The Black Prism: Book 1 of Lightbringer

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I also really appreciated that the main hero of this book is an unlikely hero that is described as being unattractive and fat. I didn't realize until I read this that it's grown stale on me to have the heroes be the best looking, the strongest, and the fastest. It's refreshing to hear about a regular person being thrust into this, who has serious insecurities.

By dilating their eyes fully, sub-red drafters can see heat, allowing them to see (to an extent) in the dark. They can draft the heat from their surroundings to survive intense heat and create flame crystals, which turn into fire when exposed to air. Sub-reds are passionate in all ways, the most purely emotional of all the drafters. You know I might feel I need to continue on with this series and see where it goes with Kip and other people in the books. If so then there is the library. I just really don't know what's going on. 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. 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!), there would be at least one person who feels differently. The magic system in this book, called Chromaturgy, is second to nothing I’ve read to date – and that includes Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy, which I thought was the Bomb as far as magic systems go. Chromaturgy involves the harnessing of light energy and converting it to matter, a substance called Luxin, which manifests in different forms depending on what colour you “draft.” Interesting combinations can be used in constructing building materials or for combat for devastating effect.I had forgotten exactly what point certain things got revealed in this series, and it turns out that some of the biggest things happen right in book #1 where I was happy to rediscover the same amazement and awe at the brashness and bold defiance of some of these characters. I still felt like Kip was a bit of a wuss to start out, but I know there is a lot of growing to be done over the course of the books, and I look forward to following his adventure. 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.

Kip is not your typical hero. He is fat, uneducated and quite ordinary but in his veins flows a power he has not quite come to terms with. So, it was great to see him grow as a character as he learnt the extent of his abilities and where they stem from. He still has a very long way to go, but I think his future will be certainly interesting and dramatic. How could it not be? He is the bastard of the Lord Prism, Gavin Guile, the most powerful magic user in the world. Gavin’s life is not quite as simple as it would seem, however. He harbours a secret that would shake the world if it was revealed. Secrets always have a way of being exposed though, so finding out how and when this will come out is one of the main reasons I want to carry on reading. It’s explosive stuff.So what's wrong with it?" You may ask, other than the fact that the narrator made the main character sound like a surfer dude. I won't mention any of these "tropes" [I hate to use the word "trope", it's so over used and misused...however it's probably the best choice in this case]...tropes, here as that would entail spoilers.) 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.

In total we're following 7 characters, 2 of them being the main protagonists, 2 with a decent amount of "screen-time" and 3 with only a few chapters. Kip is.... frustrating to read about. He's 15 years old, and acts like it! Which I guess is good writing but also makes him hard to root for, especially because he's not really rooting for himself through most of the book. He's also a bit of a male version of a Mary Sue. The magic system in this world is complex and challenging, with a school to teach it, and yet Kip can do a lot of it based on innate ability since he comes from a power family of these magic users. The book kind of tries to explain this by saying the "will" to do something is the most important, but honestly, he's doing some incredible things with no training at all and that challenged my suspension of disbelief. The author did an amazing job with the world, especially the Chrometia, I really like the way the author depicted that, Garriston, Rekton and the rest are not bad either. The book is written in third person multiple POVs of very interesting characters, its comprehensible with amazing dialogues.Well paced. Deceptively complex plot, characters and history. Unique and well defined magic system. Intriguing mysteries to be solved. Rewards those who pay attention to detail, which also gives it reread value to catch those details that were skimmed or dismissed the first time round. Held my attention. Surprised me quite a few times. Thoroughly enjoyable. This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. ( January 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) One thing I want to mention here is Brent Weeks’ prose. I feel like I need to because one of the main criticisms levelled at this book is its apparently poor prose. Let me say that I have no problems with it. I loved the descriptions of colour and the narrative flowed smoothly. This is all very good so far, a strong opener, but I have a strong feeling it’s going to get much better as the plot and characters develop. Additionally, Kip is a fat character and wow is this book fat-phobic. I don't always notice when a book has fat phobic language or if I do, the scenes are minimal enough that it doesn't impact the story for me. Kip's weight is brought up throughout the story and painted as one of the reasons he's a "failure." Additionally, there are other side characters described throughout as fat in such an over the top way. One scene went on and on about a woman's fatness, her chin, her arms, that she was a whale, a leviathan... the book beat you over the head with how disgusting it found fatness. I have never read a book with this much focus on body size. It actually brought down the enjoyment for me because it was so prevalent. I also don't think the book likes it's female characters that much, although I've heard this improves as the series goes on. The women in this word as allegedly more magically powerful, but the way they are written frequently takes away their agency and doesn't really depict them as having much power, with a few exceptions. The writing of the women seemed to improve throughout even this book, so I hope that continues throughout the series.