Customer Reviews

The Way Of Shadows

5 star:		(134)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

The Way of Shadows is the first in the Night Angel Trilogy by newcomer Brent Weeks. Let me start by saying that Brent Weeks writes action like Jet Li fights! He seems to have a good understanding of how action sequences flow and how to describe them in such a way that they are detailed without bogging down. Bravo.

The story begins with some frankly darkly disturbing descriptions of life on the streets which include child sexual abuse and extreme violence. Though The Way of Shadows is fiction, there is a sad truth in the darkness that these children face and the extreme actions that the fight for survival creates within humankind. This portion of the story could happen anywhere in any big city on Earth; and because of this Weeks' characters and motivations are believable and three dimensional. One of the mistakes that new fantasy writers often make is to become so excited by their magic and dragons that they forget that all good stories are about people. Brent Weeks I'm happy to say does not make this mistake. His story is about people and their motivations first and magic and abilities second. Our similarities bind us, but our differences make us interesting.

Young Azoth sells his soul to a "Devil" by the name of Durzo Blint in order to protect his friends Jaral and Doll-girl. Blint is a "wetboy" or super assassin, who's abilities are trained, but also a product of his "Talent"...an innate magic that augments his ninja-like skills. At first glance Blint is a complete sociopath with no connection to the humanity around him. Azoth turns out to have the abilities to become the physical equal of Durzo Blint, but the real story takes off when he is tested in order to discover if he has the heart (or lack thereof) to become a Wetboy.

I loved this story and anxiously await the next two novels to be released in October and November of '08.

If you like your fantasy gritty in the vein of Matthew Woodring Stover and George R.R. Martin you'll enjoy this new treat by first time novelist Brent Weeks.

I picked this book up at random from Borders. Always had a weakness for assassin stories, and I was excited to be able to experience a new series from the beginning as it was being released.

To be perfectly blunt, "The Way of Shadows" is a great concept with some very professional execution. The protagonist is interesting to follow around as he is swept up from the life of a common street rat and into that of a calculating assassin, or "wetboy" (didn't care for the title, sounds funny), whilst under the tutelage of Cenaria's best-of-the-best killer for hire, Durzo Blint.

In stark contrast to the almost YA writing style, this book manages to pick up some very haunting themes including child abuse and prostitution. This makes the characters' ordeal that much more chilling, when they begin to find that the unforgiving life of the city is more of an enemy than anything else they've experienced. You can feel this presence of turmoil pick away at them slowly through the first pages, and then slip away as everyone makes their "escape" from the street life.

As for the assassin's journey, it's more than exceptional. The real drama of the story isn't in the actual killing at all, but in dealing with the very morality of the situation. Watching Kylar hesitate and choke as he attempted to take his first life was heart-stopping in itself.

The only real gripe I had with the book, and it is, unfortunately, a rather large one, is the story structure itself. As the book progresses, it seems that every named character gets their own perspective. I found myself getting absolutely absorbed into Kylar's story, and then, all of a sudden, I'm reading about someone else. This happens soooo many times, and while I understand the author's reasons, as he wanted all the cards to be out on the table, eventually these constant cutaways to (in some instances) throw-away characters becomes very annoying, and actually persuaded me to put the book down for the night a couple times.

These cutaways not only put a damper on the flow, but made the whole story much more complicated. As if to solve this at times, the characters also drift into page-length monologues to explain...everything. If some of these cutaways and monologues had been removed, there would be a much tighter novel in its place. Instead, they sit there and make the 600 or so pages much more intimidating as time goes by.

Now, that may seem like a complete turn-off, but it shouldn't be. This novel is greater than the sum of its parts. Kylar's journey (while interrupted at times) crosses paths with some great and interesting characters who are simply a joy to read about. I'm glad that I only have to wait a month for the next book, and I hope that Mr. Weeks can prove that the land of Midcyru can stand on its own two feet after a promising start.

The Way of Shadows by Brent A. Weeks is the first novel in the Night Angel Trilogy. The second and third books are titled; Shadow's Edge (The Night Angel Trilogy) and Beyond the Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy) respectively. I had never heard of Mr. Weeks before, but I was encouraged to read this book and give it a review. I have long been a proponent of giving new authors a shot, after all how else are we really going to know if they are any good or now. I need to stress I went into this novel without any preconceived ideas of what it would be like. Here are my thoughts on the novel.

