Sunbringer

I will not think back to this book fondly.

Firstly, unlike Godkiller, whose prose was one of my favorite aspects of the novel – easy to read, descriptive yet deceptively simple, largely inoffensive – Sunbringer has many issues when it comes to writing as an artform and logic. There are many sentences that simply did not flow well, with extremely repetitive language, or with errors where wrong names were used for certain characters (such as Hestra getting called ‘Hseth' on page 29, but returning to Hestra on page 31). This book was, on a basic prose level, not ready to publish. it should have gone through at least one more round of edits, where the name-swaps, the awkward sentences, the repetition, too long sentences and lack of commas in certain places would have gotten fixed.

Secondly, this book holds none of the appeal that Godkiller did. While Godkiller starts out extremely slow, one can find something appealing within through the worldbuilding that is explored and given quite organically to the reader, but mostly; the character dynamics. While the characters are not necessarily weak on their own, the main attraction towards Godkiller seems to have been the interaction between the characters moreso than the characters themselves. With the main party split, following their stories, the characters are forced to carry the plot as individuals rather than a cohesive whole, and this is where the appeal falls apart. One of Sunbringer's strongest scenes is the climax, where the main three characters reunite, but it is a long time coming, and by that point, I just wanted to get done with this book. While I do love Kissen, Elogast, and Inara, and Skediceth, I was struck by the feeling that these should not be the people who's story we follow in this book. Kissen especially. I think it would have been much more powerful, much more poignant in a way, if we could only speculate that Osidisen saved Kissen based on Godkiller's ending; I would have much rather followed Lessa Craier. Kaner focuses on character exploration, but the ways in which this is done just... does not land sometimes. Especially when it tries to harken back to Godkiller's intercharacter dynamics.

One such moment that stands out is on page 97, where Elo's narration states “He was not broken. He was never broken. Kissen had taught him that.” and my genuine and immediate reaction was “but did she tho????”. This to me is telling rather than showing. There were some instances of it in Godkiller too, but those I found easy to look over. Not here for some reason. It would have been much better, I think, if Elo instead had flashed to some memories of Kissen that would be relevant in this instance. Show how Kissen taught him he is not broken, maybe emphasize that with the telling phrase, rather than just proclaim it as truth. My own version would be something along these lines: “A broken man. Was he? Charred and burned, betrayed by Arren, his brother, nothing but a sacrifice to a god, and for what? For power? Elo's mind ached as images flashed before his eyes. Kissen, when they had first met. A mystery that unfolded slowly, with her bruises and broken curses and metal leg. The world had tried to break her, and she certainly looked it, but it had failed. Hearty or hurt, gloriously alive or tumbling to her death, Kissen had been whole; Elo was as well.” Is this the best alternative? No. But I'm also not a writer. Still, I feel like like this paints a stronger connection between Kissen and Elo, shows what exactly brokenness means to Elo here, why he doesn't believe himself to be broken still, and how Kissen plays a part in this belief. Yes, Elo is pained and somewhat weakened by his injuries and the horrors he has gone through, but so was Kissen, and she had the strength to fight a fucking god. How could she have been broken? Even if, like Elo, her body had been damaged.

I also honestly found the story to be boringly predictable. When it was revealed that Inara is a demigod, the child of Yusef, the God of safe haven, it did not feel earned. For multiple reasons. Firstly, it was something I theorized back when Inara was introduced and her father was absent, unknown by her. Secondly, there are many more hints throughout the story to lead the reader to that conclusion. The way then reveal is presented, it feels like the reader is supposed to be held in suspense, or maybe surprised, by Inara's godly heritage, perhaps as much as Kissen may have been. But here's the thing: it was not surprising. When you drop so many hints about a plot point that it might as well have been nailed into the reader's forehead, you don't focus on the official reveal, you focus on the reactions. We cut away before we see Kissen's (which was extremely underwhelming; especially when we are told she had thought it without that thought ever truly appearing in either book in any way that mattered). What would have been better is if the reveal was firstly introduced in an official capacity through Inara herself, supported by her actions, and then made “official” in Kissen's POV with Lessa Craier with a focus on Kissen's reaction and the resulting conversation (or bullying from Kissen). But because that's not how it goes down, I just felt frustrated with the book, saying “I know that already!”. This is also true of Lessa Craier being alive. The second we met the unnamed woman, even without recognizing her appearance, I thought "oh god, this can't be Ina's mother, can it?" and then it was. It felt like a cheap reveal. I would have preferred Inara to stay without guidance, without a key to the past, until, perhaps, Yusef rose again, until Skedi's memories might have come back (since they come in flashes sometimes)... Also, what the fuck was with Telle and the scroll? When did she have time to do research like that? How would she know??.

