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The Bright #1

The Bright Lord

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A home, a family. Lies, resentment. To save the future, he must reclaim his past.

Ryan Hart thought he had saved them all. He'd served as Lord Commander of the Sarashead guild, faithfully and with honor for thousands of years. His work expanded their empire and brought peace.

But peace never lasts. . . .

Emperor Duhan has been murdered, ripping Ryan out of his new life as a citizen on Earth. Once again, he must leave those he loves for the greater good.

Rebirth is the path, a reset into a new body that he must cultivate and train. The collision of two worlds draws ever closer, and if he can't claim what was once his, all will be lost.

186 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2020

64 people are currently reading
96 people want to read

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Alex Knowles

19 books13 followers

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5 stars
46 (36%)
4 stars
36 (28%)
3 stars
23 (18%)
2 stars
14 (11%)
1 star
7 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for C.T. Phipps.
Author 93 books672 followers
March 15, 2021
THE BRIGHT LORD is a fascinating and strange story about a man named Ryan Hart who is living an ordinary life on Earth before he is transported to a reality where he was once the most powerful hero in the world. However, the process requires him to go back from being a massively powerful hero to an enslaved weakling. I found this book to be quite entertaining and enjoyed it a great deal but I was a little confused about the nature of the fantasy world. Is it meant to be a digital game or a fantasy world as well. I admit I'm not too familiar with LITRPG as a whole so it might be unique to the genre. Otherwise, I had a huge amount of fun and will be reading the rest.

I read the audiobook I should note and want to say the narrator was fantastic.
Profile Image for Kimmy.
42 reviews
December 2, 2022
The main character forgets the face/name of a woman he fought beside for YEARS and apparently loves? He's being hunted and can't trust others or reveal his identity, but he does a mind meld thing with two perfect strangers pretty much immediately after meeting them? Everyone who he interacts with is just his pal, unquestioningly? So much about all of the characters' actions were nonsensical and felt rushed. The premise had promise but was poorly executed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Bob.
6 reviews
Currently reading
June 2, 2021
Didn't care for it . too many other fun books to read to waste my time.
Profile Image for Brian's Book Blog.
805 reviews62 followers
July 26, 2021
Great Start to a Series

I enjoyed the heck out of The Bright Lord. I went into it pretty blind, I saw that it was narrated by a narrator I really like and the story at a very high level seemed like it was up by alley (I try not to read the full synopsis so I can go into the book blind). But this one surprised me. It had me stuck to my seat waiting to see what happened next.

Now, this one will be hard to review without spoiling anything, but the training scenes along with those following just after (where he tells certain people) followed by more and more people finding or figuring it out were really what made this special. I think trying to learn things again (when you’ve forgotten more than anyone can train you) was interesting too.

Knowles does a great job writing both a story that flowed and one that I didn’t want to stop reading, but they also did a great job writing characters that I cared about. Ryan was awesome, but the people that he pairs up with along the way really made this book fun.

Throw in the great narration by Steve Campbell and you have an audiobook that I absolutely flew through. One that if you’re looking for something new to try, I recommend grabbing this one. I can’t wait to see where this series is going to go.
7 reviews
May 30, 2021
This is not a good book. Indeed, this was flat-out not a fun read and if I hadn't been trapped on a long train ride I wouldn't have bothered finishing it.

I'm a bit baffled by all the positivity in the reviews here and on Amazon, is it like a 'Make a Wish' thing? I feel pretty ripped off paying 14 bucks for this audiobook and I can't imagine most readers would feel all that differently.

I don't want to knock Alex Knowles as a writer, I haven't read any of his other books and I don't doubt he's greatly improved since writing this. I'm assuming this was one of his early works, it reads like 'fanfic with original characters' and is basically a long riff on a lot of other people's successful ideas. Of course, that's kind of the nature of the cultivation strain of the LITRPG subgenre -- I figure it's what allows the author to focus on diving deep into the intricacies of their spin on 'mediate yourself immortal!' or the hilarious quirks of their POV characters.

Alex Knowles didn't pull off any of that here, in my opinion. There's a surprising amount of time (even for cultivation novels) spent describing esoteric visualizations of the 'bodily humors' but it kind of felt like your roommate giving you the long version of this dream they had about a tarot reading you both watched on YouTube last week. The characters are mostly boiler-plate 'problem solvers' and 'problem causers' and didn't do anything for me besides move the plot.

