Shadow's Edge

Night Angel Trilogy, Book 2

By: Brent Weeks

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

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?

©2008 Brent Weeks (P)2009 Tantor

more great action

If you liked the first book, as I did, you'll enjoy this one more.

I do have to agree with a reviewer of the first book who likened the story to that of a comic book. Toward the end of the book the characters took on the persona of super heroes able to leap tall buildings. I my mind's eye I could see the comic book 'smash' and 'crack!' verbiage hovering over fantastically drawn characters. Both the protagonists and antagonists say things to each other that could only be taken seriously in a high action book like this one.

NONETHELESS, I loved this book and cannot wait for the 3rd! I like the main character immensely and am eager to see how he handles his next adventure.

A satisfying story...

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 contingent on Kylar changing his behavior to match what she thought he should be.

There were a lot more "character development" scenes in this book than in the first - i.e there were chapters 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 at the start of the book, 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. Once this section ended, however, the story carried on without further delays and ended up being very suspenseful.

Overall, it's a satisfying story - full of angst, judgement, retribution and justice... the narration is very good and the story doesn't leave you hanging at the end, even though there's another book in the trilogy.

excellent story

My 18 yr old son got the entire trilogy at the local bookstore and offered it to me to read first. I read the first book and was immediately hooked! I ended up giving him back the books when I discovered them here. Being a truckdriver, it was more convenient for me to listen to them rather than reading the books. I highly recommend this trilogy. It is a wonderful example of how an author can flesh out his characters and put them in situations where they must decide between doing what it is right and doing what they think is right. I loved this trilogy to the very last word.

Really good adult fantasy series

Would you try another book from Brent Weeks and/or Paul Boehmer?

I certainly enjoyed all 3 books in the series but almost stopped listening a few times because I was frustrated with the performance. Boehmer annoyingly imposed a whiney petulant tone to many of the characters and it gets tiresome to listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

Good twists, great character development.

Did Shadow's Edge inspire you to do anything?

Yes, it inspired me to immediately listen to the next and final book in the trilogy.

Really surprised

I thought it would be a lot better I will be honest I did nit give it a chance past half way but the love crap between him and Eileen was way way to much, didn't care about jarl, just was really lame honestly and I had high hopes from the first. It got cheesier like when he saves the girl from the three thugs by just making parts of himself appear- that was so dumb. And then how he says it's going to draw attention from all over the world it just feels like the rumors from that would not at all do that, like just forced. I don't know I just really couldn't like this one no matter how much I tried.

Dont know what the other reviewers are smoking

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different narraotor and a thought through story line with characters that maintain thier character; characters seem to change personality from one book to the next.

Has Shadow's Edge turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

What didn’t you like about Paul Boehmer’s performance?

Lack of variation between characters

What character would you cut from Shadow's Edge?

Paul Bohmer

It was good. Not great, but good. A bit slow.

The first book was constant stream of stuff that kept you in the edge of your seat with everything that happens to Kylar over a decade of his life. And that really drew me into the world, and made me really give a damn about this kid, and his life. And I was eagar to dig into book two expecting more of the same. That wasn't the case. This book was very slowly paced, a lot more of 'day in the life of ___' chapters where not much actually ...happens? But despite the slow pace it still held my attention. I enjoyed the story, and I would recommend it to everyone who wanted more of the world that was shown to us in book one.

Wow is Weeks 12 years old?

Any additional comments?

I found this series to have the kind of "well written" and "witty" dialogue that every 12 year old pervert will love, due to it's "well" thought out and "intellectual" nature. However I beseech one to read that series as one will not be surprised in the least by the plot twists, in fact from page 1, a discernible reader will know the basic ending of the story, and thus can praise it for being a well written work of fantasy. The author's characterization of women as being either virgins or whores will astound even the most ignoble character. And one can only marvel at the rate which the lesser characters die off, while the major ones do not. Seriously though, all I can say is WOW!This was the MOST overhyped book I have ever read. So many people recommended it to me I expected something really good. What I got was a book that felt like a young adult book that was trying to be adult by swearing and talking about sex, just like a 12 year old boy would do.While the book was entertaining and had some good concepts, it was deeply flawed in many ways, and really felt like it was targeted to 12-20 year old crowd, or should have been a CW network TV show. It was full of overused tropes and the way side characters all died off was like watching horror movie where everyone gets killed really easily while the hero can miraculously survive. And lastly there where many similarities in this book to the first book of the Mistborn Series, only the Mistborn book was, way, way better. Now given that this was the authors first book I will give him some slack and say that the battle scenes where well done and the way magic was used was cool, if not fully explained with rules applied to it. I will check out the next book to see if the writing improves (which I heard it does, but from what I heard this was one of the best books ever written too, so what I heard my also be false) and the overall plot does get your interest, the machinations of foreign powers taking over. For people who have not read The Broken Sword by Paul Anderson, The Black Company, Fritz Leiber, The Chronicles of Amber or the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, I recommend all those over this. And if you want a long read, then Game of Thrones and Wheels of Time are both better as well. Unless you are in your late teens or early 20's, then you will probably love this story.

Eh

Wasn't the worst book I've read by a long shot, but also wasn't the best. The whole tedious first half of the book could have been avoided if the characters had talked to each other. Kylar is hopelessly over-dramatic, turning what kind of sandwich to eat for lunch into a painful moral struggle. There's way too much "one conversation sets into motion a complex series of manipulations incorporating information that the character couldn't possibly have known." Dorian at least has an excuse for being a walking plot device.

The second half was better. There was good action. Still waaay too much vivid description of breasts - it makes me wonder about Weeks's frame of mind when he was writing this. The battles were cool and well-described, and I appreciate that. It's hard to write a mass action sequence like that and have it make any sense. Kylar is powerful and cool, which I like in fluff fantasy books, but he invents new powers at a bit too convenient of a rate.

The magic and world continue to make zero sense, and I get the sense that there is a much more interesting and important story happening somewhere else that doesn't involve these characters. It's like The Lord of the Rings told from the perspective of some people in Bree who don't know anything about what is going on.

Overall, it's meh. There are parts that drag, parts that are exciting, characters that I liked, and characters that frustrated me.

Oh, and the narrator consistently mispronounces certain words, for instance "shown" as something like "shawn." That bugged me. He does it several times.

Reading this was a labor.

The entire first half of this book was a train wreck. I only drive through it, on a second attempt years after the first, based on the reviews telling people to hold on for the second half. The two main characters are unbearably stupid and watching their attempt at a relationship only destroyed love I had for the first book. The second half picked up nicely but I do not know if I have the energy or dedication for the third book.