The Black Prism

Gave up at 174 pages. Really, I'd given up a hundred pages before that, but it was a day or two before I could get to the library. It didn't give me any reason to reconsider.

Two stars because there's nothing utterly wrong with this except the fact it's completely standard world-fantasy. There's a teenage male protagonist who's going to have his world turned upside down, manifest some powers, discover some parentage, probably save the world, though in the first 170 pages the book never really got around to establishing what form the forces of darkness/destruction were going to take. OK fine, sure. Yawn.

But really, the sins of this book that made me put it down were:
1) Such mediocre prose. Not just is there is no joy in language to be had show more through this book, but it always felt on the verge of clunky. Unnecessary simplistic actions described, just to move the character around the space. No grace. No style. An occasional sense of humour. Bully for you.
2) The bloody magic system. For starters, it was so tremendously complicated that whole chapters had to be devoted to basically showing how it worked, and the narrative still had to have little explanations sprinkled through it. I really like to be able to know what's going on, not because you've told me, but because it makes sense. I like to be able to predict and intuit. Plus, everything was so brightly coloured it was like wargames with the Wiggles.
3) I didn't like any of the characters (all two of them - though by the time I finally put the book down, there was a third. I didn't like her either). Oh, there were hints of a more fulsome depth to our main character, and a wonderfully interesting dark past that seemed to have all the good, intriguing story in it. But it became clear I was going to have to sit through a whole lot of wankery as these cardboard cutouts (failed to) develop in predictable ways. And nuts to that. The problem with "fast-paced" fantasy, is that the characters don't have any time to show anything like character (and what little they did show was unsympathetic, you smug git) before they launched into a hundred and twenty pages of action.

A hundred and twenty pages of action is not a bad thing by itself (hello, Neal Stephenson). But I have to care. And I didn't. show less

Excellent epic fantasy. The magic system isn't overly complicated, it does have some limitations so it isn't over powered either. I enjoyed the characters and the plot, which is sufficiently convoluted for a book of this length. Gavin Guile is The Prism, the greatest magic wielder in the land and Emperor, though his power is very limited. He has a mysterious list of items he needs to get done before his reign ends, as powerful magic wielders don't live long. With his bodyguard/ex-girlfriend Kariss and other allies and friends, he has to try to keep the peace, right wrongs and handle the 'twist' that's central to the plot.

Fast paced, interesting and enjoyable.

Update 4/8/20:

Yet another re-read! Yes! Three times now!

Could I be a fanboy? Possibly? Maybe even more so after reading the fifth book recently? Wanting to revisit the entire series from the start?

Yep. And I LOVED it. Again. So many changes. So many plot twists. So MUCH. To. Love.

Not to mention how beautiful all the visualizations are. It's like this book was written just for me to see in my mind. :)


Update 10/15/17
Re-Read with buddies!
This is one of my favorite epic fantasy series ever and upon re-reads, I'm hardly in a position to recant. Especially now. I'm still thrilled as hell. :)

I can't quite tell whether I love the magic system or the characters more. I absolutely love the smartass "Kip the lip" fat kid whiner turned badass, but show more it's Gavin Guile that really steals the show. Has there ever been such a complicated character in existence? Charming, devious, uber-powerful, totally evil and absolutely on the side of good all at once. What the hell is he? Ah, but I've read the whole series and I know it just gets better and better, but this first book is utterly kickass.

It's almost pure action, gorgeous colorful magic system, bigger-than-life characters, and best of all, it's probably one of the most fun books I've ever owned. I've raved about it to everyone I know. For good reason. :)

Still fantastic? You better believe it!


Original review:

I truly suspected that I'd fall head-over-heels for the new Brent Weeks trilogy, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. If you are in the mood for a great and creative magic system in a very well thought out fantasy world that is so thoroughly steeped in action, melodrama, action, crazy mind-blowing characters, action, and color, then pick this damn book up immediately and thank your lucky stars you did. I'm a fanboy. I cannot wait until I pick up the second book. Oh wait, I have it in my hands and I'm typing this out with only one hand. Now I've put the book in my mouth so I can keep typing. This hurts, some, because the book is so wonderfully thick and if I ever thought that I might have been getting less than my money's worth, then I'm an idiot.
Did I mention this fantasy is a fast-paced action full of twists and gorgeous colors throughout? This novel is what happens when a novelist's imagination is much, much bigger than any hope that the story could ever be made into a movie or an anime and will give the reader all of the scope and power to vision it all in as much glory as he or she likes. And I liked, Oh, yes, I liked it a lot. It's different from most fantasy novels, although it may not seem so from these words; in that it allows magic to be big, heroes to be big, and then let them be bigger and more complex and even downright evil while being good at the core at the same time. That's as close to a spoiler as I'm going to get. You'll see within a few hundred pages what I'll mean by this, and then be surprised several more times, again.
My only complaint at this point will be in waiting for the third book, because it's not going to be long before I finish the Blinding Knife. Brent Weeks has done it again and ranks up there with my very favorite Fantasy novels of all time. :) show less

