Massive Black Prism Review Round-up
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Since The Black Prism came out, I have been doing my best to keep my eye on the reviews that came out for the book, in the hope of course of convincing more of you to go out and buy it! But also, after you read it, to give you a chance to see if other people had the same thoughts about The Black Prism that you did. I also like to keep my eye on the reviews myself, because if one person said I did something wrong, it’s easy to dismiss. But if 12 people say it, then I will think twice about it in the future. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy with writing The Blinding Knife that I haven’t had time to post all of the reviews that have come to my attention since I did my first review round-up last year.
But now I have corralled a list, and pulled out what I hope are the pertinent quotes. Mostly pro, but a few con as well. I’ve put all of these reviews over on my Reviews Page. If you know of other dedicated book blogs or review sites that have covered The Black Prism that I’ve missed, please let me know. And if you prefer to get your epic fantasy in mass market paperback, The Black Prism will be shipping August 23rd (definitely should be in stores by the 29th) with a nicely reworked map and the first chapter of The Blinding Knife as a teaser!
That teaser for The Blinding Knife better be posted online for those of us who already purchased The Black Prism! *Shakes fist*
You could always read it in a bookstore!
Cameron, Cameron, I’ll take care a yah. No worries. I’m not gonna leave my hardcore fans in the cold. I’ve already brought this up (like 6 months ago) with my publisher. Will have to clear with her whether I have to wait until one day after publication or something, but I’ll do everything I can. ‘kay?
Haha, schweet. No real problem, just keen on getting me some more Lightbringer!
Keep up the great work!
Awesome. There is no way I can stop myself from buying your books the first day I know they’re out, I cannot wait long enough for some silly paperback.
I concur with Cameron, what about all your devoted fans who bought The Black Prism straight away? :'(
How many pages is the paperback version? On Amazon it said it was less than 500. That doesn’t seem right to me.
-Matt
Nah, Amazon often just throws guesses out regarding dates and page counts. It’s 787 pages, counting the bonus chapter.
That seems right! Thanks!
-Matt
Awesome. Can’t wait to read the first three chapters on here. I’m assuming you’ll do that again.
Brent you are awesome dont stop writing
Just finished Black Prism, and only got it two days ago. Loved it.
I definatly see your writing style after the Night Angel books, and love how you’ve incorperated more thought into the book. The Black Prism definatly had a much better twist than the Night Angel books, and left me on my toes for the next book.
I needed a break from some really long books(Game of Thrones, of course), and was deciding on what to read. Black Prism was perfect for me: a fast paced, magic-using, sword-and-armor book(with a bit more depth than most).
Thanks for writing the book, and I hope you can make the next one even better. take your time, just please don’t take more than 3 years, I don’t think I can handle the wait!
(I’d love to see more depth into Durzo Blint though, I was excited about the short book…type thing you just put out, but, as an experienced reader of all kinds, I think you can make a very popular two or three book series out of his story, thanks!)
Reworked map? As in more detail? It also for some reason took me a while to realise South was up x_x
I’m halfway through the black prism and I’m already now excited for the next one (pretty sure I’ll be sitting at the egde of the chair at the end of this).
Took me some time to figure out what you meant by the black prism coming out as a paperback this month because the version I got is a paperback though I think it’s the same format as the hardback and occured to me as an odd format.
Really looking forest to the next one 🙂
As an avid fantasy reader, the magical concept alone is phenomenal. Kudos. The rest of it, with the plot, also receives kudos.
However, I have two questions: A) I was under the impression the Black Prism would be continuing the gaping questions left at the end of the Way of Shadows. Obviously, I could be mistaken, but one way or another, is the Durzo Blint novella supposed to wrap things up, or is there more coming after the Black Prism series is completed?
B) With the title “Black Prism,” I was so incredibly excited for Kip to become the badass that he (hopefully) will, with the major drops of “oh yeah, I can see and probably draft in the dark” and, of course, the fact that he’s a prism. There was not a single freaking mention of the phrase “black prism” in the book AT ALL… other than title. WTH?
As much as I love your books, Brent (and I do, very much so, you’ve killed most of my favourite series just by your writing style alone), but your stories are similar M.Night Shyamalan’s, where they have an awesome body and an extremely disappointing conclusion. I looked at the Black Prism and the end of the Way of Shadows and went REALLY? Your books leave me fidgeting for the next ones, so keep it up, but I’m not the only one that has the sentiments for your endings, so I wanted to throw it out there.
Lightbringer is totally separate from Nightangel. Different worlds entirely. The Durzo Blint novella is a prequel – not going to be wrapping things up. Once Brent has done the Lightbringer, he’s going to be writing a follow up series to the Nightangel trilogy, set I think from memory somewhere between 10 and 20 years afterwards.
I’m assuming the title will become clearer in one of the next books.
On endings, I only found the ending of Beyond The Shadows disappointing. I think he’s got the intermediate (?) endings (not the ending of the series, but of the book?) pretty much perfect.
Um… Thanks? I know they’re different worlds, that wasn’t my question. I would be even more completely inane if I *didn’t* realize that. The point was: When WILL they be wrapped up?
You obviously need to read more well-written books to complement your library if you think that those endings were amazing. Nobody’s perfect, but it’s extremely frustrating to go “WTH?” at the end of the series. And I’m not the only that thinks so, otherwise I wouldn’t express these sentiments.
(P.S. This was more for Brent.)
I did say that he’s going back to Midcyru to write a follow up trilogy once he’s done with Lightbringer…
I’m not disagreeing with you on the end of the series, only on the endings of the first two books.
I found that Way of Shadows set things up nicely for Shadow’s Edge, which set things up nicely for Beyond the Shadows, while still being complete stories in and of themselves (although this was less in Shadow’s Edge than in Way of Shadows), which is what I would consider ideal for a book midway through a series. The end of a story, but not of the story, if that makes any sort of sense.
I agree about how the magic works in this book. Working light into matter that can be used in different ways depending on the color of the light? Amazing idea.
I also agree on the endings of all the books, and wish there was more to tie them up.
I would have preferred to see more about Durzo Blint rather than a new series, definatly, but if there is a promise of more books in Midcyru, while having these great new books coming out, I suppose I can try not to fall on my face agonizing over what to read next.
Fantastic book! Somehow even better than the Night Angels Trilogy in my opinion.
I did not “read” the book, I am listening to the Graphic Audio version of it. Amazing choice to go with Graphic Audio – their production actually makes the book better in my opinion.
You and Brandon Sanderson are my favourite authors right now. =)
Just curious… Did you and Brandon Sanderson ever have a discussion about color-based magic system?