This was a fantastic ending to a fantastic series!  I couldn't put it down.  The world and characters are just what you expect!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Lightbringer is everything I wanted and more.

*Claps hands* What a fantastic series The Empirium Trilogy is. I first picked up Furyborn at a sales table at YALC for only £8. £8 for a hardback ain’t bad! So, I nabbed one and didn’t read it for a long time. It’s not a hyped book, it’s not talked about much on book Twitter or Instagram; there was no urge for me to pick it up.

But of course, eventually I did, and I haven’t shut up about it, or its sequel, Kingsbane. With the cliffhanger we were left with at the end of Kingsbane, I was DYING to read Lightbringer. I’d received an e-arc from Melia PR and Sourcebooks (thank you!), and kept putting it off due to its size. But also, I knew it would make me cry, I knew it would tear my heart in two.

But then, something happened.

Melia PR, bless their hearts, sent me a PHYSICAL ARC.

I WAS STUNNED. So much so that I HAD to read it.

And let me tell you, I was not disappointed.

The relationships, the rivalries, are so deep in this book. You can barely fathom just how deep they go. They span centuries, they weave in and out of love and hatred. Each character goes through their own arc that’s so multifaceted, there are no characters left behind in this epic tale.

Lightbringer was the ending I craved and so much more. I am so sad to see the end of it, and long to be back in the world of the Empirium again. But the finale was whole and the perfect close to an awesome series.

So, despite not enough people talking about it, despite not having a UK publisher, please pick up Furyborn so we can cry about this trilogy together. If you love a dark, handsome villain and all powerful anti-heroine coming together to wreak havoc, plus lots and lots of queer characters and time travel, The Empirium Trilogy is for you!

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What an ending! This was a long ass book, and it took me around three days to listen to even though I could've binged it in a day. Alas my brain said NO. Rielle has accepted her role as Blood Queen and her place at Corien's side. Whispers from the empirium are slowly unhinging her world and urging her to open the Gate. In the future, Eliana is a shell of what she used to be. Imprisoned in Corien's fortress, her hope is slipping away as he tries to carve her power out of her to travel back to Rielle. When the Prophet comes for Eliana thought, new hope is born for the fate of the world.

I loved Lightbringer so much. There was so much movement between the perspectives that it was never boring. In several other books, when the MC is a prisoner to the villain it gets monotonous quickly. However, with the help of the Prophet we see Eliana begin to train a new facet of her power and it was enrapturing. I wanted to know absolutely everything about The Deep and Eliana's powers.

While Rielle is cast as the villian throughout this series, I never gave up hope on her. So many of her actions were because of Corien's meddling or fear from her loved ones. Like when her choice is stay with people terrified of her or go with Corien who is constantly telling her what a Goddess she is, the choice is pretty easy. But Rielle empowered by the Empirium was something else. The amount of times she threatened to murder Corien for sassing her was badass and slightly scary.

One of the things I love about this series is that even though it mainly follows Rielle & Eliana, we do get POVs from other important characters. Lightbringer really gave Audric the time he needed to develop. We see so much growth from him, in his powers and his emotions/mentality. There is also a good chunk where he is depressed and grieving for Rielle. After this book, I officially love him.

The ending was actually quite heart-wrenching, but it was such a solid ending. I am happy with how everything was tied up, but also I want to cry for so many characters. Overall, this series was phenomenal!

If there was one word to sum up the entirety of the Empirium trilogy, it would be this: a feat. The sheer scope of this series is...almost overwhelming to think about. There are so many characters, so many stories, and so many threads connecting them all together. Entwining them.

It’s a scope that also, at times, made this is a very difficult series to read. The jumping back and forth between perspectives and timelines means there is a lot to keep track of, and like both of its predecessors, LIGHTBRINGER suffered issues with pacing for me. The whiplash between chapters that have you on the edge of your seat, desperate to know what happens, and those that make it all too easy to set the book aside is, once again, present.

That said, I absolutely adore the breadth of female characters in this trilogy, and the range with which they are given to exist in their worlds. Give me the ambitious, villainous women. Give me the women that wield softness as a strength, at times a formidable weapon. Give me the women who are willing to set the world ablaze for good and bad, and who are willing to rise from those ashes.