However, if you're as into D&D 'mana yoga' as I am and you like things quick-paced and competently plotted (Alex Knowles's plot work carries the entire novel - I did not find it hard to follow at all) then this could be the book for you. Alex Knowles has published a number of books in this series so I don't doubt he's turned out to be a fantastic author and I wish him great success and encourage everyone to buy any of his books besides this one (unless it's like 50% off, I would have felt much better at that price point.)
Profile Image for Jordan Encee.
Author 2 books20 followers
July 6, 2022
I have a lot to say here. One thing for sure, if you haven't read Aeon Legion, I would suggest you don't read this review. However, if you don't care or don't know what that is, then you can continue.
I saw this cover and thought, yes, this has to be a fantastic book. I slowly discovered that this is a GameLit or LitRPG; I'm unsure. I've never read any of that genre, but I have curious about them. So I decided to start here with Bright Lord. One thing I remember looking up about GameLit or LitRPG is that the main character knows they are in FACT in a video game or some kind of simulation. I gathered they had stats and levels, but I was a bit confused by it.
So, Bright is magic in a technicality. However, I've failed to find a solid foundation for the Bright system. It seems that if the person has enough Bright, they could do anything. However, there are limits, but it's hard to tell when they start or end.
Now for Aeon Legion or what this book reminds me of. The plot is more or less similar to Aeon Legion, which is training. Most of the story is just training, and I HATE stories that are just training mainly because it is an easy plot device to use to explain the world or systems. Though in this book, the system is not really defined; it just exists.
The pace of the story is breakneck. I wish it slowed down a moment or two to explain better its systems and action. Though not like Aeon Legion, pouring out exposition like a waterfall. We just need a bit more and a bit more of a slow pace to appreciate the book.
However, despite all of its downfalls, I did enjoy this book. The characters were fun. Even though action scenes are short-lived, I like the actions that had taken place. The climax of the book was excellent. I was invested in the story at that time. Though how fast the action scene was afterward, I was left wanting more but not in a good way.
I liked aspects, but there is defiantly more work to be done. But since the pace is so fast, it doesn't overstay its welcome. I will continue with this series to see where things go. Hopefully, it gets better from here on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Anna Mocikat.
Author 57 books206 followers
June 27, 2021
The unique cover caught my attention and I decided to give this book a try. I wasn't disappointed!
The Bright Lord is a story like none I have ever read before. We follow the hero, Ty, in first person. He seems to be just like any normal guy, taking care of his wife and kid. But it turns out that he is so much more.
After an attack on his wife, he decides that he needs to join the fight once more. Ty isn't just an ordinary man but a Bright Lord, a super-warrior fighting for good and stability in the universe. But to join the game once more, Ty has to occupy a new body and the system chooses the body of a person who just has starved to death. Ty needs not only to heal and train his new body but also find new allies against an enemy that seems almost unbeatable...
If I should describe this book I would say it's Star Wars meets LitRPG. The mysterious power called the Bright reminded me a bit of the Force and the Bright Lords are somehow like Jedi, capable to draw the power from everyone and everything and channel it into their own abilities.
Interesting concept.
The author certainly put a lot of thought into world-building and created some interesting characters.
And of course, there's plenty of stats, which genre fans will love.
I listened to the audiobook version and while I enjoyed the narrator's voice and pace, his way to narrate female characters made me cringe. A mighty warrior just doesn't do it for me if she sounds like a scared five-year-old.
But if someone doesn't mind that (and there are not many female characters in the story anyway), then the audiobook is definitely a good choice.
I'm hooked and will certainly check out the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Bender.
455 reviews46 followers
November 16, 2021
Review of books 1-3:

I'm a bit confused on how to properly review or even classify this. This is mostly a standard fantasy fare, but dabbles in a bit of LitRPG and Cultivation, though none of the aspects gain prominence enough to provide a standard genre to park this in.

A good bone of a plot which sadly isn't really focused enough despite a very good prose. The world is never fully introduced to us, there is no history of the factions or what "Bright" is, and why we have stat sheets and cultivation techniques intermixed with sci-fi elements. It's like everything is thrown is. To author's credit, the mix works well, but then without a fleshed out backstory, it just lacks foundation to stand on it's own.

The plot also focuses purely on the MC and at times to the detriment of the macro plot. The timeline sync between the two is jarring and doesn't really align well. So much focus is on the MC and his development, that the fact that there are external events happening simultaneously is missing for big chunks of the book.

