The Way of Shadows

I didn't actually finish this book. I merely reached a little past the halfway point and simply quit reading it. I didn't actually mean to, but once I started another book - that was so much better than this one - I realized I'd probably never get it finished.

I disliked the story structure, how nine years passed in a very jerky manner, and almost universally disliked the characters. The few - one, I think - characters that I was actually interested in seemed to have an extremely small parts. The one I was actually very curious about, only showed up twice in the first half.

I really disliked the treatment of women in this book, how they were all either virgins or whores - and if they were over eighteen, they were certainly the latter. There were also a could of very misogynistic comments and that eventually got to be too much for me. I also really didn't like the amount of language in the story. I think you can get your point across very well without resorting to curses in such a gratuitous way. (Except for the king - he couldn't get a point across even with his curses.)

What other people have mentioned about this book feeling like a twelve year old boy trying to be an ‘adult' by using curses and talking up sex really hits the nail on the head.

I enjoyed the dynamic between student and teacher here, but the conclusion as a whole felt a bit weak. I'm not sure what I want from a chosen one storyline, but this dark gritty lens the whole world is shown to us as a reader feels less impactful when there's a nice little bow at the end where a lot of the consequences seems to dissipate.

It probably still would've gotten a higher rating if not for the fact that most of the female characters here felt really weirdly written? Almost all of them seemed to be cemented into the perspective of another male, as if their existence was reliant on a males orbit? I'm not sure how to describe it otherwise.

The first half was a 5 star read, but the second half was a bit confusing and too packed..

4.5

Honestly I tend to enjoy Brent Weeks books and this was no exception but I have to knock it down a little because of several over-the-top “men writing women” bits and some implied or explicit sexual violence that really didn't need to be there.

I don't understand this book. Is it a YA? Is it grim dark? Is it YA with bad language?
Also that rape scene at the beginning of the book was so random and unneeded for the story.
Another issue I have isn't necessarily Weeks' fault and more my personal taste but I don't like books where the main character is a terrible person. Like Mark Lawrence's books!
I want a character who is a good person who when faced with a hard decision he rises above it to do the right thing whether he suffers negative consequences or not. There wasn't a single person in this book that I liked except maybe Logan.

I will say that there are some twists that I enjoyed. Overall I did not like this book except for a couple chapters but he show's enough potential to make me give his other series a shot.

If you want a good assassin book, read Robin Hobb!

Was a little medium on the author's depictions of women, but I was invested in the story and the characters, and will probably finish the series.

It was clear from the start this wasn't going to be a good book, but I wanted to see how far I could read it. The writing is weak, the plot is standard, the characters are clichés.

PLOT

Azoth is a kid who lives in the streets. He is part of a gang lead by Rat, a cruel leader who is constantly abusing his followers. Everyday he must reach a quota or face the consequences. One day he decides to challenge the abuse, defying the leader in front of everybody. To teach him a lesson, nothing happened to Azoth, but his best friend Jarl took the punishment.

Helpless and scared for his life and Doll Girl's, his other friend, Azoth tries to enlist as an apprentice to the best assassin in town, Durzo Blint. Durzo denies him at first, but after much insistence, he gives the boy a task: if he kills his gang leader, he would train him. Somehow Azoth manages to succeed, but not before Doll Girl is tortured and left to die.

What follows is Azoth's training and the development of his new identity, as a young noble from a distant land. He must learn about poisons, fighting, killing and spying. But above all, never to create any emotional bonds with anyone, as that is a weakness his enemies would use against him.

ANALYSIS

So far as I read everything was very blend, nothing interesting happening. Although I liked the very brief apprenticeship under Durzo, instead of a whole book about this, the plot felt very rushed at after this point.

