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Dec 10, 2009

Jon rated it:

3.8 stars

Similar in style to The Lies of Locke Lamora or The Blade Itself - gritty fantasy, bloody coups, relentless pace, morally challenged characters. The fantasy elements played second fiddle to the fighting, poisoning and similar training of the first half of the story. As the story unfolds, many characters names change, but not to protect any innocents.

Graphic violence and obscenities, while prevalent, were well placed and not over-used. The fighting sequences More...

18 comments like (33 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± rated it:

Dec 4, 2011

On this second re-read I think I'd give it a 3. There were just too many parts where I wasn't really into it, and I even started thinking it was more a 2 1/2 - but it picked up a lot at the end, so 3 it is.

Not a lot has changed from my original review, I suppose, except that, perhaps, the slow bits seemed even slower. I will say that I think the parts concerning Durzo and Azoth are definitely the best and most engaging bits.

For a time I was beginn More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2009

Shannon rated it:

Azoth is a "guild rat", a street urchin and orphan, and a member of a group of guild rats tyrannised over by Rat, a cruel older boy. Azoth and his best friend Jarl look after a mute little girl, Doll Girl, but Azoth dreams of being something more, doing something else, and above all, getting away from Rat.

A chance meeting with the famous Wetboy, Durzo Blint, is an opportunity he won't relinquish: he begs to be Durzo's apprentice, to become a feared Wetboy, Cenaria City's fa More...

10 comments like (14 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

Seak (Bryce L.) rated it:

There are a few authors, Joe Abercrombie included, whose books I've read in large part because everything they've said outside of their novels (on blogs, etc.) has been hilarious and witty and they don't take themselves too seriously. Brent Weeks (or Sussex Months...yes I still think it's funny) is one of those authors.

One of the reasons it's taken me this long to get to this book is because I think the cover is awful. I know cover art doesn't really effect anything and probably shou More...

9 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2011

Kevin rated it:

This book is really slow in the beginning until about 200 pages into the book. Then the speed of the book really picked up with full of action that included killing in painful ways. This book would do really well if it is made into a movie or especially if it is made into a video game. Overall, this is what an assassin should be.

8 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

I actually read this in the omnibus edition, but wanted to give a good rating to each of the individual volumes. I read "these" at a trying time in my life and needed a good absorbing read. I needed "a book" (I think of the trilogy as one book since that's how I read it.) that would not only hold my interest, but would give me, my mind a place to go to get a break from a difficult and draining time. This/these did that. They are good and they remain on my shelf.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/724... More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Stephen rated it:

4.5 stars. Outstanding debut novel in what I would describe as the fantasy "noir" setting (i.e., darker in tone, more adult in theme and characters more "grey" than black and white). This novel is very well written with a detailed, intricate plot, excellent main characters and outstanding world-building.

Nominee: David Gemmell Legend Award (2009)
Nominee: Compton Crook Award (2009)

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 23, 2010

Erika rated it:

It took me a good bit to get fully into the book. There were a lot of storylines at first. It wasn't as overwhelming as some varying POV (points of view) books can be, but there was just so much information and I didn't understand the names of some of the factions of people, I hate when I don't know how to pronounce something and I found that a lot in this book. I don't know how to say a lot of the Ka'Kari, and La'Sheahdhhdhhehe bla bla bla's.

Politics play a heavy role, it's intr More...

7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2008

Chris rated it:

At first I had trouble with this book. The gaps in the beginning of the story were frustrating. Parts of the story were left out, glossed over or trivialized by the characters. Once I got through the first few chapters it didn't happen, so I thought I was okay. As I got towards the end of the book Weeks brought us back to those events. Wow, what a swerve! Didn't see that one coming. Now I do believe that I am smarter than the average bear, I nailed some of the plots. I thought I had a good gras More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2008

L rated it:

I knew I was not going to like this book, but had to at least try it, since my son passed it along and he was feeding me Thanksgiving dinner. After all, I'm a peace activist; how I possibly like a book in which the protagonist is an assassin, a professional, at that. Of course we meet him as a boy growing up in the slums, who does what he has to do to survive & protect smaller, weaker children. The whole assassin thing begins as a dream of a way out. The book has everything you'd expect from one More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 14, 2008

Nate rated it:

I'm biased. Let's get that out of the way up front. In fact, Brent and I were in each other's weddings. I read (and enjoyed) an early draft of the book before he'd gotten an agent or publisher. So of course I was elated to be able to go down to Borders and support my friend by buying his book.

