Red Rising, Book 6
By: Pierce Brown
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Series: Red Rising, Book 6
Length: 30 hrs and 8 mins

Spoilers

I walked into Light Bringer expecting the conclusion of the series and felt personally backstabbed when I discovered that it was only the first half of the ending. I understand why the story needed more room, but it was still painful to reach the end and realize that the final resolution remains ahead.

Dark Age did an excellent job of setting the stage for this book. After the exhausting darkness of that story, Light Bringer allowed the characters and the larger struggle to move forward with renewed purpose. The road remains long, but there is once again a sense that something can be rebuilt.

One of my favorite moments in the entire series was the return to hiding inside a carcass, echoing the first book. It was wonderful to see Brown reach all the way back to the beginning and bring that image forward again. The destruction of their enemies was deeply satisfying, but it did not create an easy victory. Mars remains their core, and the return to that truth was beautiful.

At the same time, one of the book’s greatest griefs was watching a character I had begun to admire fall further into darkness. There is something especially sad about seeing what someone might have become and then watching him choose another path.

I loved this book, even as it left me grieving, unfinished, and waiting for the true conclusion.