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The Kylar Chronicles #1
Night Angel Nemesis
Brent Weeks returns to the New York Times bestselling world of the Night Angel in Night Angel Nemesis, following master assassin Kylar on a new adventure as the High King Logan Gyre calls on him to save his kingdom and the hope of peace.
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.
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.
838 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2023
About the author
Brent Weeks
66 books22.4k followersIn a small-town Montana school at age 12, Brent Weeks met the two great loves of his life. Edgar Allan Poe introduced him to the power of literature to transcend time and death and loneliness. Fate introduced him to The Girl, Kristi Barnes. He began his pursuit of each immediately.
The novel was a failure. The Girl shot him down.
Since then–skipping the boring parts–Brent has written eight best-selling novels with the Night Angel Trilogy and the Lightbringer Series, won several industry awards, and sold a few million books.
Brent and his wife Kristi live in Oregon with their two daughters. (Yeah, he married The Girl.)
The novel was a failure. The Girl shot him down.
Since then–skipping the boring parts–Brent has written eight best-selling novels with the Night Angel Trilogy and the Lightbringer Series, won several industry awards, and sold a few million books.
Brent and his wife Kristi live in Oregon with their two daughters. (Yeah, he married The Girl.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 477 reviews
September 4, 2023
Every once in a while, you read a book so brilliant, so breathtaking, so heartbreaking that you wish you could take the author aside and give him a big hug. This is that book for me. But hugging yourself is weird, so it'll never happen. Alas.
May 5, 2023
I have loved and recommended all of Brent weeks books but I struggled to finish Nemesis. I love long books and series but this felt like 3-4 times too long for the story it told. For me it’s a book about self-pity and bumbling with a little bit of plot thrown in.
April 16, 2023
4.0 Stars
After loving the original trilogy this year, I have been eager to pick up this newest entry. I do recommend reading the first trilogy first because you'll get so much more out of this one if you already know the characters.
It's clear how far Weeks has developed as an author since writing the first trilogy. The writing felt much closer to the Lightbringer. Furthermore, he seems to have addressed many of the complaints of the original work, particularly his habit of the male gaze.
I enjoyed the humour and action in this one but I will admit that I found the overarching plot to be underwhelming. I enjoyed going back to this world, but the stakes didn't feel as high as I would have liked. Still, I really enjoyed this one. Weeks has a talent for writing fun, action packed stories with some of the best humor and witty dialogue. I would definitely read more set in this world.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher
After loving the original trilogy this year, I have been eager to pick up this newest entry. I do recommend reading the first trilogy first because you'll get so much more out of this one if you already know the characters.
It's clear how far Weeks has developed as an author since writing the first trilogy. The writing felt much closer to the Lightbringer. Furthermore, he seems to have addressed many of the complaints of the original work, particularly his habit of the male gaze.
I enjoyed the humour and action in this one but I will admit that I found the overarching plot to be underwhelming. I enjoyed going back to this world, but the stakes didn't feel as high as I would have liked. Still, I really enjoyed this one. Weeks has a talent for writing fun, action packed stories with some of the best humor and witty dialogue. I would definitely read more set in this world.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher
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April 3, 2023DNF @ 21%
I quite liked the Night Angel trilogy, and although it was a long time ago that I read it, I remember enjoying following characters like Durzo Blint and Kyler Stern. Here, I didn't get on with it quite as well. The story is predominantly told in the first person and it soon becomes apparent that it's Kyler chronicling his adventure to his Ka'kari.
The Ka'kari then begins talking back to Kyler about the story being told—"I thought this record was for you alone"—and it turns into a back and forth about the merits of chronicling the story in the first place. There are other conversations between the two that just didn't work for me, and one that really irked me because of the way it seemed like an attempt at worming out of any potential plot holes: "if I do something that looks dumb, assume that there were some details that I forgot to include that gave excellent reasons for why I should do that thing."
This writing style quickly became too much for me and was the main cause of me deciding not to continue with the book. Other things I didn't like were the way the Ka'kari just makes Kyler too invincible. There was never a point where I felt the intensity of the situation because I always knew Kyler would be fine. In previous works by the author, I've noted an apparent obsession with breasts—or specifically in defining female characters by their breasts—and here the obsession remains. This, together with the writing style and the (presumed) attempt at humour through it, just came across as a bit juvenile to me.
On the plus side, I did like the overall story, I just wish I'd enjoyed the writing enough to see how it played out. There's definitely a good concept at the heart of this, but it was just executed in a way that didn't work for me.
I quite liked the Night Angel trilogy, and although it was a long time ago that I read it, I remember enjoying following characters like Durzo Blint and Kyler Stern. Here, I didn't get on with it quite as well. The story is predominantly told in the first person and it soon becomes apparent that it's Kyler chronicling his adventure to his Ka'kari.
The Ka'kari then begins talking back to Kyler about the story being told—"I thought this record was for you alone"—and it turns into a back and forth about the merits of chronicling the story in the first place. There are other conversations between the two that just didn't work for me, and one that really irked me because of the way it seemed like an attempt at worming out of any potential plot holes: "if I do something that looks dumb, assume that there were some details that I forgot to include that gave excellent reasons for why I should do that thing."
