The Blood Mirror

This series is quite simply a work of art. Like all great authors, Weeks shows significant progression since his debut Way of Shadows series, and manages to balance world, plot, and character spectacularly. The inventiveness is off the charts, from his color-based magic system to a varying cast of misfits. In this novel, we get a mash-up of five different PoVs, each intensely interesting and unique. They're complex, with none being completely perfect and many making wrong decisions. With those mistakes, Weeks makes room for development while also tying in a plot that is a lot more complex than it seems. In fact, that's a good way to describe the book in general. From the magic system to the world and characters, there's an easy, surface route, and a much deeper truth lying underneath. Kip is the perfect example of this, with an outward appearance of snideness and sarcasm, but an inner lack of self-belief. With greatly improved prose, Weeks devotes some of the novel to the pursuit of this. The personal journey is to fix those parts, rather than mask them. Read if you like: Inventive magic systems, great world-building, epic fantasy.

Books in Lightbringer Series (6)

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