Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
It took a while to get into this book, but the quick pace and plot twists that made up this first installment to the trilogy kept me enthralled. Once you become accustomed to the world and those who live in it does the story take off and even though you think you understand the rules the govern the world each chapter seems to bring a new surprise to widen your understanding. I cannot wait to delve into the second book as the ending leaves much to ponder.
At first, The Way of Shadows read like the hostile cousin of The Lies of Locke Lamora -- full of mercenary characters, wanton bloodshed, and gritty grimdark characters gritting their way through the grittiest grit that ever grit. That feeling persists throughout the book, but the skilful way the author backs his characters into corners kept it interesting. Brent Weeks is very good at putting his protagonists in impossible situations and then forcing them to make the bad decisions, raising the stakes and making everything worse. It keeps the pages turning.
At times, the bloodshed is a little much -- it suffers from the "Whedon effect" wherein the more innocent and noble a character is, the more certain you can be of their premature and grisly death. Most of the main characters believe that the world is a horrible place where the innocent suffer and the evil prosper, and for the most part the narrative unselfconsciously bears this out. The protagonist himself is only barely redeemable (he is, after all, a murderer for hire), but preserves just enough humanity to keep the reader invested. I don't have a problem with dark fantasy, but sometimes the relentless attempts to churn the reader's stomach get a little old.
My only other complaint with this book is that Weeks is terrible with names -- assassins are called "wetboys" and sorcerers "wytches" or, even worse, "Vurdmeisters." These are truly cringe-worthy every time I read them, and in my humble opinion some well-meaning editor really should have steered the author away from this embarrassing practice. There is also an unnecessary excess of apostrophes (Sa'Kage and Lae'knaught and ka'kari and Hrnghl'Brghl and Pie'Sham'Trelle), but I read an interview with the author where he (thankfully) has declared himself shut of them. I'll admit these are quibbles, and don't subtract much from the reading experience, but they are by far the book's most significant weakness.
Overall, I didn't find this book as charming or energetic as Lies of Locke Lamora, which I think is the better book -- but the narrative is tight and the characters compelling, if mostly self-serving and ruthless. It was a satisfying read, and I'll be interested to see where the next volume goes.
At times, the bloodshed is a little much -- it suffers from the "Whedon effect" wherein the more innocent and noble a character is, the more certain you can be of their premature and grisly death. Most of the main characters believe that the world is a horrible place where the innocent suffer and the evil prosper, and for the most part the narrative unselfconsciously bears this out. The protagonist himself is only barely redeemable (he is, after all, a murderer for hire), but preserves just enough humanity to keep the reader invested. I don't have a problem with dark fantasy, but sometimes the relentless attempts to churn the reader's stomach get a little old.
My only other complaint with this book is that Weeks is terrible with names -- assassins are called "wetboys" and sorcerers "wytches" or, even worse, "Vurdmeisters." These are truly cringe-worthy every time I read them, and in my humble opinion some well-meaning editor really should have steered the author away from this embarrassing practice. There is also an unnecessary excess of apostrophes (Sa'Kage and Lae'knaught and ka'kari and Hrnghl'Brghl and Pie'Sham'Trelle), but I read an interview with the author where he (thankfully) has declared himself shut of them. I'll admit these are quibbles, and don't subtract much from the reading experience, but they are by far the book's most significant weakness.
Overall, I didn't find this book as charming or energetic as Lies of Locke Lamora, which I think is the better book -- but the narrative is tight and the characters compelling, if mostly self-serving and ruthless. It was a satisfying read, and I'll be interested to see where the next volume goes.
Een van de weinige boeken die ik zo snel uitgelezen heb. Een genot!
This book was possibly one of the most annoyingly sexist books I’ve ever read. And I don’t mean that the world of the story is sexist in a way that creates good conflict for the characters. I mean every female character in this, whether they’re someone’s love interest, daughter, whoever, is just an object. At no point does this book make us care about a female character for herself. It’s all about “oh no what will this man do if his poor female friend/relative is killed”.
It’s not even just that, either. There’s even a part where the castle is being attacked and the soldiers “screamed like little girls”. I don’t appreciate comments that imply that something “girls” do is less valid, or something. Screaming is screaming. End of story.
There was just nothing about this book I even liked anywhere near enough for the blatant sexism to not be really annoying and totally take me out of the story.
It’s not even just that, either. There’s even a part where the castle is being attacked and the soldiers “screamed like little girls”. I don’t appreciate comments that imply that something “girls” do is less valid, or something. Screaming is screaming. End of story.
There was just nothing about this book I even liked anywhere near enough for the blatant sexism to not be really annoying and totally take me out of the story.
This book had a really rough start. It was slow paced and there was no indication of POVs changing so I got confused several times. But once I got used to it the book was better.
I forced myself to finish it just to be done. I disliked every second, and this seldom happens. Most of the time, even when the style isn't very good, the characterization is, or the world-building. There's almost always something to save the story... not here. It's just bad.
I liked this book. Moves quickly, but gives a lot of character detail at the same time. I've already added books 2 & 3 to my to-read list.
This was recommended to me as a good example of gritty, street-level fantasy. If this is a good example, I'm going to stay far, far away from the bad examples.
The book starts with Azoth wanting to apprentice to a famous assassin, but then he balks when given the condition he has to kill someone. I would've forgiven the angst and waffling and realization this is what it means to be an assassin, if that was what stopped young Azoth. But, no. Instead, we're treated to a long, drawn-out thought process of how he might do it, why he should, what the consequences are, and everything but what I'd expect an 11-year-old boy to think about. When it finally happens, the text glosses over it, to be doled out in flashbacks later.