This writing style quickly became too much for me and was the main cause of me deciding not to continue with the book. Other things I didn't like were the way the Ka'kari just makes Kyler too invincible. There was never a point where I felt the intensity of the situation because I always knew Kyler would be fine. In previous works by the author, I've noted an apparent obsession with breasts—or specifically in defining female characters by their breasts—and here the obsession remains. This, together with the writing style and the (presumed) attempt at humour through it, just came across as a bit juvenile to me.
On the plus side, I did like the overall story, I just wish I'd enjoyed the writing enough to see how it played out. There's definitely a good concept at the heart of this, but it was just executed in a way that didn't work for me.
April 27, 2023
I am thinking that this book would be much better if literally everyone wasn't criminally annoying. I mean the plot is pretty meaty, the lore is interesting and the plot twists are entertaining though the plot sometimes is pretty slow.
The big problem is the characters and I really struggle to root for anyone with most of the interesting ones away, dead, stuck in a limited number of scenes or crazy which leaves the story with a cast of characters that starts to actively drag the story down with them.
Repha'im is a narcisstic asshole with zero charisma and spends the whole book giving predictable monologues that I am honestly tired of reading. I mean, like
And that's not all. The Empress is an asshole to everyone in pretty much every scene that I am tired of seeing. From the Chantry comes a huge number of assholes to the point where they are even assholes to each other when the opportunity comes for it and their assholery seems to blend into itself at some point. Jenine has somehow become an asshole in between books and is also now an to boot which is retroactively ruining things.
If the singularity formed by assholes just wasn't enough, the other characters really aren't really the beacon of enjoyment either.
Logan shows one moment of being smarter than the average brick which made me hopeful and proceeds never to be smarter than the average brick again. Kylar seems to have regressed from the previous book and has become extraordinarily whingy and somehow more depressed. And also an asshole to everyone he meets for no reason. Also, he wants to be laid, but not really, but he wants to be laid enough times that pretty much every time he's on screen he's starting to shit up the plot with it.
Phaena showed promise but gets upstaged by Vi almost immediately . Vi is... the same Vi as she's always been. Unfortunately, .
Momma K was pretty good but this was probably helped by the fact that she didn't have many chances to fuck up her good reputation (in my mind, of the previous trilogy).
By far the most interesting person is Grandmaster Glaucon Vitruvius who appears in 3 scenes.
The big problem is the characters and I really struggle to root for anyone with most of the interesting ones away, dead, stuck in a limited number of scenes or crazy which leaves the story with a cast of characters that starts to actively drag the story down with them.
Repha'im is a narcisstic asshole with zero charisma and spends the whole book giving predictable monologues that I am honestly tired of reading. I mean, like
And that's not all. The Empress is an asshole to everyone in pretty much every scene that I am tired of seeing. From the Chantry comes a huge number of assholes to the point where they are even assholes to each other when the opportunity comes for it and their assholery seems to blend into itself at some point. Jenine has somehow become an asshole in between books and is also now an to boot which is retroactively ruining things.
If the singularity formed by assholes just wasn't enough, the other characters really aren't really the beacon of enjoyment either.
Logan shows one moment of being smarter than the average brick which made me hopeful and proceeds never to be smarter than the average brick again. Kylar seems to have regressed from the previous book and has become extraordinarily whingy and somehow more depressed. And also an asshole to everyone he meets for no reason. Also, he wants to be laid, but not really, but he wants to be laid enough times that pretty much every time he's on screen he's starting to shit up the plot with it.
Phaena showed promise but gets upstaged by Vi almost immediately . Vi is... the same Vi as she's always been. Unfortunately, .
Momma K was pretty good but this was probably helped by the fact that she didn't have many chances to fuck up her good reputation (in my mind, of the previous trilogy).
By far the most interesting person is Grandmaster Glaucon Vitruvius who appears in 3 scenes.
April 30, 2023
I would like to preface this by saying I have adamantly loved every single one of Brent Weeks’ books; having read the original trilogy at least 5 times, bought each book, the omnibus, the tenth anniversary edition, buying it for others, and encouraging them to read it/buy it for themselves when I couldn’t, and that same passion translated to Lightbringer. So, picking Nemesis up, I was through the roof excited, and to be honest, I’ve never had a harder time finishing a book. Some of it was interesting, but to be honest, I’m more mad than anything that he waited 15 years to tell this story, and the story feels pretty worthless. None of it is remarkable, and nothing really pushed me to keep reading, besides my love for the prior books. I honestly don’t see myself ever recommending this book to anyone, and could never bring myself to pick it up again.
It’s kinda funny, because in the book Kylar keeps saying he’s special, always finds a third way to make the impossible possible, and that’s what I hoped Weeks would do with the ending, and much like the ending in the book, you’re left wanting… not wanting a sequel mind you, but wanting to have never picked the book up in the first place. I loved this series, these characters, and this world he built so much, perhaps I hyped myself up too much, but regardless, as a fan, I feel slighted…
It’s kinda funny, because in the book Kylar keeps saying he’s special, always finds a third way to make the impossible possible, and that’s what I hoped Weeks would do with the ending, and much like the ending in the book, you’re left wanting… not wanting a sequel mind you, but wanting to have never picked the book up in the first place. I loved this series, these characters, and this world he built so much, perhaps I hyped myself up too much, but regardless, as a fan, I feel slighted…
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 2, 2023 Sigh. I suggest picking this series up after the sequel to this book is released.