The only POV that I was genuinely invested in because I had no clear idea where it would go was Elogast's. I absolutely loved the way he was regressing in a way, becoming his worst self, a commander and ruthless warrior, and the way it conflicted with how he viewed himself, the people around him, Arren, the world, gods... all of it. I still found many aspects of it rather weak, but it actually surprised me on occasion. Skediceth was also a highlight. Getting glimpses into Arren's POV was also quite a surprise. It's a bold move on Kaner's part to introduce the book in the villain's perspective. However... if it was meant to make me care for Arren, get me invested... not really. I get that he's been hurt, and why he feels that way, but frankly I don't like him, nor do I find him particularly compelling. I sympathize, empathize even, but there was not enough of him to make a favorable impression. I think that there is a chance I will grow to like him if/when I read the third book, but from the decrease in quality from Godkiller to Sunbringer, I'm a little scared the third installment will be even more rushed and, thusly, and even more frustrating read.

That isn't to say I hated everything. The climax is quite strong, the darkest hour is fucking dark, and I did genuinely feel moved during some scenes, like Scian being confronted on Scian's Day and choosing to walk in the streets of the city.

However, the good parts were surrounded by the middling parts and the bad parts, and there were few of them to begin with. There were also some concepts I found to be significantly less interesting than my own theories. For example, Canovan is Lethen's son. This had been rather awkward as a reveal because I thought that Canovan and Lethen were lovers; that they had married once before the God War, and after Lethen was killed during it, Canovan brought her back through his own love, his solitary admiration and devotion, and I thought Lethen lost all her memories of the past, but fell in love with Canovan anew anyway. I thought maybe they had a child together that had been killed during the God War, too, and that it is the loss of his family (the old Lethen being just a little different from the new Lethen) that led him to the path of destruction he had been on. Him just being Lethen's kid feels.... simple and boring in comparison. Especially since he could have been explored more in-depth, perhaps seeing the echoes of what-could-have been in Inara, had his own child been able to live and grow to that age.

Overall, while Sunbringer does try to resolve and continue all plots and threads Kaner had set up in Godkiller, they felt lackluster and did not live up to the expectations that I had. They lived up to some theories, sure, but in ways so boring or predictable or cliched that it honestly detracted from the experience. Being predictable does not make the book bad, but sometimes these ‘known twists/reveals' have to be tackled in more creative ways to actually be poignant, to make those reveals and twists matter to the reader beyond the basic “official” confirmation. There is definitely more action happening in Sunbringer than even in Godkiller's climax, but the book still has dragged its feet, did not utilize it's POV gimmick in exciting ways, kept losing focus because of it, and just generally failed to deliver fantastic conclusions to fantastic setups. By no means a horrible book, but to me it is not a good one.

As a last little addition, here are some of the notes I made whilst reading, in chronological order (with varying amounts of context):
pg. 76: what a sentence. why is there so much ‘then'?
pg. 156: ‘godhead' instead of ‘godhood'... or maybe Kissen genuinely thinks Arren wants a divine blo-
pg. 187: genuinely what the FUCK does this mean
pg. 248: “generously” did NOT have to be there
pg. 262: well, look whose shoulder survived!
pg. 342: THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, “TOO FAR?” KELT CAME FROM FUCKING BELRADEN, YOU'RE IN SCIAN'S GODDAMN HOME!
pg. 344: the “standing still” is, at the very least, very strongly implied by “unmoving”