The Black Prism (Lightbringer) (original 2010; edition 2010)

An intriguing opening to a new series. Brent Weeks has created a fantasy world with magic based on color and the most important man is the Prism, who can use any color to create magic. Gavin Guile, the current Prism, had to struggle in a deadly war against his brother to claim his title, and the lands still reel from this war when Gavin discovers the existence of a son born to him during the war. This discovery sets in motion a string of events that brings long buried secrets to the fore and brings Gavin into another war. A great beginning to this series. I can't wait to dig into the next one! ( )

You know, I wanted to like this, I really did, but nope.

I liked Gavin, and I liked the story of the brothers, I liked the black guard, and the concept of the book itself was great. I didn't like Karris but she was alright-ish.

But... I hated Kip with a passion. On the first few chapters he seemed okay, kinda funny (not as funny as he thought he was, though) if annoying. Then it all went downhill with him. He became more and more annoying and just not very... right as a character. I can't really explain it. But I'll go back to that in a bit.

Most characters seemed to have the same sense of humour (or rather, lame sense of humour) and snarky-remarks at times, it felt a bit bothersome.

The magic system was cool but complex- having to be walked by the hand through it was both nice and a bit annoying at the same time because at times it distracted from the plot.

There were several parts that were quite repetitive. As in, three or four times the very same thing would be explained- in long, long detail -with different wording. Yes, I know, it's still the same book, you don't have to explain the world's politics or whatever yet again, I still remember it from the last chapter.

And then, we go back to Kip.

I hated him more and more as chapters progressed, so much that it made my reading of the book slow down and my enjoyment of it die a little with each new appearance. Hence the 1 star rating.

The fact that Gavin is "proud" of what the boy does bothers me to no end. Proud? The boy is a smart ass, loud mouth, rude, idiotic, annoying brat who could use some spanking. Sure, you can argue it's your average teenager, but he takes it just one step beyond.

More than once I rolled my eyes at what he said that made it seem like we were supposed to think he was oh-so-funny-and-witty. He was not. He was a damn brat.

I knew Liv would be annoying and troubles too, when she was so easily pushed into things.

I nearly drop the book when we came to the part Kip decides to be a "not-really-a-hero" and go save the "damsel in distress"... and is promptly followed by stupid Liv instead of being turned in to the Prism.

Really?
Seriously?

From then on I just skimmed through the chapters because I wanted to know what happened with everyone else, but Kip's complete and utter idiocy made me not want to read any more, even if I'm curious about Gavin and what will happen to the Guiles next. I just don't think I can put up with Kip's smart ass ways for yet another book. ( )

“Good Story Dragging Performance"

What did you love best about The Black Prism? The coming to age aspect of Kip in relation to learning and discovering a new world beyond his imagination. Founding out you are able to use magic by "drafting" light when you are stressed, running for your life from an invading army after watching two of your friends getting killed. Witnessing your mom die from wounds given to her by the invading, even if your mom is crazy and a drug addict messes with your mind. Then to top of the first part of the book finding out your a bastard to one of the most powerful men in the world. Talk about having to grown up quick.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cristofer Jean? I think Lou Diamond Phillips would have been a better narrator than Cristofer Jean. I had a hard time to keeping focus on the story instead of focusing of Jean's faults as a narrator. So it made following the story hard and thus less enjoyable than previously listened to books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting? No, as mentioned due to narrator it made this book one that I needed to pause after awhile and ponder what had happened in the storyline. ( )

Spring-Summer 2010

About a quarter of the way through The Black Prism I found myself thinking, "Oh no, not good, this awesome book is the first in a series and it only just came out...I will finish it wanting more, and instead I will have to wait and wait and wait." All the waiting is going to suck. But The Black Prism? The book? It did not suck. It was awesome.

So let's see. What are some of the things I liked about The Black Prism. A good cast of characters. It was nice flipping between chubby, frequently pathetic Kip and gorgeous, endlessly charismatic Gavin. And all the characters in between. Each character faces severe challenges, and their individual storylines weave around one another in interesting ways. There are lots of twists and turns, many of them unexpected, and the pace is furious.

Weeks seems to be really big on choices - there are lots of hard choices, and even the best choices often have terrible consequences. He's not afraid to make his characters suffer, or push them to do things that made me angry. That's all good. Given his focus on choices, it's no surprise that he often walks the reader through a choice as the character makes it. When it makes sense, this is great. But there were a handful of key moments where Weeks led us through a choice it rang utterly false to me. I didn't believe that the character would really think or feel that way.

One early example of this is when Kip's mother dies. She's been a pretty awful, worthless mother - constantly strung out on drugs, unloving and abusive. As she dies, she makes Kip swear to exact vengeance on someone who's wronged her. She doesn't name the person, but Kip fills in the blank. That's already annoying enough; as a reader, I knew that I was being tricked. But then Kip agrees to dedicate himself to fulfilling his mother's wish for revenge, and he seems to really mean it. And, reading, I was thinking: really? Where'd that come from? They don't have enough of a bond to inspire that kind of passion for revenge. On top of which, Kip is way, way too smart to fill in a blank and then act like he's been given really specific marching orders.

Naturally, Kip's promise to his dying mother turns out to be important...sometimes. Most of the time, he's aware that his mother was worthless and doesn't seem to mourn her particularly. But every once and a while, when it's convenient to the plot, he gets all passionate about avenging her. Something like that - important events that ring false; motivations that are here one minute, gone the next - can be pretty problematic if it's repeated too many times. And there are a good handful of them here. That being said, for the most part the characters - and their choices - ring true.

Quibbles aside, I definitely recommend this book. If you can stand all the waiting.
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