The Night Angel Trilogy

I recommend the Night Angel Trilogy to anyone who is interested. I enjoyed the Trilogy and had all three books read in less than a month. Brent Weeks knows how to keep the action moving and the pages turning. The story is fantastic and there are moments of pure awesomeness that will leave your head spinning. The characters are well written and very likable. The world is believable and the peoples who inhabit it are intriguing. In short, very well done.

Now I do have a few complaints. If you're prone to judge a book by its cover, these covers are very misleading. Kylar, the main character, is not how the covers portray him. (Assuming the guy on the covers is Kylar). See in the story there are people with magical powers and those without. Those who can use magic are called "Wetboys", and those who cannot are called "Assassins". The guy on the cover appears to be an Assassin. I can't help but wonder if they were trying to capitalize on the "Assassin's Creed" look. "Wetboys" dress in different colors.

Another minor complaint is that the final book almost feels as if it were rushed. In other words, their could have been a fourth book and all would have been fine. However there are three and the final battle and all that leads up to it is rushed. There are also a few characters that are forgotten. They are not major characters however, they are characters that I would have liked to see get their comeuppance.

Once again, minor complaints aside, if you like Fantasy than get these books. You will not regret it.

*Update 11/28/2010*
I just wanted to add that this series does have some very strong violence. I was reading through the comments and one of them brings up just how much violence is actually in the first book alone. So be advised that if you're allowing younger kids than 16 to read this, it does have violence towards young kids, sexual violence, and other very graphic scenes. Thanks to A. Jones for bringing this up in the comments.

I am an avid fantasy fan, I spend alot of time sifting through piles of the same-old-crap and only rarely come across books as good as these. I was so grateful that I got all 3 books at once, it would have been devastating if I would have had to wait to read the next after devouring each so quickly.
The story begins with a boy being apprenticed to the best wetboy there has ever been. A wetboy being a sort of assassin with magical abilities, but after reading these books you will understand why I say 'assassin' with a bit of reluctance and disdain. "Assassins have targets, wetboys have deaders."
These coming-of-age stories have always been my favorite kind and this series truly delivers in every way. Mainly, you can't wait for when Kylar comes into his own and boy, does he! I love the characters, I love how so many of them grow and change. I ache for each of them that has to learn something the hard way. There are swords and magic, tragedy and triumph, what more can you ask for?

Here's the thing -- I couldn't put these books down. I grabbed The Way of Shadows at the airport, thinking it would be another throw-away, and ended up spending half my trip reading it. I bought the final 2 and read them both in about 3 days.

So why only 3 stars? I just couldn't get over the feeling that SOMETHING was missing from these books.

The first thing that bothers me about these books is that Brent Weeks is incredibly arrogant and insulting as an author. Each of these books has stolen a little something from everybody -- high fantasy, assassins, samurai, kung fu, romance, magic, warfare, ancient Egyptian and feudal Chinese culture, rape, torture, Yakuza, mafia and crime family, X-men, matriarchal society, etc. -- and mashed it all together to try to create a well-crafted world. But Weeks' attempts in the Night Angel books were sorely lacking. Where other authors have been successful in taking elements from myriad cultures and civilizations to craft a new world that gives homage to societies and situations and plot-lines that many of us are already familiar with, Weeks writes as though he created these concepts, as though he were the only one smart enough to get his poorly-disguised references -- the Sa'kage (Yakuza), sa'ceura (samurai), the "Ceurans" with their "yellow skin and almond shaped eyes" , the Lodricari and their "flaming red hair and pale skin"(Irish), Khalidor (Egypt), etc.

And, fine, you don't want to pay homage to these cultures enough to flesh them out or add your own details (beyond the Khalidorans having blue eyes and black hair) to make them unique to the world you're creating and, instead, describe the people and culture EXACTLY (but in a kind of ignorant, racist, xenophobic way) as they are on modern day earth? Then at least respect me enough as a reader to make an assumption that I have, in fact, read books in more than ONE genre and am smart enough to figure out when your story lapses into romance, then action, then "high fantasy", then adventure, then mystery, then steampunk. And instead of writing a romance (or whatever) story WITHIN the fantasy book, Weeks just starts writing in a totally different different genre each time, with every overly-done stereotype and archetype character or situation he can think of.

