The story flows well and keeps the reader interested. Highly recommended for SF and Fantasy readers.

The Black Prism is based around a fifteen-year-old, tubby Kip. After watching his home town burned to the ground by a supposed "King Garadul" (sadface), Kip was the next on this Kings list - until the Prism saves him. Not only is the Prism Kips new hero, but he is also his biological father, and in saving Kip, Gavin - the Prism - has invited a war between Garadul and himself. This book had amazing flow between past and present. I was never bombarded with too much or too little information at any time. Weeks always knew the perfect amount to give without confusing the reader. And the twists! The incredible plot twist! They were so amazing. I never saw any of them coming, and when they did my jaw literally hung open. I really loved Kip in this book. Although he may have seemed like a bit of a cry baby, I really admired his ability to pull through all of his tough times, his ability to adapt and his ability to persevere. I also quite enjoyed his sense of humour. :) Gavin was also a great character, always worried that he'd mess up one thing or another, giving him a tight chest, which made it really believable that he was worried about it. But I can't believe the ending! And I can't wait till the next book comes out! If you loved the Night Angel trilogy, you are sure to love Weeks' Lightbringer trilogy as well. :) Funnier than the first, I'm sure it's a novel everyone wil enjoy.

I have read all of Brent Weeks books and have loved them all! The Black Prism was no exception. I had a hard time putting it down and find myself wishing I had if only because I now have to wait for the next one in the series! I love the world building and appreciate his imagery. There are a lot of characters and it took me a little bit to get familiar with them as they switch back and forth a lot. That being said, once I understood the characters I found the characters were solidly written with depth and they were interesting. If you like his previous works you will LOVE this one!

I started with the Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks, and absolutely loved it. Highly recommend it. Then I read the Black Prism. This book had great potential, and fantastic world-building, but it did not realize it. The pacing was non-existent, there was no flow to the text. The scenes would go from full steam ahead to full stop without notice or appreciable transition. Every character had the exact same two emotional states: Scared and flippant. Between bouts of panic, and in the midst of every situation, each character was capable of spouting unconvincing witty banter. The magic system was weak and felt like a poor simile of stronger systems from other author's. All these problems could have been fixed by re-arranging certain scenes, having some revelations come earlier, and adding more depth to the characters. That and another few months with a decent editor. Long story short, if you want to try Brent Weeks, check out the Night Angel Trilogy, its fantastic. If you enjoyed the Trilogy, ignore this book, you'll be disappointed. That being said, I hope Mr. Weeks continues writing, and returns to his former writing level, as he has a lot of potential to be a great fantasy writer.

My boyfriend and I both ripped through and devoured the Night Angel trilogy in under a month – could not put those books down to save our lives. When we saw that Brent Weeks had released another book we practically fought over who was going to get to read it first (he won by the way…). We both enjoyed this novel and are both really, really, hoping that this is going to turn into a series as the story “ends” on a bit of a cliff hanger. We very much enjoy Brent’s writing style and appreciate the sarcastic/satirical quality that he brings to his work. His books are not “too deep” which is also appreciated – they are highly entertaining and engaging, and the story line in this case is quite unique which is becoming more and more rare. The only reason that I haven’t given this novel a 5/5 like I did the trilogy is the story CANNOT be over yet. Although we feel that most of the characters in this novel were very well developed and rounded, I can’t say that I felt the same way of the character Kip. Perhaps his character will receive the same believability in upcoming novels (please please please please let there be another!!!).

I bought this book as a gift for my husband as we are both fans of Brent Weeks previous series. After he was only a few chapters in he was already complaining, that the book had an end and there wasn't another book to read after it yet! He said it was an awesome read and he is generally extremely critical of books. I'm looking forward to reading it too!

I have bought Mr. Weeks previous novels and I enjoyed them. Unfortunately I found nothing in common with his new book. I found his characters flat and unconvincing. I had to force myself to finish this novel. I do recommend his previous novels but not Black Prism.

Cannot wait for the second book. Great book, read it in less than 4 days, you cannot put htis book down. Brent was again able to keep me guessing from the beginning, keeping me on edge until the end to only offer you another "be on edge" feeling for the upcoming book of the series. Well done!

After reading the Night Angel Trilogy, I have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of Brent Weeks' new book. For the most part it held up to my expectation. Again Weeks makes the characters believable and he shifts the story between different characters flawlessly. It was a book I could not put down. It was not as good as Night Angel, although it was pretty close. I think this is partly due to the fact that the book is setting up many ideas and events for the subsequent books, while at the same time introducing many ideas, though interesting, that can still be kind of confusing.