The Black Prism

I'm not feeling this book so far at 35% in. the magic system is really fun and all, but i'm not super engaged by the story, and i also kinda predicted that big reveal about Gavin and Dazen having swapped identities in Ch 34, so it wasn't super surprising for me. i'm DNFing for now at Ch 36. i won't rule out picking it back up again, but i have too many books to read this month to press on.

WHAT
An army of rebels, including many powerful spellcasters, rise up against the ruling government that has oppressed them for many years after choosing the loosing side in a semi religious battle. The winning side of the war maintained the status quo under their leader, the most powerful spellcaster alive, known as the Prism. He alone can prevent this needless war and save the life of thousands. He must do so while raising a bastard child he just found out he has, and keeping a secret that could shatter the world, a secret that burns him from inside and keeps him away from the woman he loves.

TLDR
+ promising plot
+ decent magic system based on colors
+ likeable protagonist, good enough and well described supporting characters
+ good handling of a character with an immense amount of power
+ nice twist regarding the protagonist true identity
- plot slowed down significantly towards the end
- missing information, why he fought with his brother
- cliche/insufficient explanation on why he is the evil brother
- lack of intelligent decisions on the part of some characters
- bad twist, second one regarding the protagonist true identity

PLOT
Gavin Guile is the Prism, the equivalent of a ‘pope' of magic in this fictional world. Magic is called drafting, and it is based on colors. Each drafter can draft from a single source of color, although some can use two and a very few ones can use more. The amount of magic they can use is limited by their will, and the more magic they use, the faster they come to a breaking point where they go mad and must be put down least they endanger the population.

The Prism doesn't have these This is the first twist of the plot.limitations. Not only he can draft from any color, he can do so at a very higher intensity, as he can differentiate a thousand different shades of each color. He also can draft way more magic then any other drafter without endangering going mad. Instead he has a fixed lifespan. Usually seven years, when then for some reason he dies (likely killed in order to preventing him from going mad as well).

Sixteen years ago, he fought his evil brother, Dazen Guile, for the title of Prism. It is not revealed why both were eligible to the position that should have only one candidate each generation. Some people used that fact to question the whole religious system that proclaimed that could only have one Prism at a time. Alliances were made, sides were chosen, hundreds of thousands died. The loosing brother was killed and his followers suffered greatly until this day.

That suffering kindled the rebellion that Gavin is facing now, as one of the Seven Satrapies, semi autonomous countries ruled by the central government of the Chromeria, is leading a crusade against all the Chromeria and their religion stands for.

MORE PLOT (a little spoilerish)

Drafters have a ‘live hard die fast' destiny, as they are a part of the most prestigious and elite class in the kingdom, but their lives are bound to serve the people, and they usually don't live more then 10 years after becoming a full drafter. The Prism life is even shorter, 7 years. Some Prisms manage to break exceed that lifespan, doing so in multiples of seven. No one have lived more then 21 years, Gavin is in his 17th year as the Prism.

Everyone thinks he killed his brother, but in fact he has captured him and kept him in a secret prison for the latest 16 years. Not only that, he is in fact the brother everyone thinks is dead, the evil one. He occasionally visits his brother, they taunt each other and Gavin make sure to keep him confused and misinformed, lying to him about the time of day and the events of the world outside.

After learning he has a son, named Kip, Gavin travels to meet him, only to find out that his son's village have been destroyed and he is about about to be killed as well. He saved his life, reveals himself as his father and initiates him in formal drafting training after the boy have clearly demonstrated his magical abilities.

Accompanying him is Karris, his bodyguard and former lover, who becomes very upset when she finds out Gavin's son's age means that he cheated her while they were together 16 years ago. Were together, because Gavin broke of the engagement with her soon after the war. She has mixed feelings about Gavin, who before the war treated her miserably but years after, when they met again, seemed like a different man.

Karris mission though is one of espionage, and while Gavin returns to the Chromeria with his on, she proceeds to try to infiltrate the rebel army. She soon finds out she has been betrayed, and her arrival was expected.

