The Blood Mirror

I finished this book while at the hospital awaiting the birth of my daughter. I bought it like the week it came out and it took me a few months to plow through it. I do not use that term lightly. It was rough reading. It actually reminded me of some of those WOT books in the middle that were soooo boring until like the last three chapters.

My biggest complaint is that it felt like nothing really happened. I mean, the characters continued with their situations from the third book without really resolving them. Granted, there were some interesting parts throughout the book, but I just do not feel like this book advanced us towards an actual ending that will not feel rushed. So does that mean we are in for six books? That may actually be the best option.

Here are some of the things I did and did not enjoy…and there will be spoilers:

-I hated that Dazen was stuck in the prison he designed the entire time. It was intriguing that he actually killed his brother during the battle and that the prison was used to hold aspects of Dazen’s personality. Turns out that Dazen was not a Prism, but instead a Black Luxin drafter and he would use his power to steal other drafters abilities. I think Weeks could have shortened this story a bit and focused a little more on just Dazen coming to grips with the truth. Not the whole trying to escape and multiple meetings with his father…

-I also liked the ending when Grinwoody comes to free Dazen and gives him the task of killing the god. It seems a little weird, but I am a fan of crazy god-killing plans.

-The whole Blood Mirror thing, along with the revelations from Andross to Karris about some kind of monsters or whatever was really cool (and it seemed to work well with that card stuff Kip saw in the last book), but it was just sort of put off to the side and never mentioned again.

-The Kip and Tisis sex stuff was a little overblown. I get that Brent Weeks is trying to raise awareness about a real condition, but it seemed to take up the entire plot of those two characters.

-The entire mythology is becoming a bit convoluted. I feel like I almost need a PhD in Lightbringer Lore to fully understand (or maybe I need to read the appendices more thoroughly before starting the fifth book when it comes out to help refresh my memory) what the hell is happening.

-I guess my biggest complaint is that if someone asked me for a new series recommendation and I said “oh, check out the Lightbringer Series” and they asked me “what is it about?” I would have no clue how to respond. It is upsetting because I really liked the series at first, but the more books we get, the more fatigue I feel while reading it. Hopefully the conclusion ends up blowing my socks off and makes it all worth it (like WOT).

 

Author: Ngewo