wolvenbolt's reviews
213 reviews

What an adventure!
What a riveting, charming and captivating ride!

This book was such a charming and fascinating experience! All the ideas, all the concepts, all the characters, trials and tribulations were all so beautifully written and paced.

Rylund Grace was a simple enough character and he did not need to be any more complex, the twist about 80% into the book that was revealed through his memories was somewhat expected but a nice twist.

It made his whole journey on the ship an unintentional and accidental redemption arc.

Rocky was a joy, a beautiful little character with a heart of gold. Watching Rocky and Grace's interactions was so gripping and enjoyable, seeing all their differences and learning about eachother and their differences and similarities was amazing.

Only thing to critique was sometimes the scientific jargon and concepts went over my head and I'd have to look things up myself which disrupted the flow of the book I did not want to put down, but it wasn't so common and severe that I was doing this all the time, I expected this from what I'd heard of the author's other works.

If you love sci-fi, aliens, wholesome and engaging stories, then I'd recommend this 🤓

This is the best book to have come out since original trilogy. 

I still have the same gripe I have before about Lysander, I hate his character, not because he's an eel, but because I think he's a poorly executed character. I've no idea what type of person he is, what he really values, he has no real family, he is completely by himself in a crowd. It's so bizarre, he's the total opposite of Darrow, they are almost two sides of the same coin, except I know Darrow morals, convictions, his traumas and suffering, I know what drives him and it makes sense, Lysander is like a chameleon, he keeps changing his forms, appearing good and misguided one second, then someone who wants to do the right thing but at any cost, then someone who'll kill anyone to take power and be in total control, he keeps shifting from moral to without morals and I get whiplash every single time. He is consistently inconsistent. I honestly want him defeated and to lose, not even because he's wrong, but simply because I don't want to have to read of him anymore, a very frustrating character.

As for Lyria

, I have a feeling the parasite is still in her head and Mateo put on the act of talking to her, hearing her say she doesn't want that power, then pretending to remove it, so that he could make sure someone who didn't want the power, understood it's dangers and the responsibility it would require would be charged with it's possession. I hope that's what happened, because if not, it's a waste of a plot and is a very clear retcon of a plot setup.

As for Cassius, Sevro, Darrow, Lyria and Diomedes, they were a powerhouse cast with some incredible character development and dynamics.

Cassius was an amazing character, he became a form of punching bag, a sponge for others struggles and pain, he made a lot of mistakes and took responsibility for them and he still followed his heart, he is what every gold should have aspired to be.

I loved seeing Sevro accept himself, he took his personas and united them, Sevro Barca, The Goblin, the Son of Ares, Ares. I loved his character arc.

Darrow finding his faith, finding his drive, recognising he was no longer the vengeful spirit that was needed, they is a shephard and a builder, he's not a warhammer to crush all those that oppose him, he is a hammer for driving nails into the foundations of a better world.

Virginia was very absent in this book, on one hand I'm not a fan of how her character has ended up so I'm happy to focus on the interesting characters, but on the other hand this book could have been an opportunity to work on and improve her.

Lyria was an absolute joy, she's the heart of the crew! I love how she's a mouse among gods and she's afraid of them all but pushes on through regardless and fights for her beliefs and those she loves. She's a reminder that the hierarchy is meaningless, everyone has a purpose and something to contribute. Her friendship with all the different colors is almost prophetic of a united future. I thought there was a romance budding between her and Cassius and I found it charming and sweet, but then at the end it was said to the readers that she was an unexpected protégé, which was disappointing.

Overall, this book felt very much like the vision Pierce Brown originally had for the new Red Rising Saga following the original trilogy, it had the heart of the trilogy, but a maturity to it that didn't sacrifice the heart, unlike Iron Gold and some chunks of Dark Age.

Jesus what the hell was wrong with the art in this issue? It was awful, the faces weren't even proportional

Honestly the Graphic Audio Audiobook for this was riddled with voice actor swaps which broke Immersion, really broke the vibe of the book and ruined certain chapters. And because this audiobook is in parts, it meant these changes were inconsistent as in part 1 Dazen can be voiced by the original and then suddenly its part 2 with someone else voicing him and clearly putting the voice on. 

While I enjoyed this book, the author made a lot of bad choices that caused the story to depreciate in quality and sense as it went on.
So many plot holes, retcons, incoherence, confusion and unanswered questions. 

Zymon was one of worst parts, a one dimensional character with no wealth or power (yes he was prism-elect and prism for a time) who somehow has the Lightguards obeying his every command. I don't even have to list the reasons why all that was stupid and clearly a lazy implementation to keep the characters busy inside the Chromeria.

In the previous book it was revealed that Andross was Kip's real father, and was Dazen's youngest half-brother. Dazen admits many times over all the books that he doesn't feel much for Kip and he's just another tool in his arsenal, and yet, suddenly Dazen keeps referring to him as his son, Andross being the real father is never even spoke about at all, neither in dialogue or narration. Kip is never told, Dazen never reveals it. It seems like the author tried a cheap shock-factor trick in the previous book and regretted it and so decided to just not mention it and hope it's forgotten. No. 

Now we're told Gavin hunted immortals and imprisoned them in his Color Prison, which makes the first couple of books Gavin chapters with him trying to escape even more confusing and cheap. We're told Gavin was dead ever since Sundered Rock, so what was the point of these chapters from his perspective escaping the prisons when Dazen was far away from them. What? Was it the immortals themselves breaking the fourth wall to trick the reader or something? It was clearly initially shock-factor that Weeks abandoned later and created plot holes. 

