The Black Prism

The Black Prism is a great start to new Fantasy series. When an author takes the time to build a world organically, it shows. You start with the fundamentals and build a society around it, instead of starting at your conclusion and forcing everything to fit. Brent Weeks mastered the fundamentals with his light-based magic system, which is brilliant in both its application of the spectrum (with our modern scientific knowledge) and at how a medieval society could interact with such complexity. Additionally, the society and religion that is built around this magic is deep and realistic, and suffuses every element of the story.

Which leads me to the tale itself, told through the eyes of a number of narrators but primarily through Gavin Guile and Kip. The use of someone at the top of the ladder (both magically and society-wise) and another at the bottom results in a story that brings the entire Lightbringer world to life. Kip's internal dialogue is hilarious and often his conclusions are both wrong and self-deprecating... which feels right for a teenager. Meanwhile, the Prism is juggling plots within plots and balancing politics with worldwide consequences. Both are enjoyable viewpoints that contribute to an overall story so that you never want to skip ahead.

There are a few teething problems though. The first few chapters struggle to introduce the world, the characters, and build enough tension in the story to keep you reading. In retrospect, they feel dramatically different from the rest of the story so you'll have to suffer for a bit. Additionally, the overall plot feels a bit meandering at times, and I wasn't really sure where the story would go. It was the small wins that kept me reading early on, and by the time I stumbled across the plot, I was fully-bought in.

I really enjoyed The Black Prism. It's serious business, and while there is humour here and there, this is not a happy-ending type of book. I get the feeling that Brent Weeks is showing us the world so that he can tear it all down. And that's a ride that I'm happy to take part in.

Highly Recommended.

Is it better that the guilty should perish, or that the innocent should live?

This was my first exposure to Brent Weeks and I knew nothing of this book before I started. I liked the story but I can't explain why I wasn't able to give it a higher rating.

Right out of the gate I'm hit with a complicated and really interesting magic system that utilizes lights and colors to craft material, objects, weapons, bridges, etc. The properties of each color are unique and how to use the colors for good, or evil, is slowly explained. Life revolves around those who can bend color to their will. This is not your typical magic system and takes some time to understand it, and even to the end the reader learns more about the characteristics.

As I look for reasons why I didn't rate this book higher it's not because of the story either. It starts off quickly, does a good job covering the different locales and their histories and there is enough happening that my interest is maintained.

When you don't know what to do, do what's right and do what's in front of you. But not necessarily what's right in front of you.

The only other fault would be characters. There were none that I disliked, and maybe that's why I struggle with an it was okay rating. The characters were good but not the highlight for me.

I liked the entire Guile family story, particularly Gavin and Dazen. Gavin on his own wasn't enough for me so the backstory with Dazen and the events of the False Prism War helped keep me going.

Kip's progression through the story was predictable and didn't do much out of the ordinary . He starts as your generic farm kid with no talents that learns a hidden potential with himself, but he kept the story light with his comedic relief and awkward teenage monologue.

I'm interested enough in the story to stick with it but for now it's on thin Luxin.