Night Angel Nemesis

By: Brent Weeks

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 32 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

The incredible return to the New York Times bestselling world of the Night Angel, where master assassin Kylar Stern embarks on a new adventure as the High King Logan Gyre calls on him to save his kingdom and the hope of peace.

"Weeks has been showing other fantasy authors how it's done for over fifteen years." — Peter V. Brett, author of The Desert Prince

"Weeks is a giant of the genre." — Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld

After the war that cost him so much, Kylar Stern is broken and alone. He's determined not to kill again, but an impending amnesty will pardon the one murderer he can't let walk free. He promises himself this is the last time. One last hit to tie up the loose ends of his old, lost life.

But Kylar's best—and maybe only—friend, the High King Logan Gyre, needs him. To protect a fragile peace, Logan’s new kingdom, and the king’s twin sons, he needs Kylar to secure a powerful magical artifact that was unearthed during the war.

With rumors that a ka'kari may be found, adversaries both old and new are on the hunt. And if Kylar has learned anything, it’s that ancient magics are better left in the hands of those he can trust.

If he does the job right, he won’t need to kill at all. This isn’t an assassination—it’s a heist.

But some jobs are too hard for an easy conscience, and some enemies are so powerful the only answer lies in the shadows.

"Weeks writes in an inescapably engaging style. Breathlessly high stakes, terrible missteps, and unexpected revelations keep the story humming along at a breakneck pace." — Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

For more from Brent Weeks, check out:

The Ka'kari Codex

The Night Angel Trilogy
The Way of Shadows
Shadow's Edge
Beyond the Shadows

The Kylar Chronicles
Night Angel Nemesis

The Night Angel Trilogy: 10th Anniversary EditionNight Angel: The Complete Trilogy (omnibus) Perfect Shadow: A Night Angel Novella
The Way of Shadows: The Graphic Novel

Lightbringer
The Black Prism
The Blinding Knife
The Broken Eye
The Blood Mirror
The Burning White

©2022 Brent Weeks (P)2022 Orbit

Disappointed

With The Light Bringer Saga being my favorite fantasy series, and loving the original Night Angel trilogy, I was excited to finally get back into the world of Midkiryu (sp?). However this book was a complete let down. Kylar is now a bumbling idiot stumbling from one disastrous situation to the next with no plan, no pride, and no clue. He seems to have forgotten all his training as a wet boy over night. The book hits 5/5 cringe factor when Kylar gets bested by... a fish. The new narrative 4th Wall breaking sections are a complete fail, being annoying at best and insulting and distracting at worst.

The only small saving graces are Logan, Phaena, and Vi, whose characters more closely adhere to the original series style, but they only rarely put in an appearance.

Simon Vance is amazing as always. I keep forgetting I'm listening to the same narrator as all the characters have distinctive and fitting voices.

Overall, I'll probably get the next book in the series when it comes out, but it will only be when I have an extra credit or two and nothing better to listen to.

Sadly Disappointed

I really like Brent Weeks as a writer. Night Angel trilogy and The Lightbringer series are some of my all time favorites. This book resembled none of his previous work. Kilar comes across weak, insecure and pathetic for pretty much the whole book. The story goes pointlessly on and on. He did manage to introduce a whopping total of one new interesting character.

I’ll still be listening and or reading Brent Weeks next books, but this one falls short in pretty much every way.

A departure from the original

Reality is, this is a very different type of book than the first three. I loved the first three, characters, dynamics, twists, world building etc. This book reminded me a lot more of Harry Potter 5 when Harry spent the whole book moping around hormonal and sad. It's still a good story for some but nothing like what I was expecting/eagerly anticipating for the last 6 months.

The whole dynamic of the story changed.

I just stopped listening to it. Why would you choose a different character dynamic and a different audio voice? I tried multiple times but just couldn't do it.

Fantastic

I thought that the original Night Angel was just ok but loved the Lightbringer series so I was interested to see how this book would turn out with all the experience weeks has under his belt. I’m happy to report this book is right up to the Lightbringer level and really enjoyed it. It is a huge step up in quality to me. I also thought the unorthodox story telling method he employs in this book was also really well done. I was surprised how many references there were to the original series so I definitely think one would have to read the original books and at least remember the events in broad strokes.

To address the other reviewer complaining about them changing narrators evidently they didn’t realize the original books were all re-recorded with Simon Vance. Also in the original books the first narrator (Paul Bauhmer) pronounced the names how he thought best without consulting the author. Simon Vance did consult the author so his pronunciations are the correct ones.