The man who destroyed Kip's village is raising an army of mad spellcasters, the ones that should have been killed but escaped their fate. As a result, they became wilder and much stronger then most drafters.

Kip is a pudgy boy raised in obscurity in a small village where nothing exciting happens, unaware of his drafting abilities and hated by his mother just for existing. When his village is destroyed, he vows revenge against the man who killed his family and friends. Upon discovering his heritage, he is introduced to the Chromeria's school of casters and his fathers assigns him a tutor, Olivia Danavis.

Olivia is the third supporting character who is also given plenty of focus on the book. She is the daugther of one of one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen, who was defeated in the Prism Wars by Gavin Gile. She is in Chromeria studying to be a drafter, but because of her heritage, she leaves in misery and is ostracized by fellow students. After being as assigned tutor of the Prism's son, she receives a lot of unwanted attention for the wrong reasons.

ANALYSIS (a little spoilerish)
I appreciate the handling of Gavin's immense power in a palatable way. Even though he acts as he is the most powerful man alive, having no fear of anything and mostly doing what he pleases, he is still constrained by his duties as the Prism and some sense of morality.

He believes his powers were meant to help the people, and he is very sorry for all the suffering his actions caused 16 years ago.

- it is his duty to chase and kill the mad spellcasters who refused to surrender themselves to the freeing- he uses his power in new and inventive ways, such as creating a machine that allows him to fly, and erecting an immense wall of pure magic in order to defend a city from an attack

I expected an explanation to why both brothers were elected to be the Prism. The character of Gavin's brother is also never explored, why suddenly he changed his behavior at 13 is mentioned but it doesn't go farther then that. It has something to do with their father.

I really didn't like the cliche of the evil brother actually being the good one, and the evil part is the result of actions he had no control over, but nonetheless blamed himself for it. All the while, the good brother is a rapist and a genocider.

It fell somewhat forced the shades of gray where both brothers are assholes, Gavin (actually Dazen) being a womanizer and a slaver as well.

I hated that the story slowed down so much a little after the middle of the book. The ending was just a big action scene, absent of content. Kip's character became kind of annoying, always feeling sorry for himself and making stupid decisions (like getting himself and Olivia captured), all the displaying incredible feats of magic even though he had no previous training. It was kind of implied that he was a strong drafter because of being the son of the Prism.

What begins as an easy fantasy banality (young man in a small agrarian village has his life change before his eyes when soldiers kill everyone, his mother included) twists itself into a tale of choices, the gray area between good and evil, and the awkwardness of being a teen. The overpowering strengths of The Black Prism by Brent Weeks lies in the character development. There are only a handful of characters within this book that could be thought of as straightforward; and those that are are secondary, driving the plot onward and not giving us enough time to examine them properly. It is each character's struggles that are brilliantly portrayed. Kip, the orphaned boy from the agrarian village, thinks himself worthless, but turns out to be on the rise to become one of the most powerful magicians of the world and the religious figurehead's son to boot. Gavin, the religious figurehead himself, struggles with his past deeds and a secret that could have him killed—not to mention the fact that he will die within seven years. Liv struggles to find a cause to join, following her father's words, “Fealty to one.” Karris struggles to find the truth behind Gavin and his dead brother Daven, whom she loved. The characters are so enthusiastically thrown together and shaken that the reader finds themselves on a roller coaster of emotion, action, and confusion (a good sort of confusion) trying to figure out who is going to do what next.

Weeks's world-building was well done also. His world centers on seven satrapies, each with their own race that, at times, got me thinking that things were a bit too heavily racial in this world. But then I remembered that is how things are here in our world; so I decided to over look the hundred or so references to “kinky hair” and color of skin. The magic system, of course, is what the book centers around and I did like the way it was based off light and scientific principle. Also, the political and economic effects the magic had on the world as a whole was well thought out. However, there was just something about the magic system that did not connect with me personally. I can't put my finger on it, however, so that did not effect my rating.

