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The Black Prism
Lightbringer
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TBP: Part 3: Chapter 36 - Chapter 47
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No, not every woman will be that way.
Haha, the madman strikes again.^^ I had that feeling with the prisoner. I was like "Why leave him in the novel?".And I was pretty sure that if he would have been just the "bad guy" then what would be the purpose, so I guessed it would only make sense if he would somehow be the good guy.
I wasn't sure how the actual switch was made and during the second part I doubted myself, cause in Gavin's head there were a few segments that indicated that he was the good guy, but I'm really glad Weeks went with that twist.
Overall, I still enjoy the book now more than in the beginning, but I can understand some of the 1-2 star ratings or dnf for Weeks' writing. The prose is really straight forward and for my liking the whole use of humor is kinda weird.
Martin or Erikson both do crazy humor as well, but with them it feels more organic.
The whole parts where we get some kind of inner monologue and characters reaal think "words" like "Oops" is really boderline bad writing quality.
I'm still intrigued enough by the world-building and political scheming, but the writing style makes it really hard for me to thoroughly enjoy the rest.
I can't wait for Linette to com in here to find out that she was spot on with her switched twin theory.^^
HA! :)I also think Dazen /Gavin the Prism is likely the 'good' brother. They've said he's been one of the better Prisms.
I'm also finding the plot and world building is good, but the characters just don't seem to react as they should for their personalities, sometimes - Kip's internal dialogue is a self-doubting, scared boy - but what comes out of his mouth is defiant and mouthy. Andross Guile is an older, powerful, intimidating gentleman - would he really say 'It's so not easy to depose a Prism, you know.' I just don't buy that someone like him would speak in that way. It's a bit jarring.
The writing is kind of juvenile at times, like a teenage boy is writing - I don't think there has been a female character yet whose breasts haven't been described - even the White! LOL.
Still, I am mostly enjoying it.
My prediction is that Kip's probably the most rare type of drafter, probably a super Prism of some sort. I liked that the Prism's reaction was to take Kip away from everyone and let him live as normally as possible, while he hones his skills.
I'm guessing that the Black Prism is probably the real Gavin, the prisoner, after he escapes. And of course he IS going to escape. Could be Kip or even the current Prism, I guess, but I'm thinking Gavin the prisoner.
And...biting a spider and having your mouth fill with spider goo...uuuuggghhh I did not need that. Blech.
Was this the section with the meeting of the Colors? Whatever, if it wasn't at least I'm not spoiling anything.Okay, so in that meeting, Gavin says they don't want Garadul taking back Garrison because it'll make them seem weak, but that giving it back will make them seem magnanimous, and my big question here is... to who?
Tyrea? Well, obviously not, because giving a man who is slaughtering his citizens something wouldn't really fly with those citizens.
Garadul? But... he would be exactly the person to know if he had the strength to take it back by force, so how would that not make them look weak to him?
Themselves? Because I'm pretty sure they would know the real reasons behind their own actions.
Rebels who aren't in Tyrea? Is that a thing? Because if everyone else is as much of an ass they seem to be, I don't think they'd give a damn.
Is there some wider world watching them that we don't know about?
This entire scene made absolutely no sense what-so-ever. Any person in the room should have said, "No, Gavin, that's stupid. Everything you said is stupid. Stop being stupid," and it would have been a pretty reasonable response.
Remembering why this book failed to impress me, one chapter at a time.
Alex wrote: "- Well THAT was a reveal, hoooo-ey
- I think I missed it the first time around and had to backtrack a few pages. The real Dazen needs the deception to be so real that he even refers to himself as Gavin in his head. Confusing.
- I love Kip's test to the tiles and his attitudes to everyone and the ceremony
- I wonder what Kip's real colours are. Before Gavin switched his testing rod. Is he a full-spectrum drafter? Is he a Prism?
- Is everyone woman in this series doing to be a full-breasted, wide-hipped, drop-dead gorgeous siren that the men can't help but ogle? Seriously?
- Andross Guile must be a powerful guy. We've seen what Gavin can do, and still, take a look at how he treats his father and how he is treated in return. That's an awful lot of influence for someone who is blind and sits alone in a room all day."
That definitely was a big reveal, and I didn't see it coming. If they were twins it would have seemed an obvious possibility, but since they're just brothers it didn't occur to me that one could credibly assume the identity of the other (and frankly, I'm still not understanding how nobody caught on to that). It is a little confusing when Dazen refers to himself even in his own thoughts as Gavin, but not to the point that it's distracting.
I'm definitely liking the pace of events, the writing, and the characters a little better in these chapters. I even like Kip better! For a while he would just go from being a self-pitying mope to a petulant pain in the ass (that thing where he told the magister to kiss his butt was straight-up Bart Simpson - I was waiting for him to say "eat my shorts, man"), but he's really focusing all that fear of failure in a positive direction now. "The thresher" was pretty awesome.
