ridel@bookwyrm.social reviewed Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer, #2)
An Illuminating Follow Up
5 stars
The Blinding Knife is the kind of sequel you want in a great series: it takes the foundational elements laid in the first novel and delivers more of what you loved while expanding the world. The politics are appropriately convoluted, our knowledge of drafting appears to be the tip of the magical iceberg, and the religious/historical treatment of wights becomes so morally ambigious that it upends everything you thought you knew. It's also an exceptionally tense novel. The story is long and you end up growing quite attached to the leads, but a sense of dread is pervasive throughout because you know at any moment, things will go terribly wrong. Brent Weeks spends most his storyline torturing his characters and it's rare that anything goes well for them.
That said, this novel isn't so much about Gavin Guile as it is about Kip. The teenager gets the kind of growth …
The Blinding Knife is the kind of sequel you want in a great series: it takes the foundational elements laid in the first novel and delivers more of what you loved while expanding the world. The politics are appropriately convoluted, our knowledge of drafting appears to be the tip of the magical iceberg, and the religious/historical treatment of wights becomes so morally ambigious that it upends everything you thought you knew. It's also an exceptionally tense novel. The story is long and you end up growing quite attached to the leads, but a sense of dread is pervasive throughout because you know at any moment, things will go terribly wrong. Brent Weeks spends most his storyline torturing his characters and it's rare that anything goes well for them.
That said, this novel isn't so much about Gavin Guile as it is about Kip. The teenager gets the kind of growth that could almost be considered fanservice, as it delivered all my desires while still feeling well-earned. However, the back of the book leads one to believe this novel is solely about the Prism and I suspect that Kip might actually have more page count than Gavin. I'm happy with that, since as Kip learns about the world, so too do we readers. From this perspective, the novel feels more like a first novel rather than the sequel.
Nonetheless, I doubt you would be reading The Blinding Knife if Kip's self-deprecating humour wasn't amusing. And once you're on the third act of this novel, things move at a rapid pace and nothing is safe, least of all your expectations. I love all the antagonists, including the fact that I'm not even sure which are the villains, and watching them execute their plans is a pleasure.
Highly recommended.