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A review by shandyt
The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks
3.0
Slow and largely pointless, poorly paced, and ruined by an ill-conceived and ill-supported plot twist.
2. The pacing of this series has always been a little strange, but in book 4, it becomes atrocious. Entire months get glossed over while we spend pages and pages on minutiae like slaves flirting and teenage fart jokes. (Not that the fart jokes weren't funny.) It's never clear how the timelines are supposed to line up, and some things that really deserve some attention in the text get skipped over altogether, or just mentioned in passing. We get one (1) scene of Karris and Zymun interacting, and that's it. Almost nothing of the war efforts, or the political climate of the Jaspers. How are the Spectrum dealing with the ongoing crisis? What is the new Green's contribution? How is the Blackguard doing under Fisk's command? What was the fallout of the Mighty's escape at the end of book 3? Either we'll find out in book 5, or never. It almost reads like ASOIAF, where the story got split into two volumes, each covering different characters.
3. The revelation that Gavin DID die at the end of the war, and Dazen-as-Gavin never really held anyone prisoner is just... I can't even begin to describe how infuriating that was to read. Everything that happened in the prison in books 1 and 2 is now meaningless! It's clear that the author only came up with the twist after writing the second book, or perhaps even the third. There is no single element of foreshadowing in the previous books that doesn't seem retroactive, and no single element that couldn't also be used to contradict the twist's veracity. It's been jammed in as inelegantly as a replacement table leg made of Lego. Not a single detail of the reveal made me think, 'Ohhhh, that's what that meant!' I just don't buy it.
One thing that I did enjoy about the book was theorizing about the Lightbringer. At this point the author would have to make (another) really hard left turn for the LB to be anyone other than Kip, but it was fun to try and fit it to other characters anyway. Tisis was a pleasant surprise of a character, and I hope she isn't plot-twisted into having been evil all along. Ultimately, though, this was by far the weakest installment and I hope it doesn't bode poorly for book 5.
Spoiler
1. Not much happens in 600 pages. Gavin stays locked in his cell, Karris makes some moves in her role as the new White, Andross schemes, Teia works her way deeper into the Broken Eye, and Kip leads the Mighty in guerrilla attacks against the White King. What comes of all this? Very little. The much-deserved death of the Nuqaba is a highlight, as well as Gavin being set free at the very end. Otherwise, the plot moves forward only a few plodding paces. Kip's plotline in particular is frustrating in its pointlessness. He leads his people through the woods to fight off the White King's invasion of the Blood Forest, only, at the very end of the book, we find out the WK couldn't give a crap about losing the satrapy. His true plan, already underway, is to launch a fleet of banes toward the Jaspers. What has Andross been doing to prevent this? Seems like an obvious threat. Another whale-ex-machina going to save them at the last minute? It's sad that the Kip-and-Tisis Sex Show has the most forward momentum and the most satisfying resolution.2. The pacing of this series has always been a little strange, but in book 4, it becomes atrocious. Entire months get glossed over while we spend pages and pages on minutiae like slaves flirting and teenage fart jokes. (Not that the fart jokes weren't funny.) It's never clear how the timelines are supposed to line up, and some things that really deserve some attention in the text get skipped over altogether, or just mentioned in passing. We get one (1) scene of Karris and Zymun interacting, and that's it. Almost nothing of the war efforts, or the political climate of the Jaspers. How are the Spectrum dealing with the ongoing crisis? What is the new Green's contribution? How is the Blackguard doing under Fisk's command? What was the fallout of the Mighty's escape at the end of book 3? Either we'll find out in book 5, or never. It almost reads like ASOIAF, where the story got split into two volumes, each covering different characters.
3. The revelation that Gavin DID die at the end of the war, and Dazen-as-Gavin never really held anyone prisoner is just... I can't even begin to describe how infuriating that was to read. Everything that happened in the prison in books 1 and 2 is now meaningless! It's clear that the author only came up with the twist after writing the second book, or perhaps even the third. There is no single element of foreshadowing in the previous books that doesn't seem retroactive, and no single element that couldn't also be used to contradict the twist's veracity. It's been jammed in as inelegantly as a replacement table leg made of Lego. Not a single detail of the reveal made me think, 'Ohhhh, that's what that meant!' I just don't buy it.
One thing that I did enjoy about the book was theorizing about the Lightbringer. At this point the author would have to make (another) really hard left turn for the LB to be anyone other than Kip, but it was fun to try and fit it to other characters anyway. Tisis was a pleasant surprise of a character, and I hope she isn't plot-twisted into having been evil all along. Ultimately, though, this was by far the weakest installment and I hope it doesn't bode poorly for book 5.