'The Blinding Knife' (Lightbringer #2) | Brent Weeks

This book was a lot better than 'The Black Prism' in my opinion, and everything that I think the first book should've been. Also, how pretty is that cover! <3

In 'The Blinding Knife', the story picks up almost immediately on from the previous book in the aftermath of the battle of Garriston. The Prism, Gavin Guile, has to find a new home for the Tyrean refugees, while at the same time trying to cope with the fact that he has lost Blue and is therefore dying now, rather than in 5 years as was expected. In the mean time, he sends Kip to train and try enter the elite Blackguard to toughen him up, and Liv tries to adjust to life in the Colour Prince's army.

In the first book, I felt that not a lot happened and the characters were kind of jarring and unrealistic. In this book however that it completley different. First of all, a lot happens. There's still some of the political intrigue from the first book, but there's a lot more drama and suspense and mystery to keep you guessing and hooked throughout.

The characters felt better and more developed as well, predominantly Kip. In 'The Black Prism' I thought Kip was a little... bipolar, in that sometimes he was quite smarmy and witty and other times just moaned on and on about how pathetic he was. While his overall personality hasn't changed, I felt that he was more consistent in his personality, and no longer moaned on and on about his patheticness - he felt more real. And over the course of the book he obviously grew and developed as a person which was great to see, and you can see him growing into more of a hero.

There were also some nice additions to the cast of characters, firstly in Teia, Kip's training partner in the Blackguard training class. There was also Cruxer, a prodigy and good hearted boy also in the training camp. We also saw a lot more of Andross Guile, Gavin's father, who was a delightfully cruel antagonist character that was lovely to see.

Overall, I felt that the book was a lot better, as Weeks has managed to settle in to the story and characters a lot more. This book was a lot more gripping than the first one, and left me greatly intrigued into what will happen in the next book. It also included a useful glossary and appendix explaining various terms and aspects of this world that was not in the first book and I felt was incredibly useful to help readers understand certain aspects of the world, particularly the magic side, without having to stop the main story in order to describe it all. Overall, a great improvement.

'The Black Prism' (Lightbringer #1) | Brent Weeks

So, I loved Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, so when I heard about this book I knew I had to read it eventually (eventually turned out to be a few years later). Honestly, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the Night Angel trilogy, but it was enjoyable.

The book tells the story of Kip, an overweight teenager from a village called Rekton which is shortly massacred by the ruler of the region, but Kip manages to escape by drafting (essentially - magic) and swears revenge. It also tells the story of Gavin Guile, the Prism (essentially Emperor, although most of the roles political power has been taken away long ago). Gavin is charismatic and charming, but harbours a secret and his path leads him to finding Kip, his bastard son (no spoilers - that's revealed at the end of chapter 2).

It's a fantasy story, and the main form of magic in this book is through "drafting", whereby a Drafter (magician basically) can "draw" colours to make an assortment of tools and weapons out of luxin to allow them to accomplish a wide variety of feats. Most drafters can only draw one or two, or sometimes three colours, and all drafters need to be able to see that colour to draft it. It takes a toll on them though and most drafters die by the time they're 40/50. All drafters, apart from the Prism though. A Prism is born once a generation and can draft every colour and there is no limit to his abilities apart from his own strength, but only manage to rule as Prism for a multiple of 7 years. Gavin for example has ruled for 16 years, meaning he has 5 years to go, as most don't make it past 14 years before dying.

One thing I found complicated about the book was the magic system, and this is why I just explained it a bit. It wasn't really clear early on what luxin was or how drafting worked and most of it I had to work out for myself before a decent explanation was provided (if it was - I'm stiill not entirely sure what luxin is. It's an interesting system though and it was nice to read about a system of magic so different to what you find in most fantasy books.

On to the characters - I really liked Gavin, I thought he was very charismatic and a charmer, and I can see why most women in the book seem to be in love with him. But at the same time he's incredibly mysterious and intelligent, and I spent a lot of the book wondering about him and his past and what would happen as bits and pieces were revealed. Kip on the other hand, I didn't like as much. Kip seems to have a bit of split personality whereby he spends half the book whining and just thinking about how fat and useless and pathetic he is, but then every now and then he turns into someone really witty and self-assured and stuff before suddenly reverting to his pathetic self, and it was just a bit jarring. I don't know if it was just Weeks' attempt at (and struggling at) writing a character who isn't the typical protagonist or if he was trying to hint at hidden layers of Kip or something but... yeah. Kip just didn't really ring through with me, he was just too jarring.