The plot of this book, where do I start? Usually in this section of my reviews I hit on the key plot, and sub plot, points. Quite frankly though, there is so much that goes on in this novel that I would never be able to do it justice. So, please know that this section only covers a few pieces of the plot. One of the main plot lines, at least on the surface, is a little clichéd in that it is a coming of age story of an orphan turned assassin. But, that cliché is turned on its head with vivid details and a thorough entrenchment into the story. Most types of these stories follow the lines of, I am an orphan therefore I became an assassin. That is no where near what this part of the story is. In his novel we are allowed to see the progression of events and choices that force the character down this road. Another main plot line, which is more apparent later in the novel, is a political coup. The amount of delicate planning, subtle foreshadowing, and setting things up is brilliant. Rarely do we, as fantasy readers, see the meticulous details in planning that are present in this novel. Usually, we are only afforded a summary of what those plans were. Here, we get to see them play out. There is also the requisite love interest, but it fits so well into the story and one of the stories themes that I makes perfect sense. It never seemed forced or contrived. In fact, in the entire 600 page plus novel, I never felt that any of the plot was contrived or forced. It all flowed so smoothly, and enjoyably. As I said before these are only three of the many, many things that happen in this book. I don't have the space to detail each and every one. But, suffice to say. If you are a fan of the fantasy genre, particularly the dark/gritty/real vents type novels, then this is certainly a plot line for you.

The characters in this book, much like the plot, are numerous and diverse. The main character, Azoth, is a young orphan boy who's life consists of procuring funds to give to his guild for room and board. It's a tough life, but he needs to do what he can to survive. Another character is the wetboy (think assassin) Durzo Blint who is a legend among the guilds. If he takes a contract to kill someone, they will be killed, there is no question about it. There is the young son a duke, Logan, who is seeking to make his own way and assume control of his father's holdings while his father is away. There is the mysterious Momma K. who runs several brothels in the city, and has her hands in other areas of the city as well. The main villain in this book, who actually appears later in the novel, is Roth who is a sick and twisted man. He has his own motives for his actions, but he adds the sadist/ twisted element on his own accord. There are several other characters that are memorable in this novel, but in interests of space I will leave it to those I mentioned above. Much like the plot, I loved the characters in this book. They all fit their particular roles. I appreciated that they each spoke with their own voice, had their own motives, and they all had faults as well. It made them much more real and easy to connect with.

I only have one minor criticism about this novel:

There was one minor sub plot and character that seemed to get lost in the story. When Logan was asserting himself as the `man of the house' he orders his mother to do something and then we hear no more from her. I would have liked at least one follow-up scene with her and find out where she was at. I fully understand this is a very minor thing in a novel filled with greatness, but never-the-less it is there.

Some things I particularly enjoyed about this novel:

1 - It doesn't hold any punches. There is a grittiness about growing up as an orphan in a city like this. Mr. Weeks shows the reader exactly what perils there are. Life on the street is tough, kids get hit, abused, and left for dead. All those things happen in this book.

2 - The plot. I was pleasantly surprised at the richness of both the plot and the setting The plot twists and additions were perfectly timed and added extra elements to an already very good book.

3 - The prose. Fluid and fast paced. It is one of those rare books that you can start reading before you go to bed and look up later and realize it is three in the morning. The prose is refined and does not waste valuable word count. The fight scenes are both graphic, but succinct. Nothing is wasted.

4 - Too many authors in the fantasy genre become overly attached to characters and therefore when you read about them being in trouble you know they will come out of it unscathed. Not the case here. People die, people who you think should live. This proves especially important when later in the book there are several scenes where the reader has absolutely no idea if a character will live or die, because Mr. Weeks has already proven he can, and will, kill off characters.

When all is said and done, I loved this book. Mr. Weeks weaves a tale with fantastic characters, a succinct plot, and his tremendous word-smithing ability that could easily place this novel in my Top Five Reads of 2008. I simply can not say enough positive things about this book. I have no qualms about telling every fantasy fan to read this book. It is a book that I whole heartedly recommend to anyone even remotely interested in the fantasy genre. I am almost certain there is something in this novel for everyone to enjoy. I for one am eagerly looking forward to getting my hands on the next two novels in the series. Do yourself a favor and track down this book. It's a true diamond in the rough. But I do not think it will stay in the rough for very long. Mr. Weeks has a long promising career in his future. I can't wait to see where he takes us!

In a midevil world of assassins and magic, young Azoth is a street urchin constantly worried about finding his next meal. In his teens he finds himself apprenticed to Durzo Blint, a "wetboy", or assassin. Azoth is suddenly rubbing elbows with royalty, but it doesn't give him back all the things he gave up: his friends, the love of his life, and his morality. Was Azoth really meant to be a killer?

