Who is the black prism

Although we are given hints throughout the series, we are told outright at the end of Chapter 19 of The Blood Mirror. With Dazen trapped in his own prison, he is confronted with is most cruel creation: a piece of himself designed to distract his brother.

This piece of himself still has all of Dazen's memories up to the split, almost all of which Dazen erased himself by using Black luxin. During this particular revelation, we learn much about the backstory of the Guile brothers. And then, we are given the answer explicitly:. You, Dazen, are the Black Prism. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? The spectrum magic is super cool and done well but that's about it for me. The plot arc seems hindered and the characters even more so, also - flintlock guns? Not into it. The world would derive fine from a classic medieval-esque fantasy base since everything else in the book seems to. I could tell where each and every plot arc was going to go and I hated it.

Gavin - super cool mysterious character - completely lined out before halfway through the book. Its the same with all the other characters. I was not surprised once. Brent Week also tends to over explain character thoughts and interactions and it gets a bit tedious. I don't know, I really wanted to like this book but I didn't.

Simon Vance was great though, so five stars to you buddy. Thanks for the do-over and with Simon Vance! Now the story is not only well narrated, but the voices and performance match the remaining awesome books. Add to Cart failed. Please try again later. Add to Wish List failed. Remove from wishlist failed. Adding to library failed. Please try again. Follow podcast failed. Unfollow podcast failed. Stream or download thousands of included titles.

Narrated by: Simon Vance. No default payment method selected. Add payment method. Switch payment method. We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method. Pay using card ending in. Taxes where applicable. Listeners also enjoyed Publisher's Summary Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world.

Epic Historical. Critic Reviews "Brent Weeks is so good it's starting to tick me off. Weeks holds fast to the traditions of his genre while adding a compelling new flavor. Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews. Amazon Reviews. Sort by:. Most Helpful Most Recent.

Filter by:. All stars 5 star only 4 star only 3 star only 2 star only 1 star only. Sarah Adolescent male fantasy I think if I had read this in , I would have been thrilled that a female character was depicted as a competent warrior. Amazon Customer Nice first book. LornaDavis Bill Formulaic and rife with stereotypes What did you like best about The Black Prism?

Sam Simon Vance Finally! DJK Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reissue! Colourful story! Great beginning - better than I expected I read the Audible and Amazon reviews as well as blogs and reader sites to narrow my listening choices.

Started out good and then I got bored. Steve Davis Show More. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Black Prism , please sign up.

I didn't like The Way of Shadows because I felt the writing was immature and the plot badly developed. Do you think that I will like this book? Does Weeks show improvement between this series and the Night Angel Trilogy?

Bodi Yuhico I hated the Way of Shadows: especially because of it's immaturity, it's characters' immaturity, the treatment of women, the inconsistent magic system …more I hated the Way of Shadows: especially because of it's immaturity, it's characters' immaturity, the treatment of women, the inconsistent magic system and the way most of the plot seems to have been made up as it went along.

The Lightbringer series shows just exactly how Weeks has progressed as a writer. It's an incredibly well-thought out series, kind of reminiscent to Brandon Sanderson. This question contains spoilers My theory on this is because it grows along with it's owner's abilities Ki …more The knife used by Kip and only a few others was called the Blinding Knife.

My theory on this is because it grows along with it's owner's abilities Kip's abilities and that it is called the Blinding Knife also because it takes away the colours that the person who was stabbed can draft while transfering them to the blade. See all 31 questions about The Black Prism….

Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Black Prism Lightbringer, 1. Update: It's a bit sad but not really surprising that I have to defend my position after giving multiple examples especially after plenty of other people have come forward and agreed.

I'm not going to argue with people who haven't read the book seriously? An author is able to create a fantasy world with a different map, magic system, religion but can't help himself and has to respect the status quo about sexism.

I Update: It's a bit sad but not really surprising that I have to defend my position after giving multiple examples especially after plenty of other people have come forward and agreed. It's what he knows and he might not even realize it but damn does it get frustrating and frankly boring! In any world even a sexist one! It's too convenient to excuse it by saying it's "fiction" so yes I will call it out when I see it. Plenty of authors are able to write well rounded characters from any gender.

The opposite sex is not alien. Plenty of authors are able to write characters that are monstrous or sexist without seeming sexist themselves Don Peters from Sleeping Beauties anyone?? Every word was a choice. No one forced the author to write about ridiculously debilitating period for the main female character. No one forced him to tell us about how physically attractive each female character was or if their breasts and nipples were satisfying enough.

A simple line with a female character rolling her eyes at a male character for being sexist would have been enough to make me not mention any of this.

Instead we have a main "strong" female character who spends a whole battle in a revealing dress that oh so inconveniently split open at the thigh and is apparently still hung up on a man she hasn't been with in over 15 years!

