The Way of Shadows

Over the last few months, I've picked up and read books by quite a few rising stars of fantasy (The Name of the Wind, The Warded Man, for example.) Brent Weeks was the one author I'd been hearing a LOT about but hadn't read a book by yet, so I was pretty excited about The Way of Shadows.

Azoth has grown up on the streets with every aspect of his life subject to the whims of people stronger than him. He dreams of escape, ideally by apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint, the greatest master assassin alive. However, Blint famously does not take apprentices, and to be accepted, Azoth must prove himself by turning his back on his old identity, his friends and possibly his humanity.

New and edgy fantasy seems to have two major things - it's more show more gritty and realistic and strong women characters. Weeks definitely succeeds on the "gritty" count, there's plenty of rape, child sexual abuse, deaths of characters we like, a protagonist that kills innocent people for a living and so on. However, not only are there no strong women in the story, but all female characterisation seems to be derived from a hormonal teenager's view of the world. Every woman is either oversexed and isn't afraid to flaunt and use it (in an unflattering way, not in the unabashed and empowering way of the Kushiel's Legacy series), or she's a gentle and virginal soul that's prone to giggling adorably. And regardless of their type, they are all beautiful and have big breasts that are talked about endlessly. (Momma K might seem like an exception but she's actually just a hybrid of the two - the whore with a heart of gold.) The main love story of the book is laughable - I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say that I prefer romances that develop slowly from getting to know people. I thought I was annoyed by Peter V. Brett's women in The Warded Man series, but this is way worse.

It's not like the characterisation of men is great, but it's still much better than that of the women. Azoth is a passable protagonist, but his motivations and thought process were never clear to me, so I was unable to connect with him. As a child, it was easy, he had a miserable life and Blint was the most feared man in the city and was likely to keep him safe. As he grew up, even though most of the book was from his point of view, it felt like I was watching him from a stranger's eyes. Blint seemed a bit more sympathetic, but his self-loathing is justified in the book. Logan is a Mary Sue with no real personality except perfection. The only characters I enjoyed were the three mages from Sho'cendi.

Another problem was that the book didn't flow well. We start with some scenes when Azoth was young, then there are some chapters where Azoth is portrayed at different ages with transitions like "Now he was sixteen." These sections don't seem to add anything to the plot, and were way too abrupt. There were also an innumerable amount of POV characters, often 3 or 4 in a chapter (and some characters got only one POV in the entire book.) There are some books in which this is executed well, but in this one, it was disjointed and seemed like a cheap way of letting the reader know what was going on while sacrificing characterisation and suspense.

There were some things I liked about the book, like the concept of a criminal underworld controlling the Kingdom, but not enough. I don't think I'll be bothering with Shadow's Edge. show less

Azoth is an 11-year-old boy barely surviving in the streets of Cenaria City. He's part of a brutal gang of children who will do anything in order to survive. But Azoth wants to do more than survive; he wants a way out of the Warrens and he sees an apprenticeship with master assassin Durzo Blint as his ticket. Now if he can just find Durzo and persuade him of the same thing...

My sister shoved this book into my hands and said, "Read this. Now. It will be your next book crack fix." That might have set my hopes a little too high, but it was still a great read.

The beginning was a bit startling. Fairly or not, I think of my baby sister (who is 30, by the way) as being more innocent than I am. So when the book is suddenly talking about rape as show more a means of subduing the boys in the gang, I was appalled. It wasn't graphic, but there was no question what was going on. I started texting her about it. She didn't remember it at all. "Oh, maybe that's why The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo didn't bother me." Blink. Blink. Okay.... But the author addresses this in his interview at the end. He says, "Hope isn't vibrant unless it has to be chosen over despair. Redemption is cheap unless there's a suffocating darkness in which even a hero is tempted to hide....without that, light and peace are meaningless, worthless, boring." OK. I get it. I actually make this same argument to my husband whenever he asks why I read "stuff like that." Granted, what I normally read doesn't get this dark, but he has to listen to me working out what's going on within the darker parts of my books. He doesn't know that's what he's doing, and I just realized it myself. He's my sounding board to make sense of the darkness. Hmmm.

Philosophical meanderings aside...

