Blurb: (From Book 1) Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.
When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.
Review: Beautiful series! It sets the bar so high, that it made Night Angel (Week's other series) pretty unfairly worse just via comparison. The set-up for this series is solid, and it gets you ready for a 5 book long adventure from the get-go and doesn't suffer from any growing pains.
The magic system is hella inventive, and is used spectacularly in how it affects the the fantasy world itself and the culture within. There's a large array of characters in this series too, so don't expect full and constant perspectives from the main character. These are welcome, especially so as there's a ton of interesting characters, many of whom from a small shift in perspective would be the main character. I'm avoiding mentioning any names because I think some might spoil moments in this series, but just to reiterate once again, the characters are beautifully written and there's a healthy range of them. This series fits, or is just shy of, belonging to the quintessential fantasy list, so let that be the summary itself.