Beyond Shadows (The Night Angel Trilogy #3) by Brent Weeks
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: December 1, 2008 (first published January 1, 2008)
Edition: Mass Market Paperback, 689 pages
Genre: Epic/Dark Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
Brent Weeks finishes off his epic trilogy with another action-paced, fast-paced story. A great final book for a very impressive debut series.
*Please not that this is the third book of a series. Meaning that if you read beyond this point, you will encounter some spoilers from the previous books.
Backcover:
Logan Gyre is king of Cenaria, a country under siege, with a threadbare army and little hope. He has one chance — a desperate gamble, but one that could destroy his kingdom.In the north, the new Godking has a plan. If it comes to fruition, no one will have the power to stop him.Kylar Stern has no choice. To save his friends-and perhaps his enemies-he must accomplish the impossible: assassinate a goddess.
If you’re reading this night now, I am going to assume you have either read the first two books or have completed the series. (If you have not started this trilogy yet, then go start! You will not regret it.) With those assumptions in mind, I feel no need to give any real type of summary of what the plot will be. If you have just finished the second book, I don’t know how you wouldn’t want to keep going. Ways of Shadows had another great ending, and picked up pace there too. Beyond Shadows picks up right where Way of Shadows left off in the story, and once again, Brent does not let up on the gas pedal.
And oh yeah, that whole obsession with sex Kylar had going on in the previous book, it all comes full circle here. If that was a negative for you, don’t let it deter you from finish off the series.
I was actually very surprised how much I liked this trilogy. Come into this, I was expecting a story about assassins – focusing on what the life of an assassins would be. Taking different hits for hire, sneaking around in the dark, maybe uncovering some type of political plot. Then because it was fantasy – there would be some magic with it too. That right there pretty much describes book one, and which is why it was my favorite. After that though, books 2 and 3 really shifted from a book about being an assassin, into an epic fantasy story. Even though it was not what I hoped for, or was expecting, I was not disappointed.
These books were packed full of actions scene, and the whole trilogy was pretty much non-stop action. Which was great, and Brent does an excellent job of that, but that is not enough to keep me reading two books when it was not something I was looking to read. Why I kept reading was because of two things – character and story.
In Beyond Shadows we learn more about Vi, and how much she loves and is willing to do for Kylar. The relation ship between Kylar and Durzo is revisited, and reminded me of the good old days of their training, and why Durzo is my favorite character. I really began to see how much Durzo cares for Kylar. Why he did everything did to/for him. To me, it seemed like Kylar was the son he never had. The relationship between Kylar and Elene is a major focus point of the book, and going back to the story itself keeping me interested, it ended being a love story that I did indeed love. Can’t forget to mention the ka’kari. It (or he/she?) was hilarious, and had a ton of great one liners.
The point is, Brent Weeks has created a bunch of characters that stood out differently to me. No matter how great or small a role they played in the story, each felt so unique and defined to each other, that I really felt for them. The relationship that I was able to build these character sucked me into the story even more.
I know Brent has another series, The Lightbringer Series, which I had planned on reading next, but it is not compete… and it is not define when the final book will be released. But when that date is finally known, I will, without hesitation, get going on that series.
I highly that recommend you finished trilogy off, and if haven’t started it yet, then go pick it up!
4/5 Rating
-DJ
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