The Way of Shadows is your average fantasy novel. You've got the boy who must find his way to manhood; his teacher, the flawed Byronic hero who really isn't so bad underneath; the whore with the heart of gold; the noble friend; the True Love; etc. The characters don't really grab you, mostly because you've seen them before, and partly because they're not well fleshed out. The rags to riches story, is also fairly cliche.

However, Weeks throws in some truly wonderful descriptions and scenes which help parts of the novel rise above its mediocre premise. The opening chapter, depicting Azoth crawling through mud, is so well done that I could almost hear the mud squishing around me. Weeks has a fertile imagination and obvious talent.

Unfortunately, the book is marred by a lot of mistakes that many first time writers make. The diction is all over the place, which means that characters will talk in very formal speech one moment and then use modern American slang the next. This is very distracting. For example, a serious scene where Durzo is trying to explain to Azoth that he cannot fall in love is completely ruined by use of the word "banging" for sex. There are too many characters mostly with made-up names that sound silly or difficult; other names are taken from other countries. I think this was done to make the names sound exotic to American ears, but instead, for someone who knew the languages the names were taken from, it was just silly (if Japan isn't a country in this book, you probably shouldn't be using Japanese names). The book's point of view skips around randomly, sometimes even switching to characters we don't ever get to know and don't care about.

Probably the biggest problem with the book overall is is the many unnecessary scenes. A good hundred pages at least could have been cut away, and several characters should have been downplayed or removed entirely. The result of keeping all those pointless scenes and point of view shifts was a confusing mess in some chapters.

Basically, Weeks has come up with a good idea that needed a lot more editing than it received. All the little problems I mentioned above turned exciting scenes dull and dragged the story down. The result was thus very average, certainly not nearly as gripping as it could have been given how well Weeks was able to write the best scenes.

Overall, I'm definitely interested in Weeks himself. I look forward to seeing him hone his skills and grow into a better writer. This book wasn't really a success, but all the potential is there.

If I could I'd give this book a 2 1/2 star rating, nestled right in the middle. I was torn between the 2 star rating and the 3 star rating. I'm confused whether to recommend it or not. It's certainly not the worst book I've ever read, but neither is it great. It starts off with nice potential, but it never exactly...gets there. I'll explain.

***SPOILERS***

1) The characters. Some have promise. They each started out with an interesting characteristic. Durzo isn't your dashing hero on a white horse, though he's a main character and clearly plagued with moral issues. Logan Gyre has a quick temper that rends him looking a little foolish. Jarl is a victim of child sexual abuse and becomes a homosexual manwhore. Momma K is the "top courtesan", though she's older and well passed her prime. Doll Girl is such named for her beauty, but marked with ugly scars early on in her childhood. Promises. What's bad is these promises aren't fulfilled. You learn so little about them despite the book being over 600 pages. You don't get a sense of them being "real people". They're simply there and their unique characteristics are never expanded on, aside from Durzo, but even that is mostly him moping.

Another qualm with the characters are the females. Remember Doll Girl with the ugly scars? She's still referenced as being beautiful numerous times throughout the book. There's even a point after she's older where the couple she works for has constructed a painting of her naked in ecstasy, which they have hanging in the hall of their home (eh?). Not to mention she seems to be in constant peril of being raped. She's not the only one. Every female character has large breasts or great cleavage. In fact, I think their breasts are mentioned more often than anything else. The breasts are even mentioned when the man in question is in danger. At one point, Kylar, the main character, is being attacked by a female assassin (or female wetboy). Her knife is to his neck, but she doesn't kill him nor does he try to fight for his life. No, instead they go into a flirty discussion. This has left me wondering, being a woman, do men really think of sex even at the point of a painful death?

Not only are the female characters all about sex, they're weepy and overly emotional. All of them either break into tears, break into a sudden fit of anger, or both. Not one of them have any real importance to the plot at all, though Momma K started out that way...only to disappear throughout the last half or so of the book.

2) The magic. When magic is first explained, or "Talent" as they call it in the book, it's explained as having limitations and being different for each person. I'm not a fan of magic in fantasy because a lot of the times it's god-like, but I enjoy it if it's done well. This intrigued me. What also excited me was the fact Kylar was "broken" in his own Talent and couldn't use it. I'm all for heroes with flaws who aren't decked out and need to find other means to go about doing things. I couldn't wait to see how it played out.

Again, promises. As far as I can see with what magic comes into play, there's no difference for anyone. They're all sprouting fireballs and numerous spells depending on what situation they need it for. How? Who knows. The "limitations" would be they use up their energy...which appears to be continuous itself. Kylar then found a way to break through to his Talent and in doing so, he became uber powerful. So powerful he even dies...and comes back, completely healed from all wounds. Ouch.