I have wanted a sequel to The Night Angel series for sooooo long, it was one of the first fantasy series I read that majorly got me into reading and it will always hold a special place in my heart. This series made me fall in love with actual grimdark characters, cool magic systems and dark/gritty fantasy worlds. In fact the talent remains one of my top 3 magic systems - out of all the fantasy books I have ever read....and I have read.... a lot of fantasy.
This book is far different to any other Night Angel book, not just the fact that it's near twice as long as the others but it revolves around a magical oceans 11 themed heist. Where Kylar and his skills are pushed to the brink and beyond...then beyond even that. We are introduced to some great characters and reintroduced to some even better familiar characters. However the locations we visit are fascinating peek into the rest of Midcyru.
The only complaints I have about this book is that there are a few areas where the story drags on and becomes repetitive. I swear, a 'certain character', whilst on the run gets into an altercation after every corner he takes for at least a hundred pages.. fight, hide, fight hide etc. As well as Brent Weeks writes suspense and action it does get repetitive.
As per usual with one of Brent Weeks' books I was stressed out of my mind reading this but the ending of this book is.... infuriating. I have always hated cliff hangers but I cannot stand a certain self inflicted sabotaging decision made in the last 2-3 chapters and it makes me question where the story is going.
I have wanted a sequel to The Night Angel series for sooooo long, it was one of the first fantasy series I read that majorly got me into reading and it will always hold a special place in my heart. This series made me fall in love with actual grimdark characters, cool magic systems and dark/gritty fantasy worlds. In fact the talent remains one of my top 3 magic systems - out of all the fantasy books I have ever read....and I have read.... a lot of fantasy.
This book is far different to any other Night Angel book, not just the fact that it's near twice as long as the others but it revolves around a magical oceans 11 themed heist. Where Kylar and his skills are pushed to the brink and beyond...then beyond even that. We are introduced to some great characters and reintroduced to some even better familiar characters. However the locations we visit are fascinating peek into the rest of Midcyru.
The only complaints I have about this book is that there are a few areas where the story drags on and becomes repetitive. I swear, a 'certain character', whilst on the run gets into an altercation after every corner he takes for at least a hundred pages.. fight, hide, fight hide etc. As well as Brent Weeks writes suspense and action it does get repetitive.
As per usual with one of Brent Weeks' books I was stressed out of my mind reading this but the ending of this book is.... infuriating. I have always hated cliff hangers but I cannot stand a certain self inflicted sabotaging decision made in the last 2-3 chapters and it makes me question where the story is going.
May 3, 2023
Having re-read the Night Angel trilogy in anticipation of this release, the contrast was a bit disappointing. To start, It took me a long time to get into the book because I didn’t like the framing device. When I finally started to get used to it, I realized that I was unimpressed by the writing.
There is a lot of philosophizing in this book. There is a lot of repetition. There is a lot of description that felt unnecessary. I found it hard to gain momentum when before/during every fight there was paragraphs and paragraphs about morals, skills, humanity etc.
I got sick of reading about how short and slight Kylar is. I missed all the great characters and relationships from the original trilogy. I disliked how Vi went from an interesting character with emotional depth and character growth, to mainly being a plot device.
I’m not sure if I missed a novella or something (which is a huge pet peeve of mine! They never get the same marketing so you don’t know you’re missing part of the story until later), but there was definitely things that were kind of glossed over. I couldn’t believe I read an 800+ page book and never answered some most basic questions about the aftermath of Black Barrow.
I realize this next series is about Kylar and perhaps what it boils down to is that his character isn’t interesting enough to carry a book in first person. I will likely read the next book, but I don’t see this series becoming as well loved for me as the first one.
There is a lot of philosophizing in this book. There is a lot of repetition. There is a lot of description that felt unnecessary. I found it hard to gain momentum when before/during every fight there was paragraphs and paragraphs about morals, skills, humanity etc.
I got sick of reading about how short and slight Kylar is. I missed all the great characters and relationships from the original trilogy. I disliked how Vi went from an interesting character with emotional depth and character growth, to mainly being a plot device.
I’m not sure if I missed a novella or something (which is a huge pet peeve of mine! They never get the same marketing so you don’t know you’re missing part of the story until later), but there was definitely things that were kind of glossed over. I couldn’t believe I read an 800+ page book and never answered some most basic questions about the aftermath of Black Barrow.
I realize this next series is about Kylar and perhaps what it boils down to is that his character isn’t interesting enough to carry a book in first person. I will likely read the next book, but I don’t see this series becoming as well loved for me as the first one.
April 23, 2024
One line summary: Jar Jar Binks would look at Kylar and scoff.
