Lux

Texas Reckoners #1

by Brandon Sanderson

Ein neues Team an Rächern zieht in den Kampf gegen die fliegende Stadt „Lux” – Exklusiv als Audio-Original.

Als der rotglühende Stern „Calamity” am Himmel erschien, glaubten einige, das Ende sei gekommen. Sie hatten Recht. „Calamity” hat die Epics Menschen mit unglaublichen Superkräften. Sie hätten die Menschheit retten können. Sie hätten Frieden und Wohlstand bringen können. Stattdessen brannten sie alles nieder. Mordeten. Eroberten. Und rissen die Macht an sich.

Jax ist fest entschlossen, die Geheimnisse der Epics zu lüften und die Menschen zu beschützten. Als die mysteriöse High Epic Lifeforce mit ihrer fliegenden Stadt „Lux” auftaucht, müssen Jax und sein Team – die wenigen, die von den einst mächtigen Rächern übrig geblieben sind – ihren Kampf gegen diese schwebende Festung führen. Die Unbesiegbaren besiegen. Verlorenes rächen. Und es wieder auferstehen lassen.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published July 22, 2021

About the author

I’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.

The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.

During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.

Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.

November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.

Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.

I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.

Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!

Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.

I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.

Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.

Reviews

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steelheart was the first Brandon Sanderson book I read, so it holds a special place in my heart. To really get this book you need to have at least read Steelheart, if not the entire first trilogy.

Lux follows a different Reckoner team in Texas as they try to fight a different band of Epics. Jax is the central character to the story and gets the most PoV time. An Epic killed his brother when he was ten, Prof found him and sent him to the Coop to be raised and trained. He grew up pushing himself to the limit and now it is time to go to war.

This is a solid story. With the different PoVs and present/past jumps the characters unfold. I really liked Jax, he is smart and motivated. He has spent his life training to fight and now it is time. It just is harder than he ever thought it would be. He is going to lose people he loves, he is going to be betrayed and he is going to have to bury some grudges if he is going to make it through.

I liked there are a couple Easter Eggs in the story for fans of the series and Steelheart's origin story. The city of Lux is both a paradise and a parasite. It shows a strange dichotomy of what people are willing to overlook so they can have some comforts. I really liked exploring the motivator technology too and how it worked with Epic DNA.

The ending was a bit of a surprise since I thought this would only be one book, but it looks like there will be at least one follow-up book. While I missed some of the crew from the original series, there were a lot of likeable characters and Jax makes a pretty great hero.

This is a book for fans of the original series and shouldn't be missed if you loved the Supervillian dystopian world of the Reckoners.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably 2.5/5. I spent most of the early book considering it a 4, but the latter half I did not enjoy at all and for over a third of it I just wanted it to be over.

There were parts of this book which were good.

And parts which were really really bad.

The first half was stronger. There were segments which read as Brandon’s writing. The latter half didn’t have any scenes which really stood out.

Spoilers ahead.

There are a few things going on in this book, but I just feel that it’s not presented well.

This is probably influenced directly by my knowledge that it’s co-written, but it feels like Brandon collaborated on the outline and wrote/ collaborated a few scenes (prof’s stuff), but that most of it was written with feedback. And, it wasn’t my style.

I have SERIOUS issues with how the early parts of the book are justified child abuse. Years of fucking up a kid to create a good soldier. Never even attempted to be justified.

The relationships were poorly drawn. I believed connection between Prof and the main character. The MC had a connection with Paige, but it didn’t matter. She literally could have been anyone. Just fridge her since she’s a bad drawing.

The rest of the crew were uninteresting and incomplete. Hershel’s connection to Steelheart felt pandering instead of interesting. We didn’t learn anything meaningful about either character.

The Epics were too human. Giving them viewpoints is kind of interesting. But, if this is read separately, then the primary Reckoner truly isn’t necessary, and if following is just disappointing.

The in-world science is shit. There’s a WHOLE LOT that happens which is explicitly stated to not work in the primary trilogy. I had a faint hope that this would be explained, but I didn’t see anything which justified it.

The epilogue sets up for follow-ups to Calamity which I felt negates a lot of how it concluded. Setting up another series which I don’t think I’m interested in reading. I was hoping for multiverse, not “the bad guys are still around and maybe stronger!” It’s no longer a return to human frailty, but the continuation of forced inhumanity.

