Weeks, Brent: The Black Prism - Lightbringer 1

This council is chaired by the prism, a man, the only one in a generation, to whom it is granted, to draw his magical skills not only one or two, but from all the colors of the spectrum. The Prism for the time for action is the most powerful color mage of all time: Gavin Guile.

Fifteen years ago that Gavin and his brother - who was, very unusually, multichromatic talented as well - were fighting for the title of the prism. The fraternal feud escalated to a terrible war, who was decide for Gavin. Since then, a false sense of peace prevails in the satrapy - a peace that could come to an abrupt end.

In the realm of Tyrea a power-hungry young ruler and a dark magician have begun to try and end the rule of Chromeria over the Satrapi once and for all and create a new world order. Gavin is decided against his opponents - and triggers a chain of events that will lead the satrapy in a terrible new war.

Magic based on the power of color. One or the other might recall Brandon Sanderson's masterpiece "Warbreaker," which is based on a similar concept. Similar but not identical. Week's latest novel is a completely different book that has hardly anything in common with Sanderson's epic book beyond the fact that magic is based on the power of color.

Like the "Night Angel" trilogy, "The Black Prism" is a work that readers can only fully enjoy if they like fantasy of the darkest variety. Dark secrets, brutal, merciless battles, characters with a dark past and almost impossible to imagine corpses in the cellar - once again Weeks digs deep in violence and cruelty. His new cosmos matches the universe of its debut in terms of darkness and seriousness in every way.

The story offers a sinister plot on a highly successful series with twists that never ceases to amaze the reader. Here special emphasis is laid on Week's design of its main characters, rather than to use stale cliches, the American author has designed a team of unusual figures, who move away from the generally accepted standards. Respect - not many writers dare to do this!

And yet, although I am a friend of dark, characteroriented narratives and even though I am open to uncommon casts, I feel bound to say that I had quite a time fighting with "The Black Prism". If the "Night Angel" saga managed to quickly cast a spell on me, this beginning of the "Light Bringer" series doesn't succeed in this at any time.

To make it short: I didn't get warm to Week's new universe. I am just not able to put myself in the cosmos of "The Black Prism". Whether it was because of the strange system of magic and its inadequate explanation or whether it's the scene as such, unfortunately elaborated only more or less casual (Weeks concentrates entirely on his characters and their magical abilities, which he doesn't explain until much too late, leaving the reader for a long time with only a vague idea of the colormagic the seven Satrapi have), I can not say with absolute certainty. The fact is, in any case that "The Black Prism" has remained pretty unfamiliar until the end.

In the plot as such, there is not much to grump about. Weeks does extremely well designing various scenarios in highly dramatic scenes, beginning with peaceful dialogues escalating to battlescenarios. "The Black Prism" is all wonderful read and has some first-class characters and moments of tension. But these are unfortunately far from coping the shortcomings of the book concerning the (lack of) living embodiment of the cosmos of the book. So I was working my way through a book in which I was captivated by many chapters, yet left me cold far too ofte since I wasn't able to find my way into the scenery and I involuntarily glanced on the page numbers now and then in order to see how many pages were left.

Were it not for Weeks' excellent style and many excellent moments of tension, I would have put down the book early. In the end, I made it until the end of it - and I now uncertain how it will proceed. Interested in what Weeks has come up with for the sequel, I definitely am. But whether that's enough for me to fight through another volume, of over 600 pages, perhaps remaining just as foreign ... honestly, I do not know.

 

"The Black Prism" is a mixed fantasy epic that is far from Weeks' great debut. If you like fantasy and don't mind unusual fantastics universes that open up very slowly, you should give the book a chance. To everyone who doesn't know Weeks I recommend his far more impressive "Night Angel" trilogy. Whether the "Light Bringer" saga will ever come close to it, is still to be seen (volume two is forthcoming), I doubt it a lot.

But who knows? Maybe I'm wrong, and the series turns into a real highlight...