The fact that only men have had an issue with my opinion says it all. Take a second to think about it. I really like the ideas in this book. The world and magic system are different and fascinating.

You will need to push yourself to read the first pages before it gets better. The magic system is confusing until then! I could tell you which women are the prettiest in order and who has the best boobs. Real descriptions in the book. What about the guy next to her? Woman who is forty has saggy breast. Did I need to know that? Does the man next to her have saggy balls?

What's up with the obsession of 40 years old women?! At one point, one of the main character, Kip, a horny 15 years old insecure fat boy, thinks to himself, after falling, that he seems to spend more time on his back than a whore Adding one more someone just reminded me of! During a battle, Kip "falls face first into the cleavage of a woman" I loved how much it added to the story! What really annoyed me though was the main female character. She is a badass fighter part of the Blackguard and has great magical powers.

But the poor girl is insecure about her manly shoulders. Are you freaking kidding me??! Anyway I did like the overall story, I'm not sure it truly deserve my 4 stars so I'll reduce it to 3 but I really wanted to love this View all comments.

Updated rating 4. View all 19 comments. The Black Prism , the first book in Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, was one of my first forays into an adult high-fantasy novel.

One thing I can say for sure though is that I can appreciate the intricacies and subtleties of The Black Prism on my reread. Plus, the main characters introduced in The Black Prism were characters that never stops developing throughout the whole series; in both journey and mentality.

Gavin Guile, Kip, Karris, Ironfist, and Liv—whether you love or hate them is a different story—were well-realized characters that I found to be compelling and entertaining to read. On the opposite spectrum, we have Kip, a fat teenager who constantly self-loathe and self-bash his own weight.

It may turn out he doesn't have one. You can order the book from: Book Depository Free shipping You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions View all 65 comments. Feb 05, Andrew Obrigewitsch rated it it was ok Shelves: fantasy. This book is really tough for me to rate. The story is a flintlock fantasy. With some really brilliant ideas, a very interesting plot, cool magic system and great action.

Well the problem with Brent Weeks' writing is that you feel like you are being told a story by a very creative and imaginative 15 year old boy, with no real life experience and not a lot of study under This book is really tough for me to rate.

Well the problem with Brent Weeks' writing is that you feel like you are being told a story by a very creative and imaginative 15 year old boy, with no real life experience and not a lot of study under his belt.

The focus on sex is exactly how a 15 year old boy would focus on it. The more than necessary gore in battle scenes is exactly how a 15 year old boy would describe it. The cuss words thrown in at the most awkward places, just to sound cool, the use of teen slang, the way things are described with the focus on the most random things under the situation, for example the focus on womens' breasts in the middle of a battle scene and the way the characters think and act are all exactly how a 15 year old boy would describe it.

I can actually see how Weeks is a very successful fantasy writer as the majority of fantasy fans are males between the ages of His books must really speak to them. But unfortunately I'm a 33 your old male that's lived in other countries outside the U. I frankly find the way his characters act and the dialogue to be utterly ridiculous and childish. If he were to stop the pretense and admit he writes YA fiction I would not be so harsh and I would give this book 3 stars.

Until Weeks does so I have to rate it with other adult books, his books just can't stand up. Here is an example of the 15 year oldness of the story: At one point the villain murders over a thousand people, but the hero and main female character are upset by the fact that the hero had a kid 15 years earlier, which means he cheated on her, as they where dating then but broke up 15 years ago. I mean come on that's way more important then a bunch of innocent people laying dead all around you right?

Or maybe in a combat zone you might be thinking of how you don't want to be spotted, as there may be enemies lurking around to find any survivors? Or maybe you might be so disgusted at the over 1, decapitated courses, that you can't think of anything else? If you have a 15 year olds mindset and have never seen a dead body, then you might think an over decade old love interest was more important than all these things.

Another example is how Weeks seems to discover a new word that he beats to death throughout the book with it's synonyms, in this one is was vomit. In one of his other books I read it was feces. I remember when I was 12 thinking it was funny to learn a new word that meant vomit too. It was still 1, times better than Night Angel. But if you only read a few books a year, and are not a male between 12 and 22, go with something else.

View all 34 comments. You know you are reading a masterpiece when out of 95 chapters and 5 different POVs, not even one is slightly boring. I have heard a lot of things about Brent Weeks' second trilogy, and most of them have been proved true so far.

He has grown up as an author, improving not only his prose and narration but his imagination as well. The You know you are reading a masterpiece when out of 95 chapters and 5 different POVs, not even one is slightly boring. The world-building is exceptional, the magic is system complex yet easy to understand, and the characters are well crafted and masterfully developed.