Since this was on Audible, I also found the reader to be breathy in this book. There was some of that in the old trilogy, but the MC had humour in his writing, and there was none of this in this book. Just found it annoying overall.

Personally, I find this to be the worst thing Brandon has put his name to. And it will make me hesitate before reading anything else that he cowrites.

[Anna [Bran. San. Stan] · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt really good to be back in the Reckoners‘ World even if it doesn’t quite live up to the original series.

In this alternate Earth, supervillains (Epics) have taken over and the Reckoners rose to stand against them. Lux is set in Texas, dealing with a mostly new set of characters, which is why you can listen to this audio-exclusive book as a standalone. It does have some crossover with the first three Reckoners books, so if you plan on reading those anyway, I would recommend starting with them and then listen to Lux.

This book deals with 11-year-old Jax, orphaned by the Epics, who ends up being trained as an assassin in a Reckoners camp. However, we first meet Jax, aged 17, during a dangerous mission, showing us how competent, committed, and reckless he is. Then we get to experience how young Jax loses his family and how he is subsequently brought to and trained by the Reckoners – where he wants to become a hero, protecting others from the Epics. We follow his progress over the years until we catch up with the present battle.

This structure worked really well for me. My initial impression of Jax was not favorable because of his recklessness, but seeing him grow up as a prodigy changed my perception. Meeting other characters in the process was also a great benefit of that structure.

I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoyed the original series written exclusively by Brandon. While superheroes turning evil is not a novel idea per se, its execution felt like something truly special. I have always enjoyed the creativity involved in the various locations and in the powers of the supervillains. The visual of the floating city of Lux was, however, initially not that impressive, but the concept of what people are willing to tolerate in order to live in a small slice of an alleged paradise, leaving destitution, poverty, starvation, and scarcity behind, was a great spin. The horror of what Lux is doing, burning and destroying city after city, was part of that concept. What are you willing to ignore for your own benefit? The promise of food, water, shelter, safety, electricity, human rights, and air conditioning are powerful motivators.

As much as I enjoyed the concept and the first third of the audiobook, I just wasn’t that captivated by the rest. It was entertaining but I wasn’t as invested in the plot as I had initially been, so much so that I had to force myself to keep on listening at times. It seems it tried to do too much and was all over the place as a result. Maybe it’s also because it’s not Brandon‘s prose (see explanation below), I‘m not sure. As for the audiobook itself: it was fantastic. The actor gave the characters unique voices and that helped make up for some issues with the plot.

If you’re interested in what the co-authoring process entailed: Brandon noted that he and Steven brainstormed together and worked on an outline together. Steven then wrote the actual prose with Brandon doing a round of intensive editing and revising (Brandon took a month off to work on this). He also compared the process to Wheel of Time and expresses the hope that the soul of Lux is both of them, like WoT is both his and Robert Jordan’s (live stream #33). I must admit that that comparison falls woefully short – Bohls is no Sanderson.

Still, this was an enjoyable experience, mostly because the audiobook is set in Brandon‘s established world, because of some interesting characters and some easter eggs. As the book ended with a hook, a sequel should follow at some point. I know I will read that as well.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has Sanderson’s fingerprints on it but not his soul. The original Reckoners series is far superior. This book has some really good moments and others that are just off.



The story takes place in Texas. Lux is a floating city in the sky (because why not) that used to be Sugarland. Four Epics run it: Lifeforce, Languish, Stormcloud, and Wingflair. Lifeforce makes everybody there immortal, Wingflair keeps in floating, Stormcloud makes the atmosphere livable, and Languish can only dampen others’ powers. A small group of Reckoners is determined to take them down. But compared to a lot of other cities, Lux really isn’t THAT bad of a place.



I wasn’t crazy about most of the characters. They didn’t feel fully developed. They were more tropes than people, and if any of them died, I wouldn’t or didn’t care. It switches from first person with Jax to third person with other characters, including Epics. Languish was probably the most interesting to me.

So far this is available only on Audible. The narrator is pretty good except when doing women’s voices. He makes their voices super nasally, and I swear Paige’s voice changes half-way through. This is a result of trying too hard to represent the opposite gender. Dude, just talk.

The pacing is kind of all over the place. Some scenes are very drawn out; others are rushed. We spend so much time at the beginning with Jax’s childhood training that by the time he was ready to confront Epics, it felt like the book was about to be over.

