The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Sixteen years ago, Gavin Guile defeated his brother to become the Prism, the most powerful man in an empire that rests on a knife edge between war and peace. When he discovers he has a bastard son in a far flung kingdom, Gavin goes to retrieve the boy only to walk into the midst of a violent uprising led by a tyrannical king. With only the help of his very confused son, a disgraced general, a smartass bodyguard, and some very distrustful townsfolk, Gavin must put down the rebellion - and prevent an explosive truth from being revealed.

The Black Prism is an adult fantasy book with a fascinating and really cool magic system. In this world, some people can use light to make luxin which can then be shaped into all sorts of things. Some people can only use one colour of light, others can use two or three, but only the Prism can use all seven. I also love that using this magic actually shortens your lifespan - this adds a unique limitation for those that have the ability to make luxin that I don't often see in fantasy. That being said, the book started really slowly as the author spent 100 pages outlining this magic system as well as general backstory before the plot finally got going.

However, once that was out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were a lot of fun. Gavin's son, Kip, was hilariously awkward and self-depreciating with a smart mouth that constantly got him into bother. I found him so refreshing as a protagonist in the fantasy genre as he was clumsy and relied as much on dumb luck as on any magical abilities - one of my bookish peeves in fantasy is when the protagonist goes from zero to hero in five seconds flat. My favourite character, however, has to be Gavin himself. He's sassy and charming, frequently devious and breathtakingly ruthless, and he should be evil - and he has his moments - but he usually does the right thing at the right time. He's such a complicated character, and his chapters were a blast to read.

Like I said, the book started slow but the plot soon picked up as the characters became swept up in the consequences of their decisions. As the first book in the Lightbringer series, I felt that The Black Prism was dedicated mostly to introducing the world and the magic system. There were hints of political intrigue and explosive secrets, however, and I'm hoping for some really juicy power struggles to come in the next few books.

Recommended For: Fans of epic fantasy looking for a new series.

Rating: I really enjoyed it, but it started slow. Four stars on Goodreads.

Read On: The next book in the series is The Blinding Knife, which hopefully I'll get to this year. Another epic fantasy series with an interesting magic system is the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson - the first book is The Final Empire.