The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks

[sheymyster]

I've recently taken up article writing as a hobby and figured I would start with some book reviews. I finally finished my first review on "The Night Angel Trilogy" by Brent Weeks which is at the top of my list on favorite books so far.

Although Brent Weeks only has 4 major publications under his belt (the trilogy and one other book titled "The Black Prism" which is also amazing but a topic for another thread), it doesn't show in my eyes in night angel series. For those who haven't heard or read these books, you follow the story of a young "guild rat" who dreams of a life where he isn't hungry, where he isn't homeless, and most of all, where he isn't afraid. He sees everything he wants to be in the cities most talented and famed wetboy (an assassin aided by magic), and sets out to apprentice under him.

My favorite part about these novels is that although there are politics, love interests, and side stories present, they all fuel the main story line and do not instead dominate it like some other texts allow. You follow the paths of a few other groups of people as well and as they intertwine the series became something I couldn't put down.

If you would like to hear a much more detailed review, I just finished an article book review on this series here Night Angel Trilogy Book Review. It's the first book review I've written, so in addition to talking about the series I'd welcome any feedback on the quality of the article as I am always looking to improve.

 

[Polly Parrot]

That link doesn't work.

 

[sheymyster]

My apologies, I contacted squidoo about the issue, it seems that it got flagged as a copy/paste article because a section of it was a "meet the author" and I used his official bio from his website and his books. I even linked to his website to show that I was not using it maliciously but I just don't know him personally, but it's an automated system so I emailed them. Hopefully it will be sorted out soon, again sorry for the trouble....

 

[Polly Parrot]

No problem at all, just thought I'd let you know.

 

[sheymyster]

Ok, so I managed to discuss it with the Squidoo team and my review lens is unlocked and republished with the "meet the author" section removed. The link that I originally posted is working again so if you if your still interested in a more detailed review, it's there let me know what you think, thanks guys!

 

[Fantasy Moon]

Doesn't Kylar personify a Mary-Sue? These books were some of the worst that I ever read if I can be frank. The only reason I finished reading the whole set is because I borrowed them from someone who said they were good, and I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I seen one of those free Kindle books being compared to authors like Brent Weeks and honestly reading that turned me off it immediately. That's how much antagonism I possess.

 

[sheymyster]

What particularly about the trilogy or specifically kylar or brent weeks did you find so bad? I personally think that kylar exhibited plenty of flaws (not Mary-Sue in my opinion), and made plenty of mistakes as he grew from a guild rat into a wetboy. I would love to talk about the book with you if you were interested, I enjoy a good discussion even if you don't share my love for the series and would invite a good debate.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I like nothing more than a flawed hero, but Kylar rubbed me the wrong way. And having magic where you can't die? That leaves no anticipation, and I really wished he would die most of the time, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. You think growing up as a street rat would have made him realize that nothing comes without a price.

All the weird magics toward the end also made the series seem... I don't know. With their baby not dying when she dies, but transfering to his friend's pregnant wife, right? It's been so long that specifics elude me.

The female assassin seemed like a promising character, but I didn't like what was done with her character by the end of the trilogy. And it's a pity that Momma K didn't have more of a role.

Weeks' writing really just doesn't do it for me. There are some authors that click with me but his does not. Still it's not just a pretty phrase but characters that make me like a book. I guess it's because I'm very character-driven when it comes to the books I like to read, both for the heroes, villains, and those found in between. I have uneasy relationships with certain authors such as Anne Rice or Neil Gaiman where I like their ideas, but not always the execution of their work. I didn't find anything about Weeks' books that made me want to entertain the notion of reading him again.