The real gem of the book though is the story itself. A thing that characterizes all of Brent's work is the tremendous mix of fun and action, giving you a laughing fit at the most inappropriate of times.

Worth mentioning is the juggling of several compelling and intertwining POVs with a straightforward prose, while the subaqueous qualities of the facture contextualize not only the characters but the society's structure as well. View all 8 comments. Jun 19, carol. Shelves: male-lead , epic-fantasy , fantasy. Let's be honest; I've been dreading reading this. Because The Night Angel Trilogy ended up a broken promise.

Good beginning, steady decline in the quality of characterization and plotting, and, need I mention, a sexist hot mess? At any rate, Weeks seems to have been going for something different here, or at least something more developed--say perhaps, Epic--and it works much better.

Except it's so damn conscious of being epic that I roll my eyes just looking at it--that heft! The matte blac Let's be honest; I've been dreading reading this. The matte black cover! The half-hidden silhouette! The bold text! Impress yourself much? It is Epic, "epic" with an intentionally capitalized 'E. Weeks has built a blocky but solid foundation that will no doubt carry him a Jordanian expanse. This is Epic Crank , with one damn crisis after another, and if they can't all fit into book one, well, surely they'll show up in books two, three and four.

There's no shortage of conflict large and small: An almost-orphan with a drug addict mother, a village rebelling against a ruler, a woman caught between two brothers, an occupied city, an unfulfilled prophecy for a world, a religious revolution. Brothers fighting for their father's approval.

Magical tests. Isolation, social and physical. Magic and madness. Discovering inner potential. A siege. A country made up of kingdoms only nominally working together.

A school of magic that may be rotting from within. Familiar ingredients, and I dare say that there isn't much original with them, beyond composing the story around an unique and interesting magic system--and throwing the entire kitchen sink into one book. I'm sure you've heard all about how 'light' forms the basis of magic, and it is one of the concepts that sets this book apart. Magic users get so many opportunities to use that magic before it drives them insane, or at least that's how the canon goes.

Some users on the other team are giving madness a shot, one of the more interesting plot lines in the book. What I did discover is that Weeks can write an engrossing story when he stops jumping around different characters, ala Night Angel, and gets to the business of writing. Here he limits himself to Kip, the orphan boy; Gavin, the most powerful magic-user in the land and spiritual head of the religion; Karris, a magic user and top-notch fighter; Liv, Kip's tutor, fellow townie and daughter of a famous traitor; and one other spoilery character that seems to be crazy.

I know that's a lot of people, but it's a score less than the Night Angel series, so I counted myself lucky. I could just about tell exactly where the plot was headed and I read anyways--that's how fast-paced it is, and how good Weeks is at sucking one in. It's just the thought of committing to that big fat book and it's subsequent followers that leaves me shying away. It's Epicness will surely meet most Epic-readers needs, and that it will meet my Epic needs if I discover I have them in the future.

It certainly moved quickly, was engaging and the magic ideas were interesting, especially as users reached the end of their lifespans and chose actions accordingly. The identity-catechism ambiguity--which was only a side point of this book--seems promising.

As an aside, the writing didn't annoy me, although it didn't necessarily soar either. Gavin was by far the most interesting character, a multifaceted jewel of complexity, and most of the depth is spent on him. It was worth it, and while he was the character I was ready to hate, by the end I think he was rather admirable. Kip, alas, does not fare as well and seems surprisingly modern whiny for a doughy wasn't he penniless?

It rather feels like channeling modern Garion; one minute sulky pouting, the next adolescent hormones and the next all snark. In this case, it seems clearly the fault of the writing, which usually picks one of the three traits to emphasize and doesn't let him color far outside those lines.

Karris is WonderWoman, except that she needs to be saved after she sinks into The Pit of Despair, and poor young Liv is being set up by Bad Guys on Both Sides, I can just tell, although she also has an interesting complexity of motivations. But I foresee that the general characterization of women will piss me off in the future, given that Week's already spoiled Karris by making her into one big ball of trope.

There's lots to love for Epic fans; I just don't seem to be an Epic Fan right now. I put it down a number of times because I just couldn't take its demands. This may indeed be the series that modern Epic Fans were waiting for, but I confess, I only remotely care. Someday, I'll have an Epic need, and I'll surely pick up the second. But I've got a few other higher priority books first. Three and a half stars. View all 50 comments. Mar 26, Bradley rated it it was amazing Shelves: fanboy-goes-squee , fantasy , top-one-hundred.

Three times now! Could I be a fanboy? Maybe even more so after reading the fifth book recently? Wanting to revisit the entire series from the start? So many changes. So many plot twists. So MUCH. Not to mention how beautiful all the visualizations are. It's like this book was written just for me to see in my mind.