There are some serious cliches in here, too, like the fridging of Jax’s brother.

I was confused on a few things. I wasn’t sure why Lux had to be in the air. I guess to keep moving so they could pillage everywhere on the ground? It seemed like a lot of effort for a small reward. And when Wingflair is taken out, the city still floats even without Lifeforce helping. It gently lands at the end. In the original series, it was stated that Epics could only be killed by their personal weaknesses, but here they’re saying if you can blow them up, that’s just as good.



I had a lot of issues with the science. It was wrong so often! I’ll accept mumbo jumbo for sci fi stuff, but basic science has to be right. I mean, this is stuff that is common knowledge. Here are three things that irked me: (These are minor spoilers.)



1. Objects fall at the same rate (barring air friction): In the book, the city falls a few feet, so all the objects also fall. In the book, the bottom objects fall faster than the objects on top of them. This is wrong. I tried it at home just to be sure. (See here for more)

2. You have to draw blood from a vein: In the book, characters just stick a syringe anywhere in the skin and suck blood like magic. No tourniquet, no special needles, nothing. You might suck up a drop of blood this way, but it won’t be good for anything.

3. Computer tech is very specialized: In the book, we have the All-Knowing Hacker/Tech Dude. He is good at everything to do with computers. No area is beyond his knowledge. This is impossible and completely unrealistic. It’s like expecting a concert violinist to also be an expert in all the other instruments, or a star football player to also be a star baseball, basketball, and hockey player.



Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence: Pretty good amount of violence, sometimes a bit graphic and/or gruesome.
Harm to Animals: None
Harm to Children: Jax goes to Reckoner boot camp at a young age, where he is subjected to abuse as part of his training.
Other (Triggers): Death, betrayal

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay I'm gonna need to sit on this one for a bit

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2021/08/02/...

So, imagine my surprise when I found out about a new Reckoners novel. After Calamity closed out the original trilogy back in 2016 with the feel of definitive ending, I didn’t think there would be more, though technically I guess Lux is more of a story that runs mostly in tandem to the events happening with the Newcago Reckoners. More importantly, it can be read as a standalone and it also adds more content to the universe.

Available exclusively as an Audible Original as of this writing, Lux takes place in Texas following a different group of Reckoners, a covert group of people with teams located all across the country. Our protagonist is Jax, whose older brother was killed by an Epic, a super-powered human, when he was just ten years old. Left alone in a ruined world, Jax was recruited by the leader of the Reckoners and sent to be trained in their coming war with the Epics, whose powers corrupt them and turn them into heartless oppressors. As the last surviving pockets of resistance, the Reckoners devote their lives to finding out the Epics’ weaknesses, to unlock their secrets and destroy them.

The early sections of the book read like your classic training school story. Jax and his fellow Reckoner initiate Paige are pushed to the limits, but both emerge on the other side as effective soldiers and spies. They are now ready for the group’s biggest, most important mission yet: to infiltrate Lux, the mysterious floating city brought into the existence by the powerful High Epic known as Lifeforce. Lux has recently rolled into Texas Reckoners’ territory, come to steal what’s left, but also to add to its ranks by offering the desperate citizens a glittering new life. Jax and his friends are determined to stop this from happening, but first they must find a way into this shining fortress city. And what they find there may not be anything like they expect.

As I said, Lux can be read as a standalone, though it does have some time overlap with the first three Reckoners books and reading them first would provide lots of context, plus there are also plenty of references and other delightful little easter eggs that a fan of the previous novels will be able to appreciate. For a spinoff though, it does an excellent job introducing new readers to the universe, which presents a very different kind of “superpowered” story where the Epics are villains rather than heroes. When it comes to Brandon Sanderson, you can always expect a unique twist, and while Lux is a co-written effort, it still bears all the hallmarks of his imagination and creativity. Apparently his co-author Steven Michael Bohls had quite a fair amount of autonomy on the project, but the writing itself feels pretty seamless from the original trilogy, at least to me, and of course the audiobook narration had a lot to do with that too (more on that later).