I'm generally a pretty big Weeks fan, but this one was a big miss. This is probably the first 1-star review I've ever given where I've at least somewhat enjoyed decent sections of the book, but the problems were overwhelming when it came time to rate it. The biggest problem is also the easiest to diagnose: Weeks absolutely brutalizes his established characters. The only case I can think of that was worse was in the Witcher book series, but those characters were mainly butchered in a couple of scenes. Weeks has somehow managed to screw up almost every single character you loved in the Night Angel trilogy throughout the entire book. The combination of his stupidity, arrogance, incompetence, and petulance make you really hate his character.
The character assassination doesn't stop with Kylar though.
The book really would've worked so much better if both Kylar and Vi weren't established characters. Then you would just see them as weak and stupid people doing their best. Instead, you spend the entire book fuming at how thoroughly the characters are destroyed.
It wasn't all bad. Weeks still did a good enough job writing action scenes that I didn't hate reading the book. The world building was generally good as well. It ends up being a shame that the book was ruined by the characters be cheap facsimiles of themselves instead of highly competent professionals.
Other things:
-
- I didn't care for the first-person perspective. It bothered me less as the story went on, but I never liked it. It doesn't work with a character I now hate and find insufferable. It also needed to be drastically reduced. There was way too much repetitive inner-monologue from Kylar, especially when he was so annoying.
-I didn't like that there are now hundreds of people who can easily compete with Kylar in a fight, and maybe even more. He went from being insanely powerful in the Night Angel trilogy to being just more powerful than most people. I understand Weeks had to scale things back a bit, but this felt like too much.
- There is a scene from the novella, Perfect Shadow, that Weeks takes almost word for word and puts in this story with slightly different circumstances. It was weird for me because I had just finished reading that story not long ago, and I had that weird deja-vu feeling until I realized I actually had read this situation before.
- I don't understand why Vitruvius
- Kylar gets
-Kylar goes through really annoying moral phases in the book. It reminded me of book two of the original trilogy.
- Kylar is talking to the
- Further stupidity from Kylar.
- Speaking of the queen, she was originally a very interesting character.
- Kylar
- Weeks does one of my most hated things. He has one person try to convey critical information. The person, who should be listening, instead continuously interrupts. Their conversation ends up getting stopped short, and the person has to move forward with only some of the information they needed. It's so annoying. It's like:
"This information is really important! Here's what you need to know. The plan is-"
"Oh, it's already too late."
"What? No it isn't. Here is the plan. We are going to-"
"There's no point! All is lost."
"Listen! This was all part of the plan! You need to-"
"Really? That's great! I thought we lost already."
"No, but listen. I need you to-" And bam, the door is kicked in or something and the character doesn't get the critical information.
- You could easily take out 200 pages if you removed Kylar talking like an idiot or whining to himself.
-Far too much of the plot is
-I'm assuming that this is a new series, but I didn't see anything explicitly say this other than it being labeled the Kylar Chronicles and I think there was a 1 by it. I suppose I'd read the next book if it comes out, but I'm definitely no longer excited about it.
- The ending is pretty wild.
-Some parts of the ending made no sense as well.
- Like previous books, I don't see what the complaints are regarding the accusations of misogyny. It's a first person perspective of a man who is like 20 years old, and you're offended that he is noticing boobs? The main thing I rolled my eyes at was how
- I'm assuming future books will alter our perception of the events in this book, but I don't know if that can make up for all of the mistakes.
Here's how Weeks could've fixed this book:
-No first person
-Kylar and Vi are smart and competent like they previously were.
-Kylar and Vi are tremendously loyal to those they care about like they previously were.
That's it. That's all it would take, and this book would be orders of magnitude better.
I read some other reviews, and the most enlightening thing I saw was that this book was like bad fan-fiction. I have to agree, but go even further. It's bad fan-fiction where the author doesn't seem to understand the characters.
I'm generally a pretty big Weeks fan, but this one was a big miss. This is probably the first 1-star review I've ever given where I've at least somewhat enjoyed decent sections of the book, but the problems were overwhelming when it came time to rate it. The biggest problem is also the easiest to diagnose: Weeks absolutely brutalizes his established characters. The only case I can think of that was worse was in the Witcher book series, but those characters were mainly butchered in a couple of scenes. Weeks has somehow managed to screw up almost every single character you loved in the Night Angel trilogy throughout the entire book. The combination of his stupidity, arrogance, incompetence, and petulance make you really hate his character.
The character assassination doesn't stop with Kylar though.
The book really would've worked so much better if both Kylar and Vi weren't established characters. Then you would just see them as weak and stupid people doing their best. Instead, you spend the entire book fuming at how thoroughly the characters are destroyed.
It wasn't all bad. Weeks still did a good enough job writing action scenes that I didn't hate reading the book. The world building was generally good as well. It ends up being a shame that the book was ruined by the characters be cheap facsimiles of themselves instead of highly competent professionals.
Other things:
-
- I didn't care for the first-person perspective. It bothered me less as the story went on, but I never liked it. It doesn't work with a character I now hate and find insufferable. It also needed to be drastically reduced. There was way too much repetitive inner-monologue from Kylar, especially when he was so annoying.
-I didn't like that there are now hundreds of people who can easily compete with Kylar in a fight, and maybe even more. He went from being insanely powerful in the Night Angel trilogy to being just more powerful than most people. I understand Weeks had to scale things back a bit, but this felt like too much.
