Brent Weeks, The Lightbringer Series

[Catalyst21]

The 2nd book The Blinding Knife has been announced.

[Yados]

That's cool news. Though, to be honest, the last 20 pages of The Black Prism were my least favorite.

The Blinding Knife itself is... eh. We'll see.

[Emeralis00]

Not much interested in the way the plot was going in the first book, but hopefully I get to see more of the magic system.

[ProfessorMLyon]

I have high hopes for this title. Black Prism had some great potential, but kind of puttered out at the end. Hopefully things will move faster in this book.

[Yados]

I liked that it had a fat protagonist. There's not a lot of ugly protagonists in fantasy and I can never quite figure out why.

[Shivertongue]

A fair warning to everyone - do NOT listen to the Audiobook of The Black Prism. Worst. Reader. Ever. Horrible voices and complete lack of inflection when it was needed. It was like listening to a bored professor reading from a textbook, only occasionally make an effort to modulate his voice. Left me incredibly unimpressed with the book as a whole.

[Nya Ellir]

Is this series worth giving a go? I personally loved the Night Angel trilogy, and if it doesn't live up to that I think I'll be disappointed.

[Aethling]

I liked it. Color based magic system the way he did it was pretty nice. I will definately pick up the second volume when it comes out. That is usually how I judge the worth of a series. If the book isn't interesting enough to make you want to pick up further volumes, it usually does not rate very high to me.

Personally, I think it is already pretty obvious exactly what the blinding knife is.

If you like rather clean fantasy, you will probably like this one tons. The language isn't all that bad. The one sex scene is from memory and is not graphic at all. The stage where everything is taking place was fairly well set by the first book.

[PeterAhlstrom]

I'm about halfway through the first book right now and really enjoying it. I didn't read his other trilogy.

[Aethling]

If the second one is good, I might go back and hit the other trilogy.

If you are looking for an ugly character, the central female in River Kings' Road is described by everyone in the book as ugly or homely. Even she has no pretentions that she is even remotely pretty, but then she has a baby, so someone didn't think she was TOO ugly.

[Ilidsor]

I just re-read the first book in anticipation for this one. Forgot how much I liked it .

Why do so many people dislike the last part of the book? I really like it, and don't see any problem with it.

[PeterAhlstrom]

I thought the ending was great. This is my favorite non-Brandon book in years, and I'd say it beats some Brandon books.

There actually is more than one sex scene; the other one is "person walks through camp and sees a couple having sex and is grossed out by it."

This is a book where a lot of problems could be solved by people talking to each other—but they have REALLY good reasons not to talk to each other, and indeed talking could cause more problems than it solves.

[Aethling]

Oops, that one was so non-descript, that I completely forgot about it. Even the character that saw it didn't realize what they were doing at first. Neither of the scenes were graphic. That is the main thing I love about Sanderson, when he does write love scenes, they are completely tame for the most part.

[Aethling]

Well, broke down and preorderd book two for delivery this month.

[Brendan]

Yeah, looking forward for next week!

[dyring]

It is uncommon with a fat protagonist I guess. Still felt odd to have a fat character who was suposedly very poor and if I remember right often got no food, combined with him seemingly doing much of the work, including scavenging wich meant walking about alot. I kinda wonder if there was magic calories in that book aswell;)

I thought it was ok, worth reading but not one of my favorites.

[Yados]

It is uncommon with a fat protagonist I guess. Still felt odd to have a fat character who was suposedly very poor and if I remember right often got no food, combined with him seemingly doing much of the work, including scavenging wich meant walking about alot. I kinda wonder if there was magic calories in that book aswell;)

I thought it was ok, worth reading but not one of my favorites.

Historically, there have been fat people in most eras, cultures, and social classes. Except like... extreme urban poor. Except these days and here where obesity is a bigger problem the less money you have. Weights have a lot more to do with genetics, metabolism, and nutrition than mere caloric intake. Not that the the four aren't all interrelated.

Holes has a fat protagonist, though that's not really fantasy.

I guess the dearth of fat protags probably has something to do with the escapist nature of most fantasy.

Edit: On Topic

I think I'm going to start the Blinding Knife later today.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Yados

[Brendan]

I enjoyed book 2, however I don't think it was as well written as book 1 (although I didn't do a reread of book 1 so my memory is hazy and I'm rereading WoT atm so I'm comparing his writing skills to Jordan which is a little unfair)

Still very much worth reading and I'm looking forawrd to book 3!

[Asperity]

I haven't read book 2 yet but I plan to start soon.

My only qualm with book 1's ending is that I felt that some of the better reveals and twists were the early/mid one(s). People who have read it will know what I'm talking about.

[FaeMofo]

I think that the lightbringer series has an awesome magic system but the plot in 'the blinding knife' was a bit lacking. The execution that Gavin carries out was shocking but i found that i didn't really care about it as much as i should have (i shall say no more for fear of spoilers)

[Retsam]

It's interesting because the Black Prism reminded me so much of Sanderson it was real easy for me to compare the two. The magic system was comparable, and was phenomenal. As well as certain twists within the first book, one moment in particular -nearly- caused me to throw the book across the room. (But it was a kindle, and not mine. So bad idea.)

But I found parts of Brent Week's execution to be a little bit weak. For example, it seemed to me that Kip being fat and being insecure about it came out of nowhere about a third of the way into the books. I felt like it wasn't mentioned at all up to a certain point, and then suddenly the idea is introduced and Kip is thinking about it all the time. One might argue that at the beginning things are moving too quickly, but then again, things are moving pretty quickly at the end too, and the self-deprecating thoughts don't seem to slow.

And characters other than Gavin never quite felt consistent. (Gavin was somewhat erratic, too, but that was a character trait in him but less explainable in others) In particular the decision made by a certain female character at the end didn't feel "surprising" as much as it felt "arbitrary", but other characters seem to suffer from this as well.

(But definitely a book that I enjoyed immensely. I'm just saying that it made me appreciate more some of the things Brandon does well)

Edited November 12, 2012 by Retsam

[Greg]

I felt like Kip struggled with his less than admirable physical attributes through both books the entire time. I'd try reading into that again.

Anyway, I just finished The Blinding Knife, and I gotta say it has me frustrated. It was a great read, but the end is so dark and grim for every character that I can't believe I need to wait 2 years to see things resolve. Nothing ended on a good note at all. Man, four years to finish these series. Gotta remember not to start reading unfinished series.

[LessThanGeorge]

Now, to be honest, I didn't care for Black Prism all that much. I felt that the story moved very slowly and the book didn't keep my interest. Weeks' Night Angel trilogy is a different story, that series was a fun thrill ride. That said, I plan on picking up The Blinding Knife at some point, because there is potential in the Lightbringer story, as several posters above have noted.

Edited January 27, 2013 by LessThanGeorge

[MasterGhandalf]

Blinding Knife is a marked improvement over Black Prism in almost every respect, albeit very obviously a middle book of a series, so don't expect a whole lot of resolution.

[PeterAhlstrom]

I felt the Blinding Knife was only a little bit better than the Black Prism. I loved the Black Prism so much and part of that was because it was fresh and new for me. The Blinding Knife for me was a minor evolutionary improvement rather than a revolutionary experience.