Lightbringer Series Review
Jennell Venier
I read The Black Prism sometime last year and loved it. I guess I am a colossal sucker for well-designed magic systems, because I remember having a few (minor) issues with the quality of the writing and the characters, but the magic drew me in so much, I chose to ignore those things. Now I am going through The Blinding Knife and experiencing pretty much the same thing - I want "Gavin" to tell Karris everything, I want Kip to do that movie montage where he turns into a superhero, I want Liv to pull her head out of her (reportedly lovely) rear... but really, none of that matters, because there are people who can see microwave (or terahertz waves) and x-ray! And they can draft them. And the luxin behaves sensibly! Which is all really cool and I am glad Weeks thought it through, down to how the physiology of the eye would have to change to make such things possible. Mad props.
I'm getting legitimately stoked for this book. Despite there being a TON of good releases right now this is the one I'm looking forward to the most. Thinking about performing a re-read. I've never re-read this series so it should be quite fun. Also refreshing because looking back I'm hazy. I think there was a girl who can see microwaves in the last book. Does that sound right to anyone?
I kind of find it hilarious that a pastiche of Magic: The Gathering is a deeply ceremonial gambling and strategy game in the setting, though all the cards are based on actual historical figures there.
Teia / Adrasteia is not a superviolet (though Liv is). Teia can see and draft paryl, a color described as "as far below subred as subred is below red." Which makes it microwave, but a very narrow slice of the microwave spectrum.
Lightbringer is such an excellent series, and I'm extremely looking forward to the release in a month. It's one of only a few series that ignites my theory cortex as much as Brandon's do. I spent a good chunk of time myself, Argent, looking up spectrum related information after reading the books!
Peter - I'm generally of the mind that a trilogy or series needs to be digested and and evaluated as whole moreso than as individual volumes. I agree with you the Blinding Knife wasn't a revolution over Black Prism, but I'd prefer to think of them both as a huge step forward for Brent, and a really progressive work for Fantasy as a genre as they step out of the 'dark and gritty' phase from last decade.
I just started re-reading Book 2. I am always blown away by how damnation readable his books are. The prose is just OK, but there's something about the world and the characters that just make these books page turners to an extreme. I can't stop reading and it's a re-read. Weeks is doing something right. Normally with a book like this when I look back things gets foggy and I can't remember why I gave it super high ratings, but when I look back on Weeks I think "It ain't literature, but it's a BLAST!"
I re-read blinding knife in 4 days. I meant it to take a week. It's too much of a page turner. I just started up Broken Eye. I'm really very happ to be reading it right now. So good right off the bat.
Nice review Peter. One thing I noticed during my recent reread is the gigantic bump in foreshadowing the second book brought. The first book has very little foreshadowing at all, and relatively few hints there's a much much deeper world than we suspect. The second book is supercharged by comparison - the world now abounds with people who know secrets but aren't telling, ancient things that most people forgot, hidden powers that are marginalized, secret societies and plots promised, and in general just jam packed.
Also, am I the only one who is gradually feeling more and more that major Fantasy authors just need to get together and make their own card game or MTG subset? I've even considered doing one myself as an idle thought. It seems like the major new authors of the last decade or so is correlating with a love of a certain collectible trading card game...
Well, Rothfuss is wielding the regular card decks business like it's a vorpal blade. Weeks* has the MTG going on, and I believe he would like to eventually turn it into a game, if the planets align properly. Supplementary materials, not just card games, are definitely a cool way to expand the franchise.
The continuing Epic fantasy saga following a handful of overpowered characters as they scheme and try to survive a civil war. Slower, and more politically and world-building focused than the initial volumes. Two of the female characters are raised to central prominence. A solid step toward the end of the series with lots of minor action sequences but temporarily loses sight of the major conflict.
