A review by jentwisle
The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks

3.0

Blood mirror is the fourth book (of five) in Brent Weeks' lightbringer series. Personally I think the series is trending downhill in quality, although we'll have to wait for the conclusion to see whether this trend is persistent. I found the first two books, although having some foibles to be engaging reads with plenty of good ideas and fast paced action, an area I think Weeks excels at. However, the plot started to get bogged down in the third book and remains somewhat mired in this one.

Part of the problem, I think, comes from the central character who drove the plot in the first two books, Gavin, having nothing to do. Without him everyone seems to be just going with the flow.

This is exacerbated by less than great writing. There are entire chapters devoted to exposition, a particularly lampshady moment is when kip effectively asks someone to give the cliff notes version of their expositing.

There's also the idiom of the characters. I don't know about you but I find it slightly off putting when characters in a (non modern) fantasy world use expressions like "awesome" and "like". It may not sound like a big deal but it is rather grating.

It's possible the final book might redeem some of the flaws of this one. I certainly hope so.