Customer Reviews

The Night Angel Trilogy

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I recommend the Night Angel Trilogy to anyone who is interested. I enjoyed the Trilogy and had all three books read in less than a month. Brent Weeks knows how to keep the action moving and the pages turning. The story is fantastic and there are moments of pure awesomeness that will leave your head spinning. The characters are well written and very likable. The world is believable and the peoples who inhabit it are intriguing. In short, very well done.

Now I do have a few complaints. If you're prone to judge a book by its cover, these covers are very misleading. Kylar, the main character, is not how the covers portray him. (Assuming the guy on the covers is Kylar). See in the story there are people with magical powers and those without. Those who can use magic are called "Wetboys", and those who cannot are called "Assassins". The guy on the cover appears to be an Assassin. I can't help but wonder if they were trying to capitalize on the "Assassin's Creed" look. "Wetboys" dress in different colors.

Another minor complaint is that the final book almost feels as if it were rushed. In other words, their could have been a fourth book and all would have been fine. However there are three and the final battle and all that leads up to it is rushed. There are also a few characters that are forgotten. They are not major characters however, they are characters that I would have liked to see get their comeuppance.

Once again, minor complaints aside, if you like Fantasy than get these books. You will not regret it.

*Update 11/28/2010*
I just wanted to add that this series does have some very strong violence. I was reading through the comments and one of them brings up just how much violence is actually in the first book alone. So be advised that if you're allowing younger kids than 16 to read this, it does have violence towards young kids, sexual violence, and other very graphic scenes. Thanks to A. Jones for bringing this up in the comments.

I am an avid fantasy fan, I spend alot of time sifting through piles of the same-old-crap and only rarely come across books as good as these. I was so grateful that I got all 3 books at once, it would have been devastating if I would have had to wait to read the next after devouring each so quickly.
The story begins with a boy being apprenticed to the best wetboy there has ever been. A wetboy being a sort of assassin with magical abilities, but after reading these books you will understand why I say 'assassin' with a bit of reluctance and disdain. "Assassins have targets, wetboys have deaders."
These coming-of-age stories have always been my favorite kind and this series truly delivers in every way. Mainly, you can't wait for when Kylar comes into his own and boy, does he! I love the characters, I love how so many of them grow and change. I ache for each of them that has to learn something the hard way. There are swords and magic, tragedy and triumph, what more can you ask for?

I'm quite impressed with Brent Week's debut, Night Angel. He paints a very vivid world in which many people from many different backgrounds come together to survive, to help, to fight and to love. That in itself is not so new, but Weeks' characters are so incredibly detailed and believable! Ordinarily, I will skim over fight scenes a bit, mainly I guess because action scenes can be hard to describe and still hold the reader's attention. But, Weeks presents his action scenes so well, you can't help but be totally engrossed! All that and a bag of tricks! I haven't been this enthusiastic over any series in quite a long time, and then to realise this is his first attempt to break into the genre... Wow. I can't wait to find out what he will decide to tackle next.

Despite plenty of missteps this trilogy is quite enjoyable. Some of the prose in the first novel is quite awkward and a few of the chapters seem almost amateurish but the storyline drags you along at break-neck speed. The names run the gamut of embarrassingly bad ('Wetboys') to strangely ethnic (Sa'kage) and I am not sure Weeks ever really feels comfortable with the national backgrounds of the characters he is trying to portray.

By far the best character in the story is Durzo Blint and I think Weeks has a hard time knowing exactly what to do with him after the first story and can't quite just let him 'die' (although this might be the case with many of his characters), in many ways the tragedy of Azoth and Durzo's relationship is completely nullified by this fact.

The real stars of the book are the uber-magical items that seem to make their users very much like super heroes or villains. Although in a way this revalation takes some of the enjoyment out of the first novel, for all the hard training that Azoth has had it seems he is little more than a "ka'kari" wielder who becomes the "Night Angel".

The relationship between Elene and Azoth always seemed quite a bit forced and never really works although this is partly do to with Week's placing obstacles to advance the story. The triangle that becomes forced on the characters with Vi doesn't seem overly realistic and becomes almost unintentionally comical at the end of the trilogy.

Despite these shortfalls the trilogy as a whole is an enjoyable read. Weeks seems to have a solid grasp of action and although his characters don't always seem to have realistic reactions and characterizations the plot as a whole is worth following through to the end. Once the prose matches up to the excellent plot and descriptive action, I expect his next few novels to be even better.

