Book Review: The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

The debut novel of American fantasy author Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows is the first book in The Night Angel Trilogy. First published by Orbit in 2008, this incredible little novel was lent to me by a close friend of mine in my eleventh year of high school. Let's call him Jug.

Why Jug, you ask? Jug knows why Jug, and that's all that matters.

The Night Angel Trilogy left a massive, lasting impression on my impressionable sixteen year old self. Every few years or so, I delight in reopening my first edition paperback and diving headlong back into Midcyru. But before I get into it, I linger a moment at the front matter, where the following words are written in blue ballpoint:

Happy 16th birthday Jug
Love, mum x

Jug, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for giving you the nickname Jug because your head was kinda shaped like a jug (sans handle).

None among us can claim to know whether a heaven or hell awaits after the wetboys come for us ... but I can say with relative certainty that if there is a hell, that's where I'm headed.

While this review isn't exactly timely in terms of the book's release, it bears mentioning that ol' Weeksy is gearing up to publish a new book set in the Night Angel universe—the first in nearly fifteen years. This one is titled Night Angel Nemesis, and will be the first of several in the brand-new Kylar Chronicles. The release date is still TBA, so this is the perfect opportunity to get up to date!

Without further ado, here is my loving, minimally-spoilery book review of The Way of Shadows.

The Way of Shadows cover - by Brent Weeks

A standing offer to Jug: reach out, and I will (begrudgingly) return the book ... if you pay for postage.

Thanks to guest blogger Tyrone Couch for this post.

Prepare Yourself

Hoo boy. Consider yourself warned: this is not a happy tale, and it tackles some pretty heavy themes. While neither graphic nor gratuitous, there are depictions of sexual (and many other flavours of) violence, so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, this may not be the one for you.

Let it be said, however, that this is far from a 'dead dog novel' (one in which everything is as unnecessarily awful as possible). It is also home to some incredible triumphs of the human spirit ... but you may need to read the rest of the trilogy to see some of them come about.

If you're still with me, then let's be about it!

Enter: The Warrens

The dilapidated underbelly of Cenaria City, The Warrens are rife with brothels, orphans, criminals, and those forgotten by the more fortunate East Side. The young and vulnerable inhabitants of The Warrens are forced to band together under the banner of a Guild to survive, but conditions are far from fair. They must pay their dues to the Guild by any means necessary, lest they face the wrath of their enforcers.

One such guild, the Black Dragon, is 'home' to a twelve year old orphan named Azoth. His only friends in the world are fellow members of Black Dragon, Jarl and Doll Girl, who do their best to keep each other safe from the horrors of The Warren. Perhaps their greatest threat of all, however, comes from within—the twisted and cruel Guild Fist, Rat.

While scrounging for coins under the floorboards of a local tavern, Azoth witnesses a deadly exchange between some ruffians and a man named Durzo Blint, the most talented wetboy (or assassin) in all of Midcyru. After dispatching his opponents, Durzo senses Azoth's presence in the narrow crawlspace below and threatens him into silence.

Back at the Guild, the ruthless Rat invites Azoth to become one of his 'pretty boys'. When Azoth dares to refuse, Rat is enraged, and his vengeance is swift and terrible—rather than coming for Azoth directly, he instead assaults Jarl and permanently disfigures Doll Girl's face. Though Azoth is spared the indignity, it's clear that it's only a matter of time before Rat brings the worst of his wrath to bear upon him.

Meanwhile, candidate to the Cenarian throne Duke Regnus Gyre prepares to march for the Screaming Winds, leaving his eleven year old son Logan behind and naming him Lord of House Gyre. On a mission from the prophet Dorian, a powerful mage named Solon arrives at the Gyre Estate seeking to serve 'Lord Gyre', but is unsure whether it is the father or the son he should follow.

In order to save his friend and give him a chance at a better life, Jarl offers up his secret stash of coins to Azoth, suggesting he use it to apprentice himself to the assassin Durzo. When Azoth later encounters Durzo in an alley, he pleads with him to take him under his wing, and Durzo makes him an offer: kill Rat within a week, without assistance, and he will consider it.

Azoth confronts Rat, managing to take his ear as a trophy. When he delivers the ear to Durzo, he reluctantly agrees to take him under his wing, but is still apprehensive. Not wanting to make a murderer of the young boy, Durzo offers Azoth an apprenticeship with a local tradesman, giving him one last chance at a clean life.

Azoth refuses, leaving the Black Dragon behind and following Durzo into The Way of Shadows.

* * *

This section of the story essentially serves as a prologue for the events to come; following Durzo's acceptance of Azoth as an apprentice, time skips forward several years, where most of the story takes place.

How does Azoth fare as an apprentice wetboy? What happens to Jarl and Doll Girl? What is Azoth's relationship to Logan Gyre? And who is Durzo, really? All this and much, more in The Night Angel Trilogy!

Hats Off To Jug

My love for this series cannot be overstated. It's been a couple of years now, and I am mere moments away from standing up from the computer and retrieving the books from the shelf.

I may have read this series for the first time when I was fairly young, but it is by no means without appeal to a more mature audience. If anything, the themes are more appropriately suited to older fantasy veterans than to sweet, pseudo-goth sixteen year olds like the me of yore. Biased though I may well be, across many re-reads throughout various stages of life, I feel I can confidently say it holds up to the test of time.

There are so many more points of intrigue in the story and setting that haven't fallen within the scope of this review, but it's all in the interest of giving you the best and most unaffected experience of the series possible. If you love the darker side of epic fantasy half as much as I do, then you really can't go wrong with this one.

While I'm fanboying over here, I also can't recommend Brent Weeks' other work, The Lightbringer Series, enough. In some ways, it's quite similar in feel, but the setting and the core concept of colour magic are very much their own. There are five (fairly large) books in that series, but rest assured, they are worth every page!

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