It certainly wasn't a bad book, as I had enough interest to finish the first 3 in the series, but not really the finished product that would have elevated this to next level.

Will follow Alex and look out for this forthcoming books!
Profile Image for Dawn.
14 reviews
March 19, 2021
This audiobook, although what some would call short, packs an awful lot into it. I'll try not to add spoilers so will try and be vague where possible.

The story begins with Ryan receiving some devastating news about his wife, when he arrives at the hospital is when things get interesting. We find out that not all is at it seems with Ryan and he ends up being transported into another world in the body of an enslaved and weak man. He makes new connections but hasn't forgotten what has happened, and whilst training and forging stronger connections with others, it is discovered that he's kind of a big deal.

The storytelling was great and instead of the main character either being an overpowered trainee, Ryan (or Ty as he is known in the alternate world) has to learn it all over again due to being in such a weakened state as well as helping others learn their full potential.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely be completing the series so I hope Alex continues to expand this universe. I also need to say that Steve Campbell did an excellent narration.
Profile Image for Andrew E.
55 reviews2 followers
February 24, 2023
I don’t write enough reviews but saw how few there were for this book and thought I’d best shake off my laziness.

I gave it 4 stars mainly based on originality and potential. This is a LitRPG but there’s not a lot of actual leveling in this book. Instead, you get introduced to the setting, characters, world-building, “magic”, and other details via a fast-moving plot that centers on a once-powerful warrior choosing to return to the world and powers he’d abandoned for a life of peace.

There’s more scifi elements than in most LitRPGs I’ve read but it’s not like Star Trek or the like. No attempts at hard scifi and the tech is giving minimal description.

The prose is a bit wooden at times but the author is competent and keeps things moving. Overall, while this might not be the best intro to LitRPG, for fans of the genre, this series seems to present some differences from the standard tropes.
36 reviews1 follower
March 15, 2021
An ancient genre in a futuristic setting

I only recently started reading cultivation books, so I was curious about this both because of the sci-fi setting and the RPG elements. They blend fairly well.

The cultivation system is easy enough to grasp here even for those unfamiliar with the concept. Much of the progression is focused on internal energy manipulation, so it is not as easy to see at times, often making the progression pacing seem to grind to a halt.

Luckily, this is where the more familiar RPG stat system shines, giving readers a clean, easily digested set of numbers to follow.

I hope the next book expands more on the setting because I'm very curious about it. If you enjoy sci-fi, Cultivation stories, or LitRPGs I highly suggest you give this one a shot.
Profile Image for Scott.
131 reviews15 followers
November 15, 2022
An interesting quick read with a unique writing style.

The world is interesting, the pseudo-rpg elements are brief but give a feel of growth, and the characters are varied enough that I rarely mixed anyone up.

The biggest thing this book has going for it is the author's style. Very little detail is given so you are left to fill in the gaps yourself. For example, the constant references to "The Bright". It isn't explained other than being powerful and the main character has a great deal of it. This leaves you to flesh it out however you want. They may go into detail in the future but for now it's a nice way of being creative.

In the end, if you like stories where you are left alone to imagine the world then this is a great one and I would heartily recommend it.
Profile Image for Clinton Stanturf.
223 reviews1 follower
March 15, 2021
So Alex Knowles did a really good job with this book even more so because this is a bit of a shorter book what's impressive about that is even though its a bit shorter he was still able to tell the story that he wanted to tell without all the repetitive and unneeded fluff that a lot of authors put in their books to make them longer. I also genuinely enjoyed the way he he told the story instead of the main character learning everything he was kind of teaching the supporting roles it was a nice change of pace and was excellently executed I will definitely be checking out the second book.
Profile Image for Timothy Nugent.
Author 3 books59 followers
May 10, 2021
This is only technically a litrpg and cultivation novel. It is really just a sci-fi adventure. There is zero character progression, no cultivating, not even any training. The MC is as strong as he needs to be to do whatever he wants, his only limiting factor is his frail body. I never found the book interesting enough to get hooked, and I won't be finishing the series. That's not to say it is a horrible book, just advertised wrong, and not for me.
Profile Image for William Howe.
1,808 reviews88 followers
May 23, 2021
I tried

Got about 70% through. One major problem:

I have no idea what’s going on.

MC reincarnates in a (school/prison/?) and gains a mentor(?) who paid (?) for the privilege. But nothing about the (school/prison/?) is as it seems(?).