I really liked Jax as a protagonist. He’s a tough young man, and believes in doing the right thing, even if it means putting himself in danger. Like so many of the Reckoners who have survived up to this point, he’s had a hard life and has lost people close to him. He’s more serious than David in the previous trilogy, but still has plenty of humor and spirit to keep his voice interesting. There are also other a variety of side characters to support him, and among my favorites are Hershel and Paige. In addition, one of the best things about Lux is that it gives us a glimpse into Epic society, providing a few of them with POV chapters and allowing readers into their heads.

Story-wise, it’s another action-packed adventure. Admittedly, world-building in Lux is a bit slapdash, but considering we are dealing with a one-off novel, I can see why some of the main ideas have to be painted with a broad brush in order to move the plot along. Some of it can be a bit confusing, but as we gradually build up to that heart-stopping, stunning finale, it’s easy to forgive a few hiccups here and there. The ending also wraps things up but also sets us up quite nicely for possible future books, and I suppose if you weren’t completely satisfied with the way Calamity ended, kind of like how I felt, there’s hope that there’s we may get actual closure at some point.

And finally, I want to comment on the audiobook, which is the only available format right now. Read by one of my favorite narrators, seasoned voice actor MacLeod Andrews who also delivered an incredible performance for the first three books, he once more brings the characters and world of Lux to life. Despite this book featuring a whole new cast and setting, I’m glad he reprised his role of narrator, not only because it gave the book a sense of continuity, but also because Andrews’ voice helped put me right back into the Reckoners universe and immersed me in Brandon Sanderson’s world of Epics and the brave heroes who fight them. If you want to discover it for yourself, this would be a perfect place to jump on board, and I would also recommend the book for existing fans as it is a hugely entertaining spinoff that adds a lot to the original trilogy.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Reckoners world is fun, but not nearly my favorite of Sanderson's worlds. Regardless, this book falls far short of his standard and that of the original trilogy. Written by someone else under Sanderson's authorization, it feels amateurishly written, with an overly fantastical and underdeveloped plot, simplistic and stereotypical characters, and bad dialogue. Top it off with a bad ending that tries to set up even more books, and you have a pretty big disappointment.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Reckoners tech, read this book! Lux’s motivator technology goes way beyond the original series, and the stuff the team does with it is COOL! There’s a wink-wink Steelheart cameo, which is awesome, and the ending is such a cliffhanger. I can’t wait to see where it leads next…

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4½⭐ ➙ Narration 🙄 = Excellent…but Should’ve Had Additional Narrators for All POVs ➙ Narrated by 🎙️Macloed Andrews

Lux is the new Reckoners book that I didn’t know I needed and it’s only available as an Audible Original. Which I’m sure will keep some people from experiencing this…and that kind of sucks because I think this is the best Reckoners book since Steelheart. Of course, I don’t believe that a lot of other listeners feel this way…so take that as you will…I thought Firefight and Calamity were slow-moving and others thought this book was, so go figure.

I personally didn’t notice a difference in the writing with the addition of another author…other than it was less boring than both Firefight and Calamity. So, I have to say that Steven Michael Bohls was a win for me. I did notice that this was either a hit or miss for most listeners. I’m firmly in the hit crowd. My biggest issue was that Audible didn’t add more narrators for the different POVs.


TOTAL SCORE 8.81/❿
Opening ￫ 8.5
Characters ￫ 9
Plot/Believability ￫ 8.5
Atmosphere/Tone ￫ 9
Writing Style ￫ 8.7
Ending ￫ 9
Overall Enjoyment ￫ 9

[Marina Vidal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lux es una novela de Reckoners de cabo a rabo. Funciona muy bien, aunque en algunos momentos el ritmo me ha cogeado, pero creo que eso es más cosa mía y de mi estrés que de la novela en sí. Steven Bohls hace un trabajo genial y junto a Brandon han creado una historia que expande la trilogía original y que nos presenta Épicos tan molones como Lifeforce, un muy buen villano. Además la novela está llena de guiños a Steelheart y las otras novelas. Deseando poder seguir con estos audiolibros.

[Dustin (dragonarmybooks) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a BookTube channel where I review books, give reading suggestions, and more! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/dragonarmybooks

---

My Rating - 2.5 Stars

Available exclusively as an Audible Original, Lux is the first entry in the Texas Reckoners series, an extension of the Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. Our protagonist, Jax, lost his older brother to a vicious Epic attack. Epics are superpowered humans that for some reason, all turn evil once their powers are gained. Years later, Jax has been recruited by the Reckoners, a team of humans without powers but lots of heart. They are gearing up for a war against the Epics in hopes of bringing the old world of peace and civility back to reality.

