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A review by lizziepurpleserenity
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Did not finish book.
Read till halfway through Ch 40 (p292 of 735)
What's good:
- Really cool, interesting magic system, albeit a little confusing at times; I love colour and would have really got into this if I liked the book itself.
- Also liked the setting, the descriptions of Jasper and its buildings, for example.
- The characters are not straightforward (you have no idea whether they are good or bad), this is both a good thing (could be interesting, I like flawed characters, etc) but, I found it difficult to engage with any of them or to know who I was supposed to be rooting for.
- A particular twist made me sit up and think that's more like it! but sadly it didn't keep me engaged in the end.
What's not so good:
- The POV is a little unclear at times, it shifts or doesn't always know whether it wants to be in third person limited or omniscient.
- The main downfall for me was the way women were written, there is very much a 'male gaze' - even when we're in the POV of a woman! - and from what I've heard I didn't even read the worst of it... the last straw for me in that respect was the quote from the narration "Served her right for wearing a short skirt". I eventually felt that I couldn't continue to stomach it, and that in addition to not having engaged with the characters at all caused me to sadly abandon the book.
What's good:
- Really cool, interesting magic system, albeit a little confusing at times; I love colour and would have really got into this if I liked the book itself.
- Also liked the setting, the descriptions of Jasper and its buildings, for example.
- The characters are not straightforward (you have no idea whether they are good or bad), this is both a good thing (could be interesting, I like flawed characters, etc) but, I found it difficult to engage with any of them or to know who I was supposed to be rooting for.
- A particular twist made me sit up and think that's more like it! but sadly it didn't keep me engaged in the end.
What's not so good:
- The POV is a little unclear at times, it shifts or doesn't always know whether it wants to be in third person limited or omniscient.
- The main downfall for me was the way women were written, there is very much a 'male gaze' - even when we're in the POV of a woman! - and from what I've heard I didn't even read the worst of it... the last straw for me in that respect was the quote from the narration "Served her right for wearing a short skirt". I eventually felt that I couldn't continue to stomach it, and that in addition to not having engaged with the characters at all caused me to sadly abandon the book.