The story itself was good and intriguing, and hints that the future books in this trilogy will get even bigger and more exciting. For this book though, I felt it spent a lot of time establishing the world and the characters and their backgrounds that nothing overly exciting happened in the first half of the book and it got a bit more exciting towards the end when there was a big battle. It was mostly politics and set up before then. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, as Weeks has obviously thoroughly thought out the world and the characters and what happened to them in the past and how this affects them now and what every person wants and is like and etc. etc. etc. Basically, he's spent a long time thinking this through and it shows, but explaining all this to the reader does seem to take up a lot of time and it as a result I found the book to be a bit of a slog at first. I am looking foward to the next book in the series though. One plot point I found most interesting, and yet most confusing to be honest, was the fact that Gavin is actually his brother Dazen and is pretending to be Gavin and is keeping the real Gavin a secret prisoner. It was a very interesting concept and made me think a lot about how it all worked and what would happen in the future. It did get a bit confusing as Dazen obviously refers to himself as Gavin most of the time, and Gavin thinks of himself as Dazen and sorting that kind of stuff out about which brother they actually mean sometimes got confusing, but it kinda works because I guess it would be confusing for 'Gavin' as well. Kip being Gavin's bastard was quite obvious so I'm glad that was revealed like immediately, and his drafting gets hugely stronger as the book goes on which makes me suspect he might be the next Prism but we'll see in future books I guess. The knife at the end of the book... I have thoughts about what will happen with that but we'll see... it's intriguing to say the least.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I still think I enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy more but this book is still good and Weeks' writing style has definately improved since then.

'Blood of the Earth' | David A. Wells

'Blood of the Earth' is the fourth book in Wells series, continuing the tale of Alexander in his battle against Phane and his netherworld forces, and it's this latter that mostly consumes this novel.

This book begins in the aftermath of the battle that took place at the end of 'Mindbender', and in the opening pages the group is attacked by three menacing and sinister netherworld beings who set the stage really for this book and Alexander's quest for the 'Blood of the Earth' - yet another item of amazing power that Alexander has to travel across the Seven Isles to procure and is the namesake for this book (can you tell I'm finding this rinse and repeat formula repeatitive?).

Having said that I find that repeative though, this book doesn't contain as many predictable surprises as in the early 2 books, and there were some genuinely shocking twists in this book which was a relief really. The stage was set for some interesting developments to come in later books as well which I'll look forward to reading when the next books are published. For example, SPOILERS Isabel's heavy taint by the netherworld forces and what this might cause her to do or what she or Alexander might do to prevent it (especially in the light of Rentu's visions), the destruction of the Mindbender sword which I somehow doubt will be a permanent thing - I imagine somehow Kelvin or Alexander will be able to repair it or fashion it into a new item, Alexander's budding friendship with Anja and Bragador, Abigail's friendship with Ixabrax, the progression of Lucky and Kelvin's magics, the return of Jataan - all hints in the concluding chapters of the book indicate to me that we may experience a bit of a time jump or time rush (with the ideas of bedding in for winter, and needing injuries to heal etc.) which could be interesting to see how this affects things... END SPOILERS

Overall, I found this book to be good and interesting, with more surprising twists and turns than before and some interesting plot developments, but overall I found the plot to be a tad fragmented, as instead of a clear plan of what characters were doing, it seemed to keep starting and stopping and changing and so on... It didn't really seem to flow well. Overall though, a good book.

'Mindbender' | David A. Wells

 

Okay, so before I get stuck into the review for this, a little warning: I will refer to things that happened in the previous books, including plot points, because if you're wondering if you should read this book you should definately read or have read them first and not gripe at me about plot points from that. I will hide plot points/revelations from this book behind spoiler text though so don't worry.

So, in 'Mindbender', we follow on from the previous book almost immediately again, with Alexander and his friends having just arrived on Ithilian through the Reishi Gate, trying to create an alliance with the Island, whilst Isabel and Abigail are still held prisoner (albeit comfortable prisoners) in the Reishi Fortress, trying to free themselves and also win them over to Alexander's cause.

I liked the switch up and change in the narrative in this book, with the action switching frequently between Alexander's group and Isabel and Abigail. Wells improved writing style from 'Sovereign Stone' continued here, although he does continue to repeat the same descriptions A LOT for certain characters - not so much (that I noticed) for people like Anatoly, but a new character called Wren is almost continually referred to as "waifish" which is a tad annoying.