As a whole I would give the Night Angel trilogy 3.5 stars.

As a big fan of this genre and an avid reader, I had looked forward to this series based on the reviews at Amazon. I am by no means deterred by gore, but the utter debauchery, vivid rape and child torture/abuse descriptions are pretty awful and go on and on for a good portion of the first novel. Once the story starts moving in the first two books, it was hard to find a character to really like. Neither the protagonist or his mentor are really likable and there is not a shred of comic relief within all the darkness. The first book in the series is awful, the second gets better but only near the end. The third book in the trilogy is almost as if written by a different author. There is humor, the protagonist is suddenly likable, characters suddenly come to life and are interesting, things make sense. But the last book seems rushed. Obviously, different books appeal to different people and as can been seen by other reviews, some love this trilogy. Unlike Goodkind, Eddings, Sanderson, Butcher, and many other authors I like, this is not a series I would personally recommend to a friend, nor is it one I would re-read. Just my opinion and I hope it helps you in your decision.

Here's the thing -- I couldn't put these books down. I grabbed The Way of Shadows at the airport, thinking it would be another throw-away, and ended up spending half my trip reading it. I bought the final 2 and read them both in about 3 days.

So why only 3 stars? I just couldn't get over the feeling that SOMETHING was missing from these books.

The first thing that bothers me about these books is that Brent Weeks is incredibly arrogant and insulting as an author. Each of these books has stolen a little something from everybody -- high fantasy, assassins, samurai, kung fu, romance, magic, warfare, ancient Egyptian and feudal Chinese culture, rape, torture, Yakuza, mafia and crime family, X-men, matriarchal society, etc. -- and mashed it all together to try to create a well-crafted world. But Weeks' attempts in the Night Angel books were sorely lacking. Where other authors have been successful in taking elements from myriad cultures and civilizations to craft a new world that gives homage to societies and situations and plot-lines that many of us are already familiar with, Weeks writes as though he created these concepts, as though he were the only one smart enough to get his poorly-disguised references -- the Sa'kage (Yakuza), sa'ceura (samurai), the "Ceurans" with their "yellow skin and almond shaped eyes" , the Lodricari and their "flaming red hair and pale skin"(Irish), Khalidor (Egypt), etc.

And, fine, you don't want to pay homage to these cultures enough to flesh them out or add your own details (beyond the Khalidorans having blue eyes and black hair) to make them unique to the world you're creating and, instead, describe the people and culture EXACTLY (but in a kind of ignorant, racist, xenophobic way) as they are on modern day earth? Then at least respect me enough as a reader to make an assumption that I have, in fact, read books in more than ONE genre and am smart enough to figure out when your story lapses into romance, then action, then "high fantasy", then adventure, then mystery, then steampunk. And instead of writing a romance (or whatever) story WITHIN the fantasy book, Weeks just starts writing in a totally different different genre each time, with every overly-done stereotype and archetype character or situation he can think of.

Let's examine the story, shall we?

The books are about a boy named Azoth who grew up in the gutter, apprenticed himself to an assassin to escape his life of no choices, and eventually saves a kingdom.

Okay, awesome. Although I've dumbed it down some, that's pretty much the central plot, and it was exactly what I was looking for when I bought book 1. However, like so many books with simplistic plots (and SIMPLISTIC PLOT is what I'm looking for as I wait for favorite authors to write and publish new books) that I have picked up in the recent past, I found the underdeveloped characters, the world-building, the attempt at "dark" fantasy and humor, sophomoric and transparent "political intrigue" and treatment of women to be so ignorant and frustrating to read that I've thrown them out or immediately returned them.

So, if you are a fan of books by "fantasy" authors like Karen Miller, Gail Martin, Robert Jordan, Elizabeth Haydon, Sherwood Smith, Terry Goodkind, Raymond Feist, RA Salvatore, Sara Douglass, etc. etc., then you will probably LOVE these books and will hate this review.

