The Black Prism
Encyclopedia
The Black Prism is a fantasy novel by Brent Weeks
that was released on August 25, 2010 by Orbit Books
. It is the first volume in a planned trilogy called The Lightbringer Series.
As they draw closer, Karris sees smoke, and directs them to the former town of Rekton, which has been burned to the ground. They are just in time to save a teenager from being executed, killing several of the Satrap's personal bodyguard in the process, at which point the prism is confronted by the irate Satrap himself. He ordered the town to be wiped out as an example, due to their refusal to put up levves. Satrap Garadul plans to continue the march of his armies to Garristos.
Due to Tyrea's role during the war, Tyreans are treated less respectfully, have no color representative on the council and have had their capital under a rotating occupation from the other Satrapis. Thus, Garadul considers himself king, not Satrap, and Garristos part of his land he intends to reclaim. The child is revealed to be none other than Gavin's bastard child, Kip. There follows some debate, which results in Kip and the Prism being allowed to leave together, though not without the exchange of several death threats. Before this occurs, however, the king takes a box from Kip which he claims was stolen from him. The box contains a white dagger given to Kip by his dying mother, who--through curses and abuse--made him promise to kill the man responsible.
Away from all this, Karris reads the note given to her by the White, and is angered by the betrayal, his lies about it when breaking their engagement, and the White's attempts to manipulate her into forgiving him. Because of this, she ultimately refuses Gavin's offer of assistance the rest of the way to Garristos, opting to explore Rekton whilst Gavin brings Kip back to the Chromeria. She meets Corvan Danavis, Kip's tutor and a general in Dazen Guile's army. She is eventually captured by king Garadul, while Corvan continues to Garristos.
While Kip is entered into the Chromeria, shadowed by the blackguard commander Ironfist, the prism kills the colorwight the White referred to. Before dying, he tells the Prism that dazen should have won the war. Paranoid, Gavin returns quickly to the Chromeria to check on his brother, whom he has secretly left in a cell where nothing but blue luxen can be drafted. It is then revealed that the Prism is in fact Dazen, having stolen his older brother Gavin's identity after the final battle of the war. (The colorwight was unaware of this, but the possibility worried the prism enough to check.) When Dazen became Gavin after the war, he chose to break off Gavin's previous betrothal to Karis despite his own feelings, truthfully denying affairs.
Pressured by the white to teach a class of superviolets, the prism meets Alivianna Liv Danavis, Corvan's daughter and the only other person in the Chromeria from Rekton. Her tuition is paid by a sponsor from the Ruthgari Satrap, the sister of the current governor of Garristos. Her sponsor repeatedly blackmails her into spying on the prism for Ruthgar, though her words and the lengths of cruelty she is willing to pursue to keep her hold suggest it is more a personal vendetta than any specific order. Knowing none of this, the Prism gives Live official recognition of her bichrome
nature (her second color was deemed too expensive to invest in by her contractholder), in exchange for her teaching Kip the basics of drafting.
While Kip and Live catch up, The Prism meets with his father, Adross Guile, about Tyrea. When he mentions the box Garadul took from Kip, Adross immediately asks if it is "the white luxin," a supposedly mythical substance. His brother Gavin was aware of it as well, and Adross--not knowing Dazen isn't Gavin--assumes he knows what it is. Gavin can't ask, lest his disguise be discovered. Adross Guile orders his son to defeat Garadul's armies, but at all costs retrieve the dagger.
Kip, Liv, the Prism and Ironfist leave for Tyrea to defend Garristos from Garadul's armies. Corvan reaches Garristos at about this time, and agrees to be Dazen's general again. Despite their friendship in reality, they must both pretend to hate and distrust each other deeply. Liv questions her father about it, but he refuses to tell her the truth. She assumes the prism is blackmailing him with her life, and silently vows to make him pay.
Liv and Kip run away to free Karris from Garadul's captivity. Ironfist leaves a few hours later, to see to their survival. Live infiltrates successfully, while Kip is recognized and captured, though not before drafting subred for the first time. Karris, meanwhile, is taken to meet Lord Omnichrome, a colorwight who heads Garadul's drafters. She recognizes him as her brother Koios, thought killed by Dazen in overzealous self defense before the war.
