Shadow's Edge

by Brent Weeks

Other authorsPeter Cotton (Cover designer), Calvin Chu (Cover artist)
Paperback, 2008-11

Status

Available

Call number

PS3623.E4223 S53

Publication

Orbit (New York, 2008). 1st edition, 2nd printing. 645 pages. $7.99.

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML: Kylar Stern has rejected the assassin's life. The Godking's successful coup has left Kylar's master, Durzo, and his best friend, Logan, dead. He is starting over---new city, new friends, and new profession. But when he learns that Logan might actually be alive and in hiding, Kylar is faced with an agonizing choice: will he give up the way of shadows forever and live in peace with his new family, or will he risk everything by taking on the ultimate hit?.

User reviews

LibraryThing member dbree007
really good continuation of the first book. Can't wait to read the third
LibraryThing member awoods187
Very entertaining and interesting book. I love this series. Great characters, plot, and creative twists that are not always obvious. I highly recommend this book.
LibraryThing member finalcut
In "Shadow's Edge" Azoth has fully assumed the role of Kylar Stern (a name which weakly references the fact that Kylar is close to Killer) however he attempts to reject his life as a wetboy to find peace and happiness with his love Elene and moving to a new city.

Kylar gets bored with his life as a
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medieval pharmacist pretty quickly and begins to take some nightly jaunts through his new home town; and, in the process, he finds himself delivering justice and retribution in his alter ego the Night Angel. Eventually, Kylar's thirst for his true calling and his domestic bliss come to loggerheads - specifically once Kylar discovers his best friend, Logan, isn't actually dead.

Kylar then beings his quest to save Logan and his hometown from the domination of the Godking. Unbeknownst to Kylar his old wetboy nemesis Vi is hot on his trail and she has stolen two of the most valuable things Kylar has; his adoptive daughter and his wedding earrings - earrings that are bestowed with powerful magic.

Overall, this tale is just as easy to read as the first "The Way of the Shadow" but it isn't as fulfilling. It's a nice light read that flows wonderfully but there are no real surprises and I found myself getting bored with most of the characters.
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LibraryThing member stefferoo
Just skimming some of the other reviews for Shadow's Edge it seems most people liked this more than the first book, but I felt the opposite. This sequel just wasn't as compelling to me for several reasons.

Firstly, I didn't find reading about Kylar's attempts to fight his own nature and settle down
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to domestic bliss very interesting. So much of the book was spent following him as he tries to live a normal life, when -- to use one of Mr. Weeks' own metaphors -- we all know Kylar's a wolf, not a lapdog. Elene becomes annoying and moody and so many times I just wanted to tell her to snap out of it and get her head out of the clouds. Kylar makes dumb choices you wouldn't expect from an experienced assassin. The mood in this section where they try to settle down and be a real family didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the series.

The book gets better after this, but I still had mixed feelings about the plot. The author milks a tired old trope in order to get everything set up, then in about two seconds, previously clueless characters manage to finally figure out everything in their heads in order to push the story along. It just felt so forced.

Another thing I've started to notice about Brent Weeks is his occasional habit of sabotaging perfectly good dialogue by inserting inappropriate comments from various characters at an attempt to be witty. This was so distracting in The Black Prism, and was thankfully not as noticeable in The Way of Shadows, but it seems to happen a lot in Shadow's Edge. The most damning example I can think of is the scene towards the end of the book when Kylar finally confronts Garoth Ursuul. It arguably should have been one of the most intense scenes in the book. And it was...until the Godking actually does the whole KYLAR, I AM YOUR FATHER! schtick and -- no joke -- follows up with "Haha, just kidding."

Like, what?

Still, Shadow's Edge was by no means bad. I just wanted to explain why I gave this book a lower rating than The Way of Shadows, but there were definitely things in this book that were better than in the first. The ending for one was shocking and awesome. Looking forward to pick up the next and final book of this trilogy.
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LibraryThing member stefant
The second half is good, the first half is pretty boring, The Baron Kirof story was redundant, I thought.
LibraryThing member crazybatcow
I really like the story, and the suspense, and most of the characters and their relationships... that being said... Eline bugged me with her holier than thou attitude and her "love" that was so powerful, but only - of course - as long as Kylar changed his behavior to match what she thought he
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should be.