The Narrator all but ruins this version

Brent Weeks has grown as a writer since he first debuted the Night Angel Trilogy years ago, but this audiobook suffers from two things: First: a combination of experimental style--Weeks switched from 3rd person limited story telling to first person using the framing device of a journal moving the story back and forth in time. Some people may not like the change in writing style, but that's up to the individual listener/reader.
The second thing is far worse: The audiobook's narrator. Not only is their cognitive dissonance hearing a 67-year-old British gentlemen speak like he is the 20-year-old character, Kylar Stern, it's actually impossible to understand him half the time. I do not because of his accent, but because he insists on speaking in some sort of weird husky whisper all the time. I found myself having to turn the volume up to ridiculous levels to even hear what he was saying.
I am still a huge Brent Weeks fan and I want to like this book. But I would have to suggest skipping this particular version. Either buy a physical copy and read if for yourself, or wait and hope someone comes out with a full audio-drama version with a better voice cast at some point in the future.

A lot of people clearly don't understand this book

Reading the other reviews, I feel like I have to defend this book, as I've been closely following every single book Weeks has done since shortly after the original Night Angel Trilogy released. I've watched as many interviews as I can, read AMAs on reddit and elsewhere, and been keeping my finger to the pulse of Week's work for well over a decade now. This book is an absolutely fantastic adaptation of the characters, and after reading it, I'm seriously blown away by what Weeks did with it. There's a ton of extremely subtle stuff in it that I think went RIGHT over many readers' heads.

(side note, Simon Vance is an excellent pick for these books. so glad he was picked up for this book and the original trilogy)

***POTENTIALLY MINOR SPOILERS BUT NO SPECIFICS***

Of the reviews I've read, one of the most common complaints I've seen is Kylar being "nerfed" so to speak. Without getting into too many details, it seems like what people missed between Night Angel 3 and this book is that while we had a 3rd person omniscient dialogue going in the original trilogy, what we now have is Kylar's actual inner thoughts and reflections. His personal view of himself, the world, and his experiences.

This is an EXTREMELY crucial bit of information to consider while reading this story, specifically when put into the context of the ending of the original trilogy, and therefore the developments in this book.

What about his origin and upbringing lends the reader to believe he is emotionally stable or intelligent and able to understand his own strengths or weaknesses? Yes, WE know how good he is, but after what happened at the end of book 3, is it really that surprising that a boy with his background struggles to cope with the insane trauma he's been through?

All I'll say to those that have read the book: Ever notice how often he mentions how stupid his ideas are as well as how lucky he is, while simultaneously doing multiple things worthy of his legend that he simply brushes under the rug? Why do you think that is?

Anyways, I highly recommend people read the book/read it again with this lens. It will make a LOT of things make sense.

Brent. No but also yes.

I personally love this style of story telling from limited perspectives. It allows for wonderful storytelling possibilities. See blood song by Anthony Ryan.

Anyways it is all so well done. Flushing out the magic systems and possibilities. Always wondered what a blue mages magic was like.

I’m glad you cemented, and reviewed the things we already know about the magic in the world, and have given more depth to it.

I don’t mind that we don’t see so much of Durzo or very much anyone else for that matter.
However Brent. What I do mind sir! Is you’re little sneaky stuff. You’re spooky little slight of hand stuff. That Sir! I do mind. But keep doing it.

The beginning threw me & you surprised me. I had to adjust to the narrator and storytelling as I just finished the original with Simon. Once I settled into the way, he was telling this one. I had no overall issues with having a new voiceover.

Some of that drama is still here good ol emo himbo Kylar Stern which can be a bit much but with the lil sneaky stuff. Brent! Does. It tracks for me.

Some of the word play stuff got a bit much. I know it’s you’re quirk & it’s ok I forgive you.

Flawless ending in my opinion but that thing you did before the “end”was evil. Not the last one but the 2 evil things before that.

Not fond of the direction

I’ve been a big fan of your books, so when I found myself frustrated and bored at some points with the story I’m surprised. Surprised that I wasn’t entertained like I normally am by your writings.

Not sure if you got jaded with this story or lost your direction with it. I re-listened to the three books with Simon as the reader and enjoyed them. Seems you pointed some frustrations at the “reader” of your story and almost broke that forth wall. I understand Kylar went threw some changes after the conclusion of “Beyond the Shadows” but this……this Kylar isn’t a regression to his previous self or even a depressed version… it’s like he’s a reinventing of the character. Maybe you have plans on bring him low to have him pull out and succeed in future books. Definitely left open for a variety of things to happen.

I gave the book and reading in all a 4 stars, just because it did have its saving moments, and Simon didn’t have his A game for the reading. …. Hopefully there’s more books coming.

Brent Weeks always delivers

Truly loved it. Weeks is my favorite author for a reason and his newest book delivers. The wait for the next novel will be brutal. Also Simon Vance is awesome as always.