A titan of a novel that in some ways takes the series back to its roots while simultaneously driving the plot forward and crucially developing many of the major players. In the 4 year wait between Dark Age and Light Bringer, I admit many of the finer details and smaller characters were lost on me. I would've appreciated a recap like many series do now, but Pierce pretty skillfully reminds the reader of the major events and I felt caught up before long.

Red Rising has gradually evolved from its decidedly Hunger Gamesy roots into a space opera epic that has shed most of its young adult trapping. Characters are human, noble and flawed. Darrow is still the clear "good guy", but there are very few characters in the series without some redeeming quality.

If you've made it this far into the series, you know what you're getting. This book does focus much more on Darrow, with Lysander sharing most of the rest of the screen time. Some of the earlier books got a bit too far away from Darrow for me, so this was a welcome. Some key players go MIA in the second half, but it makes sense for the plot, and Brown has built a ton of suspense leading to the next novel. That can leave this book feeling like a bit of a bridge novel. None of the series-long plotlines are resolved here. But it's still a great pageturner, and the last few chapters reach a new emotional high for the series. 

Throughout the series Brown has built on themes of brotherhood and camaraderie, and that comes to a head here. I'll never pretend that Red Rising is the height of literature - at the end of the day it's a fun space fantasy - but there's some truly strong writing on display, especially at the very end of the novel.