{"id":9682,"date":"2024-06-12T15:57:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=9682"},"modified":"2024-06-12T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T16:02:32","slug":"the-lightbringer-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/12\/the-lightbringer-series\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lightbringer Series"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

We Shall See Face to Face<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The five-volume Lightbringer <\/em>Series is in many ways a typical modern fantasy\u2014but it weaves in a consistently compelling depiction of the life of faith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Review by Sara Holston<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sometimes people talk like all the great Christian fantasy has already been written. And while it\u2019s true that Tolkien and Lewis will always have a place in my heart, they aren\u2019t the only fantasy writers who deal with the reality and experience of faith. Take, for example, Brent Weeks\u2019s Lightbringer<\/em> series. When I began reading the first installment of the five book series, I was caught up in the characters and the world and the magic. Where candles take a physical substance and turn it into light, magic-wielders called \u201cdrafters\u201d can take light and turn it into a physical substance: luxin. The societal structure reflects the value of these individuals; in a reversal of our world, for example, those who do the calculations to design complex structure enjoy significantly less status than the drafters who actually build them. Against this backdrop, Weeks spins a seemingly standard fantasy story, beginning with a destroyed village that forces a young boy on a journey to reckon with his newfound power and the discovery that his previously-unknown father is actually the Prism\u2014the emperor, the most powerful drafter, and, in this theocratic society, the symbolic manifestation of God in the world. Your typical fantasy opening.<\/p>

Then it really got interesting. Power in fantasy novels\u2014as in life\u2014always comes at a cost. All drafters but the Prism reach a point in their lives when they begin to lose themselves to the power, becoming a wight, something less than human. So, before they lose themselves entirely and become a kind of monster that may pose a danger to others, drafters undergo a ritualized killing called the Freeing. The Prism, a strikingly papal figure, hears their confessions and offers forgiveness, before driving a knife through their hearts. It\u2019s a chilling scene, when Weeks finally reveals the nature of the Freeing, but amidst the horror something else caught my attention: at the end of his absolution and blessing, the Prism says, \u201cWell done, true and faithful servant.\u201d It\u2019s a small, somewhat innocuous phrase, but one that any Christian would recognize. It comes from one of Jesus\u2019s parables and is something Christians believe we will hear Him say to each of us when we depart this life and finally meet Him face to face. The insertion of this line added a whole new layer of complication to my reading not only of an already haunting scene, but of the entire book.<\/p>

On its own, the fact that the theocratic society clearly drew inspiration from the Catholic Church hadn\u2019t pinged me as anything unusual. Many stories have religious themes or take place in religious settings without getting too deep in the question that logically follows: is the thing in which these characters believe true<\/em>? This fundamental question of faith, however, is at the center of Weeks\u2019s story\u2014but subtly so. In the pantheon of Christian fantasy, where C.S. Lewis\u2019s allegory focuses on God and J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s rich and sweeping epic plays with His creation, Weeks\u2019s modern fantasy series explores what it\u2019s like to wrestle with questions of faith in a world that doesn\u2019t provide concrete answers. After all, faith is \u201cthe essence of things hoped for, and the knowledge of things unseen.\u201d As in our world, everything in Weeks\u2019s hints<\/em> at divinity, always there in the corner of your eye, but when you try to grasp it too firmly, to dwell on it too long, other explanations (more scientific, more realistic) start to jockey for space. It could have been God\u2019s guiding hand, or it could have just been the good sense of an experienced general. Or coincidence. Or luck.<\/p>