Lux takes place in the great state of Texas. I grew up in Texas so it was fun to see the characters traveling through and talking about the cities I personally know. While urban fantasy settings aren't my favorite, Sanderson did well with a dystopian Texas. It just always breaks immersion for me to see characters talking about eating a Snickers and working at Target. Just, ew. Sanderson always thrives with his character work. They are all well constructed, each having individual personalities and motivations. That trend continues here with an eclectic cast of both Reckoners and Epics. One thing that was new with Texas Reckoners (from my poor memory) was the different POVs. Not only did we get to see through the eyes of a few of the Reckoners, but we got a couple of Epic POVs as well. Those were some of my favorite parts. Quite possibly some of my only favorite parts.

I just never find enjoyment with Sanderson's Young Adult novels. And it's not that they are juvenile. In fact, I'm not sure they're juvenile enough. I think Sanderson is so much an adult author that enjoys complex magic systems that all of that doesn't translate well to YA stories. The pacing in this book, in particular, just kept dragging on and on and on. I felt like it should have been over by the quarter mark, and we were only just getting starting. The science doesn't feel authentic. The worldbuilding falls flat. It just isn't the same Sanderson flair that I'm used to with his other, better books.

I get why big authors like to co-write books. I really do. It allows them to produce more with less work. And if it's a good partnership, I'm sure it is super fulfilling. I just so rarely see it done well. It is almost always SO obvious to me that there is, at the very least, a watered down execution of the author's intended vision. That's the problem here in Lux. I honestly shouldn't read Sanderson's YA work anymore, but I'm going to, because I'm addicted to Sanderson, even his less-than-flawless works.

[ElaF · Rating 5 out of 5]

audiobook
totalnie nieobiektywna opinia. uwielbiam mścicieli. i to było naprawdę dobre. czytał Andrzej Hausner to też wielki plus

[An · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amaai, wat een actie rollercoaster 😜

[Verily · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's truly nothing more glorious than an unexpected Sanderson novel. As a Texan, I really enjoyed this installment. I can't wait to see what comes next from this!

[Joe Kessler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although not a complete misfire, this YA spinoff prequel -- currently only available on audio, with print and ebook editions eventually to follow -- comes up decidedly short when weighed against the original Reckoners trilogy and author Brandon Sanderson's other work, which I assume is due to the contributions of his first-time cowriter Steven Michael Bohls. I'd be very curious to learn what the division of labor on this project was, because while the setting and the overall shape of the plot feel pretty Sandersonian, there's a hollowness to many of the individual scenes and character moments. By the end of the story I still don't really know who these people are or what they mean to one another beyond their one-line introductions, and most of the crew members seem generically interchangeable. Both they and the antagonists demonstrate some occasional weird sexism too, which Sanderson is typically better about. (I raised an eyebrow at the hero being a Civil War buff as well.)

The idea behind the novel is sound enough; since the Reckoners were already established to operate multiple resistance cells across the supervillain-dominated landscape, hopping from the Chicago team to a new group in Texas is a good way to continue the series. We don't get much additional worldbuilding or larger narrative development, but the Epic powers and derivative technology allow for the usual fun action. It's just hard to care with no clear heart like David's anchoring the tale. I'd probably be more generous if this were a standalone title without a favorite name attached, but I wouldn't say that returning fans need to bother.

[Content warning for domestic abuse, gun violence, torture, gore, and amputation.]

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[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so disappointing. I loved the original Steelheart books. When I heard there was a sequel I was so excited. But I don't think Sanderson actually wrote any of Lux. There were so many problems.

First, there's a lot of glamorized child abuse, and not done by the epics. The Reckoners abuse Jax and Paige to train them and it's presented as a good thing for which they end up being grateful.

Next, Paige is a throw away character. In fact, all the female characters are one dimensional and boring. You could swap them out for each other and not notice. The female characters have no meaningful interactions with each other, and really don't have very many meaningful interactions at all. Paige is completely generic. We don't learn any of her interests, backstory, fears, hopes, or quirks. We don't even know what she looks like.

