The Broken Eye

The third Lightbringers epic installment (after The Blinding Knife) primarily acts as a bridge between the two other volumes. Gavin Guile, the former Prism, is now color-blind and enslaved aboard a pirate galley. Old hurts and grim prophecy loom over the machinations to name his successor. His recently acknowledged son, Kip, struggles to find a place in the military, while Guile’s rejuvenated father, Andross, runs the Chromeria, a council of wizards who work in solidified colors of light. As son and grandfather clash over missing artifacts, a religious heretic continues his conquest of the capital’s outer districts, and a legendary sect of assassins infiltrates the city. Weeks is fond of complicated schemes, and his plot feels like an orchestrated chess match between genius grandmasters, but he also leavens the logic with humor. His characters are charming even as they are threatened with being swept off the chessboard. Fans of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire will find the family dynamics of the Guiles quite familiar. (Sept.)