This twisted and turned a lot. That's why my sister loved it. Sometime over the past several years I've actually gotten decent at predicting where a story will go, but I never knew with this book. I was absolutely clueless. And I still feel clueless about where the sequels will go.

I liked Azoth quite a bit. He's doing such terrible things for such a good reason. It's not just about his own survival, but that's all I'll say. He's conflicted but he's good at what he does. He ends up living a double life and making some friends, despite Durzo Blint teaching him to stay detached from everything. Blint's philosophy seems to be, "If you don't care, it doesn't hurt." Azoth just can't bring himself to live his life that way.

I mostly liked the other characters as well. I loved Mama K and wish I knew more about her. Her role is not very big, but it is hugely surprising. I like Azoth's friends a lot but I don't want to go into details. There are even some fairly minor characters that I want to know more about. I hope they get more page time in the rest of the series. I can't bring myself to like Blint. Even knowing more about him, I just can't like him. His aloof attitude turns me right off. What's the point of a life lived only for killing with no love or friendship mixed in? Yet that's what he chooses.

After a certain point, I did have a hard time putting the book down. The real action gets started, twists turn on twists, and I just had to see what was going to happen next.

If you can make it through the bleakness and violence of the first 75 pages or so, I do recommend this book. Azoth is a character you'll want to meet. show less

This book is so full of fantasy tropes that it shouldn't even be readable. The main character is an assassin's apprentice/prophecied hero things that have been done again and again. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. The plot is engaging and the characters are well rounded and likable. Worth reading even if you've read enough fantasy to cringe like I did at every one of the overwhelming cliches.

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Title: The Way of Shadows
Series: Night Angel #1
Author: Brent Weeks
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 659
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis: Spoilers

Azoth becomes apprenticed to Durzo Blint and becomes Kyler. Magic, politics, love and death all roll into one super messy ball.

Kyler becomes the possessor of a magic ball that gives him extraordinary powers. And just as he's gaining them, he's forced to show more kill his master and watch his city fall to invaders. Throw in a prophet, some other magic balls, a complete godking of evil, best friend becoming king and teen love and you have this story in a nutshell.

Oh, don't forget the violence. Lots and lots and lots of violence.

My Thoughts: Spoilers

I had forgotten just how brutal this book was. It was heart wrenching to see everything falling apart for Kyler. Yes, he's successful in apprenticing under Blint, but by the end of the book, all Kyler has is his life and the life of the girl he loves. He sees, and we experience, everything else going to the pit. Friends? Dead, killed, imprisoned. Mentors? Poisoned, paupered, destroyed. It is all torn away.

The book ends on a slightly hopeful note, as the city nobles and craftsmen flee and destroy everything to deny it to the invaders. Kyler is alive, even though he died. The legend of the Night Angel has taken seed and the invaders know “something” walks the shadows. The prophet has set things in motion to stop the godking from total domination. The War has Started.

The writing definitely shows that this is Weeks' first book and is not nearly as polished as his Lightbringer series. Nothing stood out as wrong, but some things weren't just as “right” as they could have been.

To end, I thoroughly enjoyed this book again and both cheered and groaned at the triumphs and tragedies woven throughout this story. show less

Assassins, oh how I love assassins. It seems a rare thing for me to find a book series (or in this case trilogy) with an assassin as the main character.

The world of The Way of Shadows is as brutal as it is fascinating. Weeks seems to have meshed together some of the best and worst aspects of historical civilizations. You have the overly lavish and indulgent lifestyle of the French (before the Revolution) aristocracy sitting hand in hand with the bloodlust of the Arenas from the Roman Empire.

The book isn't a 'pretty' book. There are actions and motivations throughout that would make most people cringe. Characters with such unquestionable evil intentions and personality that you want to run them through. Then there are characters like show more Durzo (who only takes jobs he feels are necessary) and Momma K (an aging prostitute with rules over the brothels of the city) who have traditionally 'bad' professions, but aren't bad people with bad intentions.

Azoth falls into that category. He is a good person, despite his angst, and became a wetboy to not only save himself but to help his friends. Which to digress--there is a definite difference between an 'assassin' and a 'wetboy' such as Durzo or Azoth. Not just in their methods, but in how they are viewed. Wetboys are the accepted, if not condoned, part of the book's society. They train and perfect their skills. They leave deaders. Assassins however kill with little finesse or thought and leave bodies. In the latter half of the book a better illustration of these differences presents itself.

