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mxdshipwreck 's review for:
The Way of Shadows
by Brent Weeks
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.