Overall, this felt like a solid conclusion to the trilogy. It has the climatic final confrontation you’ve been waiting for, and an ending that is as hopeful as it is bittersweet.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Lightbringer the final book in the Empirium trilogy! And I've got to say it is my least favorite out of the three.

Things have gone to hell, and Rielle is still acting like a spoiled rotten child continuing to make more horrible decisions. Audric also needs to grow up.

Eliana has by far been hurt the worst and has lost everyone and everything that she loves in hopes that she will set things right.

Don't get me wrong I understand the things in this book are the way they are but childish characters do nothing to make it better

Lightbringer is the third and final installment in author Claire Legrand's Empirium trilogy. The story once again alternatives between Rielle, and Eliana, but the author also adds Simon, Corien, Navi, Jessamyn, and Tal. If you haven't read this series yet, I'll briefly summarize. This series take place in two separate timelines 1,000 years apart. Rielle’s is the past, Eliana’s is the future. After Kingsbane, Eliana has been captured, and is being taken to the Emperor, while Rielle has joined with Corien in an effort to find all the necessary casings to open the gates and allow Corien’s Angels to come through.

Eliana arrives in the Empire's capital as a broken shell of herself. Betrayed by those she trusted, 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. Meanwhile, whispers from the Empirium is slowly drive Rielle 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.

Rielle is a character who has done some unforgivable things in this series let alone this story. Rielle is drowning in her anger, in her guilt, grief, and resentment and so her only hope may be the unborn child growing in her womb. Audric’s anger drove Rielle to Corien, but he’s never once stopped loving her. So, he wallows in his self-pity for awhile before finally trying to put together an alliance with all nations of Avitas to fight against Rielle and Corien and stop them from bringing Eliana’s future to bear. Eliana who is his daughter. Since the title of this book is Lightbringer, I was hoping for more of Audric than what we get.

But there is also another character who has been whispering in both Rielle and Eliana’s ear. The Prophet has finally shown up with plans for both women. If the Prophet successful, that means that Eliana will travel back in the past and try to stop her own mother, who she has already met once, and try to stop her from destroying the world. But if Eliana is successful in rewriting history, what does that mean for her friends like Navi or her brother or other characters she’s brought together to fight against the Emperor? I won’t spoil who the Prophet is, but you have met this character if you’ve read this series.

I am not a huge fan of the ending, especially Eliana’s who fought so bravely and was tortured non-stop by Corien who I have compared to Lucifer. He’s also a fantastically twisted and delicious villain who really brings things to a better understanding at how powerful he really is. Rielle’s ending was particularly fitting after everything she’s done. There’s an old saying about not being able to go home again. Well, after everything she did and all the pain and suffering she caused, I don’t think it would have made much sense to give her a happy ending with Audric and her child. I am not much of a fan of multiple narrators. Rielle and Eliana are the main characters. It is their prophecy that drives this series. Lastly, I would have been happy had the book been 50-100 pages shorter. So many things the author could have edited out.

What an amazing ending to one of my favourite series! Claire Legrand has created a magnificent world that you were immediately pulled into! The entire plot for the last books was amazing! Thank you Claire for bringing this book to life.

I am blown away by the sheer scale of this book. The way it ended all the things that led up to that ending. I was taken aback by EVERYTHING. I feel for the future Eliana though. I think this ended in the only way it could have and it was satisfying and heart-breaking all at once.

This has been a really solid and entertaining series and this concluding installment is a fitting way to draw things to a close. Following multiple perspectives with timelines 1000 years apart, there is something unique about this trilogy. With that being said, there are still romances and angst, battles and betrayals, magic and mayhem as you would expect and Legrand has woven all of the threads together very skillfully. I do think that this last book (and in fact, the second book too) is far too long and would benefit from some paring back, particularly through the middle section, which I found a bit slow. Overall however, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and would definitely recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really enjoyed the first two books in the Empirium trilogy and couldn’t wait to dive back in with this third, concluding novel.
The magic, the characters, the politics, the battles, the writing; it’s all perfect. I can’t say enough good things. 
I love this series, it’s truly one of my new favorites.
The ending brought tears to my eyes, it was so bittersweet. 
If a spin off series were to be written I would pick it up in a heartbeat!