This was a great start to a new series by this author. I absolutely LOVED the color-based magic system here (and even though I read some fantasy, I'm not that into magic in general, so this is exceptional). Since I was a little kid, I organized colors into rainbow order, first with crayons, then markers when I got older. It's a thing I'm obsessive about, so I really could relate with this color system. When I was in school, certain subjects meant specific colors to me. Like history was orange, math was blue, physics was purple, biology was green, chemistry was red, etc. So I would buy folders and notebooks in those colors for those classes. I still feel that way now, so the color thing has never left me.

Anyway, this was a fun book. I show more enjoyed the humorous moments, especially with poor Kip. I think the author wrote an excellent portrayal of a self-deprecating, nervous teen. At first, I wasn't sure how much I liked Karris, but she grew on me and I began to really like her character. As for the Prism, he's a really interesting one. Ironic that the "rainbow" guy would be operating in shades of grey. He's a complicated character, along with his brother, and I'm so curious to see how this all plays out. show less

4.75

I didn't even know that [b:The Black Prism|7165300|The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1)|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327921884s/7165300.jpg|7534979] was a series until I'd finished [a:Brent Weeks|1370283|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232012513p2/1370283.jpg] other series ([b:The Way of Shadows|3227063|The Way of Shadows (Night Angel, #1)|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327881551s/3227063.jpg|3261241] et al) and it came up in 'related works'. Reading the summary, I almost wish I'd read them the other way around. Lightbringer seems like more of a traditional epic fantasy (albeit with an interesting magic system, see below) rather than the unrelenting grimdarkness that was The Night show more Angel books.

One thing that I've really been liking about this series thus far is the world building. In particular the magic system. The basic idea is that drafters (magic users) can take light of certain colors--each person has different ranges--and use those colors to do various things. Like you can make a napalm like substance out of red or a solid, smooth surface out of blue. On the down side, drafting too much of a color will eventually drive you mad[^1]. If I knew more about the actual physics of light, I imagine I'd be more annoyed at the technical details, but as it stands, I know just enough to think it's a really cool idea.

Plotwise, the series starts out surprisingly slow given just how many people die in the first few chapters. It doesn't really start moving for maybe 1/3 of the book, but when it does it really does. There are all sorts of twists and turns (I'm still not sure if it was Dazen or Gavin that originally did a fair number of things; So what's the difference between Lord Omnichrome and a Prism?). In particular, there are few--if any--'good' characters. Everyone has a past. Everyone has secrets.

Characterwise, Kip is an interesting choice of main protagonist. He's an overweight teenager--as Weeks reminds us over and over again, a touch past too often in my opinion--who discovers his magically powerful linage and gets thrown in way over his depth.

“But if you betray him, I’ll tear your arms off and beat you with them.”

“Good thing I’m fat, then,” Kip shot back.

“What?” Incredulous.

“Soft arms.”

There's a lot of self-deprecating humor there, which I appreciate and he really does grow over the course of the novel. I'm still not sure if I actually like him, but he has potential.

After that, we have Gavin Guile--the current Prism (who can use magic of any color without risk of going mad) with a whole pile of secrets. He's definitely not a good person, but he does at least seem to be trying. He really does have the feel of someone who's powerful and never really had anyone tell him no, which is interesting. I can't agree with or condone some of the things he's done, but I still find myself rooting for him. Well done that.

Other than, Karris is an interesting combination of badass warrior woman and scorned lover. Corvan is the old retired general returning for action. Ironfist is the absolutely dedicated bodyguard (that's going to be an interesting storyline when he learns about Gavin/Dezen).

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book--even more than I liked [b:The Way of Shadows|3227063|The Way of Shadows (Night Angel, #1)|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327881551s/3227063.jpg|3261241]. I look forward to seeing everything explode in [b:The Blinding Knife|12499290|The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, #2)|Brent Weeks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338432693s/12499290.jpg|17484647].

[^1]: First gripe with the series (which I believe is intentional): why does the Chromeria kill anyone who breaks their halo? I can't really believe that they all go immediately mad and can't still be useful / safe members of society. Some, sure. But all of them? I'm guessing/hoping that will be more dealt with in the sequels. show less

Fantastic. Based on the cover, I was little skeptical, but it turns out that Brent Weeks knows how to tell a story! This is one of my new favorite fantasy novels--the world building is interesting, the "magic" system is also unique and fun, and, most importantly, the story and characters are fantastic. Kip's inner monologues are hilarious and touching. It's rare to see an author that moves so deftly between characters, giving them all VERY unique voices and not missing a beat.

5/5. I am excited to continue reading the series.