

I love Loghtbringer but it really interesting to hear your opinion as we mostly agree on other series

[@michaelscheunhage2381]

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.

[@MrSanemon]

I'm not with you on the Broken Eye, I thought it was better than The Black Prism. I, on the other hand, like Kip much more than Gavin and felt like it was a treat to get more Kip Chapters. Tia was also a really good foil to Kip, especially in POV chapters of hers where we got to see Kip outside of his own head. Haven't started the Blood Mirror yet but it doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as you're describing. We'll see later this week whether I like it or not but I am fully expecting to enjoy it.

[@tommyboyscalemodeling4988]

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.

[@sithhobbit]

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.

[@Gregory-Peake]

As you said Durzo was amazing, I even did a Skyrim playthrough with a build based on him. Then the start of this series was so strong but I agree after book 2 it drops. No spoilers, but after reading of a characters struggles for multiple books only for them to have a terrible unnecessary death totally turned me off the series. I'll like his writing style and will pick up future books but I understand why you may not.

[@august3777]

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

[@Azrof]

100% agree with your sentiments.

[@daveydmur]

I quit on the first book several times. I only came back to it because I had nothing to read and was desperate. I fought my way through it but honestly didn't love the first book. I really like two and thought three was one of the best books I've ever read. The part were Kip and Tea slide down the zip line and kiss was pretty much my favorite part of any book I've ever read. Four is really bad. Five is great. It's worth the struggle through four.