My main pet peeve is Weeks' characterization of women, which is revolting and is either toeing the line of misogyny, or he's just never seen or talked to a woman EVER in his life. Take, for example:

1. Azoth falls in love with a girl based on her looks.
2. In fact, EVERY man in each book falls in love with a woman based on her appearance.
3. The lady Yakuza (oops, the Sa'kage) leader is called "Momma K" -- seriously?
4. 2 different GROWN men fall in love with a 16 year old girl. They have sex with her. This is not pornography? I mean, I'm not trying to sound crazy or be prudish, but it would be one thing if the girl was 16 and the boys were in THEIR teens -- then I could forgive sexual descriptions of her body, from a TEEN's POV. It is quite another thing when the girl is 16 and the men are in their 20s and 30s. And they fall in love with her because of her blond hair? Really?
5. RAPE RAPE RAPE throughout the entire book, but done in such a sexualized, "romantic" way that it is clear that the author has no understanding of what rape truly is and/or how it affects the victims and their families. It's just another plot line for him when he runs out of things for the women in the books to cry about. In fact, Weeks describes how one of the "heroes" of the story rapes a 13 year old girl and then he attempts to rationalize it to the reader. That's insane.
6. EVERY woman is either stunningly beautiful or hideously ugly. I get it -- it's fantasy, after all -- but after 12 times, it gets old. And boring. And annoying.
7. BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS on every page. Has Weeks never seen a breast? Even once? The childish descriptions of breasts were so... childish.
8. As soon as women tapped into their emotions (love, sadness, happiness, etc.) they started to cry. WTF?? Vi spent the ENTIRE 2nd and most of the 3rd book crying. A hard-core killer like Vi... crying because someone touched her hair? <eyeroll>
9. My final pet peeve was the fact that Azoth and his love interest kept calling eachother "honey" as their first names while they were playing house with eachother. It's so out of place in a book filled with gore, blood and violence, and not even written realistically.

I get that part of the point he was trying to make (or maybe I'm giving him too much credit) is that the sex trade was what fueled the country's economy, which is why "Momma K", at the head of the sex "guild", was so powerful. It would also stand to reason that perhaps this is why rape was glossed over -- as just another obstacle of everyday living (again, too much credit to Weeks, I'm sure). But why was AZOTH, who grew up in and around brothels, always staring at breasts and blushing at the idea of naked skin? Why were the other men in the book, some of whom were from cultures where "a single bared breast" (which is one of the most ANNOYING stereotypes of "barbarian" cultures that way too many fantasy authors include in their books -- even you, GRR Martin) is common, constantly staring at breasts and blushing and stammering and grabbing their crotches? All men are not ruled by their genitals; the site of breasts doesn't turn all men into morons, and breasts are not a weapon that all women use to gain power. But in these books, that's all breasts were. YUCK.

There was just so much wrong with these books! Maybe I am giving him a hard time because I'm suffering from Steven Erickson withdrawal syndrome. But the multiple genres, all written poorly. The poor plot-lines and halfassed plots-within-plots, secrets that were obvious, the horribly described fight scenes and descriptions of a full-scale war involving almost 200,000 soldiers and "krul" that started after breakfast and finished before lunch. Darn it! I was sucked in by the story -- it had so much potential. Other books have taken every fantasy stereotype and squished it into one book or series, and done it relatively well. Not Brent Weeks.

Weeks managed to cram assassins, even a GIRL assassin, the underworld of gangs, drugs, brothels and theives, samurai swords, romance, 700 year-old history, prophesy, quests, apprenticing, kung fu, poison, mages, wytches, kings, queens and high fantasy characters, zombies, monsters, harems, a magical forest, a magic school for women fighting against a magic school for men, barbarians, magic so powerful it creates a streak of white hair on people's heads (seriously, he stole from X-MEN??????), wedding rings, an Arthurian sword tale, war, massacres, rape, breasts, "butts", torture, sex costumes, a goddess, immortality, giants, a pit worm and its "homunculus", a High King prophecy, a glowing tattoo, cannibalism, all into one book. And, after ALL OF THAT, a handful of people put their hand on a magical sword and begin to sing to intensify its magic. Seriously, song magic? WTF?????????????????

The entire time I was reading, I felt like something of significance was going to happen, and it never did. The story didn't really climax at all, and I always had the feeling that the author was looking down his nose at me, telling me that he was smarter than I was because he thought I was too stupid to understand his poorly-veiled references. I felt angry at the lack of even a wink and a nudge. I was disgusted by the characterization of women, at their tears and constant apologies for things that were beyond their control. I became annoyed at rape being the only plot-line that connected any of the women in the stories. Most of all, I felt like I was reading a sexually-inexperienced 15-year old boy's inappropriate short story school assignment.

