The Way of Shadows

No cover

Brent Weeks, Paul Boehmer: The Way of Shadows (2008, Orbit)

eBook

English language

Published Sept. 10, 2008 by Orbit.

ISBN:
978-0-316-04022-8
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
425421833

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (94 reviews)

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

5 editions

The origin story of Night Angel

5 stars

The way of Shadows introduces us the world of Midcyru, and we follow the orphan Azoth and his story being teached the art of being a wetboy by Durzo Blint. It's an interesting world that we dip into and the world building is decent, and while the characters appear a bit one dimensional are there more to them and there is some character growth in this book, especially for Azoth.

reviewed The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Night Angel, #1)

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The plot was so very clichée and dragged on a bit.
I liked that the story actually followed the protagonist from Azoth to Kylar of the span of 9 years without seeming too forced. And I loved that the ending was open enough to make it clear it was supposed to be a series from book one, while finishing it up enough to not let you entirely hang in the middle of nothing.

On the othwr hand, I'm not a fan of the setting, it was too close to epic fantasy to be truly enjoyable for me (which I should have guessed). I couldn't really figure out the political connections, intrigues and how the mighty relate to one another. I also have no idea about the religious powers , neither how important the god/potential other religions are, nor how wide spread.

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

This was a slog. I lost interest halfway through, didn't have as much time to read, and everything about it became a chore. Maybe in a different time when I could have read this in a shorter span I would have liked it but near the end I didn't care for any characters and felt that the story wasn't enough to keep me going for another two books...so this is where I end it.

reviewed The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Night Angel, #1)

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I was looking to buy a book based on the Assassin's Creed game series, but a list for assassination theme on Goodreads put The Night Angels Trilogy on top based on ratings.

I am not disappointed.

This is a great book, and the author, despite some flaws (someone mentioned the use of the word "fuck" on a declaration of love and redemption, but there's also the fantasy elements that are not fully explained), is a great writer. When a character took an action, I was left wondering the consequences. There was just enough context to let my imagination run wild, rooting for the outcomes, and visualizing the consequences. I closed the book and kept wondering what will happen.

Near the end there were too many twists, like the ending of a Scooby-doo episode. Suddenly the monster is the janitor, who becomes the son of the owner of the haunted amusement …

reviewed The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Night Angel, #1)

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I love those 'good' assassin characters. Here's a trilogy about one. Go read it.

Update from my 2019 read/listen (first read it, then listened again).

I still loved this book 10 years later. I can see its weaknesses- it has some -but I still love the characters and this book is more about characters than anything else. Azoth/Kylar and Durzo are among my favorites even now. Even though it takes reading the whole trilogy to grok them (especially Durzo).

While I noticed all the beautiful details in the audio repeat, it became too harrowing to know every little failure in advance-and there is a lot of failure: failure to kill someone, failure to talk to someone, failure to listen to someone, failure to... everything. We had to stop the audiobook a number of times (listening to it on a road trip was a brilliant idea, reading it right before that …

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I finished the first book in the Night Angel Trilogy, The Way of Shadows and I found it a little difficult to get into. I’ve never really read much fantasy, nor do I really read newer books, so this was completely difficult to get into. Not to say it wasn’t an enjoyable book, it just was a fun and pointless book. I know reading is supposed to be fine but normally I read to learn or expand my horizons. So when I read a book for fun, I feel like I’m missing out on something. The book follows the journey of a guild rat trying to become a wetboy. For those who aren’t too sure what a wetboy is; it’s an assassin; I think the word comes from the term Wet works which the Russians used to refer to a contract kill. The book follows the journey of this wetboy …

reviewed The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Night Angel, #1)

Review of 'The Way of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book started a little slow for me, as it resembled some other books I had just finished. Although initially it was slow going, it picked up pretty fast. By the end of the book I was intensely focused on the storyline, and thoroughly engrossed in the fight scenes. In fact, I would say this has the best described fights scenes of any book I have ever read.

I would definitely recommend this book!

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