Let's examine the story, shall we?

The books are about a boy named Azoth who grew up in the gutter, apprenticed himself to an assassin to escape his life of no choices, and eventually saves a kingdom.

Okay, awesome. Although I've dumbed it down some, that's pretty much the central plot, and it was exactly what I was looking for when I bought book 1. However, like so many books with simplistic plots (and SIMPLISTIC PLOT is what I'm looking for as I wait for favorite authors to write and publish new books) that I have picked up in the recent past, I found the underdeveloped characters, the world-building, the attempt at "dark" fantasy and humor, sophomoric and transparent "political intrigue" and treatment of women to be so ignorant and frustrating to read that I've thrown them out or immediately returned them.

So, if you are a fan of books by "fantasy" authors like Karen Miller, Gail Martin, Robert Jordan, Elizabeth Haydon, Sherwood Smith, Terry Goodkind, Raymond Feist, RA Salvatore, Sara Douglass, etc. etc., then you will probably LOVE these books and will hate this review.

My main pet peeve is Weeks' characterization of women, which is revolting and is either toeing the line of misogyny, or he's just never seen or talked to a woman EVER in his life. Take, for example:

1. Azoth falls in love with a girl based on her looks.
2. In fact, EVERY man in each book falls in love with a woman based on her appearance.
3. The lady Yakuza (oops, the Sa'kage) leader is called "Momma K" -- seriously?
4. 2 different GROWN men fall in love with a 16 year old girl. They have sex with her. This is not pornography? I mean, I'm not trying to sound crazy or be prudish, but it would be one thing if the girl was 16 and the boys were in THEIR teens -- then I could forgive sexual descriptions of her body, from a TEEN's POV. It is quite another thing when the girl is 16 and the men are in their 20s and 30s. And they fall in love with her because of her blond hair? Really?
5. RAPE RAPE RAPE throughout the entire book, but done in such a sexualized, "romantic" way that it is clear that the author has no understanding of what rape truly is and/or how it affects the victims and their families. It's just another plot line for him when he runs out of things for the women in the books to cry about. In fact, Weeks describes how one of the "heroes" of the story rapes a 13 year old girl and then he attempts to rationalize it to the reader. That's insane.
6. EVERY woman is either stunningly beautiful or hideously ugly. I get it -- it's fantasy, after all -- but after 12 times, it gets old. And boring. And annoying.
7. BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS on every page. Has Weeks never seen a breast? Even once? The childish descriptions of breasts were so... childish.
8. As soon as women tapped into their emotions (love, sadness, happiness, etc.) they started to cry. WTF?? Vi spent the ENTIRE 2nd and most of the 3rd book crying. A hard-core killer like Vi... crying because someone touched her hair?
9. My final pet peeve was the fact that Azoth and his love interest kept calling eachother "honey" as their first names while they were playing house with eachother. It's so out of place in a book filled with gore, blood and violence, and not even written realistically.

I get that part of the point he was trying to make (or maybe I'm giving him too much credit) is that the sex trade was what fueled the country's economy, which is why "Momma K", at the head of the sex "guild", was so powerful. It would also stand to reason that perhaps this is why rape was glossed over -- as just another obstacle of everyday living (again, too much credit to Weeks, I'm sure). But why was AZOTH, who grew up in and around brothels, always staring at breasts and blushing at the idea of naked skin? Why were the other men in the book, some of whom were from cultures where "a single bared breast" (which is one of the most ANNOYING stereotypes of "barbarian" cultures that way too many fantasy authors include in their books -- even you, GRR Martin) is common, constantly staring at breasts and blushing and stammering and grabbing their crotches? All men are not ruled by their genitals; the site of breasts doesn't turn all men into morons, and breasts are not a weapon that all women use to gain power. But in these books, that's all breasts were. YUCK.

