Broken Eye by Brent Weeks
Introduction
Broken Eye by Brent Weeks is the third book of The Lightbringer series. This novel follows the exciting events detailed in Burning Knife, the second book in the series. The four main narrators are Gavin, the current Prism who has lost his powers, Kip, Gavin’s son, and a Blackguard trainee, Teia, Kip’s friend and a Blackguard trainee (and Kip’s slave, but that is another story), and Karris White Oak, Gavin’s wife (she is also a former Blackguard and The White’s assistant. The White is the leader of the spy corps of the Chromeria). These four characters have important tasks to carry out in the war against the Color Prince and a shadowy group of assassins named the Order of the Broken Eye. If they fail in their missions, then the colors will become unbalanced and they risk the destruction of their world.
Summary Background
Chromaturgy is the magical system of the Seven Satrapies. They call magicians who use Chromaturgy drafters and the best drafters live on the Chromeria, the seat of the Satrapies government. Drafters can take a part of the spectrum of light and make a substance called luxin. They can shape luxin into items, with the color of the luxin determining the properties of the item. Most drafters can draft one or two colors while the Prism can draft all the colors. There is only one Prism alive at one time and the Prism is the military, spiritual, and political leader of the Satrapies.
Summary Plot
Gavin is the Prism, but he had lost his powers. He is a galley slave under Captain Gunner and Gavin searches for a way to escape. Kip is a Blackguard trainee but is being coerced and groomed by his grandfather Andross to do Andross’s bidding as the potential next Prism. Kip is conflicted with his feelings for Andross. He is also conflicted with his feelings for Teia, who is his friend, comrade, and a reluctant slave who he would like to become romantically involved. This plot becomes more complicated when Tisis is interested in getting to know Kip physically and Kip finds he is also interested in her. Events get beyond Kip’s control and he must try to escape the Chromeria before someone assassinates him. Teia is tasked by the White to infiltrate the secret Order of the Broken Eye. It is a dangerous mission complicated by her interaction with the assassin named Murder Sharp. Kariss White Oak assists the White by gaining intelligence about the Color Prince’s rebellion.
Meanwhile, the Color Prince has been marshaling his land forces beginning an invasion of the Blood Forest which is one step from the Chromeria. The main characters must become involved in defeating him before he becomes too strong.
Recommendation
The story of the Lightbringer series gets more complicated and interesting in this novel. This novel is a part of the larger series. The author resolves plot points from book 2 and the author introduce others to be explored in the next book. The four main characters are well drawn. The author pushes their arcs in this novel to a climactic confrontation at the Chromeria. There were other viewpoint chapters in the novel, but I believe those chapters were unnecessary though they were well written. It would take more space to develop more than the four main characters. The next novel in the series is named the Blood Mirror and I will read it this year. The last novel in the series is named the Burning White and is scheduled to be published on October 22, 2019.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Broken Eye by Brent Weeks.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12652457-the-broken-eye
This is the link to my review of the Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks.
This is the link to my review of Black Prism by Brent Weeks.