But once I opened that portly paperback, none of that mattered: I wasn't reading it for him--I was reading it for me.

When I'm really absorbed in a book, the need to read supersedes a More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2011

Simeon rated it:

The Way of Shadows is so laughably bad, I thought it was a satire. Let me give you an example. So, near the end of the book, the protagonist is about to express his love to this girl after like 20 years of pining, and at this point in the story, there's been very little cursing, the violence is PG-13 and badly written, all very YA. So, our protagonist approaches his lady and says to her (this is a direct quote):

"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And the pur

More...

4 comments like (22 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

Carolann rated it:

So this book was a pleasant surprise! I left for New York and had only packed one book, thinking I wouldn't be able to read the entire book on my trip...oops. So I had to run to the bookstore to pick out another book to read. The bookstore closed in five minuets and I quickly grabbed the book because of it's interesting looking cover. Read the back, didn't sound too interesting, but noticed a quote from Terry Brooks which made me consider it. I picked it up and put it back down a couple of times More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Derek rated it:

Brent Weeks has a talent for creating complex and interesting characters that fit perfectly into the brutal and unforgiving world he has created. Durzo Blint being the most interesting. Here's a character that lives by a creed that states life is worthless, thus creating a roadblock for a guilty conscious, yet still struggles with doing the right thing at times when his job is at stake. Durzo is a wetboy, which is like an assassin, only he uses his Talent (magic) to enhance his abilities. Blendi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Brandi rated it:

This book doesn't start very strong. I had a hard time following the book just for the glossed over plot and the mismanaged use of words of which the author doesn't explain the meaning to until about halfway through the book. That is when the book started to pick up and be good, the middle.

However, saying that, he switches to side characters story lines quite suddenly and some of time time I don't even remember who these characters were because they were mentioned briefly so long ago More...

8 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Carol rated it:

Likeable, really, but something made this a hard book to delve into and get lost in the story. Could be the gritty scrabble of life in the mud of the Warrens. Could be that while character building was excellent, the world outside the Warrens lacks details, even as we meet the characters living there. Could be I've read too many stories lately with heroes of questionable ethics, and I need to cleanse my palate with light and fluffy (taking applications for light and fluffy~).

Halfwa More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Dana rated it:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I loved The Black Prism to an almost manic and unhealthy level. Knowing how highly thought of Weeks' Night Angel books were, I had been saving them like one would a fine wine. Well, the special occasion that I was saving that particular bottle for has arrived and I finished The Way of Shadows last night. It was intoxicating...and 12 hours later I am still drunk. (metaphors...dead horses...beating....much, ya' think?)

The above paragraph is a spectacular example of wh More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2011

Nate rated it:

A somewhat awful page-turner:

A page-turner I'm embarrassed to have finished. The plot in this exciting thriller rolls along, almost too swiftly, but ultimately left me unfulfilled. The author never fleshes out his world or the characters inhabiting it. They often lack motivation for their actions and are little more than mere vehicles for the plot, whose elements fit *too well* together. The central love story is so trite its laugh-out-loud funny, and while I realize Mr. Weeks met More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2009

Danielle rated it:

I didn't expect this book to be as well-written as it was! The characters were compelling and three-dimensional. There was a range of characters that satisfies, as well. While the villains were Villains with a capital V, the heroes weren't exactly Heroes, so I didn't mind the lack of time getting into the Villain's heads. The story and world are graphic and sometimes difficult to stomach, but not in a way that felt gratuitous or offensive. I like almost nothing more than watching a character gro More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Cissa rated it:

Not impressed. Very much not.

It wasn't awful, mind; it was full of things happening, and the world would have been more interesting if more thoroughly drawn; as it was, it sacrificed plausibility for "grit," to my mind- not to mention taking for granted some fairly appalling assumptions about humans and societies. (More on this would lead to spoilers.)

