Book Review: The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy #1)

Title: The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy #1)
Author: Brent Weeks
Genre: high fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 645
Publication Date: October 1st, 2008

Plot (from goodreads):
From New York Times Bestselling author Brent Weeks...
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned 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.

Review:
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. I'd just heard amazing things, and seen and been surprised by how good the goodreads ratings were. I didn't actually read the synopsis, at least I don't remember doing so, I just knew it was fantasy and apparently it was amazing.

And I was completely blown away.

Even at the beginning, there was something that just kind of struck me as different about it, about what was happening. Some people might find the beginning slow, but I didn't notice it until I thought about it after. I just found myself really enjoying it. And I think that slower pace at the beginning, and then a specific turning point and shift in that pace - is deliberate. And I loved it.

Alright, I'm going to try to not just squeal wordlessly at you about how amazing this book was. I took a bit, I tried to gather my thoughts. And they're kind of gathered, kind of. Basically - high fantasty, with assassins - excuse me, wetboys - and it hurts and it's fantastic.

I'm not sure I want to say more then that? Probably just because I enjoyed it so much going in blind, and I'm also sure this is definitely not a book for everyone. I liked the way Brent Weeks wrote, though, and the characters as we learned more about them, the politics was also interesting, the world.

To wrap it all up - I loved this book, if my inability to really talk about it without falling into it's so good, so good wasn't a big hint. I loved the characters, the writing, the world. And I was surprised, honestly surprised, at how much I did. And would recommend this book, but I'm sure others might not like it as much as I did. Saying that, I'm simultaneously itching to continue the series and don't want to because I don't want it to be over.