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mwritesdragons's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Night Angel Nemesis is a thrilling (if tragic) return to Midycru for Brent Weeks. It's clear Weeks has used all the skill he gained since writing his original debut trilogy The Night Angel Trilogy (The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, Beyond the Shadows) to craft a twisting, expertly paced story.
This book does tackle some heavy, grimdark topics, but it does so with nuance and consideration. Nemesis is likely best read as a sequel to Night Angel, as it picks up shortly after the conclusion of Beyond the Shadows; however, readers who enjoy jumping into the fray may start with Nemesis as it is a complete story by itself. It does the job of whetting the reader's appetite with the promise of what this new series will bring us. And best of all, the engaging concept employed mean the moment you are done reading, you want to jump right back to the beginning to see what a second read reveals.
This book does tackle some heavy, grimdark topics, but it does so with nuance and consideration. Nemesis is likely best read as a sequel to Night Angel, as it picks up shortly after the conclusion of Beyond the Shadows; however, readers who enjoy jumping into the fray may start with Nemesis as it is a complete story by itself. It does the job of whetting the reader's appetite with the promise of what this new series will bring us. And best of all, the engaging concept employed mean the moment you are done reading, you want to jump right back to the beginning to see what a second read reveals.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, and Torture
brick2theface's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a definite tone shift from the original trilogy which I think is pretty important to read in order to understand everything in Nemesis. That means the people who really liked the darker, more serious tone of the original series are going to struggle with the how the new book interjects more comedy. On the other hand, people who need some comedy to lighten up darker books are going to have a hard time getting through the original series. I think this will hurt the book, which I find unfortunate because I love it so much more than the original series (which I also enjoyed).
Weeks took a break before writing this in order to develop more experience writing because he felt he wasn't mature enough as a writer for what he wanted in this book. I think it really shows because my biggest complaint for the original trilogy was it felt very much like your basic angsty, chuuni, power-fantasy novel. Nemesis has a much better grasp on how trauma actually impacts people and their relationships which is why I think the characters seem to trust each other a little less than in the previous series. The unwillingness of some characters to just explain what was going on was still frustrating but made a lot more sense than what I've seen in other books.
As a warning, if you were to take the lighter (comedic) parts and average them out with the darker parts, I think this is just as dark as the original trilogy. That's probably in large part because it's dark in a way that makes you, the reader, question yourself. I think that's another sign of Week's growth as an author from the original trilogy and also happens to be a big reason why I gave this book 5 stars.
As a final note, Simon Vance did such a good job as the narrator for the audiobook. There's one scene that gave me chills. Also, if you've read the appendices for the new release of the third book of the original trilogy, then you know he's not the one who's been mispronouncing names (sort of - I think he does mispronounce some things but so did the original narrator, James Langton).
Weeks took a break before writing this in order to develop more experience writing because he felt he wasn't mature enough as a writer for what he wanted in this book. I think it really shows because my biggest complaint for the original trilogy was it felt very much like your basic angsty, chuuni, power-fantasy novel. Nemesis has a much better grasp on how trauma actually impacts people and their relationships which is why I think the characters seem to trust each other a little less than in the previous series. The unwillingness of some characters to just explain what was going on was still frustrating but made a lot more sense than what I've seen in other books.
As a warning, if you were to take the lighter (comedic) parts and average them out with the darker parts, I think this is just as dark as the original trilogy. That's probably in large part because it's dark in a way that makes you, the reader, question yourself. I think that's another sign of Week's growth as an author from the original trilogy and also happens to be a big reason why I gave this book 5 stars.
As a final note, Simon Vance did such a good job as the narrator for the audiobook. There's one scene that gave me chills. Also, if you've read the appendices for the new release of the third book of the original trilogy, then you know he's not the one who's been mispronouncing names (sort of - I think he does mispronounce some things but so did the original narrator, James Langton).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
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