- There is a scene from the novella, Perfect Shadow, that Weeks takes almost word for word and puts in this story with slightly different circumstances. It was weird for me because I had just finished reading that story not long ago, and I had that weird deja-vu feeling until I realized I actually had read this situation before.
- I don't understand why Vitruvius
- Kylar gets
-Kylar goes through really annoying moral phases in the book. It reminded me of book two of the original trilogy.
- Kylar is talking to the
- Further stupidity from Kylar.
- Speaking of the queen, she was originally a very interesting character.
- Kylar
- Weeks does one of my most hated things. He has one person try to convey critical information. The person, who should be listening, instead continuously interrupts. Their conversation ends up getting stopped short, and the person has to move forward with only some of the information they needed. It's so annoying. It's like:
"This information is really important! Here's what you need to know. The plan is-"
"Oh, it's already too late."
"What? No it isn't. Here is the plan. We are going to-"
"There's no point! All is lost."
"Listen! This was all part of the plan! You need to-"
"Really? That's great! I thought we lost already."
"No, but listen. I need you to-" And bam, the door is kicked in or something and the character doesn't get the critical information.
- You could easily take out 200 pages if you removed Kylar talking like an idiot or whining to himself.
-Far too much of the plot is
-I'm assuming that this is a new series, but I didn't see anything explicitly say this other than it being labeled the Kylar Chronicles and I think there was a 1 by it. I suppose I'd read the next book if it comes out, but I'm definitely no longer excited about it.
- The ending is pretty wild.
-Some parts of the ending made no sense as well.
- Like previous books, I don't see what the complaints are regarding the accusations of misogyny. It's a first person perspective of a man who is like 20 years old, and you're offended that he is noticing boobs? The main thing I rolled my eyes at was how
- I'm assuming future books will alter our perception of the events in this book, but I don't know if that can make up for all of the mistakes.
Here's how Weeks could've fixed this book:
-No first person
-Kylar and Vi are smart and competent like they previously were.
-Kylar and Vi are tremendously loyal to those they care about like they previously were.
That's it. That's all it would take, and this book would be orders of magnitude better.
I read some other reviews, and the most enlightening thing I saw was that this book was like bad fan-fiction. I have to agree, but go even further. It's bad fan-fiction where the author doesn't seem to understand the characters.
Read
June 10, 2023DNF about 40%
Watch me rant my review here!
https://youtu.be/mOXRx8RHn8A
I really hate saying this, but this was a DNF for me. I made it to about 40% and could not take it anymore. I did not enjoy any part of this book and every time I started reading it I would start ranting about it. Literally the only emotion I felt when reading this was rage and anger. I do not even know where to begin other than I am so disappointed and frustrated by every aspect of this book. I had such high hopes for this book, I even bought a signed edition.
Lets start at the beginning… first of all this book is written nothing like the trilogy. This is written in first person as a journal. Kylar is narrating everything he does.. and thinks.. which I did not realize how much of an idiot and jerk he was in every moment of his existence. It feels as though Kylar aged backwards in this book, he apparently did not grow up at all from the last trilogy, if anything he is worse than he ever was. His dialogue is cringey and childish—here’s a few lovely examples:
“’A lullaby? Am I acting like a spoiled child again?’ I ask wryly.” “I settle in to her smile, and there in the softness of her lap, I surprise myself by not making something sexual out of something simply soothing. I’ve become awfully mature recently.”
I could give so many more examples, but I would just end up quoting every thought of Kylar and every time he talks to someone.
Another thing, apparently this story is taking place 8-9 months after the ending of the Night Angel trilogy… there is no way. I refuse to believe that Kylar become that much of a loser and jerk within 9 months. Every character he talks with (especially from the previous series) ends up hating him because of how much of a jerk he is, whereas everyone loved him in the last series.
As I mentioned, this is written like a journal of Kylar, and apparently this was written for Vi to read. There are random interludes where the story cuts to Vi’s point of view and she is at the chantry reading this journal because for some reason she is the only one who can. And the frustrating part is I have no idea when she is (as in timeline) or how she got this journal. All you know is she needs to read to find some clue of where Kylar’s body is?? The most annoying part is not knowing how far in the future she is when she is reading the journal.
I feel like every aspect that I loved about the Night Angel trilogy is nonexistent in this book. There characters from the last series are nonexistent, Kylar is whiny, there’s no real plot/goal, there’s no awesome battles/fights and there is no suspense or tension other than Kylar’s constant sexual tension between every girl he sees.
The plot in this book is I believe Kylar is looking for some compass thing that will allow him to find Logan’s children that Kylar allowed to get kidnapped. I could honestly care less about this plot, I kept forgetting what the goal of the book was because I got so bored with the story. The book moved way too slow for something so inconsequential. I was hoping the goal of this series would be to find the other ka’kari, but I guess not.
