The Way of Shadows

, #1

Paperback, 645 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 2008 by Orbit.

ISBN:
978-0-316-03367-1
Copied ISBN!
Goodreads:
3227063

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (94 reviews)

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city's most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way 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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Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Fiction