There were a lot more "character development" scenes in this book than in the first - i.e there was a chapter dedicated to Eline's moralizing, Vi's life, and Dorion's insanity. Oh, and Kylar's moping about how he has to choose between "love" and everything else he knows and wants.

Once I skimmed through these long passages, however, the story kept me reading. So many things that I wanted resolved: the GodKing, the Night Angel, the witches, Vi, Logan... actually, I liked every plot thread except the very long segment where Kylar passed time trying to be a house-husband to a woman who only loves him if he acts how she wants him to. Once this section ended, however, the story carried on without further delays... which makes me wonder if the author had this section here in order to show how Kylar spent the 3 months between the coup and the commencement of this story's plot and it wasn't really intended as part of this story's plotting? that makes more sense.

Overall, it's a satisfying story - full of angst, judgement, retribution and justice...
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LibraryThing member readafew
This book was a wild ride. A lot happens. Our 'hero' has a lot of growing up to do and he isn't given a choice in the matter. He tries hard to live the quite life but trouble seems to seek him out. It doesn't hurt that he doesn't try hiding very hard either. Logan is put through an incredible
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crucible of his own and he came out much stronger for it. Several of the other characters had plenty of their own trials, none of them easy.

Weeks is brutal to his characters to say the least. I have to admit that in the middle of the book things were almost getting to be too much and I was having a hard time reading. Then things seemed to break loose and all the bad things were at least more balanced with some good things moving everyone forward. While it wasn't a happily ever after (and I don't think anyone expected that at any time) it at least leaves you feeling some hope for the future and that there is still a chance that things will turn out better than they started.

In many books, especially fantasy, you have a pretty good idea that many of the 'good guys' will make it the end and have a happily ever after. Not with The Night Angel, you suspect at least one or two will make it to the end and have a satisfactory ending. I am eagerly awaiting my chance to finish the trilogy to see what happens.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
This is the second book in the Night Angel Trilogy. The first book left the reader in quite a tangle and this book picks up right where that one left off. It was a good installment in this series, the plot and characters are well woven and engaging. I listened to this on audio book and it was very
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well done (please excuse any name mispellings, as I listened to this).

Kylar has fled the city with Elene and Uli and they are trying to make a life for themselves in a city neighboring Cernaria. Of course that is not mean to be. As the God King destroys Cernaria, Jarl who now rules the Sa'kage, is trying to figure out a way to save a city doomed by the God King's rule. Eventually Jarl finds out that Logan is alive and in the hole and travels to tell Kylar; Kylar is again forced to choose between a peaceful live with Elene or possible saving the city he loves. There are billion other things going on at the same time; but that is the core of the story.

Weeks does an excellent job of weaving a story from numerous viewpoints. The detail and description he puts into the story is fantastic; he can really write. The scenes are engaging and really carry the reader from one section of the book to the next. The characters are realistic and people you really care about; they are human and make mistakes but they also have moments of glory. It was fun to see all the minor players from the first book finally coming into their power.

You absolutely must read the first book before this one or you will be completely lost. I had also forgotten how Weeks doesn't shy away from describing extremely uncomfortable and gory situations in great detail; definitely not for those with a week stomach. Our poor characters never get a break and Weeks absolutely breaks your heart with some of the things he puts these characters through.

I do have a couple of complaints. The first is the incredibly vast number of viewpoints the story is told from; while generally well done, at times it was confusing as to how much time had passed (or not passed) when viewpoints were switched. The other complaint is that Weeks has a tendency to over-explain. When a character does something complicated or clever, he always feels the need to spell out the reasons behind it for the reader. I personally think the reader deserves more credit; if a character does something clever let the reader think "Ah, that was clever"...don't spend two sentences explaining exactly why the character did it when it could be easily deduced by the reader.

The story ends at a good point and I am curious to see what things are dealt with in the final book. To be honest I cringe a little bit when I think what else our poor characters will have to go through in the next book. I would like to think things end well for them all, but I am going to guess that they don't. We will see.