But I couldn't put it down. I love books about assassins and the 'underworld' and especially anything referencing kung fu. I think that's what sucked me in and I was waiting for more of it. It was a pretty quick read, despite the number of pages, exactly BECAUSE it was so juvenile. I did, in fact, enjoy the books immensely -- the way an adult in their 30s or 40s enjoys reading books from her/his childhood. I'll probably continue to buy Weeks' books for this reason. But I honestly have no respect for him as a writer, and don't take him seriously enough to consider him a real fantasy author.

The only bad part about this epic tale is that it ends i read all three in a few weeks and wanted more the last book felt a little rushed i fell like there needed to be a forth book to tie up all the loose ends but still it was just epic i don't know what else to say but epic o and one more thing these book are beter suited for older readers 17+

I stumbled upon this trilogy while searching for a new fantasy author to read, and after starting it, I was very glad I did. While not written in the style I am used to, I found Weeks' writing to be something new that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you are looking for the type of fantasy novel that spends time describing the minutest detail of the scenery, you should probably skip the Night Angel trilogy. Weeks' focuses more on character interaction and development than the world in which the characters live.
Instead, this novel is more fast-paced and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. It is nice to read a book that has the story-telling of a movie in a book. I think you get the best of both worlds in a book that can act as both.
I found myself caring about multiple characters, hoping the ones I didn't care for were disposed of and that the ones I did care for remained safe. I think that is a good indication of whether or not a book was enjoyable--if the book is able to grasp your attention in a way that makes you emotionally aware of each characters' fate, then I would consider that a good book.

I bought the first book 1 of this series and was hooked - great take on the classic story of a street urchin being taken in as the apprentice of someone powerful and mysterious. I like the dark dealings of assassins, especially after reading Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy (which is excellent in the ways that that the Night Angel fails).

However, book 2 was only so-so and book 3 was just lame. Mr. Weeks made the plot too broad and sacrificed story for the sake of grand magical powers. In the end there were too many random characters with illogical motives, and the world just seemed a device to create a huge conflict. I'm most disappointed by the potential that was lost - a great character in an interesting world, but the plot just got dumb by the end and I was reading for the sake of finishing the book.

All in all, it was okay, but I wouldn't recommend the series to anyone looking for more than pulp fantasy.

The Good: Amazing lore, wonderful characters, excellent plot

The Bad: It ends

I normally don't read books by someone I have never heard of. When in Borders one day I glanced across a cover that looked something from out of Assassin's Creed and blew it off as a rip off. When shopping on Amazon I came across the same book as a #1 bestseller. After reading the first few pages online I was instantly hooked by the dark raw tone of the book and excellent premise.

The series is broken down into three long books titled respectively The Way of the Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows. The two main characters in the book you will first encounter are Azoth/Kylar Stern and Durzo Blint. A boy trying to find his way out of a hard life of poverty and guilds tries to apprentice with a famous assassin. The book is just full of everything evil: candid rape and sex, murder, gore, lying, cheating, stealing, war, pestilence and every other abomination you can think of. Weeks doesn't hold anything back and while the first book is mostly plot development you really get a sense of longing for these characters and when the series ends you want more.

During the second and third books something more than the boy turns which is a war against an evil God King and his race of horrid men. Following several characters throughout the series you will be treated to some of the most original lore since Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. There is magic, suspense, action, and creatures that only you could dream of. Magical swords, mystical seers, evil magi and the whole works.

The books flow beautifully and you just never want to put the things down. There are dozens of plot twists and you are constantly in suspense, but beauty of the books is the mystery at the very end that you never see coming. The end is fulfilling, satisfying, and I hope Weeks continues the saga.

I can't recall a book series with such strong characters in recent memory except Lord of the Rings, and this trilogy would be an excellent movie. I can't believe someone can actually create such a wonderful world in their head because you get so sucked into these books you feel like you could be there and you really feel these characters feelings. Every word is touching, sinister, and well placed because you will be at the edge of your seat at every turn of the page. Friends betray friends, enemies become friends, and enemies become more than what the mind could believe.

If you are really looking for a truly amazing book to read and love adventure, fantasy, and lore that's out of this world pick up The Night Angel Trilogy (the box set can be purchased for as little as $25) and indulge in over 2,000 pages of fantastic fantasy.