Book Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

 

Goodreads Summary: Gavin Guile is Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is a high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.
But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Goodreads Ratings: 4.21 stars with over 109,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Adventure, Science Fiction

Goodreads Challenge: 21/60

2021 Reading Challenge: #33 Read a book where the main character is a magic user (Find the complete challenge here)

Book Review:

Happy Friday, readers. I am super glad it's the weekend. I'm tired and thoroughly plan to sleep in tomorrow. (I stopped writing after this sentence and got back to writing this post this morning. I definitely did not sleep in, which is stupid.) I've been reading The Black Prism at the suggestion of Tress. She's been trying to get me to read this one for a while. I kept putting it off because, well, big books are scary. This one really fit in with a ton of categories on the 2021 challenge, so it seemed like a good time to finally dive into it.

I enjoyed The Black Prism; however, it took me a while to really get into it. The book is definitely a slow build, and I probably wasn't fully invested in the story until around 25-30% through. Brent Weeks let's little bits of info slip out in the beginning about the magic, and I was left kind of confused at how it all worked. Eventually, as we get to know more of the characters and how they use their magic, we learn more about the system. 

The magic system in this story is probably the most intricate that I've read. It's very complex and scientific. I had to have Tress explain its basics to me while I was reading because the details don't really come out all at once, which makes it even harder to follow. Once I fully understood it, however, I was really fascinated by it. There's so much detail about color theory in this epic fantasy novel, and it's incredible. I love the idea that drafters can call on their different colors to affect their emotions in addition to the physical properties and uses of each one. I just wish it would have been revealed a little more upfront so that I could have enjoyed it for the entire book instead of the last half or so.

There are a lot of plot twists in this book. I thought some (including major ones) were really predictable; some were not. Obviously, I won't go into specific details about these as I don't want to ruin the book with spoilers. I don't think the book would be as enjoyable without that element of surprise and some of the "Oh, shit!" moments. 

I was really drawn into Gavin's character. I thought he was kind of refreshing. Sometimes he was a good guy, sometimes he wasn't. It was kind of nice to see that line blurred. (And now, the song Blurred Lines is in my head. Dang it.) He was a really intriguing character, and I enjoyed reading things from his perspective. I'm intrigued to see where the rest of his story goes. I wasn't as drawn to Kip. I don't know if it was just because he was a self-loathing horny teenager or what. There were times when I thought he was funny and endearing, but there were many times when he annoyed the hell out of me. 

I really liked Karris, and I thought her backstory with Gavin was interesting. I'm really interested in reading more of that. I thought she came across as both feminine and tough, which I loved. I wasn't really all that interested in Liv's story. I'm not really sure why. I just wasn't that drawn to her character. Her father seemed intelligent, and he could have an interesting backstory. A lot of it was sort of revealed, but I think there's probably more information coming in later books. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I just wish the explanation of magic had been more upfront. There are many characters and information, so sometimes I found it hard to follow (which is why I don't typically read books over 400-500 pages often). There is a glossary and appendix at the end that I found really helpful, though. It gives a lot more information, but I didn't read it until I finished the book because I didn't want it to spoil anything for me. I'll definitely continue the series, but I'll probably give myself a break in between books.