The Way of Shadows

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1. 

   Scott Masterton @ 10:42 pm

   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.

   
2. 

   Annihilatrix14 @ 12:22 am

   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.

   
3. 

   Andrew Gray @ 3:12 am

   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!
   

   
4. 

   Michiru @ 4:47 am

   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.

   
5. 

   R. Nicholson @ 7:46 am

   ‘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