Review: Lux by Brandon Sanderson & Steven Bohls

☆☆☆

Science Fiction — Science Fantasy — Urban Fantasy

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 clichés 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 the city still floats even any Epics using powers. 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 heavier, bottom objects fall faster than the lighter objects on top of them. This is wrong. I tried it at home just to be sure. (See here for the math behind it.)

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.