Ironfist helps Karris and Kip escape, and they both go after Garadul directly. Kip sees Lord Omnichrome give Zymun (a red drafter Kip knows from Rekton's burning) his mother's rosewood case, but Kip decides to help Karris. Playing on her disgust of the Prism and Chromeria, Omnichrome persuades Liv to join his cause after aiding Kip and Karis. Omnichrome intends for Garadul to die, so Corvan and Dazen try to save him. They are unsuccessful; Kip kills him in a rage before he can be stopped.
Kip, Karris and Corvan retreat to the docks, along with the Prism. Kip saves Ironfist before chasing the ship that's already left the dock. As Kip runs across the water, he sees Zymun stab the prism from behind with the white luxin dagger, and tackles him off the ship. He retrieves the box and leaves Zymen for the sharks before escaping with the Prism's ship.
The Prism gives Kip the case, thinking the dagger lost. In it, Kip finds a note from his mother, telling him to kill the man who raped her, and that she loves him. Kip discovers that one of the clear diamond-like stones on the dagger's handle is now a sapphire-colored stone. At about this time, Gavin escapes from his blue prison after nearly killing himself, only to find himself in an identical green prison. The book ends as Dazen discovers that he can no longer draft blue.
, and each color has its own unique properties.
People who use Luxin are called Drafters, and most Drafters can only cast a single color of Luxin. More powerful Drafters known as Bichromes can use two colors of Luxin, and people who can use three or more colors are known as Polychromes. Polychromes are the most highly sought after Drafters for any Satrapy's army. In order to draft a color of Luxin, a Drafter must see the color somewhere in his/her surroundings. Most Drafters get around this by wearing colored glasses.
Luxin is deeply linked with the earthly flow of energies, and imbalance in the use of Luxin colors on a worldwide scale can result in natural disasters. In most cases Luxin flow is self regulating, but occasionally it must be balanced by increased usage of certain colors of Luxin. Most often than not, this is accomplished by the Prism, a religious leader and political figurehead who rules over the Seven Satrapies as Emperor, although his political power is ceremonial at best. The Prism can draft every color of Luxin, and does not require colored glasses as he possesses the unique ability to split white light into its component colors.
Becoming a Color Wight is the beginning of a descent into madness for the drafter. Happening gradually over time, the Color Wight will go under the influence of their drafting color; Blue Drafters will become hard and logical, Greens will become wild, and Reds will become creatures of rage. Color Wights often commit their bodies to their Luxin as well, coating or even replacing their body parts with Luxin. Color Wights are considered monsters and become outcasts from society, usually being hunted down.
If a Drafter wishes to avoid becoming a Giist, they must either stop drafting once their Halos become full, or submit to Freeing. To most Drafters, Drafting isn't just a way of life, it is their life, and therefore most Drafters elect to be Freed. The Freeing happens only once a year, on the holy day known as Sun Day. It is a ritual performed by the Prism, consisting of a farewell feast, a confession, and a ritual sacrifice of the Drafter's life.
The websites Grasping For The Wind, Fantasy Faction and King of The Nerds all gave the book a positive review.
Brent Weeks
Brent Weeks, born , is an American author living and writing in Oregon. Born in Montana, Weeks graduated from Hillsdale College with a degree in English. After brief stints teaching and bar tending, he devoted himself to writing full time....
that was released on August 25, 2010 by Orbit Books
Orbit Books
Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company...
. It is the first volume in a planned trilogy called The Lightbringer Series.