Had I been basing my rating solely on characterization, plot, and world-building I might have awarded The Black Prism a full five stars. Perhaps. Unfortunately, there was a certain rushed feel to the book. Not in pacing, but in the publication itself. I began reading and spotted a few typos. It happens sometimes, of course, I thought to myself. But after spotting one practically every other chapter (there are 93 chapters!) I began to think that perhaps Weeks's previous trilogy was too successful for The Black Prism's good. Clearly this book was rushed into publication to make money fast, which it may have done, but it certainly has hurt my opinion of Weeks, the editors involved, and Orbit Books. This easily lost it a full star in my eyes.

The other star lost might have been two had I not been so intrigued and consumed by the characters. Melodrama at times got so over the top that it was ridiculous. At points it got the point where it felt like a character couldn't comb their hair for fear that they might decapitate themselves with the comb. Things are not terribly subtle in this book. And speaking of decapitations.... I understand that war is bloody, tragic thing. I get that people die in battle and, yes, maybe a few of them might lose a limb or possibly their head. But in the final battle there were so many decapitations it made me want to skip to the last page and see how it ended. I considered going back and counting how many died such explicitly gruesome deaths, but, alas, then I would have to read it again. I mean, you don't have to know much physics to understand that a musket ball is not going to decapitate a horse! At what point did our society become so enthralled by gore and violence that it was entertaining for so many people (and horses) to have their heads loped, shot, exploded, and crushed off?

So I have to say, bravo Weeks for your development of this story. I'll have to overlook a few things to read the next book in the trilogy...

This is the first book in a long series which currently has five books out. I have collected the first four books in paperback since I was gifted the first by a friend when I was 16. I have read Weeks first trilogy, and loved the first book. The other two had disappointed me for different reasons, but there were a few common threads. I found the women to be ridiculous caricatures whose plot seemed to revolve around their potential for sex. This was one of the most upsetting parts about the original trilogy for me, because I feel fixing that issue would have massively improved the series for me.

Unfortunately, Lightbringer has started with the same issues as far as I can tell. There are a similar amount of women to men in this series, so I am not trying to imply that women aren't present. The issue I find with this series is that 3/4 women who are properly present in the plot are only relevant due to their connection to the Prism. Particularly, due to how much he wants them, or doesn't want them. There is the lover scorned years ago, kept apart by secrets that cannot be divulged. This character is described as incredibly capable and has a position in an elite force. But the character is treated with sexist jokes I would expect from a 70s sitcom. Another character is literally a sex slave.

The red stepped forward, pulled off her mask, and stepped out of her robe. She was young, athletic, beautiful, and also naked. Kip???s eyes widened. He tried to hold them to her face. Somber ceremony, Kip. Orholam???s watching, Kip. Straight to hell, Kip. p. 321

I think the idea I'm trying to paint here is clear, so I will move on.

Another problem I found with the book was the writing. In the author's debut series I found the writing to be enjoyable, and I don't remember noticing anything otherwise. In this series the sentences are short; blunt and the structure of the sentences feels particularly repetitive. I think the audiobook was possibly exacerbating this issue, so it possibly was just my reading experience. Also, characters would occasionally express a thought in first person without any indication; italics, quotation marks or any another punctuation. I thought this was poorly done as was a jarring change from the third person narrative.

It is also worth noting that one of the main characters is fat, and about 2/3 scenes he is in reference his weight actively. It seems ridiculous, I know more about this kid's weight than anything else about him. He barely has a backstory or a personality. It is fair so say that the terrible characterisation of women and this main character isn't special, because I don't really feel any if the characters have any characterisation that isn't directly related to the plot. We know a lot about one of the MC's backstory because the plot needed us to, but we don't know much else.

The magic system of the book was the most exciting thing about the book as I began it. It remains the most interesting part of this book, but it isn't really compelling me as much as I thought it would. I will be continuing on with this series as I have been gifted the books over the years, but I felt really disappointed by this book. A lot of reviewers are very positive of this book and mention it improves upon the Night Angel trilogy. I disagree and think the Night Angel (while it has problems) is done better, but it could be that later books will change my mind.