The main problem I had was this: the "shocking revelations" scattered throughout, on which the plot tu More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2010

Lexie rated it:

Assassins, oh how I love assassins. It seems a rare thing for me to find a book series (or in this case trilogy) with an assassin as the main character.

The world of The Way of Shadows is as brutal as it is fascinating. Weeks seems to have meshed together some of the best and worst aspects of historical civilizations. You have the overly lavish and indulgent lifestyle of the French (before the Revolution) aristocracy sitting hand in hand with the bloodlust of the Arenas from the Ro More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2008

Liviu rated it:

I liked it a lot and it hooked me so much that I stayed way too late one night to finish it.

It is one of the best epic fantasy debuts of the year on par with Empire in Black and Gold.

The series continues at the end of October and then November so we will see if the author can fulfill the immense promise of this book.

Without too many spoilers - the story/world of the book is a generic fantasy one, nothing original the way Tchaikovsky had the insect Kinden i More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2009

Felicia rated it:

I liked this book, although it didn't tread the newest ground ever, the characters were interesting and the plot held my attention. I think the only thing lacking was the world building, it was confusing and I found it hard to really get a grasp on everything that was happening politically. BUT I recommend it highly, especially to people who like Robert Jordan, Joe Abercrombie, Stephen Erikson Robin Hobb or Terry Brooks. Very accessable, but with the new era "grit" we've come to kno More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Nathan rated it:

I tend to buy books in clumps, and YESTERDAY I bought this series of 600+ page each monsters, and I finished the first book, this book. At my reading speed, that means that it took up about 8 hours of my life.

And I am sooooo glad I did.

This book examines human character very well, with a wide variety of very different, real, people. Love, loss, hope, fear, desire, triumph, hate, evil, good, and a dozen other motivations get thrown into the mix and the "action" More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Lisa rated it:

I felt this book was muddled a bit in both terminology and in the romance of a trilogy. It's not at all free standing, it's slow moving, and there were entirely too many names mentioned once and then abandoned.

I didn't like either of the main characters as both of them were entirely too angst ridden and self involved. The magic system was never explained and the villian was slapped with every damned stereotype possible to make him as 'evil' as possible (ie, he's a sadistic rapist p More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Michael rated it:

Amazing! I have heard many great things said about Brent Weeks' debut novel, and they are all TRUE! I have to admit that I love assassin stories! The tales of Durzo Blint and Kyler Stern do not disappoint. The world of Midcyru is in turmoil and come to find out that Blint and Stern are to play a BIG PART in the outcome. Watching Stern grow up under Blint's tutelage as a wetboy (think assassin with magical powers) shows that with hard work, you still have to bring your A game when it comes to fig More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Justin rated it:

this book is amazing... from the dry sarcastic sinicism and cutting insights of the main caracter to the horrible personality of the antagonists it has a fast moving plot that draws you in and makes you care about the caracters... not one of the standard good bad novels where the good guy is pure the bad guy is evil and good wins in heroic white horse fashion...
i would highly recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy... especially the grittier more realistic bad things happen to good peop More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Amery added it

The cover and the title were what caught my eye in the first place. After reading the attractive blurb, I got excited to read this book. However, this book failed to live up to my expectations. It's still a good read, one of those pass-the-time-novels, just not a "best novel ever". This is one of those novels where you have to just look at the plot and ignore the grammar. I found way too many typos, flipped word placement, and missing words that caused me to wonder what had happened to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Bill rated it:

In "The Way of the Shadow" we are introduced to the two primary characters of the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks; Azoth and Durzo. Durzo is a wetbot, sort of like an assassin but better because wetboys have the use of the Talent (magic).

Azoth is a young boy without much hope in his life. He has no family, only 2 friends, no home, and he is low on the totem pole of power within his chosen street gang. However, he dreams of being much more after meeting Durzo Blint; he drea More...

0 comments like

Mar 04, 2009

Mykl rated it:

I am giving the book a 3 based on the potential of the story. Would have been 2 stars for the actual book. Weeks clearly is influence by G. R.R. Martin as seen by mulitude of chapters and many POV's. Story is of abused child mentored to be a "wet boy"(killer) who develops magical powers, fights and kills his mentor and fights an evil empire. OK, that right there does not sound to original. On top of that I believe the editor went to sleep as the book is awful gramitically and seve More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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