Some of the things I didn't like:
- over reliance of tropes, making things too predictable: the tough looking badass assassin, who is feared by everyone, who has no emotions, but is in fact a deeply caring man
- bullied street kid wants to become stronger to defend himself and others, decides to become an assassin, bu hate killing
- empty promises: ‘You can never talk to her again or else I'll kill you, OK?', ‘OK.'. Proceeds to talking to girl again, with no consequences

This is an entertaining story, despite the fact that the main characters are assassins, thugs, prostitutes, and leaders in the criminal underworld.

I'm being generous in giving this a three star rating, mainly because the beginning of the story was actually rather good. Unfortunately, that doesn't last long. This story plays on every Fantasy trope out there. It spends too much time on graphic death scenes, and not nearly enough time on actual world building. It treats women like weak minded pawns, whose sole purpose is to either die violently or be love interests, to advance the plot. Or what little plot there is.

I love Fantasy. Nothing makes me happier than to get lost in a new world, with new rules, and hopefully with some magic. I need guidance though. The author needs to care as much about their world and the characters as I do. Weeks didn't make me feel like he was invested. So I never felt invested. Things moved along quickly enough that I finished this, but just barely.

So three stars for a strong start and an okay finish. I don't think I'll be moving on to the other books in this series.

This book was so easy to read. I liked the gritty story of redemption, magic, love, and hate. There were some tragedies I wish had not occurred, but the fact I cared so much is an indication of how well they were written.

I was disappointed that I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped given it's GR rating and also the good reviews from reviewers I typically align with. Also, it's probably more of a 2.5 star book.

The good: the plot. The plot kept me intrigued and the pacing was decent. Kylar Stern and Durzo Blint are 2 wetboys (assassins) that are highly skilled at what they do (poisoning, sword fighting, perhaps even a bit of magic). This book is mostly the tale of the coming-of-age of Kylar, Blint's young apprentice.

The bad: the characters. Oh how I didn't like any of the characters. Kylar Stern, our hero, is just... ugh. And I hate that term: ugh, but it's just the best I could come up with. He's shallow. He wants nothing more than to be like his hero Durzo Blint the wetboy (assassin) and yet doesn't want to do the things a wetboy does. I guess before you decide what career path you want to take you should first know what that career is all about.

Durzo Blint was just an all around haughty drunk. Wetboys aren't supposed to fall in love, but guess what: he did. The women were terrible tropes, with Momma K being the all wise, kind, prostitute, keen businesswoman that she was. And Elena, Kylar's love from when they were kids, is an angel. And that's really it for those two women (who are literally all the women in the book, literally there are TWO). To be fair, I guess there were only about 5-6 men.

Something else that just really was like nails on a chalkboard for me are some of the author's choice of words / spelling. I don't know, maybe the term ‘wetboy' actually means something to someone. The interwebs say it is another word for an assassin but also not another word for an assassin. Either way, the word's a terrible choice. It sounds just awful, and I hated reading it aloud in my head. Another thing: the only word “fantasied” (like Edward = Eddard a la GRRM) was wytch instead of witch. Why just this one word? It bugged me constantly. Only fantasy-ing one word, why bother.

The plot was decent, though, which is surprising. As I reader, I enjoy a good plot just as much as anyone. Weeks is a good storyteller, but he really needs to work on characterization. I'll read the next 2 in the series and see if we get some better characters.

This review is disjointed and amateur but makes some good points. This book has disjointed and amateur characters, but has some good plot.

Dark, gritty read about the life of Azoth, an orphan and a guild rat living amongst the poorest, most hopeless and twisted thieves, vagabonds, murderers and whores. As the setting suggests, the book starts off as dark and violent, sometimes to the point of being needlessly explicit. But it does its job in provokng emotions in you and raising enough morbid interest mixed with hope for the characters that you'll come to know.

It is these (well written) characters that are the reason there is not a single weak chapter in the book. Even as the focus changes from one personal storyline to another, the reading experience stays just as captivating. Add to that the fact that much like George R. R. Martin, Brent Weeks likes to periodically remind you that there are no untouchable personas in his story, and you become honestly worried about every nerve-wrecking situation the characters appear in, since it could very well be their last.

