Title Lightbringer
Author Claire Legrand
Description from Amazon
Two queens, separated by a thousand years must face their ultimate destinies.
Queen Rielle, pushed away from everything she loves, turns to Corien and his promises of glory. Meanwhile, whispers from the empirium slowly drive her mad, urging her to open the Gate. Separated from Audric and Ludivine, she embraces the role of Blood Queen and her place by Corien’s side, determined to become the monster the world believes her to be.
In the future, Eliana arrives in the Empire’s capital as a broken shell of herself. Betrayed and abandoned, she fights to keep her power at bay—and away from Corien, who will stop at nothing to travel back in time to Rielle, even if that means destroying her daughter.
But when the mysterious Prophet reveals themselves at last, everything changes, giving Rielle and Eliana a second chance for salvation—or the destruction their world has been dreading.
Initial Thoughts
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. I tried so hard to get an ARC of this book but was denied at every turn. I literally started it the day it came out. Kingsbane ended on a major cliffhanger and we had to wait 17 months for Lightbringer. I was ready.
Some Things I Liked
- Furyborn = Eliana, Kingsbane = Rielle, Lightbringer = Audric. I actually loved this element. The description of the books makes you think Rielle and Eliana are the central characters but Audric is just as important. I love that he was the titular character for this final installment.
- More POVs. I really enjoyed the addition of even more POVs in this book. Given the many moving parts, secrets, and lies told by the characters, it’s fun to see how everything fits together from the eyes of more than one character. I also loved hearing from some of the characters we hadn’t heard from yet.
- Romance. I loved the romance plots in this book. I can’t say much more but I was very happy with everything that happened in that department.
One I Wasn’t Crazy About
- Eliana’s storyline. I won’t lie, that ending felt like it was almost a throw away. Eliana’s entire storyline was rendered meaningless through one action that was a hard pill to swallow. I loved the characters we met in her timeline and the losses felt were great.
Something Else to Note
- There are two critical errors in the first edition printings. The first is on page 117, where a paragraph is written twice. The second comes later in the book where a date in one of the epigraphs is clearly off by one year. These are editing mistakes that severely damage the integrity of the writing in my opinion. After reading and rereading these errors, I can only conclude that they are oversights. The duplicated paragraph doesn’t make sense to be written twice and the date error can only be an error as the event in reference had not happened yet in the year listed in the date. Claire Legrand has been working on this series for so long and to have such small, but significant typographical errors in the final printing from a major publishing house is a huge disappointment.
Series Value
I loved this series. Honestly, I liked so much about this book but I had some big issues with the mistakes as well as the resolution of Eliana’s storyline. This is a solid series and I did enjoy it. But, I probably wouldn’t read it again.
Final Thoughts
I was on the cusp of rating this book three stars, but reading with my buddy reader @lianne_the_bibliophile and reminding myself how much I love the series as a whole made me realize this is a solid four star book. There is so much to love about this series and hopefully, we’ll get more novellas or books set in this world.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommendations for Further Reading
- Princess in the Opal Mask and Opal Crown by Jenny Lundquist – both of these stories feature two points of view with two royals who are trying to save their kingdoms.
- The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson – this story features political intrigue, romance, war and royals finding themselves. It’s a bit older, but if you liked Furyborn, give this one a chance.
- Beasts of the Frozen Sun by Jill Criswell – this story also features a prophecy (which is somewhat misinterpreted initially), romance, and a strong theme of reclaiming the main characters’ homelands.
Books Over Everything 