Background
The Black Prism is set in a pre-industrial fantasy milieu, albeit more advanced than most, with gunpowder weapons and widespread use of simple machines such as pulleys and gears. The story takes place in "The Seven Satrapies, 7 semi-autonomous countries surrounding a large sea, each ruled by a leader known as a satrap. Each satrapy has considerable independence, but is under the loose control of a federalist central government. The government has three branches - The White, the Colors, and the Prism, and is located at the Chromeria - also the seat of education and regulation for the color magic on which the series is based. The seven satraps owe allegiance to the Prism, who is the representative of the god Orholam, on earth. Though the Prism is technically the ruler of the seven satrapies, he has the least official governing power of the three branches. His role is primarily religious, ceremonial, and magical - he can balance the forces of color magic throughout the satrapies, due to possessing the unnatural ability to split light into its component parts. Most drafters are unichromes, able to draft only one color, whereas several are bichromes (able to draft two colors) and the few who can draft more than two are considered polychromes. Some draft colors unconnected from each other; Karris, for example, can draft green, red, and subred, but not yellow or orange. These people are referred to as discontiguous. The Prism, however, can draft any color he wishes, instantly, and does not get light sickness from too much drafting. Prisms typically lose their lives after losing their power to see, and draft, one color at a time. This typically takes a year and only occurs naturally on a prism's 7th, 14th or 21st year serving as prism. Typically, only one person a generation is given this power, however about sixteen years before the start of the story, the two Guile brothers, Gavin and Dazen both claimed to be the Prism. The two fought a devastating war, culminating in a pitched battle in the satrapy of Tyrea. At this battle, Sundered Rock, Gavin defeated and killed Dazen, stopping the war. Tyrea was devastated by the war, with almost all the men in Tyrea killed, and fertile farmland destroyed.Plot
Sixteen years after the war, the prism receives a note from a Tyrean named Lina, informing him she'd had his son, when he was betrothed to Karris Whiteoak, a member of the Prism and White's bodyguards called the blackguard. The white sends Karris to Garristos, Tyrea's capital, to spy on its satrap's army. She gives her a note informing her of Gavin's unfaithfulness, instructing her to not read it until after leaving the Chromeria. She sends Gavin to kill a color wight somewhere else, attempting to keep the two separated until well after Karris learned the news. However, Gavin chooses to bring Karris to Garristos himself before she can read the note, using a mode of transportation no one else even believes possible: magically-aided flight across the ocean. This allows them to enter Tyrea in hours, rather than the month or so expected othrewise.As they draw closer, Karris sees smoke, and directs them to the former town of Rekton, which has been burned to the ground. They are just in time to save a teenager from being executed, killing several of the Satrap's personal bodyguard in the process, at which point the prism is confronted by the irate Satrap himself. He ordered the town to be wiped out as an example, due to their refusal to put up levves. Satrap Garadul plans to continue the march of his armies to Garristos.
Due to Tyrea's role during the war, Tyreans are treated less respectfully, have no color representative on the council and have had their capital under a rotating occupation from the other Satrapis. Thus, Garadul considers himself king, not Satrap, and Garristos part of his land he intends to reclaim. The child is revealed to be none other than Gavin's bastard child, Kip. There follows some debate, which results in Kip and the Prism being allowed to leave together, though not without the exchange of several death threats. Before this occurs, however, the king takes a box from Kip which he claims was stolen from him. The box contains a white dagger given to Kip by his dying mother, who--through curses and abuse--made him promise to kill the man responsible.
Away from all this, Karris reads the note given to her by the White, and is angered by the betrayal, his lies about it when breaking their engagement, and the White's attempts to manipulate her into forgiving him. Because of this, she ultimately refuses Gavin's offer of assistance the rest of the way to Garristos, opting to explore Rekton whilst Gavin brings Kip back to the Chromeria. She meets Corvan Danavis, Kip's tutor and a general in Dazen Guile's army. She is eventually captured by king Garadul, while Corvan continues to Garristos.
While Kip is entered into the Chromeria, shadowed by the blackguard commander Ironfist, the prism kills the colorwight the White referred to. Before dying, he tells the Prism that dazen should have won the war. Paranoid, Gavin returns quickly to the Chromeria to check on his brother, whom he has secretly left in a cell where nothing but blue luxen can be drafted. It is then revealed that the Prism is in fact Dazen, having stolen his older brother Gavin's identity after the final battle of the war. (The colorwight was unaware of this, but the possibility worried the prism enough to check.) When Dazen became Gavin after the war, he chose to break off Gavin's previous betrothal to Karis despite his own feelings, truthfully denying affairs.
Pressured by the white to teach a class of superviolets, the prism meets Alivianna Liv Danavis, Corvan's daughter and the only other person in the Chromeria from Rekton. Her tuition is paid by a sponsor from the Ruthgari Satrap, the sister of the current governor of Garristos. Her sponsor repeatedly blackmails her into spying on the prism for Ruthgar, though her words and the lengths of cruelty she is willing to pursue to keep her hold suggest it is more a personal vendetta than any specific order. Knowing none of this, the Prism gives Live official recognition of her bichrome
nature (her second color was deemed too expensive to invest in by her contractholder), in exchange for her teaching Kip the basics of drafting.