And then there's the science. It's so bad. So, so bad. Not only did it not follow the in-universe rules established in the original trilogy (epics have trouble using gifted powers, among other things), the science doesn't even follow the rules established in this particular story. Jax invents something with a specific set of rules for how it works, but those rules only apply some of the time? And when they don't it's just not mentioned at all, as if the author didn't recognize that they just broke the rules.

Finally, there was almost no humor in this book. The tone seemed to glamorize the depressing storyline instead of break up the darkness.

[Natalie H · Rating 5 out of 5]

February 2024
Audible audiobook
10h 42m (1.3x speed)

Why did I wait so long for this one? The Reckoners are still going strong. Yay for Prof cameo and mention of David. I liked Jax, his recklessness matched David's, which Prof probably didn't want, but it was an interesting experiment, even if the results sound like a lovers to enemies thing.

I liked the multiple POV, it was interesting. Lifeforce was an interesting character. An Epic that felt part complex, part boy that got rejected. I feel I should've guessed the whole life connected to death thing. I had a duh moment when the new baddie popped up. I'm a little surprised the old guy didn't clock on given the way Jackson did something similar.

The biggest question I had was when this one was compared to Prof's team. Now that Calamity is gone, will the two teams connect? Will Deathrise have anything to do with Obliteration. So many questions. It was fun. I need Jax and David to meet. Looking forward to the next one.

[Bec (becklebooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My spoiler free and spoiler thoughts can be found in my video review: https://youtu.be/vi04UjJ-vqM

[Boostamonte Halvorsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh...this is the Kirkland brand version of a Brandon Sanderson novel -- Kirkland Branderson-- and it just isn't good. The Collaboration thing just doesn't work because you have someone like Sanderson that is completely original and thorough about things and then the other person just isn't...There are things that I don't think Sanderson would do with his own stuff that happens. Like for one, the disjointedness of the story line was jarring, like they wanted to squeeze too much into this. I thought a lot of this story was cliché to the point of ripping off Karate Kid but in a Marvel Universe setting--I found myself being really frustrated.

The other jarring thing was that the Epics in this seemed soft, too easy, too human, too non-Epic from the original Epics.

I think Brandon should avoid collabs and just churn out the books at his own pace (which is still faster than most authors) but also not rush to get things out. I am a big fan and I am willing to wait for the good stuff. No more Kirkland Branderson please!

I do think the one collab that will turn out good is the one he is doing with his friend Dan Wells -- I highly suggest his books!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Almost as incredible as the original trilogy. I was very hesitant when I saw that Sanderson shared the byline with another author, because many famous authors use this as an excuse to to relinquish the reins and often the quality will drop considerably in these cases. But I'm happy to report that the plot and writing are both great and they didn't phone this one in.

[Xavier De Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this more than the original series. Hope it is published later in text form.

[Adina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm, have I ever given a BranSan book a 3 star rating before (actually, 2.5)? I'll have to check. Anyway, I'm not sure if listening to it in audiobook format ruined the experience for me (although "The Original" was also an audiobook and that one I enjoyed), but "Lux" dragged on and on (and on), pushing me through a rather boring plot with a lot of predictable scenes and very few "aaah!" moments. The good things were the main characters (not the villain, though, he didn't 'fascinate' me one tiny bit) and the ending.

[Harsh Varia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 1/2 of this book is superb and really deserves a 5 start. unfortunately the Second half was a bit bizarre and fell flat for me. I would still recommend that fan of the series give this book a chance. The characters are interesting. I was hoping for a cameo from the Main team but they did not show up.

A fun read enjoyed getting back to the reckoners.

[Snehith The Book Gleaner · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was decent. Felt repetitive by the end. The narrator was pretty good.

[Ronja Harbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have yet to read a book from Brandon Sanderson I did not thoroughly enjoy. Exciting from start to end, without being too much.

[Santiago Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobooked it. FANTASTIC narrator, ok story.

[Thomas Van Zeijl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good! Wasn't the biggest fan of the reckoners franchise, though the premise was always a great one. This somewhat shortened story encapsulates all the elements of the main series and executes it perfectly.

[Yuna Leek]

Reckoners...in Texas?

Yeah, go ahead and sign me up.

[Nancy Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brandon Sanderson knocks it out of the park again! I can’t wait to see what happens next.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lux is a spin off of the Reckoners trilogly. It is a not as good as the original series of books but it was still enjoyable.