The Blinding Knife

Lightbringer, Book Two

By: Brent Weeks

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Gavin Guile is dying. He'd thought he had five years left - now he's got less than one. With 50,000 refugees, a bastard son, and an ex-fiancée who may have learned his darkest secret, Gavin's got problems on every side.

As he loses control of his magic, all magic is running wild, threatening to destroy the Seven Satrapies. The old gods are being reborn. Their army of color wights is unstoppable, and the only salvation may be the brother whose freedom and life Gavin stole 16 years ago.

©2012 Brent Weeks (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

“Epic fantasy at its best . . . I was hooked in from the first page and couldn't put it down, even at the last. It is, quite frankly, superb.” ( Sci-Fi London)

“Weeks manages to ring new tunes on...old bells, letting a deep background slowly reveal its secrets and presenting his characters in a realistically flawed and human way.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Weeks has written an epic fantasy unlike any of its contemporaries. It is a truly visionary and original work, and has set the bar high for others in its subgenre.” (graspingforthewind.com)

A worthy sequel

Brent Weeks is an artist of the written word, and I will FIGHT for him. That being said, after the rollercoaster ride that was “The Black Prism”, my expectations were sky-high for Book 2. It would be wrong to say that my hopes were not fulfilled, but this book certainly moved slower in comparison. The characters continue to be compelling, and I simply LOVED the good balance between dark and light, good and evil, male and female. However, the book does slow down in the middle, and I found myself grumbling a little before picking it back up. That is NOT, however, anything against the book itself; it’s an extremely well-written story that I sincerely enjoyed, but when you compare it to the breakneck pace of “The Black Prism”, you can see where it slowed.

I have heard some people say that they found the book “sexist”, and I have to say that I respectfully disagree. Women here are not the “strong women” stereotype now unfortunately common (especially in YA Fantasy), but they were not Madonnas, either. They fight, they mess up, they laugh, and they fight some more. And they sure as heck know how to deal with Gavin the Gadha. Yes, he’s a donkey. Yes, I love him. Yes, I know I have issues.

The book ends in the most brutal way possible, with one of the most infuriating, compelling cliffhangers I’ve had the pleasure of reading in quite a while. I’m taking a star off for the pacing near the middle, but it’s a minor flaw in the second installment of a gorgeous story. Weeks is amazing, and definitely deserves more exposure.

Great story great narration

What made the experience of listening to The Blinding Knife the most enjoyable?

Simon was a magnificent narrator and the story is compelling

What other book might you compare The Blinding Knife to and why?

Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings- great heroes

Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?

Gavin!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Great plot and characters so well performed

The plot is so thicc😏

(minor spoilers)



all the stories intertvine even more, and you can see an underlying chatulu-esk plotline brewing.

Spectacular story, great listen.

The second novel in the Lightbringer trilogy, The Blinding Knife is a spectacular read and a great listen. Simon Vance does a great job with the narration, and Brent Weeks' writing just keeps getting better with every book he writes. This time Kip is in Black Guard training, Liv is working with the Colour Prince, Gavin/Dazen reveals his secret to Karris and Andross Guile starts his manipulations of Kip. Readers of Brandon Sanderson, Peter V. Brett and George R. R. Martin will love Brent Weeks.

awesome ...

everything about the production is top notch ... a must listen for every fantasy lover .... beautiful setup and character building. one can relate to characters and you won't realise how soon it ended ... craving for more.

Good performance Mr Vance

Having read the book myself it was great to hear it read by another. Wonderful.

Excitement...

Loving the series, lots of twists and action to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Utterly Entertaining

Would you consider the audio edition of The Blinding Knife to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print edition, but the audio book production is fantastic.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are what makes the is book. I love them all to bits even the bad guys are great. I can't wait for the next instalment in the series!

so thrilling!

the story is gripping and the narrator is entertainig. It was hard to stop listening

Super confusing story

The last part of this book was chaotic and confusing, first part and book 1 was perfect.