And where Kylar seemed invincible in the last series, all Kylar does in this series is screw up and talk about how everyone is so much better than he is and how he would lose the fight (especially against these blue mages). It’s not like he singlehandedly changed the tide of battles in the last series…
This series is a terrible contradiction to the last series. In the previous series Kylar was all about honor and doing the right thing (i.e. sacrificing himself for Logan) and in this book all he does he sulk, insult and torture people. I do not believe for a second the Ka’kari would have chosen this Kylar. All the previous character’s personalities are different. The dialogue is cringey—there’s a ton of awkward heart-to-heart. Kylar should have been this awesome historical world-renowned character but instead he is an angsty teenager.
I am so disappointed I did not like this book and I am so discouraged I had to DNF this. I hate DNFing books but I feel so much relief having finally said I am done with this one. I do not plan to try again with this one, I am happy convincing myself this book never existing and Kylar is still the same Kylar from the trilogy.
Watch me rant my review here!
https://youtu.be/mOXRx8RHn8A
I really hate saying this, but this was a DNF for me. I made it to about 40% and could not take it anymore. I did not enjoy any part of this book and every time I started reading it I would start ranting about it. Literally the only emotion I felt when reading this was rage and anger. I do not even know where to begin other than I am so disappointed and frustrated by every aspect of this book. I had such high hopes for this book, I even bought a signed edition.
Lets start at the beginning… first of all this book is written nothing like the trilogy. This is written in first person as a journal. Kylar is narrating everything he does.. and thinks.. which I did not realize how much of an idiot and jerk he was in every moment of his existence. It feels as though Kylar aged backwards in this book, he apparently did not grow up at all from the last trilogy, if anything he is worse than he ever was. His dialogue is cringey and childish—here’s a few lovely examples:
“’A lullaby? Am I acting like a spoiled child again?’ I ask wryly.” “I settle in to her smile, and there in the softness of her lap, I surprise myself by not making something sexual out of something simply soothing. I’ve become awfully mature recently.”
I could give so many more examples, but I would just end up quoting every thought of Kylar and every time he talks to someone.
Another thing, apparently this story is taking place 8-9 months after the ending of the Night Angel trilogy… there is no way. I refuse to believe that Kylar become that much of a loser and jerk within 9 months. Every character he talks with (especially from the previous series) ends up hating him because of how much of a jerk he is, whereas everyone loved him in the last series.
As I mentioned, this is written like a journal of Kylar, and apparently this was written for Vi to read. There are random interludes where the story cuts to Vi’s point of view and she is at the chantry reading this journal because for some reason she is the only one who can. And the frustrating part is I have no idea when she is (as in timeline) or how she got this journal. All you know is she needs to read to find some clue of where Kylar’s body is?? The most annoying part is not knowing how far in the future she is when she is reading the journal.
I feel like every aspect that I loved about the Night Angel trilogy is nonexistent in this book. There characters from the last series are nonexistent, Kylar is whiny, there’s no real plot/goal, there’s no awesome battles/fights and there is no suspense or tension other than Kylar’s constant sexual tension between every girl he sees.
The plot in this book is I believe Kylar is looking for some compass thing that will allow him to find Logan’s children that Kylar allowed to get kidnapped. I could honestly care less about this plot, I kept forgetting what the goal of the book was because I got so bored with the story. The book moved way too slow for something so inconsequential. I was hoping the goal of this series would be to find the other ka’kari, but I guess not.
And where Kylar seemed invincible in the last series, all Kylar does in this series is screw up and talk about how everyone is so much better than he is and how he would lose the fight (especially against these blue mages). It’s not like he singlehandedly changed the tide of battles in the last series…
This series is a terrible contradiction to the last series. In the previous series Kylar was all about honor and doing the right thing (i.e. sacrificing himself for Logan) and in this book all he does he sulk, insult and torture people. I do not believe for a second the Ka’kari would have chosen this Kylar. All the previous character’s personalities are different. The dialogue is cringey—there’s a ton of awkward heart-to-heart. Kylar should have been this awesome historical world-renowned character but instead he is an angsty teenager.
I am so disappointed I did not like this book and I am so discouraged I had to DNF this. I hate DNFing books but I feel so much relief having finally said I am done with this one. I do not plan to try again with this one, I am happy convincing myself this book never existing and Kylar is still the same Kylar from the trilogy.
May 12, 2023
I never have high expectations for the books I read, but when it comes to the series, I would say I had some expectations, but not really big ones.
Kylar was a pretty dumb teenager in The Way of Shadows. But he was a teenager, you'd expect him to be dumb. And we saw Kylar's education under the bestassassinwetboy to ever exist, we saw Kylar growing up, and after all of that, you'd expect him to be a bit smarter, right? Right? WRONG
Kylar is soooooooooooooo dumb in this book. He keeps saying "[My master] taught me.... but ofc I am not following it", and "[My master] said to NEVER.... Yeah, guess what I am about to do right now?".
He was breaking the wetboy 101 principles left and right. And he was THE Night Angel, he supposedly became the best wetboy on the continent.
There's also a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. Again, "I am the best, blah blah blah", but Kylar acts very dumb, doesn't think his plans through and keeps getting into stupid situations.
Kylar also talks plenty "Well, in my past jobs I have done this and that and this again", but did Kylar really have that many past jobs? We've read Kylar's entire life between Night Angel trilogy and this book, and he didn't do much in the past! The book talks like Kylar had a full-time years long career as a wetboy, but that is not true.