3) The story. A childish king. A ruling council behind the shadows. A distant kingdom planning to come and overtake the throne. Nobles plotting among themselves and against one another. Murder. Backstabbing. Political intrigue. It had the ingredients for the recipe, but that's as far as it got.

It's fast-paced. A lot of information you gather is from characters breaking into sudden explanations. The writing itself is pretty bad and makes certain things come across awkwardly. For instance, Kylar is being attacked in his room. He calls out for help. The count enters, ready to defend him, but the attacker gets free by jumping out the window. That's the end of it. Never again is the attack mentioned. Does the count ask if he's all right? Does he check to see if he's hurt? Does he go after the attacker, or yell for his guards to do so? Does he ask who it was, what they were doing there, what had happened? No, instead, immediately after, he simply stands there at the doorway where he'd first entered and tells Kylar his life's story. Yes, really.

In all, I think my recommendation would depend. If you don't care for deep characterization, complicated plots, talented writing and description, and just want an entertaining read, then you'll probably like it. If you're looking for something like Hobb, Martin, or Lynch, then you probably won't.

The flaws of this book are numerous. First and most obvious is the quality of prose, which was amateur. More than once, I had to reread a line to figure out what the author meant--not a good thing when the style is as straightforward and no-funny-business as in Way of Shadows. In addition to that, I could see a notable difference between the quality of writing in the first half of the book and the second. Beyond the technical sentence-stringing aspect of quality, there was also a great deal of "tell" as opposed to "show" happening. Irksome for reasons I'll get to in a bit.

Also a problem for me was the number of characters given viewpoints. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is particular annoying as a reader. Bottom line is that, in the thick of the action at the end of the book, I don't give a rip about some random woman on a boat from whom we only hear once. I really don't. And I'd prefer not to have the narratives of the main characters interrupted just so some random character off doing something can get his time on stage. To me, this is another sign of amateur or inexperienced work, since a writer ought to be able to tell the story, entire plot and all, without needing random viewpoints--especially not the amount Weeks employs.

Another issue I had was with the dialogue. While I want to give Weeks a huge high-five for creating dialogue that actually acknowledged how people change how they talk depending on whom they're talking to... I had trouble believing that the young kid characters would be talking like the young kid characters of our world today, complete with 'likes' and 'totally' and elongated 'soooo'. It threw me out of the story more than once.

Furthermore, the worldbuilding had me confused for pages and pages. I couldn't keep the names of countries and ethnicities straight, especially because there was no rhyme or reason to the naming of things. Here we have something with a Germanic name an then we have something with a French name and then an attempt at an Arabic name and we musn't for'get the' pre'sen'ce of' lots' of a'pos'tro'phes' ev'ery'where'.

And because I guess I'm just itching to get flame comments, I further took issue with the plot. It was going so splendidly, this slum kid apprenticed to the by-his-own-moral-compass assassin. Had a nice plot arc, Azoth becoming an assassin in more than just profession. It was juicy and wonderful in its simplicity, and that was what kept me reading after the first chapter (with which I was less than impressed.) But then, halfway or so through the book, Weeks turns on Epic Fantasy Mode and suddenly there are invading armies and Godkings and prophecies (ugh) and Capitalized Nouns and destiny and weapons of mass power and ancient heroes.

I've read all that crap before, two and a half dozen times or thereabouts. What I hadn't read was the story of this particular boy, Azoth, becoming an assassin in the apprenticeship to this madman Durzo Blint. That's what I wanted. That was what was so juicy to my mind. But I didn't get that, I got the epic-ized fantasy instead, with Weeks turning the route of many fantasy authors nowadays who somehow feel a compulsion to make everything grandiose and, well, epic. Which is not to imply that The Night Angels couldn't have become more epic-like, but in the first book? At the expensive of so much potential deliciousness? Sigh.

Now, before all the flames come: for all the novel's flaws, I kept reading. One reason is that I'm disinclined to let any book go unfinished. Another is that the author's enthusiasm and love of the story is evident (more than I can say for Sanderson and some of his books, which to my understanding were merely "practice" for others.) The main one is because the story is so damn good; I found the arc of Azoth becoming an assassin and the dynamic between him and Blint highly compelling. Perhaps that's why I'm so strongly opposed to the epicification of the story, as it came at the expensive of my favorite aspect.