Well, I have couple of questions to this book, but overall I really enjoyed the experience. So, 5 stars it is :)

Half way through and I'm giving up. There is nothing that keeps me interested. It's too bad because there are some really good ideas here, but the execution is just not good enough. Maybe I would have rated differently when I was fifteen.

A good read. I enjoyed the setting and the characters, but it kept reminding me of Warbreaker by Sanderson, which is a book I really enjoyed. Then I would be slightly disappointed when it went its own direction.

— EDIT—
Just reread this book. It was even better the second time, particularly in light of the subsequent books.

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, but the plot kept me interested. I'll continue on with the series to see what happens!

I enjoyed this one. It took me a relatively short time to get what's going on and get with the story. I must say I still don't fully understand how the magic works, but maybe that's the intention of the author. I've gotten used to Brandon Sanderson's writing where you walk out understanding every little detail of how the magic works.

The world-building is cool, although I don't have a sense of the full scale of the world. I just know about the two main settings, hopefully, we'll be introduced to other places in subsequent books in the series. This book really is the beginning of the series with all the loose ends it leaves.

I really enjoyed being in Kip's mind and seeing the world from his perspective. his battles with his body and weight, him thinking he's stupid. The trauma from his childhood and having a mother who's an addict, him adjusting to his new life and his need to impress and to feel seen.

When I read about the book before reading it everyone was mentioning the author's. descriptions of women. i thought maybe they're being too sensitive but no, they're not, he really goes into intricate detail when he describes women's features. I get that Kip is a teenager and his hormones are raging but nah, it's a little much.

I'll be jumping straight into book 2.

This is really an engrossing story where I struggle to figure out how much I like one of the lead characters, but still want to learn more. This could generally have been a self-contained book, but I am glad it's a series.

Good, real-life characters, good interactions, excellent magic system, goodish plot,nice middle-eastern flavor. Congrats on all those, none an easy task.
But I got bored repeatedly by large swaths of descriptive text, and it tries to fringe 50/50 between ya and adult fantasy to get both publics, but fails and is rather 60%ya (simplistic action, straight forward story, teenager annoying MC, plenty of yuhuuu! moments). Way too much for my taste.
A good book that I did not enjoy because of my age. Will not read the sequels, though I already have them.

Okay I guess? Super generic and cliché.

3.5 ⭐️

I loved the world, and the characters and the magic system.

And I wanted to see more of them, instead of the MEGA HYPER detailed descriptions of sailing vessels and crafting, and battles. Seriously, the last battle spanned like 11 chapters (not exaggerating and that's only the second stage) and the majority of it was the author droning about random colour crafters doing random battle stuff in excruciating detail. At one point I was just considering to DNF this amazing story at 92%, just so that I don't have to read about another random person doing something that matters not one bit.

I also wished that the villain was better developed, instead of someone who is mentioned once and then shows up in the final battle to spook us.
The story was good, but didn't feel as epic as it should've.

Also, I wish the author would've kept it more vague with the sexual details. At times it felt more than slightly awkward to read this book.

Despite all that, Brent Weeks has crafted a magnificent world and obviously has a great sense of humour. I chuckled at few spots. I also liked the way the book ended.

I will continue with the series and hope for a bit better book 2.

This is the 4th time I've read this book and absolutely love it. I'm still finding more things I didn't notice the other times I've read it. Onto the next book (again!)

Major struggle with this. While the magic system seemed interesting, the story never got off the ground for me. I think I go through 40% of this book and I am still wondering if I should put it in my read shelf or just cast it aside for a later read. Don't look back in anger I guess

I thought this book was pretty good. I enjoyed Kip and was able to picture his dilemmas with easy clarity. I look forward to the next book.

3.25 out of 5 stars

I've been meaning to start this series for a while, so I was excited that my initial impression upon starting this book was very positive. I was immediately hooked on the cool magic system and worldbuilding, but the hook eventually wore off as I became frustrated by the uneven pacing, the way the characters are drawn, and the sometimes clunky/cringey dialogue that is used. Several characters are sharp-tongued, flawed, and unlikable, but I'm hopeful that this will lead to further character growth as the books progress. There are seeds of great storytelling here that I hope can be more consistently implemented in future installments. Hearing that this is not the high point in the series leaves me hopeful for future books, as I do plan on continuing to book 2.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Fun, well written, engaging. There's a scene at the end that appears to contradict earlier information - which makes me really curious if this was intentional or...?

