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rc1140's review against another edition
3.0
So in truth this would be more of a 3.5 star rating because even though I didn't particularly enjoy it in the start, it definitely hooked me towards the end.
First off this book is what I would describe as a classic epic fantasy. It feels akin to books like the wheel of time and on some level, the lord of the rings in terms of how you absorb the story (you can sort of predict the story, but it still manages to change and surprise you as you absorb it).
The book does drop a load of new concepts on you very early on, at which point you either guess what they mean or wait until the book explains it. I personally like this method of introducing new magic systems because it means you are constantly trying to understand how it works. This style of writing keeps you more engaged ()or at least it does for me). The magic/concepts are more logical than arcane, which is a nice way to spin magic since it makes it all the more believable.
The characters in the book are a little odd at first and I only really warmed up to some of the major characters towards the end of the book. The world built around the two main protagonist is often contrasted quite nicely, where one character has significant amounts of power while the other does not.
Sadly the narrator was really meh and possibly hurt the entire experience more than anything else. Personally the narrator felt very flat and un-interesting, although my expectations for good narrators are pretty high these days after finishing a number of really good books.
Overall the book was a good read and really opens up the world to some interesting arcs. I have a feeling this isn't the best book in the series but it's worth the time to get used to the universe.
First off this book is what I would describe as a classic epic fantasy. It feels akin to books like the wheel of time and on some level, the lord of the rings in terms of how you absorb the story (you can sort of predict the story, but it still manages to change and surprise you as you absorb it).
The book does drop a load of new concepts on you very early on, at which point you either guess what they mean or wait until the book explains it. I personally like this method of introducing new magic systems because it means you are constantly trying to understand how it works. This style of writing keeps you more engaged ()or at least it does for me). The magic/concepts are more logical than arcane, which is a nice way to spin magic since it makes it all the more believable.
The characters in the book are a little odd at first and I only really warmed up to some of the major characters towards the end of the book. The world built around the two main protagonist is often contrasted quite nicely, where one character has significant amounts of power while the other does not.
Sadly the narrator was really meh and possibly hurt the entire experience more than anything else. Personally the narrator felt very flat and un-interesting, although my expectations for good narrators are pretty high these days after finishing a number of really good books.
Overall the book was a good read and really opens up the world to some interesting arcs. I have a feeling this isn't the best book in the series but it's worth the time to get used to the universe.
maxsebastian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
When I first read The Black Prism in 2022, I said the following: "I know this book is better than the rating I'm giving it." Yes, oh yes, it was. The Black Prism might be the best first book in a fantasy series that I've read since Mistborn: The Final Empire. I read The Black Prism during the two most stressful weeks of my year, and still I could not stop thinking about it every night as I fell asleep. The Lightbringer series has a very interesting reputation. Each of its strengths is also considered a weakness. Quickly, I want to address some of these points and explain my experience with them.
The Black Prism features a magic system that is on par with the best produced by Brandon Sanderson, but it is poorly explained. In the Lightbringer universe, characters, called drafters, can transform colors they see into physical material called luxin. This substance has a range of fascinating properties that are useful in different contexts. Green luxin is flexible and makes fantastic armor while yellow luxin maintains structures built of other colors of luxin. Each also forces its users into different emotional states. Red luxin makes its drafters prone to anger while blue is a color of impassive focus. Each drafter can use one or more of these colors, but they only have access to a limited amount before effectively going insane. There are so many more intricacies here, like a religious leader who can draft unlimited amounts of every color called the Prism, but what I've described here is the basic idea.
While occasionally a little scientifically questionable (some drafters can control "sub-red" light, which loosely corresponds to thermal infrared emission, but there is no one who can access the near-infrared regime between visible light and the thermal infrared), who cares? Drafting is fascinating and has interesting limits. The problem is, Brent Weeks chooses not to explain those boundaries, instead throwing the reader and certain viewpoint characters into the story blind. Given that there are some crazy plot twists in this story, it is sometimes difficult to know what I should understand about the magic and what is actually related to some yet unrevealed secret. On that note, Weeks is well known for his insane plot twists that sometimes verge on silly. In this book at least, I felt that every twist was justified and exciting.
Weeks's characters are often lauded as well, and, for the most part, I agree. Nearly every time I turned the page to a new chapter, I felt that great feeling of "oh I forgot about that person! I can't wait to see what's happening with them." That said, Weeks is also criticized for his depiction of character features. His descriptions do center the male gaze and are jarringly fat phobic. In my opinion, this is the biggest fault of the series so far. I think a good bit of this is done intentionally, particularly in the context of our main protagonist, Kip, who is very uncomfortable in his own body. Regardless, reading The Black Prism sometimes made me feel really icky.
As indicated by this long review, I have a lot of thoughts about The Black Prism. For the first time in a while, I went straight to the next book in this series without a break to read something else in between. I can't wait to check in about my reading experience with that story soon!
