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Brent Weeks's The Black Prism comes with a strong, character driven plot, sound and realistic character building not only of the hero(es) but also of the secondary characters, and a complex world building centered around a refreshing novel kind of magic based upon the colors of the visual and near-visual light spectrum, which is not only consistently used but also consistently limited.
The characters we meet in The Black Prism are realistic people with their quirks, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses. People who make decisions that are not always wise, take guesses that can turn out to be totally wrong, and whose quirks and habits often are the reason for their success or downfall. It is the strength of Mr. Weeks's writing that at any given moment and situation, at any decision a character has to make, you as the reader are left to wonder what you would have done then, given a set of options that is never obvious or easy to choose from.
Like in Mr. Weeks earlier (unrelated) work The Night Angel Trilogy none of these characters are just good or just evil, none of the decisions can be easily seen to be right or wrong. As in the earlier work, there are no heroes (in the literal sense of the word) in this book, but people who may or may not make heroic decisions (accidentally or otherwise).
The plot it strong and keeps its pace over the full length of 762 pages, culminating in a crucial conflict - or better: the beginning of an open conflict that is sure to continue in the sequel(s) - that forces a lot of the main characters to consider their positions towards the existing system and the rebellious alternative. It is the strength of this tale that it never paints one of the systems, one of the beliefs or options and better choice than the other. As a reader, you are as much involved, as much blinded by doctrine and alternatives, as are the characters playing it out. I'm truly looking forward to continue my journey in the Lightbringer Trilogy with the sequel The Blinding Knife.
In case you wonder where you read about The Night Angel and the Lightbringer Trilogies before on my blog: The two trilogies made my UNDONE list 2011 as point 2. (Yes, it took me that long to read this book! I did not want to read it while being elsewhere mindwise, hence...) ;)
The characters we meet in The Black Prism are realistic people with their quirks, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses. People who make decisions that are not always wise, take guesses that can turn out to be totally wrong, and whose quirks and habits often are the reason for their success or downfall. It is the strength of Mr. Weeks's writing that at any given moment and situation, at any decision a character has to make, you as the reader are left to wonder what you would have done then, given a set of options that is never obvious or easy to choose from.
Like in Mr. Weeks earlier (unrelated) work The Night Angel Trilogy none of these characters are just good or just evil, none of the decisions can be easily seen to be right or wrong. As in the earlier work, there are no heroes (in the literal sense of the word) in this book, but people who may or may not make heroic decisions (accidentally or otherwise).
The plot it strong and keeps its pace over the full length of 762 pages, culminating in a crucial conflict - or better: the beginning of an open conflict that is sure to continue in the sequel(s) - that forces a lot of the main characters to consider their positions towards the existing system and the rebellious alternative. It is the strength of this tale that it never paints one of the systems, one of the beliefs or options and better choice than the other. As a reader, you are as much involved, as much blinded by doctrine and alternatives, as are the characters playing it out. I'm truly looking forward to continue my journey in the Lightbringer Trilogy with the sequel The Blinding Knife.
In case you wonder where you read about The Night Angel and the Lightbringer Trilogies before on my blog: The two trilogies made my UNDONE list 2011 as point 2. (Yes, it took me that long to read this book! I did not want to read it while being elsewhere mindwise, hence...) ;)