It's Kylar Chronicles series, and it reads as a literal chronicle - Kylar has magically written a book that tells some of his story to Vi. Most of the book is Kylar's POV, but a few chapters are told from Vi's POV as she's reading Kylar's POV.
The format is quite annoying at times. There has been a lot of repetitive jokes between Kylar and the ka'kari (Kylar's sword which also possesses some magical qualities - e.g. reading Kylar's inner monologue and creating a magical physical book out of his mamories). It also tries to be philosophical and comes out as cringe> 99 times out of 100.
What's even worse is that a few times it felt like the author was unimaginative and couldn't think of smth interesting, and in those times the book just says "yeah, so, smth happened, but I'm not gonna repeat what had happened. It was interesting tho, trust me, bro"
The Chantry plays an important role in this one. I have a big problem with atheist writers using Christian institutions in their fantasy works, and in this series the Chantry doesn't even seem to have any religious calling.... so why does it have to be called The Chantry? And OFC it acts as a badguygal.
The Chantry is made out of women, and some of the dialogues between them reminded me of "What men think women sound like or "What men think women talk about"
I don't think anyone who's read any of the Weeks's previous works hasn't noticed misogyny in all of them. And really, it's NOT a character problem, it's very much an author's problem. He seems like a big misogynist and keeps proving it.
It's HILARIOUS in a bad way. Weeks has been judged many times in the past for misogynistic tropes and characters. Here the author tried to prove to us that he's learned and knows better now.
How does he do that?
1. Well, there's some "WE LOVE GIRL POWER", that's again just another example of tell, do not show in cheap sentences like "I'm glad to hear that the women are protected, whatever it is that they do".
2. AND, there's a "Women can be rapists, TOO!"
L M A O
I am actually ANGRY at what the author has done with Vi. It's a girl that has been RAPED and USED and ABUSED all her life. She has the most horrible backstory out of any characters. I'd say what Logan went through in book #2 for ~half a year was better than what Vi was going through ALL of her life. And after horrible misogyny in all Night Angel books, after sexualizing every single woman above 16(or was it 14?) and below 50 the author's way of "doing better" is a plottwist of Vi sexualizing Kylar, who then makes Vi feel horrible about her attempt. Because, you know, women can act bad to men, too! Evil women trying to seduce men, ammarite?
Mind you, we are also in Kylar's head and hear all his horny thoughts about Vi and about all other women in this book, just like we have heard all of his (and some of Logan's) horny thoughts in the last three books.
It's really sad that the author has two daughters.
I've always had problems with Brent Weeks misogyny, but usually I found smth else in Night Angel I liked - like the plot, the connections, the plot twists, some of the secondary characters.
But here the plot was mostly boring and a bit stretched out. Once the court/ship part started, I got bored. It felt like same things were happening over and over again.
I will say though, that the connections and the plot twists were still pretty good. Especially THE plottwist. If you've read it, you know what I am talking about. It was messed up in a sick way and totally unexpected and WOULD HAVE made the book more interesting, if... well... if the book was more interesting afterwards. Like I wanted to care about what was happening next but I couldn't.
Secondary characters were bad. The only interesting one to was Vi who was going through psychosis both in Kylar's memories and in her own POV.
I can talk about this book more, but instead I will end this review with my favourite quote:
Kylar was a pretty dumb teenager in The Way of Shadows. But he was a teenager, you'd expect him to be dumb. And we saw Kylar's education under the best
Kylar is soooooooooooooo dumb in this book. He keeps saying "[My master] taught me.... but ofc I am not following it", and "[My master] said to NEVER.... Yeah, guess what I am about to do right now?".
He was breaking the wetboy 101 principles left and right. And he was THE Night Angel, he supposedly became the best wetboy on the continent.
There's also a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. Again, "I am the best, blah blah blah", but Kylar acts very dumb, doesn't think his plans through and keeps getting into stupid situations.
Kylar also talks plenty "Well, in my past jobs I have done this and that and this again", but did Kylar really have that many past jobs? We've read Kylar's entire life between Night Angel trilogy and this book, and he didn't do much in the past! The book talks like Kylar had a full-time years long career as a wetboy, but that is not true.
It's Kylar Chronicles series, and it reads as a literal chronicle - Kylar has magically written a book that tells some of his story to Vi. Most of the book is Kylar's POV, but a few chapters are told from Vi's POV as she's reading Kylar's POV.
The format is quite annoying at times. There has been a lot of repetitive jokes between Kylar and the ka'kari (Kylar's sword which also possesses some magical qualities - e.g. reading Kylar's inner monologue and creating a magical physical book out of his mamories). It also tries to be philosophical and comes out as cringe> 99 times out of 100.
What's even worse is that a few times it felt like the author was unimaginative and couldn't think of smth interesting, and in those times the book just says "yeah, so, smth happened, but I'm not gonna repeat what had happened. It was interesting tho, trust me, bro"
The Chantry plays an important role in this one. I have a big problem with atheist writers using Christian institutions in their fantasy works, and in this series the Chantry doesn't even seem to have any religious calling.... so why does it have to be called The Chantry? And OFC it acts as a bad
The Chantry is made out of women, and some of the dialogues between them reminded me of "What men think women sound like or "What men think women talk about"
I don't think anyone who's read any of the Weeks's previous works hasn't noticed misogyny in all of them. And really, it's NOT a character problem, it's very much an author's problem. He seems like a big misogynist and keeps proving it.
