Review: The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) by Brent Weeks

RATING: 5/5

SYNOPSIS

Gavin Guile is dying.

He’d thought he had five years left—now he has less than one. With fifty thousand refugees, a bastard son, and an ex-fiancée who may have learned his darkest secret, Gavin has problems on every side. All magic in the world is running wild and threatens to destroy the Seven Satrapies.

Worst of all, the old gods are being reborn, and their army of color wights is unstoppable. The only salvation may be the brother whose freedom and life Gavin stole sixteen years ago.

REVIEW

This is my favorite installment of the Lightbringer series. After re-reading it and listening it via Libro.fm (special thanks to Libro.fm and Hachette for the audiobook listening copy!), hands down, the best sequel that I have read in the fantasy genre!

This story is action packed and fast paced. The character developments of the characters (as well as the introduction of new characters) are well-executed. The introduction of the Blackguard by Brent Weeks in this series is further extended in this installment. Essentially, the Blackguard is an order of fighting drafters at the command of the Chromeria which is placed directly under the White with the purpose of protecting the White, the Prism and the Spectrum. This sort of military entity was briefly introduced in the Black Prism. In the Blinding Knife, Brent Weeks explored the process of choosing Blackguards and their training. Such process not only involves strength but also intelligence as well as some politicking. We follow Kip’s journey in becoming a Blackguard and I really love a good coming-of-age story.

I also love Brent Week’s introduction of the Nine Kings in this installment. Nine Kings is basically a card game but with some magical elements incorporated in it. The rules of playing the game, the types of cards and decks are all brilliantly fleshed out by Brent Weeks in this installment. This shows the creativity of Brent Weeks which sets him apart from other authors in this genre!

Apart from the above, the politics, battle scenes and magic system are of course very well done by Brent Weeks which needs no further explanation from me. The Blinding Knife truly deserves a 5/5 star rating!