As Azoth's story progresses, you will delve deep into the dark lives of assassins, the ever-present political intrigue and manipulation, and encounter some very neatly written and not overused magic. Throughout this journey, Brent Weeks does a wonderful job of slowly building and introducing a world that is rich in distinct cultures, societies and mythologies.

Unfortunately, there are some weak sides to the book. Some characters try to surprise you by twists in their personal stories so often that, in the end, they manage to lose a big portion of their integrity.
The setting of the book paints a sexist and homophobic world, where the only strong characters are men. Big, experienced, bloodied by many battles. Women lack even one strong character and are instead reduced to whores, servants or weaklings who need to be protected or abused. This sadly detracts much from the diverse richness the book could have offered.

This is the BEST dark fantasy I have ever read. The sheer agony the characters go through and all the despair and darkness, this is a true dark fantasy. And the plot twists!!! So many things towards the end you think you know, were all lies throughout the entire book. I cannot wait to read the next one!

This books made me disgusted at the beginning and highly annoyed at one point through it. I actually put the book down and went to bed because I was so annoyed they killed a character I loved! I guess to have that many emotions while reading a book is a good thing. I usually don't have that many negative emotions though. I guess it is a testimoney to the author that he kept me emotionally involved with the book and kept me guessing to an extent. We all know how hard that is to do with the Fantasy Genre these days.

I read this book again in Feb. 2013 and would agree with my earlier review. However, I guess it didn't have that much of an impact on me because I had to read it again because when I started the 2nd book in the series I didn't have a clue about what was going on.

I enjoyed the world-building used for the setting of this story (the first of three). It's set in a small nation, usually ignored by the others around it. Our hero is a young thief from the gutters, just trying to stay alive, and wishing he had the skills of master assassin Durzo Blint. Events transpire that get him apprenticed to Durzo Blint and then political machinations start getting things progressively more interesting. There's also a cool use of magic in this story which is thankfully not overdone. Those assassins without the magical Talent are just ordinary assassins. But those with the Talent can become the much more fearsome and powerful “wetboys.” Our hero, Azoth, aspires to become a wetboy like Blint. Azoth has both friends and enemies and sometimes the distinction between the two is a bit fuzzy. Throw in an invasion from the nation just north of them and you've got the makings of a pretty fun story. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

3 1/2 stars

My review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-of-way-of-shadows.html

5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Azoth is a starving child gang member in the Warrens - the poorest, most dangerous part of the city. After a chance encounter with notorious ‘wet-boy' killer-for-hire Durzo Blint, he convinces Blint to take him on as apprentice - just as his only two friends are being tortured by the gang leader.

Review
I thought, remembering back, that perhaps I hadn't given Weeks enough credit for this book – that I'd scored it less than it deserved. But I checked my records, and I gave it the same score I'm giving now, so kudos to me for recognizing talent. Many books don't stand up to a second reading quite as well as they do in memory. This is an exception – it's exceptionally well written and constructed.

I like to re-read series in their entirety when a new volume comes out – a habit that is now honored far more in the breach than the observance; I just don't have the time I used to. But it had been so long since I read the Night Angel books that I wanted to go through them again. I'm glad I did, though it appears I did forget to start at the very beginning, with prequel story The Perfect Shadow.

This isn't a perfect story – there's some clumsy infodumping at least once, and some other minor issues – but it is a very good story. The prose is good, the characters engaging, the plot meticulously constructed, and it has all the neat things I like to see, from ancient lore to clever magic. I highly recommend this book.

The only downside for me is that Weeks' books rarely go on sale, and so much does go on sale, that I haven't gotten past book one of his second, Lightbringer series. And my records say I didn't like books two and three of this series quite as much. But we'll see, and this book is so good that I doubt myself a little.