Another strength of Eye is the further development of the world and the history of the struggle; from the mythological past, to secret societies, and the formation of the Satrapies. Backstories of interesting characters and the societies are filled in, and, more importantly, built upon. Weeks pulls out all the stops in delving into the world this time around, and, as a result, the world finally starts to feel more deeply realised and solid than the broad, crude strokes of the first book, and the unsubtle world-building of the second. But while this is great when it features the world and the history that led to the legends, it is a little less impressive when we get glimpses into the metaphysical meta-narrative that appears to be ripped entirely from Judeo-Christian mythology given a quick coating of Silmarillion paint and dropped into the middle of this world. I understand the allure of the treacherous angel as evil bad guy behind the scenes, but disguising it or adapting it a little more subtly would have been nice. As it stands, unless the next book does something really drastic with this plot line the angelic/demonic war acted out by humans will seem even more tired and trite.
I so wish you had continued with your reviews so I could read your intellectual take on how Weeks managed to fall off that cliff in such spectacular fashion. A lot of me thinks it was his indulgence to stretch the planned trilogy out into 5 books, creating multiple books worth of filler and endless plot twists and unfulfilled plot lines.
Like I said, I await your remaining Lightbringer reviews with great anticipation, since I think the end of the series provides incredible meat for a critic of narrative with your sharp eye to did into.
The role of the Blinding Knife (or the Knives of Surrender, as they are apparently also called) in the Freeing also felt contrived. Much of the rest of the series addressed the idea of the Chromeria being not unlike Andross Guile: sometime cruel, but always working for the greater good in the long term. The Freeing was perfectly emblematic of this, with its apparent murder of drafters, balanced with the costs of not murdering them. Making it so that the magic knife could just magically fix that felt contrived.
IGC Publishing was founded in 2019 by aspiring author Lloyd Earickson as a forum to share his writing with a wider audience. It has expanded to include regular book reviews, and writing of all kinds, as well as educational content.
I read books one to three in this series before I had a blog and so I have no reviews on them. I did give them five stars on Goodreads. Book four was a bit of a letdown because it felt like a placeholder book even though there was a lot to love there. I still needed to know what happened next so it was with both excitement, sadness, and trepidation that I got me mitts on this last book. The thoughts on this book will have spoilers because I want to record what I am feeling now for the future. These are in no particular order but rather as they occur to me:
Personal taste quibbles and not bad writing. I am very glad I took the time to consolidate the series list this year. I have finished 10 this year. Makes me happy. Good luck on yer series endeavors. Arrrr!
x The Captain
The Black Prism is a fantasy novel by American author Brent Weeks. It is the first entry in the five-volume[1] Lightbringer Series, and follows the 'Prism' Gavin Guile, the most powerful person in the world,[2] as he fights against an uprising by a self-proclaimed king.
The Black Prism is set in a pre-industrial fantasy milieu, albeit more advanced than most, with gunpowder weapons and widespread use of simple machines such as pulleys and gears. The story takes place in The Seven Satrapies, 7 semi-autonomous countries, surrounding a large sea; each satrapy is ruled by a 'satrap'. Satrapies have considerable independence, but are under the loose control of a federalist central government; the Chromeria. The Chromeria is also the seat of education and regulation for the color magic on which the series is based. The ruling council consists of seven "colors", who are essentially representatives from each satrapy, The White, and the Prism. The series is based around the magical principle of chromaturgy, in which light is harnessed to create 'Luxin'. The Prism, apart from being able to use magic of every color, must also be able to "split light", allowing them to use magic more efficiently than normal magicians. A normal magician is called a 'drafter', a drafter may draft until enough Luxin residue builds up in the drafter's eyes to break into the white of the eye, otherwise known as 'breaking the halo'. At this point they go mad and attempt to incorporate luxin into their own bodies. Creatures such as these are referred to as wights, and are terminated with extreme prejudice by the Chromeria, often via the Prism. A Prism represents the god Orholam (a name possibly related to 'hohlraum', a concept in the thermodynamics of radiation, or possibly from the Hebrew 'ohr ha'olam, translated as 'light of the world'), who it is believed bestows magical power onto his chosen. A Prism's abilities, ceremonial authority, status and Chromeria-sponsored protection allow him a great deal of personal agency; however, he has the least official governing power in peacetime, this role falls to the 'white', a non-drafting ruler who decides on most of the Chromeria's political policy. Prisms typically die (or start to lose their colors) after their 7th, 14th, or 21st year of serving.