Character wise, there were some nice new additions to the cast: Conner Ithilian, who was met briefly at the end of the last book, appears more here and is quite a nice addition to the group. Jataan and Boaberous also appear throughout the book this time having joined Alexander's group at the end of 'Sovereign Stone' - SPOILERS the only thing that slightly bothers me however is that they are both just hugely formidable warriors, particularly Jataan, and so battles from now on are a lot easier and there isn't as much an element of danger as there was before and characters like Anatoly who was a major warrior before and guardian of Alexander kind of becomes superfluous now. END SPOILERS

Plot wise, I enjoyed the story of this book. It had an obvious purpose, even if it was probably a bit drawn out in the overall scheme of the series. It was quite suspensful and chilling (I would NOT like to encounter the revenants for a start!), and I found there weren't as many blindingly obvious plot revelations in this book as there were in previous books - there were one or two that I half-predicted shortly before they came to pass but nothing that I predicted a book or two back. SPOILERS I had a feeling one of the girls would become a wyvern rider during their stay in the fortress, particularly after the focus on the wyverns so it wasn't too surprising when Abigail became one. I did not predict Alexander finding the sword Mindbender (mostly because, you know, it hadn't been mentioned at all before this). I did think that Mindbender was a bit of a deus ex machina again. In each book so far, Alexander has found an all-powerful ancient artefact taht grants him amazing power, and Mindbender is another example - by touching the sword he can predict what the enemy will do in battle and so counter their moves and he can create giant illusions - it just seems a bit much to me and, yeah, like I said, a bit of a deus ex machina. I only wonder now if Alexander will continue to gain an amazing ancient artefact of huge power in each book because if he does it's gonna get a bit ridiculous. Also - at the end they've basically invented a kind of a-bomb-without-the-radiation-probably type weapon... hmm... END SPOILERS

Overall though, I enjoyed the book a lot again, probably more than I did 'Sovereign Stone' and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

'Sovereign Stone' | David A. Wells

 

Okay, so a little warning: I will refer to things that happened in the first book, including plot points, because if you're wondering if you should read this book you should definately read 'Thinblade' first and not gripe at me about plot points from that. I will hide plot points from this book behind spoiler text though so don't worry.

Okay, so... 'Sovereign Stone' is the second in Wells' Seven Isles series, and follows pretty much immediately on from 'Thinblade' - with Alexander and his group inside the Blackstone Keep after Alexander retrieved the Thinblade from the bloodvault within at the end of the last book, with Jataan P'Tal's forces camped outside in wait. In this book, Alexander and his friends must go to retrieve the Sovereign Stone, an ancient artefact that Prince Phane desperately wants (MILD SPOILER - kinda), as it will allow him to send armies across the isles through special gates to surprise and devastate his enemies. It would also teach Phane the secret of Wizard's Dust - the powerful substance that allows wizards and mages to gain their power. END SPOILER

I must say, I enjoyed this book more than I did the first book. In my review for 'Thinblade', I mentioned that I found the writing to be quite annoying and simple. Halfway through 'Thinblade' though that stopped being so much of an issue, and the same can be said here. I found Wells' writing style to be improved in this book, as he obviously must have hit his stride by this point. One thing I have to say carried on though, to my annoyance a bit, was that Wells would constantly re-use certain descriptions for characters. I can understand reinforcing an idea, but when Anatoly is referred to as the "big man-at-arms" or Lucky as a "rotund alchemist" for example every like 15 pages at least, it does get tedious.

The characters developed somewhat from the previous book, but were still the same, basic and somewhat flat people they were then, although I cannot criticise Wells too much for this as it cannot be easy to hugely change a character to make them less flat without, you know, huge dramatic changes and you can't really do that to all of them.

Plot discussion (TOTAL SPOILERS): The plot was okay, if slightly boring. As they were just travelling around for the most part running from Jataan.

I thought Alexander and Isabel's wedding halfway through the book was ridiculously cheesy and fast (I mean, they can only have known each other for a couple of months at most), especially since even less time had been spent developing their love/relationship than in the last book. I found ironic and stupid (even if none of the characters did) that it occurred right after the Fairy Queen was criticising the fact that they hadn't devoted their lives to each other whilst they were trying to win their allegiance, and so they decide to get married on the spur of the moment, and yet no one thinks this is a bit weird and stuff and blergh. Yeah, just... strange.

Chloe was an... interesting addition to the group. Considering all the warnings about the Fairy Queen's price for her loyalty etc. - with Chloe and Alexander 'bonding' and being in love (as well as Isabel and Alexander) there doesn't seem to be any actual issue - Isabel isn't remotely upset or jealous or anything... which just seems a bit unrealistic to me.

Also, the 'revelation' that Alexander is of the Reishi bloodline was so obvious. I mean, when he and Phane had HUGELY similar physical descriptions (ie. their gold-flecked eyes) within like 20 pages of each other at the beginning of the first book, I immediately called it that they'd be related - well guess what!! So obvious... And it so convieniently handled the problem of Jataan, the uber-soldier who they could never defeat and who was so unhappy serving Phane, as he immediately switched sides (also - I totally called that Jataan would switch sides during book 1 as well).