While Kip and Live catch up, The Prism meets with his father, Adross Guile, about Tyrea. When he mentions the box Garadul took from Kip, Adross immediately asks if it is "the white luxin," a supposedly mythical substance. His brother Gavin was aware of it as well, and Adross--not knowing Dazen isn't Gavin--assumes he knows what it is. Gavin can't ask, lest his disguise be discovered. Adross Guile orders his son to defeat Garadul's armies, but at all costs retrieve the dagger.
Kip, Liv, the Prism and Ironfist leave for Tyrea to defend Garristos from Garadul's armies. Corvan reaches Garristos at about this time, and agrees to be Dazen's general again. Despite their friendship in reality, they must both pretend to hate and distrust each other deeply. Liv questions her father about it, but he refuses to tell her the truth. She assumes the prism is blackmailing him with her life, and silently vows to make him pay.
Liv and Kip run away to free Karris from Garadul's captivity. Ironfist leaves a few hours later, to see to their survival. Live infiltrates successfully, while Kip is recognized and captured, though not before drafting subred for the first time. Karris, meanwhile, is taken to meet Lord Omnichrome, a colorwight who heads Garadul's drafters. She recognizes him as her brother Koios, thought killed by Dazen in overzealous self defense before the war.
Ironfist helps Karris and Kip escape, and they both go after Garadul directly. Kip sees Lord Omnichrome give Zymun (a red drafter Kip knows from Rekton's burning) his mother's rosewood case, but Kip decides to help Karris. Playing on her disgust of the Prism and Chromeria, Omnichrome persuades Liv to join his cause after aiding Kip and Karis. Omnichrome intends for Garadul to die, so Corvan and Dazen try to save him. They are unsuccessful; Kip kills him in a rage before he can be stopped.
Kip, Karris and Corvan retreat to the docks, along with the Prism. Kip saves Ironfist before chasing the ship that's already left the dock. As Kip runs across the water, he sees Zymun stab the prism from behind with the white luxin dagger, and tackles him off the ship. He retrieves the box and leaves Zymen for the sharks before escaping with the Prism's ship.
The Prism gives Kip the case, thinking the dagger lost. In it, Kip finds a note from his mother, telling him to kill the man who raped her, and that she loves him. Kip discovers that one of the clear diamond-like stones on the dagger's handle is now a sapphire-colored stone. At about this time, Gavin escapes from his blue prison after nearly killing himself, only to find himself in an identical green prison. The book ends as Dazen discovers that he can no longer draft blue.
Chromaturgy
Chromaturgy is the art of harnessing light and creating a substance from it, called Luxin. Luxin can take on many different shades from the visible spectrumVisible spectrum
The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 390 to 750 nm. In terms of...
, and each color has its own unique properties.
People who use Luxin are called Drafters, and most Drafters can only cast a single color of Luxin. More powerful Drafters known as Bichromes can use two colors of Luxin, and people who can use three or more colors are known as Polychromes. Polychromes are the most highly sought after Drafters for any Satrapy's army. In order to draft a color of Luxin, a Drafter must see the color somewhere in his/her surroundings. Most Drafters get around this by wearing colored glasses.
Luxin is deeply linked with the earthly flow of energies, and imbalance in the use of Luxin colors on a worldwide scale can result in natural disasters. In most cases Luxin flow is self regulating, but occasionally it must be balanced by increased usage of certain colors of Luxin. Most often than not, this is accomplished by the Prism, a religious leader and political figurehead who rules over the Seven Satrapies as Emperor, although his political power is ceremonial at best. The Prism can draft every color of Luxin, and does not require colored glasses as he possesses the unique ability to split white light into its component colors.
