Shadow's Edge

These books are amazing, I read a huge quantity of sci-fi/fantasy and these made my Top 5! It has been a long time since someone wrote something to make it on my list with Ender's Game, Deed of Paksenarrion, Dune, and The RiddleMaster of Hed. I was intensely impressed at this gold mine. I am eagerly watching for the books that Brent Weeks writes in the future! Now that I am done raving, a product description: The books are excellent, a blend between the swashbuckling mysterious of The Lies of Lock Lamora and the action pack awesomeness found in Jim Butcher or John Ringo. Great character developement, they force you right along every page. I called in sick to work because I got the book at 9PM and didn't finish it until 6AM the next day! The first book had a slight bit of confusion, but it was resolved very nicely in the second book and finished beautifully in the third with a refreshing blend of sorrow and hope! I hope this review inspired [i]everyone[/i] to buy these books!

I absolutely loved these books! I got the same feelings about the characters in these books as I always do reading anything from David Gemmell. I did not want the books to end. The plot is quite political, but is easily followed. This series is a fabulous creation, and I do hope to see more from Brent Weeks.

Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks is the second book in the Night Angel Trilogy. The first novel is titled The Way of Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy) with the third being titled Beyond the Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy). After reading the first book in this trilogy, I was both excited and nervous to read this book. Excited because the first novel was one of the best books I have read in long time, I loved ever word of it. Nervous, because I as concerned that Mr. Weeks would not be able to catch lightening in a bottle twice. Could he possibly live up to the greatness that was book one? There is also the trend in some trilogies that that the second book is merely a bridge novel to further the story without much substance behind it. Here are my thoughts on this novel. The plot of this novel picks up where the first novel ends. Kylar Stern has done enough killing and wants to walk away from the wetboy business. He goes to extraordinary steps to get away from everything and renounce his one time profession. What, if anything, could get him to once again pick up that life he tried so desperately to put behind him? This novel is also riddled with sub plots that make this book, and world, come to life. Some of the sub plots include, Logan Gyre was left in the ultimate prison cell with societies worst criminals at the end of book one. Does he survive the battle with losing his sanity, and battling the other people in the cell? The prophet Dorian can see the future. However, seeing the possibilities of the future leave him teetering on the edge of sanity. There is also the sub plot of the Godking and what his rule means to the country. There are several other sub plots, but in the interest of space and not wanting to spoil anything I will stop there. Suffice to say that, while book one was a sprint into the realm on an assassin and occurred at break neck speed, this book has a slightly less frantic pace. However, the slight slow down does nothing to affect the plot or book. The story is a masterwork of pacing, and it is obvious that Mr. Weeks put a great deal of thought into not only each book, but how the overall plot meshes together. I can not really put into words how good the storyline is in this book. It is a story that is easy to get caught up in and one that you want to read just one more page before you go to bed. Only to realize that it is four in the morning. To me a book that can capture a reader like that is a rare thing, and so far, Mr. Weeks is two for two on that. The characters in this book are largely the ones from the first novel. Characters such as; Kylar, Logan, Vi, Momma K, Jarl, Elene, and Garoth. This, of course, is just a small sample of the characters in this novel. There are a lot of characters in this novel. However, unlike other novels with a lot of characters, I never once felt like a character was lost or pushed to the side. In fact, I think each character was written near flawlessly. There is a great deal of character deve

Kyler Stern has settled down to a life of comfortable domesticity...at least he's trying; however the synchronicities of life conspire to pull him back into his darker avatar of the Night Angel (sort of a cross between Jet Li and the Shadow) to seek justice, right wrongs and just beat up bad guys in general. "Shadows Edge" by newcomer Brent Weeks is as much fun as the first in the Night Angel trilogy "Way of Shadows". In the first novel Azoth/Kyler is being trained (by his teacher Durzo Blint) as a Wetboy, sort of a super assassin. In this novel Kyler has rejected the life of a professional killer but cannot fully accept the life that his fiancé wants for him, that of a budding herbalist. In a way, this is the coming of age of a young Kyler Stern. The novel does an admirable job of describing that time in most of our lives when we are forced to create of ourselves a new person; an amalgam of the person that our parents, teachers and mentors want us to be and the person that we ourselves wish to be as well the person that destiny has chosen for us. All change is difficult, especially when it requires that we may disappoint the people that we love the most, and this is the case for a young Kyler Stern. We see Kyler struggle with opposing sides of his nature in an attempt to be true to himself but keep the love and acceptance he has struggled for his whole life. An emaciated but much wiser King Logan Gyre has escaped prison and taken his place at the head of an army to fight the Godking. This is a story of honor, war and redemption as the young characters from the first novel are all forged in the heat of despair to create the men and women that the realm needs in order to defeat tyranny. As other reviewers have mentioned, there are a lot of story lines here but I did not find myself bogging down with them and in fact enjoyed the fleshing out of the trilogy. I highly recommend "Shadows Edge" and will be the first in line at the end of this month for my copy of "Beyond the Shadows", the conclusion of the Night Angel trilogy.

Brent Weeks does it again with his sophomore book! Kylar is back, and he is leaving the way of shadows behind him, or at least trying to. Problem is his wetboy past is quite hard to leave behind. I have always had issues getting into second book in the series, simply because the writing often feels as though it is being forced for the sake of a trilogy or series. I am happy to say, it isn't here. Mr. Weeks again gives the reader characters you can empathize with and care for, and a plot that always surprises. Bottom line if you liked The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge will not disappoint.