Book Review
Title: The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel #1)
Author: Brent Weeks
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ****
Review: In the opening of The Way of Shadows we are introduced to key characters Durzo and Azoth. Azoth is an 11-year-old guild rat, a child thief forced to steal by the guild master who owns them. While life as a guild rat is extremely dangerous and most don’t live very long Azoth has an amazing friend in Jarl and sibling of sorts in Doll Girl. After one night of stealing Azoth witnesses the murder of several men in a tavern. The murder was committed by the infamous assassin Durzo Blint who spares Azoth’s life in return for his silence. However, as life as a guild rat is getting harder for him to bear, Jarl gives him all the money he has managed to save in the hopes Durzo will take him as an apprentice so he can free his friends for good. We also get a sense of the world and the political intrigue as Durzo is killing the kill with poison and sent to assassinate a General but decides against when overhearing a conversation that doesn’t go down well with the people he works for. Things soon take a turn for the devastating when Rat takes Jarl to be part of his harem breaking the boy beyond recognition angering Azoth. Durzo agrees to take Azoth on as an apprentice as long as he kills Rat but he finds himself making excuses until one of his friends is killed and Doll Girl is kidnapped. Rushing headfirst into the attack will get him killed and luckily Durzo comes to his aid. On the other side, we see Duke Gyre being sent away as his son Logan takes over his responsibilities at home and this young boy soon finds himself stepping into his father’s shoes with ease, even going against his normally overbearing mother because he knows what the right thing to do is.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we see opposing storylines as Logan’s mother is trying to take control of his father’s absence but he and Solon his advisor have a plan. Solon also turns out to be a magus, someone that can use magic although he hasn’t made this known to Logan and the only person to work it out is Durzo. Meanwhile, Azoth has been training with Durzo who tells him about Talents. Talents seem to be magical abilities that assassins have, and it is one of the only reasons Durzo agreed to take him as an apprentice. However, he is still concerned about Jarl and Doll Girl especially since the guild disbanded after Rat’s death. He is now known as Kylar Stern and is ordered to befriend Logan as it may help him in the future, but it starts with a fight between the pair which was quite fun to read. However he still wants to help his friend, so he returns Jarl’s money but is determined to find a better life for his little friend. He does end up finding a family to take her but has gone against Durzo’s orders and has to face the consequences but when Durzo tries to go after Doll Girl he lashes out and we finally see the first act of magic although it isn’t 100% clear what Kylar’s talent is and we don’t know that much and out Durzo either. All we know about the I’m famous wetboy is he is good at what he does and is universally feared, he definitely has a misguided sense of right and wrong and his lover got killed when he decides his “treasure” was worth more than her life but ended up losing both. An interesting relationship appears here too between Durzo and Momma K. Momma K is the older sister of Durzo’s dead lover and while she holds some resentment towards him for letting her sister die she still has a friendship with him and even begins teaching Kylar to read so that he can learn about poisons with Durzo.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we get two major events that happen. The first is during Durzo’s fight with Kylar over Doll Girl something happens to Durzo’s sword aptly called Retribution. It turns blue when Kylar grabs it which hasn’t happen since Vonda’s death making me believe since her death Durzo hasn’t been able to wield magic. He is torn between continuing the boy’s training or killing him since this sign means he will be the death of him one way or another. He chooses to continue training the boy but when Durzo is sent to kill one of the Niners; the group of people that control the Warrens, Kylar gives away what he is doing, and it may lead to trouble for the both of them. As a result, he is made a proposal by the current King to be his assassin and Durzo refuses which infuriates the King and he wants Durzo dead. This leads to Durzo pretending to kill his apprentice which leaves him bed-bound for the first weeks he spends living with the Drake family, but it proves favourable as he gets to know Logan better.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Durzo explains to Kylar why he acted the way he did but before anything more can happen we jump forward several years to when Kylar is 14 and about to take on his first solo kill. He does well but not perfect however Durzo has entered him into the King’s tournament where he wants to find the best bodyguards. The tournament has one major rule all participants cannot have a talent. It turns out despite his training with Durzo, Kylar’s Talent hasn’t Quickened like most teenager’s Talents do and when he is assessed by the healers at the tournament it turns out he does have a Talent and a very strong one but his conduit which would allow him to access his magic isn’t just broken but he doesn’t have one which is something that can’t be healed. Kylar knows Durzo isn’t going to be happy with this knowledge but I am eager to see whether Kylar finds a way around this and is able to use magic or whether he has to become an amazing wetboy without the use of a Talent altogether. Kylar obviously makes it through the tournament as the winner but it wasn’t easy, he every quickly learns that the tournament was a way for the Nine to tell the King that no matter what they would survive.