Overall the book is incredibly complex and very well written. Weeks does an excellent job of making complex characters that you really care about and an excellent job of really engaging the reader. The world building is spectacular. Readers should be ware though that he is very detailed in gory and disgusting description so those with week stomachs may want to check out Jim Butcher's Codex Alera of any of Brandon Sanderson's works instead. The only other things I had trouble with were the vast multitude of viewpoints and the constant over-explanation of character actions. I enjoyed the book and am excited to see how everything turns out in Beyond the Shadows.
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LibraryThing member ZetaSyanthis
Interesting premise for sure, but I feel as though the characters are slightly off. Not in a terribly bad way, but something along the lines of 'hmm, that's a little odd' when they do things. I get that the feel of the book is supposed to be a bit mysterious, but readers do have to understand why a
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character is doing what he's doing. This continues to be true for the three mages that sort of jumped in during the first book. I still don't understand why they're in the story, and given that it's the second book, I really ought to...

Like the first one, this has a kind of neat premise, but you can really feel a little bit of lack of planing in the details of the world.
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LibraryThing member SwampIrish
Brent Weeks has a very engaging writing style. I find myself drawn further into this world of Kyler Stern even though I may not always like it very much. I'm enjoying the characters I'm supposed to enjoy but grow tired of many others. There may be a couple of characters around the periphery of the
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narrative (Dorian and Feir) that feel nebulous though. Maybe they will be drawn out later.

Gets an extra half star for a most humorous nod to Empire Strikes Back. I really can't give any hints so that people will get the full impact of the joke.

The author has definitely hit his stride and is comfortable with the story at this point. I am looking forward to the third and final book in this trilogy.
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LibraryThing member harpua
This second book in Brent Weeks Night Angel trilogy leaves me a bit confused whether I like this series or not.

I often found myself skimming over chapters or portions of chapters when the viewpoint switches abruptly. In fact, some new viewpoints appear out of nowhere and I'm often wondering if I
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missed something earlier. They seem out of place. Some of the viewpoints are just not that good. I find myself bored in sections of this book. Perhaps they'll become important later, but I just don't care for them at the moment.

There also seem to be some references, jokes or whatever hidden throughout that seem out of place in this genre of novel. There is one late in the book that is hard to miss as a reference to Star Wars which seems really out of place.

This may not necessarily be a problem really, but I noticed that there are themes and concepts that are borrowed from many popular novels. Not sure if they were intentional or if I'm just reading too much into it, but I saw themes from Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, Star Wars (as mentioned above), and George R. R. Martin. These just seem to obvious to be accidental, but I suppose it's possible.

Not all is bad however. There is something about this series that just keeps me reading. I don't think it's overly well written or original, but there is enough here that I want to finish the series. I want to see how it turns out for most of the characters (again there are some viewpoints that just don't excite me much) and for Kylar I do feel attached to him and how he learns to live with his powers and how that affects those he loves.

I now move on to book 3. I'll be glad when it's over and I won't return to this world, but I do appreciate most of the story telling that is going on here and look forward to how it all plays out. I do hope things wrap up and don't leave me hanging for a future book as I just don't have a desire to continue past this trilogy.
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LibraryThing member lithicbee
Shadow's Edge is the second book in Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy and, for me, it was much improved over the first book (and I liked the first book, too). There was much less confusion about plots in this one, there are epic triumphs to match the epic tragedies, and the characters continue to be
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fleshed out. Some of the gods and magic bits of the book remind me of Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex trilogy (which I also recommend), but in a world that, for all its fantasy elements, is more grounded in gritty reality. Shadow's Edge is a page-turner and keeps surprising all the way to the end. Great book.
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LibraryThing member windlover26
I have not read the last book in the trilogy yet (have it on hold at the library) but this book was very good! The twist at the end left me in shock, and books rarely do that to me; it left me in a sense of satisfaction that when I saw this at Borders that fateful day I have not been wasting my
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time!
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
This was a bit of a hard slog for me to get into, possibly would have been better read back-to-back with the previous one but I really didn't find myself caring too much about the characters for the first third of the book. The author has tossed a lot of stuff at this book, there's a lot of detail
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here but I feel as if in some ways some of the good gets overwhelmed by the volume.

Kylar Stern has moved with Elene and Uly to another town and Kylar is trying to leave the life of an assassin behind him. He is determined to create a new life for himself with Elene, however the world isn't ready to let him have peace.

