Reviewing the Night Angel Trilogy

            A book review! What’s with that, right? Not just a review of one book, but of three. Of course, that’s partially because you can’t just read one of these books. If you read one, you have no choice but to read the rest (this is, of course, going based on the assumption that you start with the first book. If you read books out of order, someone needs to serve you a healthy dose of OCD).

            The Night Angel Trilogy is a series written by Brent Weeks that contains the books The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge, and Beyond the Shadows. It is the story of a worthless boy from a street guild who gives up everything to become a wetboy (an assassin who augments his skills with magic), then becomes goes on to become one of the most important people in the world.

            The first thing I should say about these books is that it is the darkest and grittiest fantasy I have ever read – in fact, too much so for my tastes. Yet, this is the second time I have read them. Based on the content, I would have put the first book down by chapter three. By that time, however, the story was already so compelling that I couldn't bring myself to stop reading until the end of the entire trilogy. I even knew that, in spite of the content I was uncomfortable reading, I would have to read it a second time to catch all the brilliant foreshadowing I missed the first time through.

            For this series, Brent Weeks has created a world that is real. I don’t mean one that feels real – loads of authors accomplish that – but a world that pulls no punches, where the worst imaginable things can and do happen. After a while, you can believe you’re actually living in this world, in spite of the magic that is fairly common. Setting this scene is helped by the books starting off with a child living in the seedy underbelly of a society that is rotten to the core.

            Every character introduced is unique and believable, largely because they aren't “ideal” people. Most of them have more flaws and unlikeable points than not, yet they are so intriguing that I found myself wanting more about the history and adventures of even the most insignificant side characters.

            As I said earlier, the story itself just grabs you and drags you through. You quickly grow attached to the characters, then the worst imaginable things happen to them with no possible way out, yet there’s just enough good happening to keep your hopes up. By the end, you let out a well satisfied sigh – it doesn't all turn out the way you hope or expect, but you’re left feeling like it’s the best possible resolution and you couldn't ask for more.

            My only objection to anything in the series is some of the language used. In a world so well created, I felt that it took away from it when wording was used that felt too modern. The one sticks out the most in my mind (from both times I read it) was when one character “fell on his butt”, which I felt could have been worded far more eloquently. On the other hand, I might just be picky.

            So, if you can endure the dark and gritty (containing nightmarish monsters the worst things you can imagine happening to people), this is a series I would highly recommend reading. If you can’t endure it, don’t even start the first one to find out, because you’ll have no choice but read all of them. Twice, if you’re like me.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.