There was just so much wrong with these books! Maybe I am giving him a hard time because I'm suffering from Steven Erickson withdrawal syndrome. But the multiple genres, all written poorly. The poor plot-lines and halfassed plots-within-plots, secrets that were obvious, the horribly described fight scenes and descriptions of a full-scale war involving almost 200,000 soldiers and "krul" that started after breakfast and finished before lunch. Darn it! I was sucked in by the story -- it had so much potential. Other books have taken every fantasy stereotype and squished it into one book or series, and done it relatively well. Not Brent Weeks.

Weeks managed to cram assassins, even a GIRL assassin, the underworld of gangs, drugs, brothels and theives, samurai swords, romance, 700 year-old history, prophesy, quests, apprenticing, kung fu, poison, mages, wytches, kings, queens and high fantasy characters, zombies, monsters, harems, a magical forest, a magic school for women fighting against a magic school for men, barbarians, magic so powerful it creates a streak of white hair on people's heads (seriously, he stole from X-MEN??????), wedding rings, an Arthurian sword tale, war, massacres, rape, breasts, "butts", torture, sex costumes, a goddess, immortality, giants, a pit worm and its "homunculus", a High King prophecy, a glowing tattoo, cannibalism, all into one book. And, after ALL OF THAT, a handful of people put their hand on a magical sword and begin to sing to intensify its magic. Seriously, song magic? WTF?????????????????

The entire time I was reading, I felt like something of significance was going to happen, and it never did. The story didn't really climax at all, and I always had the feeling that the author was looking down his nose at me, telling me that he was smarter than I was because he thought I was too stupid to understand his poorly-veiled references. I felt angry at the lack of even a wink and a nudge. I was disgusted by the characterization of women, at their tears and constant apologies for things that were beyond their control. I became annoyed at rape being the only plot-line that connected any of the women in the stories. Most of all, I felt like I was reading a sexually-inexperienced 15-year old boy's inappropriate short story school assignment.

But I couldn't put it down. I love books about assassins and the 'underworld' and especially anything referencing kung fu. I think that's what sucked me in and I was waiting for more of it. It was a pretty quick read, despite the number of pages, exactly BECAUSE it was so juvenile. I did, in fact, enjoy the books immensely -- the way an adult in their 30s or 40s enjoys reading books from her/his childhood. I'll probably continue to buy Weeks' books for this reason. But I honestly have no respect for him as a writer, and don't take him seriously enough to consider him a real fantasy author.

As a big fan of this genre and an avid reader, I had looked forward to this series based on the reviews at Amazon. I am by no means deterred by gore, but the utter debauchery, vivid rape and child torture/abuse descriptions are pretty awful and go on and on for a good portion of the first novel. Once the story starts moving in the first two books, it was hard to find a character to really like. Neither the protagonist or his mentor are really likable and there is not a shred of comic relief within all the darkness. The first book in the series is awful, the second gets better but only near the end. The third book in the trilogy is almost as if written by a different author. There is humor, the protagonist is suddenly likable, characters suddenly come to life and are interesting, things make sense. But the last book seems rushed. Obviously, different books appeal to different people and as can been seen by other reviews, some love this trilogy. Unlike Goodkind, Eddings, Sanderson, Butcher, and many other authors I like, this is not a series I would personally recommend to a friend, nor is it one I would re-read. Just my opinion and I hope it helps you in your decision.

Be forewarned - while the storyline is interesting; this series of books is extremely gory, lots of murders, rapes, vicious torture scenes and extremely unpleasent and unnecessarily detailed acts of violence. I bought this set for my teenage son upon an Amazon recomendation based on other books I purchased for him in the past. We've NEVER bought books that were anywhere close to what these are like.
Honestly, had I known what was in these, I NEVER would have purchased them and he told me after he'd read them that he thought they were pretty disgusting. This from a 17 year old who plays some of the gory video games so he's not sheltered. I just read them myself and found them hard to get through.

