For the unawares, this is the start of a new series from author Brent Weeks, who wrote the highly acclaimed Night Angel trilogy. (The trilogy has my own personal acclaim as well. Hmm, that doesn't sound right.) I know some of us (ahem, me) were excited at the possible prospect of a new series that followed old and new characters a couple of decades later in the timeline. And when I first heard about the release of a new book, I immediately assumed this was the case. I admit to a big wave of disappointment when I heard it was in an all-new world with all-new characters. I even sulked a bit. (Okay, a lot.)
But guess what isn't a disappointment? Go ahead. Guess.
Well, that's true, but I was actually referring to The Black Prism.
The Black Prism follows the Prism Gavin Guile (the Prism is the religious leader-like the Pope) as he attempts to complete five great purposes before his death in five years. The world is composed of the Seven Satrapies, and the Chromeria where drafters-magic-users-are trained in service of the Satrapies, the Prism being the most powerful drafter of all. Sixteen years ago, the Prism fought and defeated his brother in a civil war to attain his title, and now the satrapy Tyrea, who sided with the losing brother, is attempting to declare independence. In Tyrea, Kip's hometown is destroyed by the cruel new king, and the ungainly, hapless young man becomes a part of the powerful events that are about to shatter the Seven Satrapies.
It would be too easy, too uncomplicated to say that this book is awesome, and it wouldn't do justice to Weeks' craft. But I'll say it anyway. This book...IS AWESOME!! There have been too many times where I have opened a new series in a new world by an author well-known for one particular fantasy world. And I have been disappointed. If the characters are well-done, the world almost never is. Or both. It reads palely in comparison to that other world I loved. And I can say, reading the first chapter from the online excerpt, I feared the same lackluster results. The world seemed uncomfortable and awkward, and I didn't even feel like continuing the next two chapters included in the excerpt. It's not that the events of the beginning don't fit with the rest of the book; the writing itself doesn't seem as smooth. I suspect this is in part my sulkiness at the lack of more Night Angel books. The other part is probably that Weeks really writes his characters, and Kip is an awkward character, especially at first.
Despite his awkwardness, however, Kip develops into a fantastic character. All of them, even the secondary and tertiary characters, are tantalizingly near real. In this regard, I found TBP to surpass the NAT. In fact, as much as I love the NAT (and that's quite a gigantonormous amount), Weeks has obviously grown as a writer and TBP is more polished and more well-paced than the NAT. Though at first I had trouble getting into the story, once I really got into it (about 200 pages in) I was an addict. Almost a color wight. About to break the halo. (Not ready to be Freed, though.) Okay, enough Black Prism references. Anyway, there are many things about this world, especially the Chromeria and drafting, that are somewhat hard to explain. In fact, any dedicated in-book explanation would amount to boring, excessive exposition and I might have never finished the book. But this, I think, is what made it difficult for me to become engrossed; I wasn't addicted until I had a firm grasp on the idea of chromaturgy. So, if you're not as slow as me, you'll become engrossed within the first page or three.
One really frustrating aspect for me was the excessive difficulty the competent and incompetent characters alike had with the challenges that arose to meet them. Sure, nobody wants the protagonist to march in and save the princess because he brought an anachronistic tommy gun to a Really Big Stick fight. Unforeseen difficulties and a character's lack of experience add real tension to the narrative. But after a certain point it becomes too frustrating when seemingly nothing goes according to plan. Ever. I'm not complaining too much, because it does up the excitement factor and it removes easy predictability of events, but it also creates a semi-predictability in its own way.
Speaking of irony, there is some serious dramatic irony in this book. Just sayin'. It adds to the humor sparkled throughout. As was pointed out to me just now, it may be ironic that it sounds as if I found too much fault with this book. But I truly, immensely enjoyed it. It's well-paced, well-written, well-characterized...er, full of great characters. Kip is a unique character in many ways yet exceptionally relatable, and the magic (luxin) and magic system (chromaturgy) stands out from magic systems I've seen in other fantasy worlds. The fight scenes are some of the best I've ever read, as with the NAT. They are somehow easy to follow, yet not so simple as to be boring. Ultimately, this book takes it to another level that even the NAT didn't reach, and for all my trepidations and small qualms, I expect this to be a new favorite series. It's well worth the time, long or short, it will take you to read the 640 or so pages. (So is the NAT if you have yet to read it because you're a blind kangaroo.)
Oh yeah, it ends on something of a cliffhanger.
And I don't expect the next book will be released anytime soon.