I'm not following what you're saying about Kip's real colors. I must have missed that whole thing about the switched testing rod. I thought I did remember him seeing all different colors during the thresher though and wondering why the test only revealed him to be a biochrome.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure either Liv, Marissia, or both were described as being slender, not wide-hipped. But yeah, there are some very tempting sounding ladies in this book. And they're not dressed in your usual medieval fantasy frocks and tunics. Liv is rocking some pretty sexy underwear it sounds like.
- I think I missed it the first time around and had to backtrack a few pages. The real Dazen needs the deception to be so real that he even refers to himself as Gavin in his head. Confusing.
- I love Kip's test to the tiles and his attitudes to everyone and the ceremony
- I wonder what Kip's real colours are. Before Gavin switched his testing rod. Is he a full-spectrum drafter? Is he a Prism?
- Is everyone woman in this series doing to be a full-breasted, wide-hipped, drop-dead gorgeous siren that the men can't help but ogle? Seriously?
- Andross Guile must be a powerful guy. We've seen what Gavin can do, and still, take a look at how he treats his father and how he is treated in return. That's an awful lot of influence for someone who is blind and sits alone in a room all day."
That definitely was a big reveal, and I didn't see it coming. If they were twins it would have seemed an obvious possibility, but since they're just brothers it didn't occur to me that one could credibly assume the identity of the other (and frankly, I'm still not understanding how nobody caught on to that). It is a little confusing when Dazen refers to himself even in his own thoughts as Gavin, but not to the point that it's distracting.
I'm definitely liking the pace of events, the writing, and the characters a little better in these chapters. I even like Kip better! For a while he would just go from being a self-pitying mope to a petulant pain in the ass (that thing where he told the magister to kiss his butt was straight-up Bart Simpson - I was waiting for him to say "eat my shorts, man"), but he's really focusing all that fear of failure in a positive direction now. "The thresher" was pretty awesome.
I'm not following what you're saying about Kip's real colors. I must have missed that whole thing about the switched testing rod. I thought I did remember him seeing all different colors during the thresher though and wondering why the test only revealed him to be a biochrome.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure either Liv, Marissia, or both were described as being slender, not wide-hipped. But yeah, there are some very tempting sounding ladies in this book. And they're not dressed in your usual medieval fantasy frocks and tunics. Liv is rocking some pretty sexy underwear it sounds like.
Gavin and Dazen are not twins, they are a year or 2 apart. But their family resemblance is very very close.
Mod
I'm honestly a bit surprised that you like this book so much Alex with how sexist it reads.
Anyways here's the notes I took while reading. I think all my points were brought up already.
Ch 36
I can’t say I’m too surprised about the brother swap. I won’t go so far as to say I saw it coming, but it didn’t really seem like a big twist either.
The real question is why? Dazen as Gavin seems like a pretty good guy, though it sounds like when he was still Dazen he wasn’t. So is he simply pretending? Pretend something for so long and do you become it?
Meanwhile the real Gavin seems like an asshole. He cheated on Karris at least. So was he, or our perceptions being colored by Dazen? Dazen does have at least one fond memory of his brother as a child to go with all the bad ones. I don’t expect I’d be happy if my brother took over my life and imprisoned me for all that time either.
This development kicks things up a bit at least.
Ch 37
I really don't like Kip. He makes everything worse.
Ironfist on the other hand..
“Wait, this wasn’t the Thresher?” Kip asked. “Do you feel threshed?” Ironfist asked.
Ch 38
Gavin has preempted Liv's plan. We know he wants information from her. She says he freed her. Does that mean she doesn't need to spy?
Ch 44
Maybe it will be explained better later, but I don't really get the trial. It is interesting that Dazen didn't fail.
Ch 45
So did Gavin hide Kips true test results? If so why? I'm sure it's a RAFO thing, but definitely has me curious.
Ch 47
Curious about this white luxin dagger obviously. And about what happened to Gavin when he turned 13.
Gavin did hide Kip's true results. As to why, we have to make our own surmises I think. Possibly he knew it would create a hornet's nest of interest in the world of drafters, maybe identify him as a potential up-and-coming Prism? My guess, for what it's worth.
Alex wrote: "It's almost an Ender's Game scenario, where the kids hate him because he's so good, though Kip doesn't have the same "I know I'm smart" attitude as Wiggin."Also, we had some proof that Ender was smart, so it felt acceptable. Kip doesn't seem that smart, so it's always jarring when someone refers to him as being clever... because he isn't, he just mouths off a lot. Last time I checked, being smart-mouthed and being smart weren't the same thing.
These chapters were a bit improvement from the previous ones, but the author has his characters going through different type of emotions very fast likeKip at one time is sad when he lost his friends, then he sees something and becomes fascinated with it, then he sees his father and start mumbling it looks a lot like robot emotions to me.
I am bit warming upto the magic, but almost half the book has passed when we are getting something concrete about the magic, before this it all bits and pieces. I think although the magic system is good but I still like Sanderson's way of introducing magic because although he throws you into his world but he keeps you giving concrete information regarding it from the start and it flows with the story so easily that you do not find it to be an infodump but here you definitely know that Weeks has gone into infodump mode.
Also it was a big reveal when we come to know Gavin is actually Dazen, so he actually tricked his brother and took his place.
Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapter 36 - Chapter 47.
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