Executive Summary: Overhyped and often very juvenile in places, this book wasn't nearly as good as I was promised, but is far from awful.Full ReviewI really enjoyed [b:The Way of Shadows 3227063 The Way of Shadows (Night Angel, #1) Brent Weeks https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881551s/3227063.jpg 3261241] despite a protagonist I didn't care much for. Largely because of one of the other characters. The rest of that series was far less enjoyable as that character wasn't around as much, and I was forced to deal with a character I didn't like and too many juvenile wish fulfillment scenes.I found this book to suffer from the same problems as that series did. After thrashing [b:Beyond the Shadows 3754026 Beyond the Shadows (Night Angel, #3) Brent Weeks https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881432s/3754026.jpg 3797890], I was told I had to give Mr. Week's another chance and that this series was much better. Well based on one book, I question that.I think Kip is meant to be a commentary/parody of the chosen one trope, but I just can't stand him. It makes any part with him as the POV hard to read, and the scenes where he is present less enjoyable.Gavin was kind of so-so at the start, but grew on me as the book went along. I liked Karis, but as someone in my group read pointed out, for a badass elite soldier she is awfully stupid and that made it lot harder for me to enjoy her parts.Then we have a bunch of mustache twirling villains. For me the best villains are the ones who aren't evil, but simply those whose goals conflict with the protagonists and are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish them. The power/money hungry antagonist thing just really is tired and should be dropped from an author's toolbox.The magic system is quite interesting, but poorly introduced. I don't need/want some big info dump about the magic and how it works, but I don't like hand waving magic either that seems to be a plot device the author is making up as he goes along. The reality is that the magic system does have some well defined rules, but as a first time reader none of that is very clear until far too deep into the book in my opinion. Mr. Weeks goes a little too far in his efforts to show and not tell.I definitely warmed up to this book by the end. There are things to like here despite all my complaints. The magic system is a lot better once you know a bit more about it. The world building is interesting and makes for some good political conflicts.If Mr. Weeks didn't keep interrupting the main plot for what often felt like juvenile wish fulfillment scenes, I might have given this a 3.5 and rounded it up to a 4.I”m not sure if I'll continue on in the series, but the fact that one of my favorite narrators, [a:Simon Vance 5602 Simon Vance https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240014151p2/5602.jpg] takes over reading duties for the next one, and that this book got better as it went along are all points in it's favor.

This book instantly rocketed into my top favorites. It had me start to finish. I cared do much about every character and every storyline. The pacing was flawless and I am smitten with the magic system. It also fid a great job with normalizing diverse people. It wasn't perfect in that regard, but it was really quite good. This is one of my all time favorite novels!

This is a good first book of the series. The magic system is really unique where each colour is related to a specific power. There are multiple POV's, which generally irks me but it was well written to make all of them interesting.

an excellent start to the series! I was so invested in all the characters.

4.5*

I've heard people rave about this book, and now I know why. It was fantastic!! It took me a little bit to figure out the magic system because it's pretty complex, but once I caught on, I was blown away.

Gavin Guile is The Prism. He is the only person able to draft all of the colors. Drafters are able to see certain colors and manipulate them into what they want. Most drafters can draft one or two colors. Since Gavin can draft them all, he is the most powerful man alive.
Gavin lives at the Chromeria, where drafters are trained. One day he received a message that he has a 15-year old son named Kip. Gavin must go get him and bring him back before he can be used against him.
Meanwhile, a rebellion is brewing. There are those who think the Chromeria uses drafters and then casts them aside when they are of no use. Led by self-proclaimed King Garadul, they seek to destroy the Chromeria and everything it stands for.

As if that's not enough, Gavin has a huge secret. If it gets out, it will destroy him.

I loved this book! It's character driven, plot driven, and just plain exciting the whole way through. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that reads fantasy books.

8/10