And as a reader, the delicacy with which Weeks straddled the line kept me guessing, too. Was Weeks writing a story of faith, or a secular tale that borrowed the trappings of Christianity? Like Lewis\u2019s beam of light in his essay \u201cMeditations in a Toolshed,\u201d it felt like either\u2014or, paradoxically, both\u2014could be true, depending on whether I chose to look at or along the beam. The characters wrestled with God and with their doubts in a way that made me realize I\u2019ve met each and every one of them\u2014in my work, in my classes, or in myself. Can I still have faith, despite the things I\u2019ve done? Can I still have faith, despite the things the church has done? Can I still have faith, after everything I have lost?<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It wasn\u2019t just the religious myth that echoed at every turn, it was also the story of faith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Brent Weeks sits in this tension for four books, ending the penultimate novel with a hell of a cliffhanger: the protagonist, the now powerless and forsaken Prism, is sent on a quest to kill God. I found myself wondering often, as I waited the final book\u2019s release, whether Weeks had written himself into a corner. Four books of ambiguity, and now he\u2019d forced his own hand. He would have to answer the<\/em> question: is it true? Weeks\u2019s series was so unlike other Christian fantasy I\u2019d read\u2014nuanced and frustratingly elusive where most of the genre is unambiguous to a fault\u2014that I confess to feeling prematurely disappointed. I was fairly certain he was going to cop out with some vague but #deep symbolism, or even go all-in on the cynical conclusion that God is just a convenient idea to shape a good society.<\/p>

And, for a moment, it seemed I would be right. About halfway through the final book, the protagonist finally makes it to the top of the tower where he is to find God, and\u2026 it\u2019s empty. Weeks lets us stew in that discovery just long enough to realize, along with the protagonist, that we are angry<\/em> to find God was never there at all. And then, God reveals Himself in the person of the humble slave who had accompanied our protagonist on the last leg of his journey. The confrontation that follows takes up a significant chunk of the rest of the book: the broken, human protagonist having a face-to-face conversation with God.<\/p>

Weeks\u2019s readers were practically rabid with fury. In the online forums, at least, accusations flew that he had ruined a perfectly good series just because he found religion, or that he had lulled everyone into a false sense of security just to try to convert us en masse. But I found myself thinking, if we didn\u2019t realize this was always where this was going, we weren\u2019t really reading these books. It was always there in those words, \u201cWell done, true and faithful servant.\u201d It whispered in one of the series\u2019 central conflicts, which arises with a movement of discontents who argue that becoming a wight may mean losing your humanity but doesn\u2019t have to mean losing yourself. Maybe, they say, you can safely transform into a different (read: superior) kind of being\u2014surely you won\u2019t really die<\/em>, says the serpent in the Garden; you\u2019ll just become like gods yourselves. It wasn\u2019t just the religious myth that echoed at every turn, it was also the story of faith.<\/p>

All of this isn\u2019t to say that I don\u2019t appreciate some of the frustration. There was something poignant and deeply true about the uncertainty in Weeks\u2019s books. There was something cathartic about seeing in these pages a reflection of the journey I\u2019ve been on for almost 30 years\u2014to remain steadfast in the knowledge of things unseen, despite the persistent questions and the creeping what ifs. From a literary perspective, there was something elegant about the way he captured the dual nature of that beam of light\u2014maybe it can be both the wise general\u2019s good judgment and<\/em> the hand of God at work.\u00a0<\/p>

But there was something beautiful and cathartic about the ending we got, too. I can\u2019t express in a short review what it felt like read that conversation between the protagonist and God, except to say I suspect many of us have wondered what we might ask or say to Him if we had the chance, and after thousands of pages of build-up, Weeks\u2019s version does not disappoint. I can<\/em> tell you that I reveled in my surprise and delight at the way Weeks\u2019s sheer glee practically leaps off the page. The latter half of the book is at times so playful that the unrestrained joy is infectious. And while it may \u201cresolve\u201d a lot of the plot conflicts that had seemed so central with a literal<\/em> deus ex machina, perhaps ending the series by dwelling in that conversation with God was the only possible resolution to the conflicts that really mattered.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sara Holston<\/strong> is a student at HLS, and the current Managing Editor of Fare Forward. <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Lightbringer Series<\/strong> was published by Orbit Books between 2010 and 2019. You can find all five books available from the publisher here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The five-volume Lightbringer Series is in many ways a typical modern fantasy\u2014but it weaves in a consistently compelling depiction of the life of faith. Review by Sara Holston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-newsletter","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farefwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Burning-White-3D.jpg?fit=1500%2C1383&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9682"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9723,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682\/revisions\/9723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}