Saw this trilogy during a trip to the bookstore sold separately, but purchased this slip edition here on Amazon, and, arriving in perfect condition, I couldn't be more satisfied. The neat cover art gives the books an Assassins Creed vibe and was what sparked my curiosity into giving this series a try in the first place, but I kept my expectations low because the summary in the product description was too short and simple to arouse much interest, and also because, personally, after enjoying another brilliant trilogy so much, I haven't found any other works of fiction I've read after it to match its excitement).

However, that was not the case with the Night Angel Trilogy. First of all, the author did an excellent job creating an interesting setting and including magic in the plot without being cliche (think Tolkien) about it. While all three of the books in the trilogy numbers more than 600 pages long, the plot is well-crafted and moves at a fast pace, and is worth the time to get through, with plenty of action to keep you up at night that builds up as each book go along in the most outstanding way. There are loads of characters with a lot of side stories, but they all fall into place with each other without losing any focus on the protagonist or the plot itself, while the characters are interesting and well thought out. However, I would NOT recommend this for the under-18 age group or for the particularly sensitive -as in the description, the main character is an assassin, so there is a lot of violence and murder to be expected, with the details included; there is also violence against children, sex scenes and innuendo, rape, and other unpleasant topics, while the protagonists (who are not exactly what one would consider "good" people) are only thus because the antagonists are much worse in comparison if not irredeemably evil. Despite the grit, though, the story-line is well-written and difficult to single out any excellent area, including the number of character development. All of the characters are flawed -some horribly, and hold varying degrees of personal trauma, though their individual quirks are written with depth, while the prime characters all gradually become stronger as the series goes on, and only because the love and hope of their friends kept them all from getting lost in the darker aspects of their personalities and actions and becoming monsters.

While this overall series is complex and dark, the ultimate purpose of it is (to quote the author in an interview in the extra pages in Book One) finding the light after fighting to escape the darkness, starting out "in a place that's dark and gritty because without that, light and peace are meaningless, worthless, boring" -and you'll find yourself fully agreeing with that after finishing the series, despite what I thought was a bittersweet ending for the main character. All in all, the trilogy as a whole is essentially a story about love and hope and what makes us human, as well as about how much we are willing to sacrifice for what we need to do to survive and perhaps triumph in a broken world or for who we love. It's hard to put into words how entertaining and engaging I found this trilogy, and was kind of disappointed that it ended. Overall, I rate this among my favorite works of fiction, and look forward to reading more from the author.

I did not really enjoy the style of writing here but it could be because:

1. I just came off the George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones, Storm of Swords, and Clash of Kings triumvirate; and this just didn't measure up.

2. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator was a little grating to me.

That said I'm not a fan of mixing modern english in with fantasy books. Much of the cursing seemed out of place for this setting as well.

So take this review with a grain of salt, but I'm moving on to other authors.

This is not a thinking person's book. I don't mean to be a hater, but it really isn't. If you want fluff, and fluff can be good, well this is the full fluff and nothing but fluff.

I am not sure what to say here. Read the 1 and 2 star reviews, ignore the 4 and 5 star reviews. I simply cannot fathom what would cause so many people to try to rate this one star but accidentally hit the 4 or 5 star options. Because that can be the only plausible explanation for this books amazon rating. This is quite simply one of the most awful reading experiences Ive ever endured.
Just to be clear, I have no problem with blood & gore or sexual violence etc, my issue is solely with the writing skills of the author, just terrible. I would elaborate but others have already pointed out the problems, just read the 1 and 2 star reviews. It is books like this that made me give up on fantasy so many years ago. Then I read GRR Martin and decided to give the genre another chance as those books were awesome. I am now in the midst of rereading them to bleach this series' drivel out of my brain.

Bought the trilogy but doubt I will read more than the first book. Characters are shallow and undeveloped, and the attempt at a fast paced plot does not sufficiently compensate for the poor characters. Anytime a Character is in trouble (oh no!), he finds the magic/superhuman power to do something incredible to get out of trouble. Would not be so bad if it did not happen every other chapter. If you are looking for books like R.Feist, R.A.Salvatore or G.R. Martin puts out, don't look here. I guess I can't fault the author too much, my expectations were quite high since it was advertised as a "NY Times Bestseller". Phewy.