The Black Prism features a magic system that is on par with the best produced by Brandon Sanderson, but it is poorly explained. In the Lightbringer universe, characters, called drafters, can transform colors they see into physical material called luxin. This substance has a range of fascinating properties that are useful in different contexts. Green luxin is flexible and makes fantastic armor while yellow luxin maintains structures built of other colors of luxin. Each also forces its users into different emotional states. Red luxin makes its drafters prone to anger while blue is a color of impassive focus. Each drafter can use one or more of these colors, but they only have access to a limited amount before effectively going insane. There are so many more intricacies here, like a religious leader who can draft unlimited amounts of every color called the Prism, but what I've described here is the basic idea.
While occasionally a little scientifically questionable (some drafters can control "sub-red" light, which loosely corresponds to thermal infrared emission, but there is no one who can access the near-infrared regime between visible light and the thermal infrared), who cares? Drafting is fascinating and has interesting limits. The problem is, Brent Weeks chooses not to explain those boundaries, instead throwing the reader and certain viewpoint characters into the story blind. Given that there are some crazy plot twists in this story, it is sometimes difficult to know what I should understand about the magic and what is actually related to some yet unrevealed secret. On that note, Weeks is well known for his insane plot twists that sometimes verge on silly. In this book at least, I felt that every twist was justified and exciting.
Weeks's characters are often lauded as well, and, for the most part, I agree. Nearly every time I turned the page to a new chapter, I felt that great feeling of "oh I forgot about that person! I can't wait to see what's happening with them." That said, Weeks is also criticized for his depiction of character features. His descriptions do center the male gaze and are jarringly fat phobic. In my opinion, this is the biggest fault of the series so far. I think a good bit of this is done intentionally, particularly in the context of our main protagonist, Kip, who is very uncomfortable in his own body. Regardless, reading The Black Prism sometimes made me feel really icky.
As indicated by this long review, I have a lot of thoughts about The Black Prism. For the first time in a while, I went straight to the next book in this series without a break to read something else in between. I can't wait to check in about my reading experience with that story soon!
aowoc's review against another edition
It’s one thing for a character to be sexist but the author writes sexist.
sitsthewind's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading while eating and then found I couldn't stop, and then the entire day had disappeared. Plot was exciting and just not quite guessable, and it has a great magic system!
ireadonebookin2023's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The only reason I take .5 off is there are some “what the hell dude?” moments in how the writer tries to write sexual tension
ruthannereid's review against another edition
3.0
There are two kinds of readers in this world: the kind who love this book (which is great) and the kind who don't (which is me).
I wanted to like this book so much. The sign that it wasn't for me might have been the author's statement about his magic system: "When a candle burns, a physical substance (wax) is transformed into light."
Actually, no. The wick is transformed. The wax just melts. It's such a strange and factually absurd statement that it should have clued me in.
If that bothers you, you won't like this book. If, however, that kind of inconsistency doesn't bother you, you'll be fine.
If you want specific examples of things that bugged me, click to see the spoilers.
SPOILERS HERE ON OUT.
* There's no Latin, but material made from light is called Luxin.
* "There is only ever one Prism" is stated over and over and over again, but by the 6% point, there are three. (I understand that "unreliable religious reaching is unreliable" is the point, but it's difficult to read when the guy thinking it is a prism who's also the brother of prism #2.)
* The protagonist is very difficult to empathise with because he does things like:
1. draft two colors in a moment of panic when doing that is quite unusual
2. promptly gut an enemy with said second color
3. see the guy weeping as he dies in an effectively written and agonizing death scene
4. and not react to any of this in thought or emotion, but just get up and run off LITERALLY crying because he scraped his hands.
I think many readers will like this book. Sadly, I'm just not one.
Still, give it a try. You never know which type of reader you are (and this was available in my library, so.)
I wanted to like this book so much. The sign that it wasn't for me might have been the author's statement about his magic system: "When a candle burns, a physical substance (wax) is transformed into light."
Actually, no. The wick is transformed. The wax just melts. It's such a strange and factually absurd statement that it should have clued me in.
If that bothers you, you won't like this book. If, however, that kind of inconsistency doesn't bother you, you'll be fine.
If you want specific examples of things that bugged me, click to see the spoilers.
Spoiler
SPOILERS HERE ON OUT.
* There's no Latin, but material made from light is called Luxin.
* "There is only ever one Prism" is stated over and over and over again, but by the 6% point, there are three. (I understand that "unreliable religious reaching is unreliable" is the point, but it's difficult to read when the guy thinking it is a prism who's also the brother of prism #2.)
* The protagonist is very difficult to empathise with because he does things like:
1. draft two colors in a moment of panic when doing that is quite unusual
2. promptly gut an enemy with said second color
3. see the guy weeping as he dies in an effectively written and agonizing death scene
4. and not react to any of this in thought or emotion, but just get up and run off LITERALLY crying because he scraped his hands.
I think many readers will like this book. Sadly, I'm just not one.
Still, give it a try. You never know which type of reader you are (and this was available in my library, so.)
curtis49's review against another edition
2.0
I cannot believe this was a NY Times Best Seller, but so was Harry Potter and I could never get into that after several tries.
