The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Section 2

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapter 18 - Chapter 35.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section is fine.

To Alex's spoiler, (view spoiler)[" Heh. Anyone notice how Gavin flinched when the blue wight just yelled out "Dazen!" I wonder if the giist knew."

I very much think he did. There were some other times where that kind of thing happened (and continue to happen later) where he's recognized. In one of the books, someone he was sure was dead recognizes him, too. (hide spoiler)]

Just finish this part and I liked it better than the first one. I like how we're starting to get more information about the history and the magic-system.

Also, some of the jokes worked a bit better for me than in the beginning. Maybe I'm in a better mind-set today.

Still there were a few over descriptive scenes I could have done without. (Gavin with the elevators in the storage chamber was the worst offender)

And as good and bad seem to have established now rather bluntly, I change my crazy theory to KIp being actually the son of Dazen. That would fit for his mother wanting Kip to "kill him" (I was pretty sure she wasn't talking about the upstart king) and Gavin being relatively sure that Kip isn't his son. Maybe that's why he takes him in. I guess he feels somewhat responsible but on the other hand wants to have an eye on a potential threat, even more so after the wight stated that Dazen would lead them.

To the spoiler: (view spoiler)[1. I think it's obvious that that particular wight doesn't actually know, but I think it's highly likely that someone out there knows, and it using it to taunt Gavin

2. I call BS on Corvin not knowing what colors Karris drafted, since he apparently instantly recognized her, and that seems like the kind of relevant information that a former military genius would keep track of. (hide spoiler)]

Also, more emotional reactions out of Karris. "I see you're the only survivor who actually saw what went down here, and you're willing to talk to me now that I've stopped attacking you for no reason. Oh, and everyone respects you even after the war. Wow, you'd be, like, the perfect person to keep around so that we can make sure this country gets back on track. But you know what, I don't like you, so screw that noise, I'm leaving." Luckily the plot knocked her out so she had to stick around. Sigh.

Out there theory: This is totally the twins switching places kind of story. Dazen took Gavin's identity - often mentions of how he is not the same as he was before the war, and it's not because of the war itself. Would also explain how Kip could be Gavin's son but not the current Prism's son.

I liked the mirror system in the city, but it would be vulnerable to sabotage, I would think.

I like Ironfist :)

Marissa, the brain who knows all but waits on the Prism hand and foot...and everywhere else apparently. But no feelings between them. Really? Maybe that relationship will get easier for me to understand as the story goes on and we get to know her better.

Glad Kip's master survived the burning of their town - there's a man with some valuable knowledge.

Still enjoying this.

Now I need to scrub that image from my brain.

Alex wrote: "Excellent partition again, Rob. There is a HUGE twist in the next chapter."

And again, purely by an accident of math, but as I've read the next chapter already, I agree that worked out nicely.

So I had comments on this section, but I've mostly forgotten them. With how slow I'm reading, I guess I need to start taking notes.

I'm liking things better but that's only rounding up to a 3 rather than down to a 2.

Ironfist now becomes the least uninteresting character. Of course with all of Sky's comments I can't take Karris serious anymore anyways.

The whole sex slave thing annoyed me. And of course the ex general's daughter has been told to sleep with the prism to get close to him

Seems a bit like Mr. Weeks living out some fantasies of a different sort...

I must have been dozing during the chapter about ultraviolet. What chapter was that?

The Marissia sex slave thing bothered me too, and like a certain character in The Mirror Empire, it definitely makes it hard to like or identify with Gavin much. I don't have the same problem Linette does in understanding the relationship though - she's his servant/slave, including sexual duties, and he's her owner/master. She accepts her role (there being no alternative), and probably even takes some pride in a job well done, but doesn't go so far as to have some sort of Stockholm syndrome-like emotional attachment to her captor. As for him, his romantic interests seem more focused on Karris, but as the equivalent of an emperor, he is accustomed to having his needs tended to, including his sexual needs. It shocks the modern conscience, but it's probably not an uncommon scenario in the historical context that these fantasy worlds are usually based on. It still makes him a dick though.

I didn't really catch whatever Alex was saying about superviolet in these chapters either, and that's kind of the problem for me at this point in the book... I'm getting bored and I'm starting to skim. I'm really not interested enough in the magic system to care about the explanations for it, which is a problem for me with high fantasy generally - I'm not overly impressed by or interested in magic for the most part, so if your story is too reliant on "oooh, look how cool my magic system is", and you dedicate too much time to explaining it, you're going to lose me pretty quickly (again, Mistborn is the other one that comes immediately to mind). I'm much more into fantasy for the political aspects of the worldbuilding, how various parties are allied with or against each other... all that Game-of-Thrones-y stuff. There are a lot of major players still to be introduced though I think (the other members of the Spectrum, maybe that other satraps), so I imagine there will be a lot of that sort of intrigue coming up.

Like Rob, I'm between a 2 and a 3 star rating on this book at this point, but it's early and there is plenty of time for it to develop. I'm a few chapters ahead of this section and already there have been a few juicy developments. Just based on the writing style though, I can't see any way that it reaches a 5, and a 4 appears unlikely. And Kip... Orholam, I almost have to deduct a full star just because I hate Kip so much.

I think what bothered me about the sex slave thing was, here is a beautiful, intelligent girl, and she's happy to tend his domestic needs? What's in it for her?
But...if she is a slave, then I get it I understand it better. I thought it was a choice of hers, and I just couldn't relate.

And is used to augment yellow.

Oh yeah, so I remembered one thing. Karris seems to be very recognizable where she was sent to spy. Apparently folks around there believe her to be the main cause of the last war.

So I echo her question of why the White sent her there. It can't be an accident. The White didn't strike me as stupid.

I really did not enjoy these chapters, the magic system is a bit too complex for my liking and the author just gives us bits and pieces which is very hard to remember when takes about the magic again.

Also as I am doing this book in graphic audio those guys always have a background music playing which really irritates me.

Also Brent weeks is micro managing a lot of things like the scene with skimmer is previous section or as Mpauli pointed the one with elevators he gives us so much description of that system that I tend to lose my focus and I have to search over the internet to visualize exactly what kind of system he is talking about.

I don't like the audio version of the black prism but the narrator for book 2 & 3 is AMAZING!!

Stick with it i had trouble then it suddenly clicked..:)

Yeah, I switched to audio when Simon Vance took over. I'm not sure about the graphic novel version.

I didn't think this book was as good as the second one. Then again, I'm so-so on Brent Weeks in general.

Same here - book 1 audio was way overdone with the sound effects and what not but 2 and on w/ Vance were great.

Thanks guys, I am hoping that the book improves as I go on reading.