The Sovereign Stone seems like a bit of a deus ex machina since it allows Alexander to talk and gain knowledge from the previous Reishi sovereigns... END SPOILERS

Also what I wanted to talk about was Alexander and his character - I'd mentioned in my review for 'Thinblade' that Alexander wasn't really the typical hero in these types of stories. There never really seems any doubt that he'll succeed in anything he tries, and he seems to be an amazing strategist etc. and he is never corrected or has to be helped or guided in anything. MILD SPOILERS What worries me most though, is that he doesn't seem to have any problem killing, particularly when it comes to nobles and such. I mean, killing on the battlefield is one thing, but when the group passes through Kai'Gorn - he almost nonchalantly decapitates the (admittedly corrupt) ruler there and tosses his head into a crowd. He then later nonchalantly kills the regent of Southport, and he does both because they're corrupt and serve Phane. He justifies this as him dispensing justice and upholding the Old Law, but at the same time it just seems ruthless and bloodthirsty, and part of me hopes that it might be prelude to a subplot about him being a bit tyrannical, although since no one has really had an issue yet I doubt it. Maybe I'm just too soft and idealistic, but it just doesn't sit right with me. END SPOILERS

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first one. I felt the author had hit his stride with his writing style by this point, and the overall storyline is progressing nicely, even if it was a tad boring this time. The story for the next book is set up nicely and looks interesting. Some plot revelations were a bit obvious though and there were some things character and plot wise that just seemed a bit off and flat or strange. Overall though, a good book (and Im sorry that a significant part of my review is hidden by spoilers!

'Thinblade' | David A. Wells

 

When I first started this book, I wasn't overwhelmed by it. I just didn't find myself gripped by the action presented in the first chapter, and I found the writing style somewhat annoying. The author would often just state facts about a person's character, and then re-state it again and again like 20 pages later or something when it came up again, rather than being more subtle about it or whatever like I kind of expected from a book. And the descriptions seemed rather matter of fact and seemed to lack real depth.

After about halfway through the book however, these issues stopped being issues however and the author seemed to settle into the narrative and it seemed to flow more naturally.

The story itself is essentially your basic fantasy tale - the main character lives in a world of magic, and suddenly discovers he has been chosen and is destined to save the world from the evil villian and goes on a quest to do so. Alexander is the Marked One, predestined to stop the evil Prince Phane who has slumbered magically for 2000 years, waiting for his chance to take over the world.

The characters seemed to lack a bit of depth, they didn't really seem flawed in any way. Alexander just accepted his destiny without any struggle, as did his friends and family and there's no real hesitation or anguish about it, and they all think really logically and strategically about everything. Maybe I'm too used to the protagonist being the cocky or quick tempered guy who has to settle into his role, rather than Alexander who just seems to slot into it straight away. Phane as a villian is quite flat as well, but with him I don't mind it as much - he obviously just wants to rule the world and is quite cruel, but it seems to add something to his evilness that I don't mind so much with him.

Another thing that irked me about the characters, is Alexander's love interest Isabel. It was obvious (as it usually is to be fair) as soon as we met her that she was going to be his love interest. SPOILER [But it just seemed to progress insanely quickly and without much exploration or development. I mean yes, they both seem to be attracted to each other as soon as they meet, but within like 20 pages of meeting Isabel, Alexander declares that he is in love with her, and before we are even halfway through the book (considering we met Isabel about 1/4 of the way through-ish?) he proposes to her and she accepts.END SPOILER Little time seems to be spent to developing their relationship, apart from the fact they are both obviously attracted to each other, and there doesn't seem to be any consideration for how this might affect things, any problems with it or the fact their love will probably be putting her in even more danger. There's no real hint of this in the book.

SPOILER Also, the plot point of the fact that Alexander is King of Ruatha etc. and that's why his bloodline was cursed and destined to be the ones to stop Phane was so blindingly obvious. Also, Alexander goes from minor noble/ranch hand to King without little hesitation or problems, which just seems flawed. END SPOILER

Okay, so I've ranted a lot about how flat the characters are and stuff, but overall I did enjoy the book. About halfway through the book, apart from the odd incredibly cheesy thing I stopped being bothered by thoughts of how I was annoyed by the writing style etc. I will be reading the next book in the series (I hate leaving stories unfinished unless it's REALLY BAD), and I hope that the author settles into his writing style more and progresses. Overall, an enjoyable book, but not the best book ever.