Matt Brew29 June 2012
The Way of Shadows- Book Review
Brent weeks' first novel is a dark and gruesome tale of a medieval-set land ruled over by various lords and kings all with their own agenda. Full of potential Weeks' tells the story of young street rat Azoth, poorer than poor in the land of Cenaria, and his growth into a highly skilled & magical assassin; with a narrative spanning over a decade it provides a compellingly cliche fantasy read; albeit with it's flaws.
The novel is not afraid to showcase the ugly truths of life, going in depth with topics of murder, betrayal and sex often in every relatively short chapter. Weeks writes with an abrupt, detached manner and accepts these events as a give in which gives this book it's shock factor; it's what sets it apart from the crowd and it does it well.
Azoth is taken under the wing of master "wetboy" (a master assassin capable of using magic, I also thought it was a strange name,) Durzo Blint. After proving himself we see Azoth grow into his assassin persona of Kylar Stern; his training spans the majority of the book and shows the gruelling, separated and calculated life of an assassin; an angle rarely seen. Kylar grows into a skilled assassin, however to truly become a "wetboy" he must master the use of magic. However it would appear he is unable too due to some biological fault and so to access his magical abilities he would need to use a ka'kari. A small magical sphere capable of fixing the biological fault, however ka'kari are extremely rare and also coveted by Kylar's master Durzo Blint; it turns out to be a thrilling race to the death for possession.
Blint develops into an excellent character through the novel with depth and humour in unexpected ways and an ultimate sense of "badass" that will easily make him popular with the reader. He shows signs of an OCD nature, locking and unlocking doors four times before closing them or chewing cloves of Garlic, that make him memorable. His involvement with other principal character: Momma K, the leader of all the prostitutes in the land and a former one herself, and her sister brings us pity for Durzo and shows the conflicting emotions one must deal with if they have decided to cut themselves off from all emotions completely. Momma K is also an excellent character in my opinion: she is painted in an almost motherly way but with a tougher streak and we see inside the mind of a prostitute; giving us her reasons and motivations and showing us the true power of the mind. She is truly more intellectual than anyone would think: and is involved in a dramatic twist at the end which I thought was brilliant. Our narrator: Kylar, develops well but never quite achieves the same feeling as Durzo: he always remains the student and Blint the master; providing several references to the Star Wars franchise I might add. We can relate to Kylar through his regret of separation and through his love of Elene or "Doll Girl" as was her street name. It gives him a more human side and shows how him and Durzo are similar and yet clash so drastically; providing the overall tension between the pair that leaks through the entire book. Besides these three not many characters are well fleshed out, there are several others in the narrative but their purpose is often mute when it comes to advancing the main story and so they often appear as more of a nuisance to the reader than an interesting distraction. Indeed the extreme multitude of characters leads to confusion rather than enjoyment.
Despite the compelling narrative, besides it's overall cliche nature, the writing does have it's flaws. Structure and punctuation for one thing are often off the mark, confusing and frustrating any reader and detaching you from any sense of the drama. Side stories that pop up only every 100 or so pages and leave you scratching your head in confusion half of the time as you try to remember the circumstances. It drags you away from the main story and serves as a chore. Their purpose is to provide a cliffhanger for the main story however they are not executed well enough to have this effect; showing the amateurish quality of this writer.This is also true of how every character with more than two lines of dialogue will have a point of view, this makes the storytelling muddled with several perspectives sometimes in quick succession.
The story is set in Cenaria City, the capital of Cenaria, located in the land of Midcyru; this geographical set up is one clear reference to Lord of the Rings in my opinion which again shows off the amateurish nature of the writing. Cenaria City is split into two halves: the Warrens and the East Side. The Warrens are infested with brothels, beggars, murderers and prostitutes. They are the place of Azoth's origin andnhood many mysteries that are not alparnt at first glance. The East Side however, though still infested with crime, is where the richer middle and upper class live. Cenaria is ruled in a Monarchy, using a traditional medieval system. However, the Sa'Kage hold the true power rather than the king. The Sa'Kage (Lords of the Shadows), are a mob-like organization that organise murder, prostitution and control the black market through Cenaria: they are very powerful and seek to control everything possible; they even have control of our mysterious Durzo Blint.To the north of Cenaria is another land called Khalidor. Khalidor is a powerful empire ruled by the tyrannical Godking, serving as the baddest of the bad we are taught to fear him from page 1. The Godking seeks to use the might of through it's powerful warriors and gifted mages, where their magic takes the visual impact of black swirling tribal tattoos all over their skin, to rule all of Midcyru; and the Khalidor army is merciless in its pursuits.
Overall this book is an excellent concept with a truly gripping narrative, however it does have several flaws which drag it down: a lack of coherent structure and punctuation make for an often confusing read that will lead to severe frustration. Along with the multiple side characters that seem to serve no purpose other than to merely annoy as they are never properly explored and only crop every 100 pages or so. However despite these flaws the ideas are mainly compelling with such an abrupt and detailed nature it brings shock to the table; and when that happens you know your onto a winner. This is certainly not the best book in the world, but it is a good book. I would recommend reading it.