An overly long finale to the Furyborn trilogy, Lightbringer completes a series with a whimper rather than a bang. This could have been a stronger book if it had been edited properly, but Legrand’s writing is verbose and overwritten and her editor did not wrangle her in. The draw of this series for me was it’s compelling plot; I was always left wanting to know what happens next. The conclusion of this series felt like a cop out after a series filled with deaths, torture, and trauma. Unfortunately, a disappointment.

Just like the previous books in this series -5 stars!

Legrand is an absolute master of world-building and character arcs!

This was exactly the ending I was hoping for for this epic EPIC series!

I mean, wow. Heart broken? Sure. Jaw hit the floor? Yep. Wanna read it again? HELL YEAH!

Amazing

Can a book's ending be equally satisfying yet equally disappointing? Ugh, I have many feelings about this.  I loved where it went and the redemptive qualities of it, but at the same time I feel like I invested all this time into certain characters and their storylines only to have them be completely irrelevant in the end. Overall, a solid conclusion to a great series and it definitely sets it up for more. I hope Ms. Legrand will continue to dive into this world because I for one, definitely want more!

LOVE the ending of this series!!!!! I will miss so many of these characters. The way in which Legrand seemlessly wove the separate storylines and timelines together is genius.

This is one of the most popular series amongst my students and I have no doubt they will adore this third installment. Full of action and adventure, this is a fabulous read for all!!

This third book in the Empirium Trilogy, like the second, suffered from the same major problem: it was, simply, too long. More is not always better; sometimes it is just more. And too much of a good thing is not necessarily good; in fact, it is the opposite. Here, the story felt weighed down and, at times, clunky. The reader was continually taken down different rabbit holes that often added little to the story. They were more of a distraction to an intriguing plot. And, it was an intriguing and fun plot. There was just too much repetition combined with a surprisingly slow pace. 

Towards the end of the book, both the plot and the pace picked up. As I read the conclusion of this story of two queens, I was almost moved to tears. Then, as I reflected on their story, what they and others had been through for three books, I realized I was actually a little disappointed with the ending. 

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

I cannot even imagine the undertaking of Legrand to end this epic trilogy. The Empirum trilogy has been one of time travel, angels and sacrifices, and betrayal that still manages to shock me. How to sum up my immense feelings for this sequel? While Lightbringer delighted me with its twists and turns, I felt like the sheer number of POVs made the pacing feel extremely slow up until about 50% of the book. It allows us the reader to see the ways the story, and action, are unfolding. Yet when we keep switching between characters, and times, it made the pace of the book feel like it took some time to unfold.

That's certainly not a deal breaker for me, as I do love multiple POV novels. It's just that comparing the first half to the second half, I felt like all of a sudden the action begins to start domino effects. It felt a bit like once the pieces clicked into place, they raced towards the cliffs edge. With series enders, I find that endings can be very polarizing for readers. Personally, I appreciated the way Lightbringer is both an ending for the story, and for the series. Even though there's plenty of ways Legrand could write further novels.

But overall, I enjoyed the way Lightbringer continues our discussion about power and identity. Not often enough do I read stories about ambitious girls. Girls who are willing to stare the darkness and expanses of power in the eyes and step forward. Throughout the series, I have loved witnessing Rielle and Eliana's journey as they figure out what they will do for power. Not only who will love them when the dust settles, but will they be able to look themselves in the mirror when the blood dries.

I have mixed feelings about the ending but I think it fit with the story. At times it was slow paced but overall a good conclusion to this trilogy.

Following the tale of these two queens ended very differently then what I imagined because of that I welcome this book. The story was a little slow at first but after that last book I can understand. Once the action got started I could not put it down. Overall, this book was a wonderful refresh to the YA genre and the ending was perfect.

Well, I was so excited to get a copy of this to review after feeling just gutted at the end of Book 2. But, somehow, I just couldn’t recreate the magic of the first two in the series. I’m not sure if there were just too many points of view or if I wasn’t as attuned to the story as it had been some time since I read the others. Perhaps reading them all at once would have left me happier about the end. But, this just seemed to drag on with overly complicated details that I just wasn’t appreciating.  The world building is still excellent and I think the concept of this series is sound, but the finale was just a bit of a disappointment after the serious high of the book 2 cliffhanger.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.