I felt like I was missing a lot. And things were happening I simply couldn’t put into context. At 70% in to a novel, I shouldn’t still be lost.

DNF
Profile Image for Tammy Bulcao.
918 reviews11 followers
March 1, 2021
Good story!💜

Strong beginning, it really grabbed me. Then it sort of lost its momentum for a bit, then it got really exciting again. Overall it was quite the adventure, and I enjoyed it. The narration was fantastic. He did a wonderful job capturing each character enhancing the story even more. This is book 1 with an HEA, but this storyline continues in book 2.

Sisters Spotlight 💜
29 reviews
July 24, 2021
Good Idea

I really wanted to like this story and it has a great idea behind it but the execution is lacking. The whole story is lacking in depth, history, background, detail. It jumps from high point to high point with zero detail of what happened between. On one page a character is an enemy and on another it’s an ally with no detail on how. A great premise with poor execution.
46 reviews3 followers
February 12, 2023
Great Intro to RPG Newbies

Ah! I'm beginning to understand the interest in MTG and RPG games. The cards didn't do it for me. Real RPG gamers so creative and fast thinking left me behind in the dust. But this story, with its band stats correlation is bringing me along. Love the ride! Thanks!
Profile Image for Danny Moody.
1,425 reviews11 followers
March 3, 2021
Really strong concept. I feel the premise has a lot of potential and hope that it gets explored further. The characters are interesting and I want to learn more about them, too. Essentially, I want more.
14 reviews1 follower
March 19, 2021
Good start but too many gaps

This book could be so much better if there was at least some kind of primer about the background story or what bright is, the factions and the game mechanics. This book feels more like book 3 of a series, not book 1.
Profile Image for Thomas.
234 reviews2 followers
May 11, 2021
Very immersive driven story on the edge of crazy train speed.

Very immersive driven story on the edge of crazy train speed. What a ride have to continue reading the next.
Profile Image for misspinkeye.
201 reviews
July 9, 2022
OMG! This book's so freaking good! Solid story with a very interesting mix of characters. I couldn't stop listening. It kept me engaged from start to finish.

Steve Campbell was just simply amazing. His narration for this one's really impressive!
Profile Image for Brad.
222 reviews
September 21, 2022
good read

Well done really liked the MC story was interesting. Felt like I was missing some context most of the time but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Profile Image for Jim.
229 reviews
November 9, 2022
neat story with some isekai-ish elements

It’s a neat story that starts pretty smoothly. I am enjoying the characters and will be interested to see an omnibus collection.
2,373 reviews
June 11, 2021
This is another one of those stories that jumps right into the action, and I bet you'll be swept up right from the very start, just like I was! It was impossible for me to not connect immediately with our Main Character, Ryan as the first chapter unfolded. You might actually be surprised to find that you've got a gamelit novel in your hands, because well, the first half hour will cause you to forget about everything you thought you'd be reading about/listening to! Just listen to the snippet provided by Audible and you'll see what I mean!
This story really isn't too stat-crunchy either... Ryan doesn't check on his stats very often, which I found to be far preferable to being bombarded by stats! I mean I'll take gamelit/litRPG anyway the author presents it, but for me less crunch is better! Just sayin'. LOL
I also really enjoyed Steve Campbell's nuanced performance!
This is a tightly plotted, action-driven adventure, and the dialogue is so crisp and natural, it makes the characters feel as if they were standing next to you, and you were part of the discussion... and I for one can't wait for the next audio book... which I see has just been released! ❤!!!
Profile Image for Dawn.
14 reviews
October 19, 2021
This audiobook, although what some would call short, packs an awful lot into it. I'll try not to add spoilers so will try and be vague where possible.

The story begins with Ryan receiving some devastating news about his wife, when he arrives at the hospital is when things get interesting. We find out that not all is at it seems with Ryan and he ends up being transported into another world in the body of an enslaved and weak man. He makes new connections but hasn't forgotten what has happened, and whilst training and forging stronger connections with others, it is discovered that he's kind of a big deal.

The storytelling was great and instead of the main character either being an overpowered trainee, Ryan (or Ty as he is known in the alternate world) has to learn it all over again due to being in such a weakened state as well as helping others learn their full potential.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely be completing the series so I hope Alex continues to expand this universe. I also need to say that Steve Campbell did an excellent narration.
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