REVIEW: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Publishing information: Hardback; 629 pages
Publisher: Orbit; 26 August 2010
ISBN 10: 184149903X
ISBN 13: 9781841499031
Series: Lightbringer #1
Copy Out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Inside the Book: "Power, Strength and riches are his. but the cost is life itself.

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is 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."


It is with a heavy heart that I write this review. I read fantasy in junior high school up through high school and when I hit college, when I found time to read, it was books with more of a historical leanings. It was not until Brent Weeks came out with his Night Angel trilogy that I finally returned to reading fantasy, horror, and science fiction. When Brent Weeks announced that he had a new series coming out I jumped at the chance and placed my pre-order nearly half a year in advance. There have been some detractors to Weeks' first trilogy and I had hoped that The Black Prism would send them away packing, I just do not feel as if this will be the case.

The Black Prism has a interesting magic system. We meet the Prism, an all-powerful magic welder who does his best to keep balance to the various colored magics that are available to use by others ability to detect and manipulate the colors of the visible spectrum. The Prism can use every color while others can use either a single color, two colors or for the very few three colors. Training to become a magic user takes time and money and magic users are held in high esteem and in some cases fear. Each kingdom (based on color) finds someone to finance the training of anyone who shows an affinity towards magic. It is an interesting magic system with a lot of potential.

Training to become a magic user cost money so the social aspects are also quickly established as a work for education caste system is created. It was brought up and force on one of the main characters but the system was not fully developed which I found slightly irritating considering how it is used in the story, I would have liked to have had more background information to fully understand it and its implications.

There are a few points of view that we bounce around to in The Black Prism and I thought they were all very well done. The Prism also known as Gavin Guile, Kip, Liv, and Karris are our main view points and aside from a huge twist that we encounter at the half-way point of the story. Were all rather bland. Their is a lot of background story told throughout the book which does not bog you down, but the book failed to capture my interest. The most interesting characters were supporting characters. Liv's Father General/Master Danavis and the Blackguard Captain, Ironfist. They had a lot of personality and made for an interesting read. I would rather read a story about them and their adventures than about the struggles of the Prism and his charge.

The world featured in The Black Prism is fairly peaceful. Each of the nations represent a certain color in the spectrum and they rule to the best of their ability. One nation has been the focus of The Prism War where Gavin Guile finally secured his place as the Prism has been strangled for all of its riches and resources and it is where a young upstart proclaim himself king. The self-proclaimed king has given shelter to the magic users that have gone beyond their limits with their magic and has "saved" them from the "freeing." The freeing is when magic users have come to the end of their ability to use the colors for magic and now threaten to fracture and go insane from their power usage. They are detected by a halo in their eyes, which also has the become unpredictable and mad. The Prism has the ability to free those who have gone beyond their limits and saves them from themselves. It was an interesting concept that may have some wondering if there was another way to free the magicians.

By all accounts, The Black Prism should be a hit. However, I had a hard time staying with it. I was barely entertained as I read it and longed to read something else up until the last 200 pages were I finally enjoyed the pacing of the novel and had enough action to keep me reading. While I will continue with the series simply because Brent Weeks won me over with the Night Angel trilogy, I did not find this book all that I expected. A lot of open threads are yet to be solved and will be resolved in the next two books.

I do not know whether my expectations were too high or something else entirely, but I was not fond of this book. It was average at best. There is a lot of potential here but sadly and with great regret it never shined.

Plot 7
Characters 6
Style 6

Overall 7/10