Tuesday 31 August 2010

FANTASY REVIEW: The Black Prism (Lightbringer 1) - Brent Weeks

Release Date: 02/09/10

BOOK BLURB:

The start of a brand new trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of THE WAY OF SHADOWS. 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.


REVIEW:

After emerging onto the fantasy scene with his Night Angel trilogy, readers have wondered what Brent Weeks would hit back with as a follow up. Yes, we knew that he could envision an epic world, yes we know that he could create descent characters and yes we also knew that he could write an adventure to keep you glued over the subsequent novels. However, the real quest that the readers wanted answered was: Is he a one world, one series author and would his next project expand on his creativity?

What unfurls is a rich new tapestry where Weeks takes magic into a new direction where colours rule in a different way to Gemmell’s (in his novel Knights of Dark Renown.) The characters are memorable and whilst a certain amount of this first title is world building and setting the subsequent releases in the series up, it doesn’t feel like an info dump and really does bring the world to the reader through the eyes of the character Kip . If you know a fan of fantasy, then this title will get you extra bonus points. It’s fresh, it’s vivid but above all else the politics alongside the action, both melee and magical really draws the reader into the novels snare. Great stuff.

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