The Way of Shadows – Book Review

TL;DR 5/5 stars, dark, action-packed, gut-wrenching

The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly – and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics – and cultivate a flair for death.

Saffron’s Review:

Be warned, this book has a lot of dark bits, especially near the start. So if you’re not into ‘dark’ fantasy, then this one isn’t for you. But if you don’t mind a bit of grit with your assassins then these are the books for you.

There are a whole cast of characters in this book, all of them with their own personalities, drives, goals. Having tried to write sweeping epics myself (and mostly failing), I really appreciate how well Brent Weeks has managed to bring so many characters into full-blooded life.

Sure, there’s a ‘dark lord’ menacing the free world (it is a fantasy story after all), but that takes secondary importance to the individual stories of the characters, all of them thinking they’re doing the right thing.

The magic system is subtle, but really well written.

All three books in this trilogy are big. The kind of door-stoppers you expect of fantasy, but the pages aren’t wasted.

If you enjoy Name of The Wind, or other dark fantasy series, then you’ll like this one. I can’t recommend it enough. The only downside is that it has to end!

It’s available on most major retailers:

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