Review: The Black Prism

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I stumbled upon the The Night Angel Trilogy while browsing for something to read at my local library.  I've never heard about Brent Weeks so I decided to give a new author a try.

I wasn't expecting much, but after finishing the first book in the series I was completely hooked.  There's something about Brent's writing style that is just completely captivating and the worlds and characters he creates are amazing.

I finished the first book in a single day and rushed back to the library for more, only to be told that the rest of the books had been destroyed in a recent fire.  I just had to know what happens next, so I immediately went home and bought the ebooks and the rest of the series was absolutely amazing.  If you haven't read The Night Angel Trilogy you definitely should.  It's one of the best fantasy series I've read in a long time, and comes highly recommended.

As soon as  The Black Prism was released, I just had to have it.  I went the ebook route since I didn't even want to wait for the physical book to be delivered.  Once again Brent Weeks delivered the goods.

If you enjoyed the Night Angel Trilogy you will love The Black Prism. Brent Weeks brings a completely new world to life with one of the most innovative magic systems I’ve seen to date. All magic sprouts from the manipulation of light. Each color has different properties and can be used to different effect or even combined in interesting ways. Some mages (drafters) are able to use more than one color, but only one, The Prism, has access to all the colors.

The characters are endearing and the banter between them is quite funny at times. Once the groundwork for the world, magic system and politics are established the book really starts to get interesting. I almost finished it in one sitting and as the end got closer I started wishing for more pages!


It's difficult to discuss the book and the characters without giving anything away, so I won't go into any detail at all.  Read it for yourself to see what happens, just be warned that there are some unexpected twists and turns, and there is no black and white separation between good and evil.

The only downside is that, unlike the Night Angel Trilogy, the rest of the books in the series still need to be written, so it’s a much longer wait to find out what happens next. (Brent, if you stumble across this, please hurry and finish the rest!)


Verdict

I can't recommended this highly enough.  Brent Weeks is one of the best fantasy authors in a long time.  Each of his novels brings something new to the table and The Black Prism is no exception.

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Rating: 9/10