Like I said initially, this took me a while to get into, when I got past a certain point it did take off but it took a long while. I liked it but it was definitely a bridging novel.
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LibraryThing member amf0001
Rollicking read. Second in the series and no slowing down here. Instead the characters introducted earlier are more fleshed out and have plenty of adventures. I particularly enjoyed Vi and Momma K, but it's really Kylar and Logan's book. Klylar exlores his growing talent and Logan the depths of his
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peronsality. Great imagery and imagination at work. Very happy with this series.
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LibraryThing member DWWilkin
This is a middle of a trilogy book. So that sets your expectations. Bridge books have problems that the story can not end, the conclusion is not final. That happens here.

Weeks however has a lot of tools at his command and he is very good at using them. We follow our hero and the many other heroes
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through trials and tribulations that are horrific and soul shattering in nature.

We find that evil is further developed in this world, as is magic more defined as we leave the city setting of the first book and encompass more of the world. That perhaps sets up one of the few flaws. Evil in this world has been growing to such an extent that the world of good is caught virtually unaware.

With such evil, the conquest of our troubled kingdom and its heroes in the first book seems to have been done too easily unopposed by the rest of the world. An analogy would be that the world leaders know that Hitler and the Nazis are capable of great evil and that if they leave Germany that will destroy France, but no one tells France or goes to their aid, and France in this instance would be a tenth of what it was in ours. A very easy walkover. And then the atrocities committed would be 10 times as great as they were.

Otherwise, the writing is good, though a few typos have crept in, the plot twists are many. The stereotype is not set in stone and twisted on its ear often enough to be fresh. Well worth a read now and again.
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LibraryThing member lewispike
This book follows on very quickly after the first book in the trilogy. Kylar is trying to leave his old life and set up in a new life with Elene. In the meantime Momma K et al are running the resistance to the invasion in the warrens.

Despite Kylar's wishes he gets called back into being a wetboy to
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rescue Logan, and events spiral out of control.

We get to learn more about why it's called the Night Angel trilogy too, as the black ka'kari starts to exert yet more influence over Kylar. He also ends up married, rather unexpectedly.

As before this book has a relatively simple plot, but delves into choices and consequences, and in this book there's more of an exploration of good and evil and redemption, and the cost of redemption too.

This lost half a star for me because it felt a lot like the time before Kylar gets sucked back in dragged rather too much. Some, probably 75% of it had to be there to establish what was going on, but the remainder seems like padding.
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LibraryThing member book_mad_mess
Not a review as much as what I think:
I thought it was better than the first book. Still confused at times by all the magic systems and who's who of characters. The series could use a glossary or a list of characters. My thoughts and YMMV.
LibraryThing member PeterWhitfield
This is a good story and it kept me interested. The downside is that the prose is littered with street-American and some of the writing is a bit weak. But if you can put up with butts instead of bums, "shoot" as and exhortation to say something in a dialogue, and punks hanging around on the street
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corners in a medieval setting swords and magic fantasy novel then you will probably enjoy the story...
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LibraryThing member jamestomasino
This book seemed a lot more haphazard than the first. Lots of interesting things happening still, but I'm finding the breaks from character group to character group less interesting each time they happen. We'll see what the next one has in store.

Reread: This book isn't so haphazard as I felt last
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time, but the focus is much more widespread. A lot of interesting new developments kick in here, and it is a nice world-building book. I really only have one beef with the story, and that is Kylar not bothering to change his name when he goes into hiding. Seriously? The best assassin in the world can't figure out that when laying low, you might not want to go by the same name that everyone knows? Yeesh.
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LibraryThing member Andy_DiMartino
He does a good job
LibraryThing member kinwolf
A bit less focused than the first one, but a nice continuation. Loved it!
LibraryThing member malexmave
I liked the book, although not as much as the first one. I can't really put my finger on the reasons, but it didn't grip me as much.
LibraryThing member e2d2
Not sure why I keep reading this series. I don't really care about the characters except maybe for Dorian and Elene, I still don't understand the distinction between the magic users, and the plot seems unnecessarily complicated.
LibraryThing member gayla.bassham
I thought this was actually stronger than the first book, with a more linear plot and more interesting characters. I didn't like Elene's storyline (or the character) but other than that I thought this was decent, although nowhere near as good as George R. R. Martin or Robin Hobb.

I noticed that
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there were more and more compelling female characters in this book, with more relationship to the plot, and I wonder if Weeks was responding to criticism about the largely male cast in the first book.

Curious to read the final book in the trilogy and see how it all turns out.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2008-11

Physical description

645 p.; 4.25 inches

ISBN

0316033650 / 9780316033657
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