The Night Angel trilogy, written by Brent Weeks, consists of the three books The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge, and Beyond Shadows. The books were originally published in 2008, and have since been combined into one complete collection. For reference, I read the complete collection.
Night Angel follows Azoth, street urchin of Cenaria. Cenaria is a cesspool of a city, known far and wide for its underground organizations and lawlessness. It is here that Azoth meets Durzo Blint, a wetboy, and decides to become the man’s apprentice. A wetboy works for the Sa’kagé, the criminal organization that controls Cenaria from the shadows. A wetboy is a magic assassin, and are known far and wide as the most efficient and deadly killers in existence. Azoth sees this as his only path for getting off of the streets, but Durzo has his reasons for accepting an apprentice after years of avoiding human contact. The three books follow Azoth as he grows, following him as he learns to become a wetboy and his life after training.
The setting of Night Angel is fairly complex, with not only Cenaria, but also the surrounding countryside being fairly fleshed-out. One thing that struck me about Night Angel is that everyone has their own agenda, and at no time did it seems as if the story centered solely on the main character and his surroundings. There were things that went on outside of the main character’s sphere of influence which still influenced the story in subtle ways, and it made the world seem all the more realistic. Cenaria itself serves as an interesting set piece; it is very much not the ideal city, and the idea of a city so ruled by criminal organizations serves as an interesting aspect of the story all its own, even more so when most of the main characters are actually part of said criminal organization. Many of the characters struggle with ways to change the city without using the same methods as the Sa’kagé, and Brent Weeks examines this question of morality in very engaging way.
Another aspect of the Night Angel series I enjoyed was Weeks’ way of using foreshadowing. There are several instances throughout the novel where something is foreshadowed, but he manages to do so in a way that remains subtle. When the event actually occurs, everything finally comes together, and it seems all the more intriguing for it.
Azoth as a character is interesting, if not a bit of an archetype. Azoth spends much of the story concerned about his life as a wetboy, contempating the morality of killing. When he makes friends that are unaware of his life as a wetboy, he agonizes over revealing his true nature and what they’ll think of him if he ever does. While I still find Azoth as a character interesting, I don’t think he’s very unique. The world that Night Angel is set in intrigues me far more, and I found myself caring more about the events Azoth was taking part in than Azoth himself.
Night Angel is an excellent series. Brent Weeks creates a world of rich world, full of its own unique culture and a massive amount of intrigue. Having Azoth as the central character means that alongside politics and plots, there’s still plenty of simple violence to give the story a sense of action. But the violence is never as simple as it seems, and many of the characters struggle with the idea of killing. Weeks even includes romance, and not just for Azoth but also several more minor characters. It all comes together beautifully, and it makes Night Angel an excellent series. Nothing it does seem forced, and the story is told in a way that it seems realistic and natural. If I had one complaint it would be at the ending, which I found didn’t answer some of the more minor questions I had. It was still a satisfying ending, and a very final one, but it seems like Weeks leaves just enough space to write a short novel showing what happened to his characters after the events of the Night Angel trilogy, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Overall I’d suggest the Night Angel trilogy to fans of the sci-fi/fantasy genre who enjoy a book that seems to include virtually everything the classic swords-and-horses novel has to offer, and does in a very elegant way.
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