This is one of my favorite epic fantasy series ever and upon re-reads, I'm hardly in a position to recant. Especially now. I'm still thrilled as hell. I absolutely love the smartass "Kip the lip" fat kid whiner turned badass, but it's Gavin Guile that really steals the show.

Has there ever been such a complicated character in existence? Charming, devious, uber-powerful, totally evil and absolutely on the side of good all at once. What the hell is he? Ah, but I've read the whole series and I know it just gets better and better, but this first book is utterly kickass. It's almost pure action, gorgeous colorful magic system, bigger-than-life characters, and best of all, it's probably one of the most fun books I've ever owned. I've raved about it to everyone I know.

For good reason. You better believe it! Original review: I truly suspected that I'd fall head-over-heels for the new Brent Weeks trilogy, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

If you are in the mood for a great and creative magic system in a very well thought out fantasy world that is so thoroughly steeped in action, melodrama, action, crazy mind-blowing characters, action, and color, then pick this damn book up immediately and thank your lucky stars you did. I'm a fanboy. I cannot wait until I pick up the second book. Oh wait, I have it in my hands and I'm typing this out with only one hand.

Now I've put the book in my mouth so I can keep typing. This hurts, some, because the book is so wonderfully thick and if I ever thought that I might have been getting less than my money's worth, then I'm an idiot. Did I mention this fantasy is a fast-paced action full of twists and gorgeous colors throughout? This novel is what happens when a novelist's imagination is much, much bigger than any hope that the story could ever be made into a movie or an anime and will give the reader all of the scope and power to vision it all in as much glory as he or she likes.

And I liked, Oh, yes, I liked it a lot. It's different from most fantasy novels, although it may not seem so from these words; in that it allows magic to be big, heroes to be big, and then let them be bigger and more complex and even downright evil while being good at the core at the same time. That's as close to a spoiler as I'm going to get.

You'll see within a few hundred pages what I'll mean by this, and then be surprised several more times, again. My only complaint at this point will be in waiting for the third book, because it's not going to be long before I finish the Blinding Knife. Brent Weeks has done it again and ranks up there with my very favorite Fantasy novels of all time.

View all 18 comments. That syndrome sucks big time. You're only bored. I know, it's tricky. Sanderson's fans might not show this symptom though : if you like long ass descriptions of how a magic system works, well lucky you, you may not meet boredom yet. How would you call it?

You laugh when you're supposed to be shocked, and there's this little ironic martial tune playing in your head every time a plot point is revealed usually by slapping you straight in the face Special award to the You Have A Kid Note.

It was fabulous. Apply it to every fucking character. If you snarl at every word they utter, you might be more touched than I thought. They are just in time to save a teenager from being executed, killing several of the Satrap's personal bodyguards in the process. Gavin is then confronted by the irate Satrap himself, who calls himself King Garadul and his Satrapi a true independent nation. The town was burned on his order, as an example, due to their refusal to pay levies.

Tyreans are treated with little respect outside of Tyrea and have no true color on the spectrum. Garriston, the country's only port, is under a rotating occupation from the other Satrapies. King Garadul plans to continue the march of his largely conscripted army to Garriston and seize it, and from there, break the Chromeria's rule over the world.

The child is revealed to be Gavin's son, Kip. Following some debate, heated words, death threats and magic missiles, Kip and the Prism are allowed to leave together. However, the king takes a box from Kip which he claims was stolen from him. The box contains a white dagger given to Kip by his dying mother, who——through curses and abuse——made him promise to kill the man responsible. Away from all this, Karris reads the note given to her by the White, and is angered by Gavin's betrayal, his lies about it when breaking their engagement, and the White's attempts to manipulate her into forgiving him.

Because of this, she ultimately refuses Gavin's offer of assistance the rest of the way to Garriston, opting to explore Rekton while Gavin brings Kip back to the Chromeria. She is eventually captured by king Garadul, while Corvan continues to Garriston. While Kip is entered into the Chromeria, shadowed by the Blackguard commander Ironfist , Gavin does a favor for Corvan's daughter Liv in exchange for her teaching Kip, as they are the only Tyreans in the Chromeria.

He then enters a prison hidden deep in the Chromeria, containing his brother, whom he has secretly imprisoned in a cell in which nothing but blue luxin can be drafted. It is then revealed that the Prism is in fact Dazen, having stolen his older brother Gavin's identity.

When Dazen became Gavin after the war, he chose to break off Gavin's previous betrothal to Karris despite his own feelings, truthfully denying any affairs. The prism interrogates his brother about both Kip and the dagger, which Gavin calls "your death coming.

When he mentions the box Garadul took from Kip, Andross immediately asks if it is "the white luxin ," a supposedly mythical substance. His brother Gavin was aware of it as well, and Andross——not knowing Dazen isn't Gavin——assumes he knows what it is.