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A review by tsemoana
Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks
5.0
The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks (The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge & Beyond the Shadows)
I loved these books. I’m a sucker for epic fantasy, and especially when the world is so detailed as Brent Weeks makes his, I’m sold. He manages to turn the world of his books into a living, breathing thing with history, good politics and economy and a nice variety in cultures. I like how the magic in the book comes in a few different types, and offers nice mechanisms (in the way the Talent and the vir work) I’ve not come across before. Bonus points for limiting this magic by giving it a price/requirement so it’s not the catch-all solution. Finally, the ka’kari and how it works was very well done. I like how it is both an entity as well as an object, plus the cost of the immortality is a killer.
Then, on to the story. It starts with a young thief in a guild in the poorest district of the city of Cenaria. Azoth tries his best to steal enough to pay his guild dues, protect his friends and in general, make it through his miserable little life. When he sees the greatest wetboy (assassins with magical Talent) of this time deal with a threat, he decides he wants to be his apprentice. Convinced this will get him out of his sucky life, he trails Durzo Blint. Durzo finally caves and orders Azoth to kill his guild leader Roth (who is a bastard). Azoth has trouble with this, but after Roth severely mutilates his friend Elene, Azoth succeeds in killing him.
Azoth trains with Durzo and becomes Kylar Stern, supposedly son of a distant baronet, now living with Count Drake and his family. Through this persona, he also befriends Logan Gyre. When Kylar has grown up and is working as wetboy, Logan is set out to marry one of Count Drake’s daughters. However, with a twist, after the assasination of the King’s son, Logan ends up being married to the King’s daughter and is proclaimed heir to the throne. After the festivities, as Logan and Jenine head upstairs to consummate the marriage, as ordered by her (rather crazy) father, Cenaria is invaded by Khalidor.
Much murder and mayhem ensues and many characters, both flat and fleshed out ones, end up dead. Through another twist, Kylar ends up with an old magical artifact which bonds with him, a so-called ka’kari. Before, while he had two of the three internal things needed for the Talent, the third was missing and he could never use it. With the ka’kari, he can. The longer he has the ka’kari though, the more he learns of what it is, and what it can do. It effectively renders him immortal, after every death he is brought back to life but at a cost, which takes him ages to figure out what it is. Kylar struggles with what the ka’kari is, what it does to him, and what it all means for him for the rest of the book. He displays a very well written growth in this process and it was something I really enjoyed.
From that moment on, Kylar works tirelessly to free, and restore, Cenaria. Not always willingly, and not always very well thought out, but he does it. He finds out Logan is not dead and rescues him and together with him and other friends and accomplices they manage to free Cenaria. But then it’s still not over…
I must say I really enjoyed the direction the book took after Khalidor got repelled. I was expecting, when the invasion happened, that it would take them all three books just to get rid of them. But getting rid of Khalidor in Cenaria was just the start. Pulling on all the history and cultural differences Weeks showed and told throughout the story he pulls the different peoples together for a climactic battle that’s not just about restoring Cenaria, but about saving the entire world.
I for one would love it if Weeks were to write more books in this world. Not necessarily even about Kylar but just in this setting. It has such depth he can easily craft more stories. I’d love to read more about the Chantry for example or Sho’Cendi.
http://www.tsemoana.net/?p=545
I loved these books. I’m a sucker for epic fantasy, and especially when the world is so detailed as Brent Weeks makes his, I’m sold. He manages to turn the world of his books into a living, breathing thing with history, good politics and economy and a nice variety in cultures. I like how the magic in the book comes in a few different types, and offers nice mechanisms (in the way the Talent and the vir work) I’ve not come across before. Bonus points for limiting this magic by giving it a price/requirement so it’s not the catch-all solution. Finally, the ka’kari and how it works was very well done. I like how it is both an entity as well as an object, plus the cost of the immortality is a killer.
Then, on to the story. It starts with a young thief in a guild in the poorest district of the city of Cenaria. Azoth tries his best to steal enough to pay his guild dues, protect his friends and in general, make it through his miserable little life. When he sees the greatest wetboy (assassins with magical Talent) of this time deal with a threat, he decides he wants to be his apprentice. Convinced this will get him out of his sucky life, he trails Durzo Blint. Durzo finally caves and orders Azoth to kill his guild leader Roth (who is a bastard). Azoth has trouble with this, but after Roth severely mutilates his friend Elene, Azoth succeeds in killing him.
Azoth trains with Durzo and becomes Kylar Stern, supposedly son of a distant baronet, now living with Count Drake and his family. Through this persona, he also befriends Logan Gyre. When Kylar has grown up and is working as wetboy, Logan is set out to marry one of Count Drake’s daughters. However, with a twist, after the assasination of the King’s son, Logan ends up being married to the King’s daughter and is proclaimed heir to the throne. After the festivities, as Logan and Jenine head upstairs to consummate the marriage, as ordered by her (rather crazy) father, Cenaria is invaded by Khalidor.
Much murder and mayhem ensues and many characters, both flat and fleshed out ones, end up dead. Through another twist, Kylar ends up with an old magical artifact which bonds with him, a so-called ka’kari. Before, while he had two of the three internal things needed for the Talent, the third was missing and he could never use it. With the ka’kari, he can. The longer he has the ka’kari though, the more he learns of what it is, and what it can do. It effectively renders him immortal, after every death he is brought back to life but at a cost, which takes him ages to figure out what it is. Kylar struggles with what the ka’kari is, what it does to him, and what it all means for him for the rest of the book. He displays a very well written growth in this process and it was something I really enjoyed.
From that moment on, Kylar works tirelessly to free, and restore, Cenaria. Not always willingly, and not always very well thought out, but he does it. He finds out Logan is not dead and rescues him and together with him and other friends and accomplices they manage to free Cenaria. But then it’s still not over…
I must say I really enjoyed the direction the book took after Khalidor got repelled. I was expecting, when the invasion happened, that it would take them all three books just to get rid of them. But getting rid of Khalidor in Cenaria was just the start. Pulling on all the history and cultural differences Weeks showed and told throughout the story he pulls the different peoples together for a climactic battle that’s not just about restoring Cenaria, but about saving the entire world.
I for one would love it if Weeks were to write more books in this world. Not necessarily even about Kylar but just in this setting. It has such depth he can easily craft more stories. I’d love to read more about the Chantry for example or Sho’Cendi.
http://www.tsemoana.net/?p=545