His final match-up was against Logan but it is rigged if he loses then he would face the wrath of Durzo and the Nine but if he wins it means humiliating his best friend and he ends up winning. He also meets Elene who is Doll Girl, but she doesn’t remember him and very soon he finds himself falling for her, but he has sworn not to love but he doesn’t know she has feelings for him too. We then jump forward even more to when Kylar is 20 and is still taking care of Elene but he refuses to let himself get close to her. However, it turns out Logan can’t marry the girl he loves because she is very promiscuous, and her father can’t in good faith approve of the match. However, Durzo is pushing Kylar to use his Talent and is trying to find a way for him to use it knowing he will be an amazing wetboy if he does. Besides this, there is a lot more going on in the background as we learn of a magical sword once wielded by a King that once a very strong magus can use and the person prophesied to use I believe might be Kylar and it has been stolen by Logan’s father as part of a plot with Solon and another man who is an unknown. There is also a war coming which will end the Nine but Kylar doesn’t know what he can do about it. We then learn the King has been trying to blackmail Durzo into working for him because he is in possession of his daughter who he didn’t know about until Momma K tells him that she did what her sister wanted her to do.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Kylar is set the task of finding the silver ka’kari; an ancient sword designed to be wielded by people like Kylar, however, Durzo wants it for himself so he can become immortal. Before he can even make a plan Kylar is found by Feir and Dorian who tells him that he has to speak with Momma K and she will reveal the truth to him, but when he leaves Feir says Kylar wasn’t what they were expecting, and he will die so they have no use for him. While Momma K doesn’t reveal much to Kylar she does know someone who can help him and it’s Elene. He goes to see Elene and reveals to her that he is Azoth and while she is happy about this she will not betray her loyalty to the Lady of the House even for the boy that has given her everything she could want. In order to gain entry to the party where the ka’kari is being kept, he turns to Logan, but Logan has got pretty friendly with the Prince and he wants Logan to marry his sister instead of Sereh. However, Logan refuses as he loves Sereh despite still being unaware that she is quite a loose woman and chooses to ignore the rumours about her. Meanwhile, Solon is helping Lord Gyre escape from the Screaming Winds only to be trapped by three wytches. They manage to kill the wytches, but Solon has to reveal his magic, for this Lord Gyre banishes him instead of killing him and Solon leaves, but he is unsure of whether he has just damned their whole mission to fail because he wasn’t strong enough to stay. Things start getting strange when Kylar goes after the ka’kari in Durzo’s absence only to encounter the man himself when he’s about to get it.
The party is difficult in order to get upstairs Kylar has to kiss Sereh leading to a fight between him and Logan which ends in Logan being knocked out. When he gets upstairs he learns the ka’kari is being guarded by Elene and pleads for her to come with him but when she refuses he knocks her out and takes it. However, something strange happens when the ka’kari bonds to Kylar making him a ka’karifer. When Durzo confesses that his daughter is in danger he offers the man his life but rather than taking it he gets Kylar to safety and his own is left in question. Going forward I don’t see a romance between Elene and Kylar, but I can see Kylar going to rescue his master’s daughter especially if Durzo dies. Kylar did contemplate killing him due to the prophecy he heard but can’t do it to the man who has been the sole father figure in his life. It turns out the fight between Logan and Kylar was staged but outside of this there is plot upon plot at work and it is very difficult to keep track of what is going on, but this is what I have managed to figure out. Logan is nearly of age to take up his role as Lord Gyre in his father’s absence, their family is next in line to the throne after the reigning family and with the Prince now dead the King’s hold on the kingdom is weakening by the second and war is on the horizon. The God-King had learned someone has bonded to the ka’kari and sent assassins after him and the King has also sent assassins after the wetboy that killed his son which he believes was Kylar. Things get even more complicated when the war is passed onto the next generation as Kylar becomes the number one most wanted like Durzo and Momma K passes on her role in the Nine to Jarl. Count Drake also plays a large role as he explains his past to Kylar and offers his a way out but he refuses, however, this is also interrupted when guards arrive to arrest the newly engage Logan for high treason, as they believe he was the one who ordered the murder of the Prince as his family is next in the line for the throne.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, everything hits the fan. It turns out Momma K betrayed Durzo and Kylar with both out for her blood she goes into hiding. Roth begins to make his moves as he is holding Durzo’s daughter hostage and he has the leverage to force him to kill Kylar. Not wanting to kill Kylar he gives the boy a fighting chance, he leaves Kylar a letter after their final meeting which shows that Durzo does see him as a son, he also behind Retribution for Kylar to use with his Talent. Both head for the Midsummer Ball as both have jobs to do. Durzo’s job is to kill the entire royal family which now includes Logan and Kylar is going to try and some his friend. Logan was arrested for setting up the murder of the Prince, but he is innocent and the Queen believes him as she has been in love with his father for decades. Logan was even the name they picked for their first son before her political marriage to the King. The King’s advisor; Agon manages to convince the King to name Logan as the Prince and to marry him to his daughter. While Logan seems to be in love with Sereh, he is furious when he learns of her relationship with the dead Prince and begins to see Jeni as someone he could love. However, as they are about to consummate their marriage things get messy. Durzo arrived at the Ball early enough to poison the meal and witness Logan’s wedding/coronation before he attempts to kill the King. He doesn’t really have to worry as Roth and his forces including wytches storm the castle to see Agon relieve the King of his head. Reginus, Logan’s father also arrives to save his lost love, his son and the Princesses but they end up dead. Kylar has also arrived knowing most of the royals are dead but still searches for his friend. Unknown to him Roth has assaulted Jeni before he slits her throat leaving her to bleed to death in Logan’s arms and he hopes to join her soon. I am hoping that Kylar gets there in time to save them both but I’m not sure. While there has been some drama and action, most of it has been smoke and mirrors leading up to this.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, everything happens at once. We learn the truth behind who Durzo is, what his motivations were and how the ka’kari works. We learn the true role Kylar has played in everything from the beginning. The war has begun in earnest now with the whole royal family dead and Kylar believes Logan is dead too although we know this to be false. We get the long-anticipated final showdown between Kylar and Durzo as well as Momma K’s judgement. It turns out that Uly’s father is Durzo but her mother wasn’t Vonda, it was a nice mirror of the relationship between Reginus and the Queen. Finally, Kylar comes into his full power and manages to rescue Elene and Uly but loses just as much along the way. In the end, Kylar makes the decision to be different from his master but not seeing love as a weakness but as something that can drive him forward. The novel ends on quite a satisfactory note with Kylar and Elene heading out with Uly as the world burns around them. While I am eager to continue with this series I am going to take a break as the books are so dense. If you can put up with the time skipping and numerous plot lines The Way of Shadows does pay off in the end and I’d highly recommend it.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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