Overall I love this book and am eagerly looking forward to the next two. Not my normal run, I tend towards female leads not male, but I'm very glad I picked it up. show less

This is the debut work for this author. I’ve read and really enjoyed his later Lightbringer series, so decided to go back and start with this first set.

The plot draws you in from the beginning, and the cliché of not wanting to put the book down and just read one more chapter has never been more apt. They are on the darker side of fantasy books, with some graphic descriptions but this only makes the story that more "real".

Azoth is a street urchin, working in the gang of the evil Roth. He dreams of leaving the slums and never being afraid again. He wants to do better, and to be able to protect himself and his friends from the evil of the gangs. Azoth wants to be an apprentice to Durzo Blint, who is acknowledged to be the best 'wetboy' show more or assassin in the city. He finally gets his chance when Blint agrees to take him on; and he learns this trade of killing. Along the way, Blint introduces Azoth to many of his friends. Momma K is the leader of the Pleasure Guild, a tough and robust woman who teaches Azoth how to blend into polite society. Blint's long-time friend Count Drake shows Azoth that there is more to life than the fame of being the best assassin there is. Drake also helps him to understand that it is possible to love even in the hardest circumstances. After many years of training and hard work, Azoth is ready to take his first contract and his new name.

The relationship between the two central characters is as intense as it is enigmatic. Durzo Blint is, to all intents and purposes, as ruthless as they come and never stops reminding Azoth how little he values life, including Azoth's. Yet beneath this brutal exterior, there's depths there that go against the cold ruthlessness he's eager to project.

The characters are well realised, but the world building isn't quite so detailed - to me though this was not a bad thing, as it kept the book moving at a fast pace well suited to the plot, with all its twists and turns. The author is not afraid to kill off characters with which the reader has formed a bond, which is initially shocking and then refreshing in its ingenuity.

What's also refreshing about this book is that Weeks doesn't rely too heavily on standard fantasy plot devices. Magic is used but the cost of using magic is also clearly shown, a character will not simply use a magic spell when the mood takes him or her, the use of magic is extremely draining and often dangerous to the person using it, especially in the hands of the unskilled.

The criminal underworld setting for this book has echoes of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Lock Lamora, another superb fantasy book that, like this book, pushes fantasy in new directions.

Fast-moving, inventive, dark, many-stranded and above all fun. Thankfully, I bought the trilogy as a set … so I could start book 2 the minute I put this one down. show less

This book was pretty damn sweet! It definitely had it's flaws.. There were a couple points when I felt like it was just dragging.. I'd put it down and have no desire to pick it back up, I'd even think about picking a different book up... But the last third of it rocked it out, and more than made up for the slow sections.

I really liked Kylar, and Durzo as well (even though Durzo was a complete dick). Elene... Eh. A little too holier than thou for my tastes. Logan was your typical heart of gold good guy... Roth your typical insanely evil bad guy.. But despite some of the semi-cliche characters, it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book. There were some good twists and turns, and just enough mystery left to make me excited to pick show more up the next book in the series. Overall, this sort of felt like the set up for the rest of the series.. A lot happened, but it seemed to be happening in order to set the stage for the real story, which I'm guessing will be played out in the next two books.

One thing that surprised me... The religion of the one God in the book. It was very typically Christian, which I didn't expect. Not saying I had any problem with it whatsoever, I guess I'm just so used to fantasy novels having some completely original religion, usually with multiple Gods.. Or the ones that do have a one God religion, it's often presented as not the most forgiving religion in the world.. Maybe even a little evil seeming (think GRRM and his red God). But the religion here.. We got Count Drake witnessing about how he turned to God and cleaned up his life. Kylar dies and is walking towards the light, people are waiting there for him, but then oh wait he's in some sort of purgatory.. It was just surprising, but not unwelcome. Just thought I'd mention it :)

So all in all, I'd say this is a solid four star read. It could have been better, but was satisfying nonetheless. I can't wait to continue the series and see where the story goes! show less