I read somewhere that Weeks is regarded as having excellent characters. I both agree and disagree. Agree because I was invested in Azoth/Kylar and in Blint and in the relationship between them. Agree because I believed the other characters as well, and Weeks didn't merely assign traits and tropes in some formulaic fashion. Agree because given the writing style and the fast pace, it's amazing the amount of character that got packed in. Disagree because while the depth of character was there, it never came out and went to work. We never felt the depth of Blint or Kylar, just told at best. Made me sad, all that potential gone untapped just to get a plot-stuffed, epicified story.

In the end, my expectations for Way of Shadows were wrong. I was expecting a court intrigue with Kylar in the mix of things, the story of him and Blint, the sideplots worked in to add further depth, etc. I was disappointed when I got otherwise. But the potential of the characters and the enthusiasm with which Weeks writes give me hope for this new author. He could be a major contender for a ruling spot in fantasydom, if he gets his writing up to speed and starts choosing depth instead of shallow surface plots and cheap pacing tricks.

'The Way of the Shadows' is first book in a new trilogy by Brent Weeks. And surprisingly enough all three books have been released consecutively one month apart in Oct., Nov. and Dec. 2008.

This is a very good, exciting tale; replete with interesting characters, battles, magic, love and unexpected twists and turns.

*Minor SPOILER*

This is the tale of Azoth (soon to become Kylar) who we first meet as a struggling street urchin. Although he doesn't know it, he has a very special and highly coveted talent for the dark arts of stealth and assassination. This leads him to become the apprentice of one Durzo Blint, THE chief assassin of the day, and thus the real tale begins.

*End SPOILER*

Yet for all the 'potential' this book had, it also has some drawbacks that I find difficult to overlook; some concerns to follow...

1.) I found the author tried to use techniques familiar to those of us that follow the 'Ice and Fire' series of George R.R. Martin; i.e. sudden, unexpected changes to the plot and also to seemingly 'stable' characters; except the skills of Mr. Weeks, in presenting these changes in direction and circumstance, are not nearly as well refined as GRRM's.

2.)There were many instances where either good or bad events were presented with an opposite 'not so good or not so bad' comparative statement. For want of a better description, 'every cloud has a silver lining'.

I'll give one example of many...While Kylar was enduring a beating at the hands of his main foe, the author wrote, and I quote from page 620...

"His eyelids were lined with crushed glass. His optic nerves were being chewed by little teeth. And after his eyes, every tissue, sinew, muscle and organ marinated in misery in its turn. He was screaming. But his mind cleared."

Well, I guess we can be thankful for the 'clearing of the mind' because he survive to fight another day.

3.)Profanity/Vulgarity. Although not overly used, but when used, was often done with questionable taste; uttered in places that required a little 'sensitivity'. One got the feeling of a amateur writer going for 'shock' value.

An example, near the very end of the book...Kylar has saved (yet again) his love, Elene, and wishes for them to be together (she's loves him but is morally hesitant because of his previous shady deeds and the fact he's an assassin). A quote, from page 644...

"He couldn't say a damn thing right...'I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Elene. And the purist. And the best. But I'm not asking you to f***."

I mean, is this how you sweet talk the girl you've loved since childhood? This is the type of writing that I find hard to believe would get past the editor.

4.)Although generally well written, I had a sense of the prose needing a little more polish and refinement; a good editor would be a definite asset to Mr. Weeks. Hopefully, the subsequent books in the series will show the needed changes.

Conclusion:
A very interesting fantasy/adventure story featuring lots of action and intrigue. It just needed some improvements in a few areas to take into the big leagues; but as it is...3 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

This book is phenomenal. I think that it's one of the more engaging and well executed fantasy novels that I've had the pleasure of reading. The reader should be aware, however, that the seqels entirely fail to live up to the promise of this book. I would suggest reading this book and taking a pass on the rest of the trilogy.

The book starts off super slow and boring, and really doesn't pick up until over half way through. It is a sort of a mixture of Mistborn and Assassin's creed. I am being generous by giving this a 3, it has next to no plot and little to no excitement or action. The only thing this book has in full supply is sex scenes. I swear there are more parts about sex then there are about violence. I wouldn't recommend anyone reaching these.

I selected this book based on the many glowing reviews it's received here at Amazon. I started it, and at first it seemed promising. It has an intriguing plot, interesting characters, and fairly strong narrative drive. The problem? Ostensibly it was never edited, or edited by someone who's never learned basic grammar. In the beginning the grammatical errors are infrequent and can be overlooked. About half way through, however, it's simply one error after another and, for me at least, this distracted my attention so much from the action as to render the rest unreadable. I believe this author has talent, but the editing here is inexcusable. The book reads like a first draft. If you can overlook repeated errors in writing it's fine, I suppose. If you're like me and such errors make you cringe, save your money.