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A review by witchfynder_finder
Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Man. What a weird drop in quality this series experienced across its 3 books. I'm rating this one a flat 3 but honestly I feel like I could, and maybe should, knock that down a bit more. It was just an absolute mess. Entire new plot threads and political entities were introduced in this book because they were necessary for the final climax to function at all, both within the world of the story and in terms of themes and narrative. Brother, it's the third book and each one has been over 600 pages, you couldn't find a way to introduce the Chantry sooner? Like I get not frontloading a bunch of worldbuilding that won't become super relevant until way later but the way it was handled here is just sloppy.
There's a big timeskip in the middle of the book and it absolutely fucking hamstrings some of the most important character work that this book should have had. Vi went from hating Sister Ariel to begrudgingly working with her and then in the course of about 2 chapters is now actively working with the Chantry and later is having revelations about how good it feels to work with "her Sisters" but absolutely none of those later moments hit properly because we never spend any time with Vi as she is changing and coming to accept the Chantry. We have to just accept that it's Good, Actually because our POV character says it is. At least most of the battle-of-the-sexes bullshit was left in book 2.
And, like, I really have to say, just fucking plonking Christianity wholesale into your grimdark fantasy world is a fucking coward's move. Elene should have been a really wonderful and beautiful figure in this book but instead she's literally just quoting the literal Bible and ruining every moment she's in because all I can do is roll my eyes at how hamhanded she is with her faith. Which, I mean. At least Weeks got that part of actual Christians down. I just truly can't believe how many times she just directly said something I heard in church or something.
In the first book, I felt like there was a lot of really interesting thematic work being set up and some of that was carried through and paid off in the end. The series seems like it wants to investigate the nature of power, of goodness, of justice, of what it means to be a good person, if a troubled past can keep you from a brighter future, if it's possible to come through the shit and be spotless on the other side. These are great questions worth answering, or at least trying to. Unfortunately, by the end almost all of it has been thrown out the window. Kylar is the Night Angel, the avatar of justice, of retribution, who can see in the eyes of strangers if they deserve to live or die. But who decides that? By what metric does he judge these people? The narrative does explicitly ask this question but then, in having asked the question, decides "That's good enough" and drops the point entirely. By the end it's all been flattened into a page-long monologe about, get this, The Power Of Love. That's the ultimate message of the dark fantasy series about the guy called the NIGHT ANGEL. Love Conquers All. And like don't get me wrong here, I'm a Star Wars fan, I love a good Love Conquers All story, but there's a time and a place and also you have to do better about setting that shit up in advance.
I will say that the little teaser in the end about some King of Darkness returning in 15-20 years and the fourth book coming out exactly 15 years later is very cute. I liked that.
But overall, this one was just a mess. A big big mess.
There's a big timeskip in the middle of the book and it absolutely fucking hamstrings some of the most important character work that this book should have had. Vi went from hating Sister Ariel to begrudgingly working with her and then in the course of about 2 chapters is now actively working with the Chantry and later is having revelations about how good it feels to work with "her Sisters" but absolutely none of those later moments hit properly because we never spend any time with Vi as she is changing and coming to accept the Chantry. We have to just accept that it's Good, Actually because our POV character says it is. At least most of the battle-of-the-sexes bullshit was left in book 2.
And, like, I really have to say, just fucking plonking Christianity wholesale into your grimdark fantasy world is a fucking coward's move. Elene should have been a really wonderful and beautiful figure in this book but instead she's literally just quoting the literal Bible and ruining every moment she's in because all I can do is roll my eyes at how hamhanded she is with her faith. Which, I mean. At least Weeks got that part of actual Christians down. I just truly can't believe how many times she just directly said something I heard in church or something.
In the first book, I felt like there was a lot of really interesting thematic work being set up and some of that was carried through and paid off in the end. The series seems like it wants to investigate the nature of power, of goodness, of justice, of what it means to be a good person, if a troubled past can keep you from a brighter future, if it's possible to come through the shit and be spotless on the other side. These are great questions worth answering, or at least trying to. Unfortunately, by the end almost all of it has been thrown out the window. Kylar is the Night Angel, the avatar of justice, of retribution, who can see in the eyes of strangers if they deserve to live or die. But who decides that? By what metric does he judge these people? The narrative does explicitly ask this question but then, in having asked the question, decides "That's good enough" and drops the point entirely. By the end it's all been flattened into a page-long monologe about, get this, The Power Of Love. That's the ultimate message of the dark fantasy series about the guy called the NIGHT ANGEL. Love Conquers All. And like don't get me wrong here, I'm a Star Wars fan, I love a good Love Conquers All story, but there's a time and a place and also you have to do better about setting that shit up in advance.
I will say that the little teaser in the end about some King of Darkness returning in 15-20 years and the fourth book coming out exactly 15 years later is very cute. I liked that.
But overall, this one was just a mess. A big big mess.