The Black Prism by Brent Weeks – Book Review

“You have to be a little bad to make history.”
― Brent Weeks, The Black Prism

The Black Prism
By: Brent Weeks
5/5 Stars

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Synopsis:

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. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.

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.

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Review:

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for far longer than I would like to admit. I first heard about it from Regan at Peruse Project on Booktube. She was also the blogger that brought Mistborn to my attention. So, I was super excited to read this novel.

However, after seeing the size of the book I was completely intimidated. I continued to pass it up because of the size of the book. On top of the size it is an adult high fantasy. So, I knew it would be a huge undertaking. When it was time for the Tome Topple Readathon I knew it would be the perfect time to read this novel.

I completely adored this novel. It was definitely not a fast read for me or an easy read for me. The world and politics in this novel require a lot of the reader’s attention and critical thinking skills. This novel took me far longer to get through than the majority of books that I read. That made me enjoy it even more.

The world within this novel is huge. There is never a case where the world feels small. Weeks makes diverse civilizations that are independent yet still feel connected. This was definitely a novel where a map helped to understand the travel. I can’t wait to discover more of this world in the next novels.

The politics are intense and complicated. The political exploits within this novel were completely intriguing. The manipulation and political prowess were entertaining which helped to keep me invested in the plot line.

The magic system is intricate and innovative. Magic systems can often be reminiscent of some other type of magic system in other novels. That was not true for this novel. I loved the idea of prismatic magic and the science behind it. Though at times I had a bit of difficulty truly understanding the system I’m excited to learn more about it in the next book.

Despite all of these amazing aspects of this novel the characters were still able to shine. Many times novels can have one of the components. This book managed to have an incredible magic system, politics, and world but the characters still had great development. They were dynamic and jumped off the page.

To say that I was a fan of this book would be an understatement. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves fantasy novels.

What’s you’re favorite fantasy novel?