Superchromat
Superchromats have extremely acute vision when it come to colors. The inverse of those who are colorblind, Superchromats can see the minute changes in shades between what most people would assume are the same color. This is extremely helpful for drafters, as different shades of Luxin have different properties, even within the same color, Yellow Luxin being a prime example. Half of all female Drafters are Superchromats, but hardly any male, with only 10 male Superchromats in the entire Chromeria.Color Wight
Drafters can only Draft so many times in their lives. The more they Draft, the more the Luxin which courses through their bodies changes them. Not only does Drafting damage the body, but it also affects the mind. As a Drafter uses more Luxin, small amounts of it build up in the eye around the iris. This band of Luxin is called the Halo, and it is by this that a Drafter's life span is deduced. If a Drafter uses too much Luxin, the iris will fill with Luxin, and any more drafting will cause them to "break the Halo". This means that the band of Luxin breaks and spreads into the whites of the eye. Once this happens, the Drafter is considered a Color Wight, also known as a Giist.Becoming a Color Wight is the beginning of a descent into madness for the drafter. Happening gradually over time, the Color Wight will go under the influence of their drafting color; Blue Drafters will become hard and logical, Greens will become wild, and Reds will become creatures of rage. Color Wights often commit their bodies to their Luxin as well, coating or even replacing their body parts with Luxin. Color Wights are considered monsters and become outcasts from society, usually being hunted down.
If a Drafter wishes to avoid becoming a Giist, they must either stop drafting once their Halos become full, or submit to Freeing. To most Drafters, Drafting isn't just a way of life, it is their life, and therefore most Drafters elect to be Freed. The Freeing happens only once a year, on the holy day known as Sun Day. It is a ritual performed by the Prism, consisting of a farewell feast, a confession, and a ritual sacrifice of the Drafter's life.
Luxin
The magic of the Lightbringer Series as described in the author's blog: "When a candle burns, a physical substance (wax) is transformed into light. Chromaturgy in The Black Prism is the inverse: A drafter transforms light into a physical substance (luxin). Each different color of luxin has its own strength, weight, and even smell: blue luxin is hard, red is gooey, yellow is liquid, etc. But even as drafters change the world, the luxin changes them too, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The color change of a drafter's eyes is only the beginning…"Superviolet
Made of wavelengths shorter than most human eyes can see, superviolet luxin is invisible except to superviolet drafters--and those only when they concentrate. Solid, but not as strong as blue or green, superviolet is the subtlest luxin. Used for cryptography, creating invisible walls and traps, and marking targets on the battlefield, superviolets tend to have a removed outlook. They appreciate irony and sarcasm and are sometimes cold.Blue
Blue Luxin is hard, strong, and smooth. It can be used in anything from the creation of large structures to armor or bladed weapons or projectiles. Blues are orderly, inquisitive, and unfailingly rational. Structure, rules, and hierarchy are important to blues.Green
Green Luxin is springy and flexible. The uses are as varied as the drafter is creative: from furniture to projectiles to shields to the throwing arms of war engines. Greens are wild and free. They don't so much disrespect authority as not even recognize it.Yellow
Yellow Luxin is most often a liquid that releases its energy back into light quickly, allowing its use as a torch or a trigger to ignite flammable materials or explosives. Yellow nourishes other luxins, extending the durability of luxin structures or tools. Like water turning to ice, when yellow is drafted perfectly, it loses its liquidity and becomes the hardest luxin of all. Yellows tend to be clear thinkers, intellect and emotion in perfect balance.Orange
Orange luxin is slick, lubricative, and heavy. It is often used in conjunction with machines and traps. Oranges are often artists, brilliant in understanding other people’s emotions and motivations. Some use this to defy or exceed expectations. Others become master manipulators.Red
Red Luxin is sticky, gooey, and extremely flammable. Reds often work with sub-reds or with mundane tools to make bombs. Their skills are used to catastrophic effect in war. Reds are quick tempered, impulsive, lusty, and love destruction.Sub-Red
Sub-Reds can see in the dark, draft the heat from their surroundings to survive intense heat, and create flame crystals which turn into fire when exposed to air. Sub-reds are passionate in all ways, the most purely emotional of all the drafters.Pre-publication
On April 30, 2010 the first three chapters of the book were released as a preview on the Orbit Book website.Reception and sales
The book debuted at #23 on The New York Times Best Seller list.The websites Grasping For The Wind, Fantasy Faction and King of The Nerds all gave the book a positive review.