The Night Angel Trilogy

Overall score:

Living in the gutters of Cenaria City, Azoth must beg and steal in order to survive. It’s a hard life for a child, and he dreams about the day he can be the kind of man who instills fear in others, instead of being afraid for his own life and the lives of his friends.  He sees his chance in Durzo Blint, the city’s best wetboy—an assassin who uses magic as part of his craft—and convinces Durzo to make him his apprentice.

Little does Azoth know the sacrifices he must make in order to escape one hard life for another.

These novels are Weeks’ first published books and while the story that runs through the three books (each runs about 700 pages) is long and involved, it’s easy to tell that they’re first novels: the writing lacks the polish of more experienced writers. Cliché is liberally sprinkled (although as the stories progress he seems to get more confident and mellows out a little) and there’s a rather steep learning curve for the large cast and their names and back story; his naming conventions were sometimes awkward, as well. There are some bumps in the story when he writes too much or too little, or a turn of events feels contrived. The fight sequences, while well done and fun to read, can sometimes be flashy or over-the-top. And while for the most part Weeks is consistent with his third-person narrative, his POV will occasionally switch jarringly between characters within the same scene. But this isn’t why you’ll read this story. In fact, these are minor complaints compared to the excellent plot, characterization, and magic system as a whole.

These books are all plot and Weeks’ story is compelling and fascinating as it pulls the reader along. We watch Azoth as he trains to be a wetboy, takes on a new name, new life, new identity and is propelled into a world where magic is used to kill. When he discovers that Durzo Blint is more than he appears, Azoth’s life is turned upside-down—and he must cope with not only his own new magic, but as a wetboy he finds himself intimately involved in the political upheavals that surround him.

The characters are an interesting bunch of cynics, idealists, and innocents who sometimes have to do terrible things for the sake of what’s right or simply to survive. The main characters all evolve in satisfying ways as the story progresses and it’s easy to become caught up in their dilemmas. Nothing seems to go right for these people and it’s a continual struggle clear to the end. In some ways I want to compare it to 'The First Law' trilogy by Joe Abercrombie since it has the same feel because of the harshness of the lives the characters live; but 'The Night Angel Trilogy' is more hopeful and redeeming, with its themes of mercy and love, which makes the characters enjoyable to read.

It’s clear to me in reading these books how much of an influence Robert Jordan’s 'Wheel of Time' series has on the author. The map layout is similar, and you’ll notice a few other things such as a sisterhood of women mages who live on an island in a big tower, or a magic sword that makes the weilder very powerful. But these things are minor and don’t flavor the story unnecessarily.

The magic system, at the start, seems pretty standard, but as we learn more it’s much more fascinating. Magic seems to basically come from an individual’s innate ability to use the magical energy in and around them, but a culture’s proclivity seems to influence one’s strength with a certain kind of magic, whether it be for fighting, healing, or academic. There are magical items that strengthen one's magic or focus, or gives the user supernatural abilities. Then there’s the vir, which is funneled by an immortal being whose followers unknowingly empty their magic reserves twice a day via a religious prayer. The Godking and his magicians are the only ones who can draw on this almost endless reserve of magic—it makes for a powerful and cruel bunch and for an interesting take on how a magic system could work and be the basis of a religion and culture.

I’m very interested to see what Brent Weeks comes up with next.

The Night Angel Triology consists of The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows.

Warning: Contains gore, violence, a smattering of profanity, and a lot of sex, sexual references, and sexual violence.

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Written by Nessa on August 19th, 2009