Then we're treated to flashes of life over the next ten years for Azoth, now going by Kylar Stern. Most of the characters in this book have more than one name, incidentally, and names are used interchangeably. So, if you still want to read this after reading my review, be warned that you'll have to keep track of not only people's names, but their pseudonyms. And several people have names that could be confused for one another's. One character goes by Elene, and there's a minor character named Elena, as well.
Female characters are described in terms of their relationships to male characters. One woman is described as headstrong, and, within a few paragraphs, is informed her preteen son holds the power in their house. Her attempts to subvert this are crushed, and the next we hear from her, she's brutally murdered.
The strongest female character in the whole story is a prostitute. Not that I have a problem with prostitutes, but it tells me a few things about what the male author thinks of his female characters. There's a queen who could've been a decent character, except that her biggest role is to plot to put someone else on the throne, instead of her. Because they'll respect him, you see. Which is where I made a choking noise that's still hurting my throat.
So ten years are glossed over in a few overwrought scenes, leading me to the distinct impression that the author only had a few cool scenes he wanted to write, and had only the thinnest justification for stringing them together. As this book is long enough as it is, I suppose I shouldn't complain too stridently.
There's a guy who can tell the future who fits into all this, of course, because the plot isn't maddening enough without the author blatantly adding some, "I know something you don't know!"
While we are treated to tedious inner dialogues, we're rarely given the insights that would make the characters real, at least to me. Inner motivation is often left for the reader to guess, and characters often act in ways that are counter to their interests. I'm left to conclude, most of the time, that they did it so there would be a plot.
As for the plot, it shows up around the halfway point with an assassinated prince. One would think the child (Azoth/Kylar) has grown up some in the last ten years, but there's plenty more dithering to be had. Sometimes, we follow thought processes leading us to conclusions with no bearing on the plot, or that are blatantly wrong, or that we've already figured out. Had the author been forced to cut dithering and navel gazing, this book would've been a quarter its size.
When I found myself yawning through the drawn-out battle between apprentice and master, I knew this book was a mistake to pick up.
I will not be picking up the next book in this series. This one was painful enough to get through. As it is, I'm sorry I finished it. There are so many better books I could've been reading, meanwhile.
I read this on audio, which didn't help the book's quality one bit. The narrator read a lot of it with melodramatic emphasis. So many of the voices sounded similar that, in one scene with three people with the same accents, I couldn't tell who was speaking. A better narrator would've been wasted on this book, but it didn't make an unpleasant read any more palatable.
The book starts with Azoth wanting to apprentice to a famous assassin, but then he balks when given the condition he has to kill someone. I would've forgiven the angst and waffling and realization this is what it means to be an assassin, if that was what stopped young Azoth. But, no. Instead, we're treated to a long, drawn-out thought process of how he might do it, why he should, what the consequences are, and everything but what I'd expect an 11-year-old boy to think about. When it finally happens, the text glosses over it, to be doled out in flashbacks later.
Then we're treated to flashes of life over the next ten years for Azoth, now going by Kylar Stern. Most of the characters in this book have more than one name, incidentally, and names are used interchangeably. So, if you still want to read this after reading my review, be warned that you'll have to keep track of not only people's names, but their pseudonyms. And several people have names that could be confused for one another's. One character goes by Elene, and there's a minor character named Elena, as well.
Female characters are described in terms of their relationships to male characters. One woman is described as headstrong, and, within a few paragraphs, is informed her preteen son holds the power in their house. Her attempts to subvert this are crushed, and the next we hear from her, she's brutally murdered.
The strongest female character in the whole story is a prostitute. Not that I have a problem with prostitutes, but it tells me a few things about what the male author thinks of his female characters. There's a queen who could've been a decent character, except that her biggest role is to plot to put someone else on the throne, instead of her. Because they'll respect him, you see. Which is where I made a choking noise that's still hurting my throat.
So ten years are glossed over in a few overwrought scenes, leading me to the distinct impression that the author only had a few cool scenes he wanted to write, and had only the thinnest justification for stringing them together. As this book is long enough as it is, I suppose I shouldn't complain too stridently.
There's a guy who can tell the future who fits into all this, of course, because the plot isn't maddening enough without the author blatantly adding some, "I know something you don't know!"
While we are treated to tedious inner dialogues, we're rarely given the insights that would make the characters real, at least to me. Inner motivation is often left for the reader to guess, and characters often act in ways that are counter to their interests. I'm left to conclude, most of the time, that they did it so there would be a plot.
As for the plot, it shows up around the halfway point with an assassinated prince. One would think the child (Azoth/Kylar) has grown up some in the last ten years, but there's plenty more dithering to be had. Sometimes, we follow thought processes leading us to conclusions with no bearing on the plot, or that are blatantly wrong, or that we've already figured out. Had the author been forced to cut dithering and navel gazing, this book would've been a quarter its size.
When I found myself yawning through the drawn-out battle between apprentice and master, I knew this book was a mistake to pick up.
I will not be picking up the next book in this series. This one was painful enough to get through. As it is, I'm sorry I finished it. There are so many better books I could've been reading, meanwhile.
I read this on audio, which didn't help the book's quality one bit. The narrator read a lot of it with melodramatic emphasis. So many of the voices sounded similar that, in one scene with three people with the same accents, I couldn't tell who was speaking. A better narrator would've been wasted on this book, but it didn't make an unpleasant read any more palatable.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes