Lightbringer by Claire Legrand (review)

Legrand, Claire Lightbringer. Sourcebooks, 2020 [592p] (The Empirium Trilogy) Trade ed. ISBN 9781492656685 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781492656692 $18.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 10 up

At the end of Kingsbane (BCCB 6/19), Rielle had just fled her wedding directly into the arms of Corien, the seductive angel bent on destroying humanity and using Rielle's abilities to control the elements to do so. Over a thousand years later, Eliana, part of the rebel group overthrowing Corien's angelic empire, has been betrayed by her lover and handed over to the ageless Corien. The parallel storylines follow the two prophesied queens: Rielle, the Blood Queen, who descends fully into villainy, opening up the Gate that allows the cruel, merciless angels to enter the world and begin their regime over mortals; and Eliana, the Sun Queen, as she is brutally tortured by Corien, who wants her to use her powers to go back in time and to prevent Rielle from killing herself and destroying all magic. Legrand brings her trilogy to a triumphant but bittersweet ending, effortlessly weaving together complicated plot strands and giving further nuance to already complex characters as the narrative focus shifts among Rielle, Elianna, and others. Both women have truly godlike powers, and they must negotiate their agency and ambition, deciding what they want, what they need, and whom, if anybody, they should love and protect. Legrand's eloquent, vivid prose is focused on a bloody landscape of war and death as opposed to the love and lust of the prior volumes, but the romance elements remain, with Eliana's relationship with her lover and betrayer tragic but undeniably tender. The conclusion is both happy and heartbreaking, and readers who have followed the two queens this far will appreciate an ending that respects both the light and dark within in each of them.