Not a bad story line, but rife (in my mind) with some really stupid, juvenile threads. At one point, I almost said enough is enough and stopped reading. Unfortunately, I was so far into things, I think I finished for stubbornness. Anyway, done. No more of this series for me.
There are many good reviews for this book, so please make up your own mind. Some things just don't click for me.
Not a bad story line, but rife (in my mind) with some really stupid, juvenile threads. At one point, I almost said enough is enough and stopped reading. Unfortunately, I was so far into things, I think I finished for stubbornness. Anyway, done. No more of this series for me.
There are many good reviews for this book, so please make up your own mind. Some things just don't click for me.
isabelle_frater's review against another edition
4.0
I started reading The Black Prism because one of my English students recommended it to me. I’m a big fan of fantasy, and I had been in a book funk lately. Anything I tried, I just couldn’t get into. However, I started to read this book. I put it down, and kept thinking about it, and that was when I knew, I had a series to read. Finally!
The story itself in a way is standard fantasy. There are rich and poor people, a coming war, feuding, magic users vs non-magic users. What sets it apart partly is the magic system. It was very interesting, though at first a bit hard to comprehend. It’s common nowadays to not actually explain stuff, but just have the reader gradually find them out. It did make it hard to understand in the beginning. I often wish people would just have a foreword to explain these things. It makes it a bit hard to get into the story, because you spend your brainpower trying to work out a complicated fantasy magic system. Once I got it though, I do like how it works.
The main reason why I really got into the story was one of the main characters, Kip. An overweight, kind of a loser, barely teen boy with a mouth on him. Usually, the main characters are special. He is kind of special, but he’s also really terrible at most things. I’ve never been a teen boy, but I find it immensely funny how he keeps having inappropriate thoughts in the worst moments possible. I also love how he’s not skinny. Most of my life, I’ve been overweight. He is a lot like me in that he hates his fat, but it’s not really something he can help. So while Kip is special, like most main characters nowadays, he still has qualities that make him more relatable.
My other favourite character is Gavin. Now, my student looked at me kind of funny when I said this, so I may come to not like him so much in the future, but for now, I do. From the first moment, he is kind of a mystery. There are hints that some things are going on in the background that we don’t know about. There had been one big reveal in the book, and I really loved it, since I never saw it coming. However, there are still some unanswered questions. It keeps the reader really engaged, because you just want to find out the answers.
My one problem with the book was the battle scenes. Honestly, after a while, they were dragging on, and I was having a hard time following in my head. It could just be me, because I’ve had a similar problem with other writers. I’m just not a big fan of battles.
Overall, I really liked the book. I recommend it to fans of fantasies with good magic systems, or with big battles. I’m definitely reading on, and already snuck a peek at the next book, even though I should be doing other stuff. It’s on my Kindle now though, so I’m definitely reading more today. I only gave it 4 stars, because 5 stars go to books like Harry Potter. The kind where I never want to let go.
Cross-posted at Unapologetic Reviews, and my books-only blog Booklikes.
The story itself in a way is standard fantasy. There are rich and poor people, a coming war, feuding, magic users vs non-magic users. What sets it apart partly is the magic system. It was very interesting, though at first a bit hard to comprehend. It’s common nowadays to not actually explain stuff, but just have the reader gradually find them out. It did make it hard to understand in the beginning. I often wish people would just have a foreword to explain these things. It makes it a bit hard to get into the story, because you spend your brainpower trying to work out a complicated fantasy magic system. Once I got it though, I do like how it works.
The main reason why I really got into the story was one of the main characters, Kip. An overweight, kind of a loser, barely teen boy with a mouth on him. Usually, the main characters are special. He is kind of special, but he’s also really terrible at most things. I’ve never been a teen boy, but I find it immensely funny how he keeps having inappropriate thoughts in the worst moments possible. I also love how he’s not skinny. Most of my life, I’ve been overweight. He is a lot like me in that he hates his fat, but it’s not really something he can help. So while Kip is special, like most main characters nowadays, he still has qualities that make him more relatable.
My other favourite character is Gavin. Now, my student looked at me kind of funny when I said this, so I may come to not like him so much in the future, but for now, I do. From the first moment, he is kind of a mystery. There are hints that some things are going on in the background that we don’t know about. There had been one big reveal in the book, and I really loved it, since I never saw it coming. However, there are still some unanswered questions. It keeps the reader really engaged, because you just want to find out the answers.
My one problem with the book was the battle scenes. Honestly, after a while, they were dragging on, and I was having a hard time following in my head. It could just be me, because I’ve had a similar problem with other writers. I’m just not a big fan of battles.
Overall, I really liked the book. I recommend it to fans of fantasies with good magic systems, or with big battles. I’m definitely reading on, and already snuck a peek at the next book, even though I should be doing other stuff. It’s on my Kindle now though, so I’m definitely reading more today. I only gave it 4 stars, because 5 stars go to books like Harry Potter. The kind where I never want to let go.
Cross-posted at Unapologetic Reviews, and my books-only blog Booklikes.