So Kip was the Lightbringer, and Andross was so consumed by his own arrogance and pursuit to be unmatched in all things that he thought himself the centre of prophecy and somehow convinced his wife he was the Lightbringer and they sacrificed their youngest son, got their eldest to do it. Righhhhtt. Makes sense, most arrogant character thought himself the most important man in history. And Felia let him do all he did? For this? And bedding Katalina Deluria? And Kip giving away the Lightbringer mantle to him was ridiculous. And why was it necessary for Kip and Andross to play a few games of Nine Kings preparations for them at the brink of war?

This book, while enjoyable, felt so cheap. It felt improvised, I've noticed the past few books, ever since the black luxin memory loss was revealed, it was a cheap mechanic added to allow the author to change whatever he wanted to create as many twists for shock-value as he wanted and say it was memory loss, lazy. So many things foreshadowed and abandoned, things out I to play and flipped on its ass because he last minute thought something else sounded better yet didn't makes sense, such as Kip falling for Tisis and her being suddenly nice with a heart of gold???

There's so much more I could point out, but, despite the plethora of bad choices, I enjoyed it. I just needed to bring these issues up. 

Is Brent Weeks serious???!!!
Wtf was this book?! This was the ultimate mind bender! So many things we saw as fact and fundamentals that were the foundations for what made characters who they were....were completely flipped around and shown to be false! 

Dazen is a black drafter and was never a real Prism! Andross knew he was Dazen for the past 7 years! Andross loved Dazen only, and despised Gavin, and only paid him such attention because he knew he was dangerous, a terrible ruler, and only made him Prism because he thought he'd die after 7 years, and he didn't want Dazen to die! Kip is not the real Gavin's bastard, but Andross' own bastard! Gavin died at Sundered Rock and was never in Dazen's Color Prism, in fact, nobody ever was! The "Dead Man" in the prison is not a will-casting of Dazen meant to torment a prisoner, but is something more sinister, something that has lived below the Chromeria well before Dazen made the Prison! Ironfist is a fucking Broken Eye agent! Kip actually loves Tisis and she's not actually a faker and pretending to as to manipulate him! Prisms are made with the Blinding Knife thanks to the Black and White luxin in the hilt absorbing colors and granting them to the wielder! (although that's a theory, unless I missed that being explicitly stated) Grinwoody isn't a slave, and in fact has fooled Andross the whole time as he is the leader of the Broken Eye!

I'm sure I've forgotten many things, but I have never came across a book that has flipped everything we knew on its back and revealed almost everything we knew as being wrong. To think some people called this book filler and setup for the final book, that's grossly unfair!

Now I will say some of the things Weeks unmasked in this book feel like they weren't planned for from the beginning but were made up as he went, such as:

 

Gavin not really being in the prison at all and Dazen hallucinated it and fooled himself because he wanted to convince himself he was a good man and used Black Luxin to forget his darkest deeds. A lot of that feels very forced, like a round-edged square fitting into a circle hole. It felt like a cheap twist, akin to someone waking up from a dream at the end of a shocking ending. If this was true, that means a good chunk of the first two books that were chapters solely about describing Gavin trying to escape the Color Prison and talking to the "Dead Man" didn't actually happen. I can't fathom why they were made and focused on so much if they weren't real, the right way of going about that wouldhave worked better if Dazen show up at the prison to a watch room from time to time and watched Gavin in his escape attempts, which would have made more sense because we're viewing things with Dazen present...because it's not real and he's hallucinating. How can Dazen have hallucinations about the prison when he wasn't even present or anywhere near the Chromeria???

But I have to say, the twist with Kip actually being Andross' son felt a tad bit round-edged square, but made sense at least and didn't have any plot holes I can remember, because Dazen didn't know what Gavin did all the time and he wouldn't know about a bastard and so just assumed it to be true because Gavin was a scumbag rapist. It also makes sense why Andross spent so much time with Kip despite him being "Gavin's bastard".

Overall, probably my favourite book from the series so far, I'm not a huge fan of the cheap twists that create plot holes for shock factor, but the series is so vivid and rich that it's immediately forgivable 🤓

Dear Orholam! This book was somehow even better than the first book!

I can't even describe how amazing this was! This is in my top 5 favourite books now! 🤯

Gods this book was wild! My favourite fantasy series is The Stormlight Archive and this book felt so ooooooo very much similiar to that series!
It was filled with intrigue, action, emotion, plot twists that subverted expectations and I didn't see coming but made sense.

The magic system was a bit complex to wrap my head around at first, I spent a bunch of time at the beginning constantly thinking "What the hell is Luxin???" but once I understood it I was like "Jesus this is some fun as feck magic!".

The twist about 30% into the book was completely unexpected and brilliant, it made me question everything for a while, who's good, who's bad, what motivates this person and that person, why can't this person do this thing and what's holding them back etc.

There's so much overpowered magical ability balanced out with great drawback, which is something I love to see with a magic system, some semblance of balance. There's a very rich world being built here, all the factions, the history and grudges in play, the hard choices and difficult sacrifices that go against certain characters own beliefs. Kip, Liv, Corvan, Gavin and even Ironfist were all incredible characters that quickly grew on me. I will be fair and say I think Karris is a character I'm kinda "meh" about in this book, she's one of the four main perspectives on the book and she's and it's nice that she's a badass in combat and has skills etc, but I'd have liked to see her character fleshed out a bit and see her strength not from combat but from character

(She's lived 16 years in the dark, she's always wondered why Gavin called off the wedding, why he suddenly became good, she mourned Dazen who she truly loved while also dealing with the fact he killed her family)

We did see some of her past revealed and the effect it had on hardening her

(the birth of Gavin son and having to send him away and never see him again)

, but this was for a short enough chapter and was about it.

Overall, the book wasn't flawless, but I'm certainly nitpicking and it doesn't deserve to be docked any marks, this but was a thrilling pleasure and has reinvigorated my love of reading after finishing the last couple of Dune books 😂