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A review by baldwinme40
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
3.0
Igh. Okay. Let's start with the good stuff.
-HOLY PLOT TWISTS BATMAN. He did it in Night Angel, and this one's just as twisty.
-Characters: The phrase "not your typical hero" usually refers to someone who's like... clumsiness-totally-counts-as-a-character-flaw or just "not conventionally attractive" blah blah, but Kip really is a hero I haven't seen before. He's overweight, he messes up almost everything he touches, fumbles with words a lot, he struggles with self-loathing, but he's got a heart of gold and you want him to win. Other reviewers complain they didn't like him, but I think he's great and his flaws are more realistic. You go, buddy. Then of course Gavin is there to be fabulous and perfect at everything he does, which is also a satisfying experience for the reader. They balance each other well, and Gavin's complexity really grows throughout the book.
-Worldbuilding: is a much bigger part of the book than Night Angel, and it's done pretty well. Interesting (to have the ocean in the middle - solid choice!) but not too complicated. Also, very clearly racially diverse. Most main characters are POC and the narration does not let you forget it, especially since skin tone matters in regards to the...
-Magic system!! It took a while for me to understand it completely. I still have some questions. But it's entirely new, and sounds scientific enough to satisfy more reality-seeking readers.
-Gray morality: not a must for me, but well done. Sometimes you don't know who to root for, which can be disconcerting but makes for a good reading experience overall.
Okay, the problems are few, but enough to make reading kind of a drag for me.
-THE MALE GAZE. Can we NOT sexualize ALL the women?? PLEASE? I get that Kip is a horny awkward 15-year-old but it makes him really unlikeable for me, as a woman, to see him looking at girls that way. Karris, as others have pointed out, for such a badass woman has a lot of her plot revolving around men. We hear way too much about her body, and yeah the sexist badguy put her in the dress, but that doesn't make it less problematic for you to talk about her nipples poking through. It just comes across as either immature or sexist. Sex drives are realistic but you don't have to get that much into it. Counterbalanced is Liv staring at Gavin but it comes across in more of a fanboyish way than the degrading way the women are described.
-Paolini syndrome: the focus on gore is just WAY overboard. It's a powerful magic system that has devastating results against the human body, blah blah, you don't need to tell us about people's heads exploding like ripe watermelons. Characters don't react properly to it either - maybe they throw up (also, SO much vomit in this book) but after that they forget about it. No trauma? No PTSD? No concerns about how terrible your power is? Sure. Though no one who's supposed to be on the good side revels in it, you can tell it's fetishized more than condemned. I skimmed most of the final battle because I was so tired of it.
I need to stop comparing to Night Angel but ANOTHER THING: in those books I felt that all the murder, gore, squick-y stuff was serving to make the world a nasty place which made the characters' desire to live and love despite it stronger. In this I'm not getting that so much.
Look, I'm going to read the next one anyway. The reviews are better and I know Weeks has the ability to surprise me. And I love my children, Kip and Liv.
-HOLY PLOT TWISTS BATMAN. He did it in Night Angel, and this one's just as twisty.
-Characters: The phrase "not your typical hero" usually refers to someone who's like... clumsiness-totally-counts-as-a-character-flaw or just "not conventionally attractive" blah blah, but Kip really is a hero I haven't seen before. He's overweight, he messes up almost everything he touches, fumbles with words a lot, he struggles with self-loathing, but he's got a heart of gold and you want him to win. Other reviewers complain they didn't like him, but I think he's great and his flaws are more realistic. You go, buddy. Then of course Gavin is there to be fabulous and perfect at everything he does, which is also a satisfying experience for the reader. They balance each other well, and Gavin's complexity really grows throughout the book.
-Worldbuilding: is a much bigger part of the book than Night Angel, and it's done pretty well. Interesting (to have the ocean in the middle - solid choice!) but not too complicated. Also, very clearly racially diverse. Most main characters are POC and the narration does not let you forget it, especially since skin tone matters in regards to the...
-Magic system!! It took a while for me to understand it completely. I still have some questions. But it's entirely new, and sounds scientific enough to satisfy more reality-seeking readers.
-Gray morality: not a must for me, but well done. Sometimes you don't know who to root for, which can be disconcerting but makes for a good reading experience overall.
Okay, the problems are few, but enough to make reading kind of a drag for me.
-THE MALE GAZE. Can we NOT sexualize ALL the women?? PLEASE? I get that Kip is a horny awkward 15-year-old but it makes him really unlikeable for me, as a woman, to see him looking at girls that way. Karris, as others have pointed out, for such a badass woman has a lot of her plot revolving around men. We hear way too much about her body, and yeah the sexist badguy put her in the dress, but that doesn't make it less problematic for you to talk about her nipples poking through. It just comes across as either immature or sexist. Sex drives are realistic but you don't have to get that much into it. Counterbalanced is Liv staring at Gavin but it comes across in more of a fanboyish way than the degrading way the women are described.
-Paolini syndrome: the focus on gore is just WAY overboard. It's a powerful magic system that has devastating results against the human body, blah blah, you don't need to tell us about people's heads exploding like ripe watermelons. Characters don't react properly to it either - maybe they throw up (also, SO much vomit in this book) but after that they forget about it. No trauma? No PTSD? No concerns about how terrible your power is? Sure. Though no one who's supposed to be on the good side revels in it, you can tell it's fetishized more than condemned. I skimmed most of the final battle because I was so tired of it.
I need to stop comparing to Night Angel but ANOTHER THING: in those books I felt that all the murder, gore, squick-y stuff was serving to make the world a nasty place which made the characters' desire to live and love despite it stronger. In this I'm not getting that so much.
Look, I'm going to read the next one anyway. The reviews are better and I know Weeks has the ability to surprise me. And I love my children, Kip and Liv.