The Burning White

by Brent Weeks

Hardcover, 992 pages

Published Aug. 5, 2019 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-25130-3

(42 reviews)

In the stunning conclusion to the epic, New York Times bestselling Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, kingdoms clash as Kip must finally escape his family's shadow in order to protect the land and people he loves. Gavin Guile, once the most powerful man the world had ever seen, has been laid low. He's lost his magic, and now he is on a suicide mission. Failure will condemn the woman he loves. Success will condemn his entire empire. As the White King springs his great traps and the Chromeria itself is threatened by treason and siege, Kip Guile must gather his forces, rally his allies, and scramble to return for one impossible final stand.

5 editions

ghost with books 👻📚 reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer #5)

"On ending well" my ass

3 stars

Content warning Spoilers about the end

Weeks wrote an essay explaining why The Lightbringer went from three books, to four, and finally five. He titled it "On Ending Well," and I suppose he hoped that the title and the essay itself might help him to do just that—end his story well.

It did not.

The end of this book—and, thus, the series—was a colossal disappointment to me. I almost gave the book a 1- or 2-star rating just for the end, but having tried my hand at writing stories myself, I decided that would be unfair. The majority of this book is actually quite good, I thought. Excellent pacing, gut-wrenching reveals, satisfying conclusions to some important story arcs—it's all there. This could have been great, if only Weeks had been willing to let his characters die; if only Weeks hadn't employed God Himself to save our protagonists.

There was a time when I was telling all my friends about this cool fantasy series I was reading. Now I can't recommend this to anyone.

How disappointing.

ridel reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Conservative in Pacing, Imagination and Messaging

1 star

The Burning White is divisive ending, and a great deal of your enjoyment will be dependent on your relationship with the Christian God. I understand the hate. There are many great critiques that analyze this flaw so I will instead focus in a different direction. I found the novel to be entertaining, but ultimately hollow as I finished the climax and denoument.

The biggest failure with this book is its literal size. It's HUGE. It's two books bundled as one. My expectations grew larger with every page that passed. Unfortunately it tells a simple story using the three-act structure, which means the pacing is incredibly slow. Everything in the first half is inconsequential and repeated four times for all four main characters. All the revelations are in the back half. By keeping all the good stuff to the end, final battles with multi-book villains are short, underdeveloped, and their resolutions …

When a book is large, it telegraphs the author's intent to wrap up the series. Therein lies the second failure: insufficient imagination. The Burning White wraps up the most pressing story events, but fails to address themes from the last four novels. The author's story outline was too conservative; more consistent with Act Two than an attempt to wrap up a five novel epic. There was little effort to change the status quo and events unfolded as expected from the end of The Bloody Mirror.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this novel. I was entertained but the investment of time was not worth the result. Even overlooking the Christian elements, I'm left disappointed with the worldbuilding, cheap character arcs, and simplistic resolution to previously complex plotlines. I'm quite sad that this is how it ends.

Not Recommended. Better you never read this and use your imagination as to how it all ends.

DThoris reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

This book absolutely killed the series for me! I spent WEEKS angry about the ending. The author used deus ex machina in the most literal sense and completely removed all agency from any of the characters. I will never read this author again.

Alex Keane reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book was so satisfying. I've been reading the series since the day Black Prism came out and I love the way everything came together. Act 3 of this book is just a non-stop ratcheting of tension as you try and figure out exactly what everything is coming to. Absolutely a fitting end to a great series.

Yashima reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Great ending to a great series. Loved every moment of the re-read and the final book. And at some point I will write a real review.

Geekess reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Wow! Just wow! Hopepunk galore, very well done. Review later.

altlovesbooks reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I had a lot of fun reading this final entry in the series, but much like a good friend, it felt like it overstayed its welcome near the end. I feel like the author tried so hard to not have another book that hell or high water everything made it in this book. There was so much detail that some scenes seemed to drag, and the frantic pace that plot threads were resolved was a little hard to follow at times. Still a solid conclusion to the series, if a bit long.

Sean Gursky reviewed The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, book 5)

Review of 'The Burning White' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

"What you love isn't lost while you still have a mind to save it"

Burning White was enjoyable, it wrapped up the series but I can't shake the feeling that I wanted something more. The series was a rollercoaster with some genuine shocks and surprises. The story is wonderfully unique and I am happy with how it concluded so why do I feel that something is missing?

Burning White is a story about hope, growth, family and religion. The significance they offer and their impact when they are absent. I had to refrain from highlighting more passages in the story because there were many quotable and retrospective statements.

I miss things that never were and mourn things that ought to have been.

The character development in the series has been excellent and it hits the mark in this instalment too. Children become men and men acknowledge their hubris and correct their shortcomings. Witnessing the progression of characters from being naive and cocky to mature and realistic was very rewarding. All characters, primary and secondary, get their chance at the spotlight and show their development through the book.

'Dead winners and dead losers have only one thing in common. Unfortunately, it's the most important thing.'

I am terrible at predicting where a story will go so every twist and turn is always a surprise for me. There were a few times in Burning White that success for our characters was a bit too convenient. Or there may not have been enough adversity encountered to reach their goal. I don't want to diminish what they survived but everything just worked out.

"We keep secret what we fear makes us weak, not realizing in our fear that it is the keeping of secrets itself that weakens us."

Theology was a bigger factor in this story than I expected, but should that be a surprise? Gavin's mission at the end of book #4 had him sent to destroy a God, Aliviana Danavis ascended to deity, numerous characters interact with Abaddon, so religion and Gods were always prevalent but their push to the forefront and assistance may be what sours my thoughts on the book. Was their use too convenient when they had minimal presence before?

Teia had always understood her mission was necessary, but now it was personal.

In summary, this is an excellent series and will be sure to entertain. The final book doesn't disappoint and what I found shortcomings may be my own. I have debated about this getting 3 or 4 stars but feel that 'liked it' is more accurate for this story than 'really liked it', but on the whole the series gets a strong support for four stars.

"I don't know yet what I'm gonna do, but I reckon before the sucking sand closes over my face, you'll find me fighting," Gavin said. Still standing heedlessly on the cannon, Gunner crossed his arms and stroked his raggedy black beard, eyeing him. "Funny thing, then," Gunner said. "Fightin' only makes you sink faster."