The Broken Eye

By: Brent Weeks

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 29 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Broken Eye continues the spectacular Lightbringer series from the New York Times best-selling author of The Black Prism and The Blinding Knife. 

As the old gods awaken and satrapies splinter, the Chromeria races to find the only man who can still end a civil war before it engulfs the known world. But Gavin Guile has been captured by an old enemy and enslaved on a pirate galley. Worse still, Gavin has lost more than his powers as Prism - he can't use magic at all. 

Without the protection of his father, Kip Guile will face a master of shadows as his grandfather moves to choose a new Prism and put himself in power. With Teia and Karris, Kip will have to use all his wits to survive a secret war between noble houses, religious factions, rebels, and an ascendant order of hidden assassins called The Broken Eye.

©2014 Brent Weeks (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

Winner of Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel, 2013.

Finalist of Endeavor, 2013

BY ORHOLAM'S BALLS THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!!!

Weeks manages to juggle numerous plots and twist throughout the book.....constantly keeping the reader off balance and surprised to the end. I say "WELL DONE!!!".

loving this series!

I'm madly in love with the magic system. Fascinating world, great characters, well written and well read. Some interesting surprises towards the end of this installment!
Every time he says "I'm the f***ing TurtleBear" I become inordinately happy.

Nothing short of outstanding...

Would you listen to The Broken Eye again? Why?

The plot thickened in book 2 and the follow-thru in book 3 with new revelations was great .... where's book 4?!

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Simon Vance's range and characterizations were very good ... I'd put him in the top quartile as a audio book performer.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book builds from start to finish but the last 10-15 chapters really open up the story line for some interesting possibilities for the characters.

More than a filler, less than I was hoping for

First, I'll just say that I've been a huge fan of Weeks from the first chapter of the Night Angel trilogy, and I still hold that the Blinding Knife is one of my favorite reads of all time. He weaves an awesome story with humor, subtle plot clues and twists, and realistically flawed and dimensional characters. So many authors in this genre talk about clever characters, but Weeks actually creates them! Andros/Kip/The White are all deviously smart, and you actually see that firsthand. Weeks also is amazingly subtle about huge moments and plot-changing questions. This is what I love about his books. For example, Kip's actions in the first two books are debatably some of the most astounding examples of drafting that have been described in the whole series. But their significance is downplayed, and it is only later that you realize just how amazing some events are.

However, I was left somewhat disappointed by this book. People call it a filler book, not sure if I agree with that. What got me was the "character development". Kip grows up, Gavin (Dazen) matures a bit. But what it amounts to just seems to be complacency. All of a sudden Kip just begins capitulating to Andros instead of rashly fighting back? That is not the Kip we have come to love. By the end of the book, it seems like he just lost his spunk and became another pawn on the board, rather than someone who is playing the game. Gavin does the same thing too. Once described as the person who bends the world to his will, in his big moment to fight and save himself, he just decides to complacently take unjust and ruinous punishment? That's not the Gavin we've come to love either. The two most moving and entertaining characters all of a sudden give up their tenacity and seem to lose their world-dominating will. That fact just left me sad. There is room to grow who they have become, but where we are now I think Kip and Gavin are far less moving than their former selves just a half book ago.

Finally, the ending. The last 20 minutes or so throw some cool twists, but the end-of-the-book, all-or-nothing, life-and-death display of drafting that Kip performs in this third installment was... a wheel? The first two books, Kip does seriously impressive things when pushed to the edge. And now, after his training, coming into his powers, and newfound knowledge he is far less impressive than he was at the close of the first book. Went from Green Golem army killer, to pirate ship destroying and god killing super drafter, to making a yellow wheel kinda fast. What?

In all, I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The second just left me... well sad. Still a great read, and I'm only negative because the first two were so impressive. Absolutely worth reading, and I will be actively googling "lightbringer book 4 release date" obsessively for the next year or two just as I did for this installment.

Anticipating # 3

It took a chapter or three to get into the book. Once I realized the plot was not only about Kip but the entire family I had a hard time turning it off. The characters were complex. Devious, tough and malevolent loyal, caring and uncertain. No one character was all good or all bad, so I was surprised with a few outcomes. The magic was never simple, it was involved, consequently I did not miss a word. Simon Vance is one of my favorite narrators, so I'm accustomed to his voice and he did not disappoint. There were a few laughable moments but for the most part this story was gritty, violent and very interesting.

Entering soap opera territory

I liked the previous books in the series and really wanted to like this one, but the unbelievable plot twists, one after the other, are simply too much. I feel like I'm reading a book of "Days of our Lives." Won't be moving on to the next book.

Too much self talk

What did you like best about The Broken Eye? What did you like least?

I love the characters I met in the first two books. The plot has me hooked! Simon Vance gives a masterful performance. The disappointing bit was the constant self dialogue afforded to each character. After following this great plot and rereading/listening to the previous two books, I was really irritated by the author's need to explain and share every stray thought each POV character had. It made the action diabolically slow and boring, and ruined the characters because they all started to sound exactly the same! Each character 'self talked' and referred to themselves by name or nickname eg 'T' for Teia. They all made dumb comments and thought 'oops' afterwards. If I had a doller for each time I heard 'oops' I'd be rich! Worst of all if you switched names there was no way to distinguish who was talking- they all started to sound the same, with the same self talk endlessly interrupting the flow of the narrative. Perhaps Brent is so popular they are scared to edit him -as this script so badly needs editing.Also the integrity of the characters is farther blurred by his forgetting their principles. Liv for example in book 1 was blackmailed by her concern for her best friend who was going to be prostituted if she didn't spy on the Prism. She then joined the enemy with no thought for that same friend's fate as a result or any other loyalty that had defined her. Hate to bang on about it but I suffered! It got to the point that I could hardly bear listening to the requisite agonised random musings and self doubts and eye rollingly depreciating thoughts of each character any more. Only the plot kept me going. Please Brent stick to the point and stop turning every character into someone that sounds endlessly and exactly like Kip.

Would you ever listen to anything by Brent Weeks again?

Yes- I. The hope he gets a decent editor next time. I understand that an author might think that each character has doubts or whatever but we the readers Don't. Want. To. Know. It's like having the characters all walking found with their knickers showing. It slowed the pace to an agonising crawl. Honestly who has time for all that self doubt in the middle of a battle or ambush?

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

Usually Gavin but they all sounded the same towards the end despite Simon's superb efforts.
Oh one exception- Gunner! Simon's voice for Gunner was just perfect. I could see that mad pirate villain!

Was The Broken Eye worth the listening time?

In a frustrating way yes.

Any additional comments?

Brent plus editing plus Simon could be awesome!! The storyline is great.

Not for me

I enjoyed the first 2 books but I only made it a couple hours into this book and had to stop. I hate when the "F" word is used so much. It was used way too much in such a short amount of time that I had to stop listening.

What an ending!

Holy crap. This book was fantastic! I can't recommend it enough. Rich. Delightful. Compelling. Brilliant.

this is about the 6 time I've listened/ read this.

i love this series and Brent weeks. Simon Vance is my favorite narrator as well. thank you both for this series.