It's HILARIOUS in a bad way. Weeks has been judged many times in the past for misogynistic tropes and characters. Here the author tried to prove to us that he's learned and knows better now.
How does he do that?
1. Well, there's some "WE LOVE GIRL POWER", that's again just another example of tell, do not show in cheap sentences like "I'm glad to hear that the women are protected, whatever it is that they do".
2. AND, there's a "Women can be rapists, TOO!"
L M A O
I am actually ANGRY at what the author has done with Vi. It's a girl that has been RAPED and USED and ABUSED all her life. She has the most horrible backstory out of any characters. I'd say what Logan went through in book #2 for ~half a year was better than what Vi was going through ALL of her life. And after horrible misogyny in all Night Angel books, after sexualizing every single woman above 16
Mind you, we are also in Kylar's head and hear all his horny thoughts about Vi and about all other women in this book, just like we have heard all of his (and some of Logan's) horny thoughts in the last three books.
I've always had problems with Brent Weeks misogyny, but usually I found smth else in Night Angel I liked - like the plot, the connections, the plot twists, some of the secondary characters.
But here the plot was mostly boring and a bit stretched out. Once the court/ship part started, I got bored. It felt like same things were happening over and over again.
I will say though, that the connections and the plot twists were still pretty good. Especially THE plottwist. If you've read it, you know what I am talking about. It was messed up in a sick way and totally unexpected and WOULD HAVE made the book more interesting, if... well... if the book was more interesting afterwards. Like I wanted to care about what was happening next but I couldn't.
Secondary characters were bad. The only interesting one to was Vi who was going through psychosis both in Kylar's memories and in her own POV.
I can talk about this book more, but instead I will end this review with my favourite quote:
"Someday, I will get old enough that terror about my own likely death will be sufficient to stop me from thinking about sex. Today is not that day."
May 14, 2023
This book is an insult to fans of the previous trilogy. The only real assassinations are of it's characters and my respect for Weeks as an author. I honestly wonder how a veteran author made a book this bad. Most of the reviews I've read are that "it gets better as you go along". However, even 400 pages in it's still a terrible first person recounting of events that fail at having a cohesive narrative. As a comparison, Tolkien's the Fellowship of the Ring is 432 pages. As Weeks himself put it "You are meant to question if what you read really happened.". Apparently he needs to be reminded that deliberately boring is still boring!
Then there's the legacy characters, what few of them show up. Weeks probably took one look at Kylar and realized how overpowered he was by the end of Beyond the Shadows. His way to fix that was to nerf Kylar's abilities, saddle him with PTSD, and throw in some crippling social anxiety. He spends half his time monologuing and spouting exposition and the other half praising the Alitaerans and their supreme competence. What's worse is this "master assassin's" narrative accuses his readers of being sadists seeking gratification through the atrocities Kylar commits. The pretention is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Lastly, there the style of the book. Week's works best when he gives time for us to understand both sides of a conflict. There is none of that here and the antagonists are more underdeveloped than some old Disney villains'. Worse yet, is the lack of a crucial aspect of any dark fantasy. Hope. Without characters that have something, anything to hope for the bombastic "Heist" plot feels even more boring.
In summary, Weeks has failed to use any of his strengths and his attempts at worldbuilding and character growth pale in comparison to some fanfiction authors. I'd recommend his original trilogy instead, but he makes it clear that this book is a crusade bent on annihilating what made that series enjoyable.
Then there's the legacy characters, what few of them show up. Weeks probably took one look at Kylar and realized how overpowered he was by the end of Beyond the Shadows. His way to fix that was to nerf Kylar's abilities, saddle him with PTSD, and throw in some crippling social anxiety. He spends half his time monologuing and spouting exposition and the other half praising the Alitaerans and their supreme competence. What's worse is this "master assassin's" narrative accuses his readers of being sadists seeking gratification through the atrocities Kylar commits. The pretention is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Lastly, there the style of the book. Week's works best when he gives time for us to understand both sides of a conflict. There is none of that here and the antagonists are more underdeveloped than some old Disney villains'. Worse yet, is the lack of a crucial aspect of any dark fantasy. Hope. Without characters that have something, anything to hope for the bombastic "Heist" plot feels even more boring.
In summary, Weeks has failed to use any of his strengths and his attempts at worldbuilding and character growth pale in comparison to some fanfiction authors. I'd recommend his original trilogy instead, but he makes it clear that this book is a crusade bent on annihilating what made that series enjoyable.
Read
May 2, 2023I am not going to rate this book because I did not finish it. Maybe I will get back to it someday but for now I gave up. I think this book just didn't live up to my expectations because I expected a more mature version of The Night Angel where the plot is taking place years after the first trilogy. Instead it is only a few months and the book reads more like a fourth part of Night Angel instead of something fresh.
Unfortunately lot of the issues I had with the previous trilogy stayed the same. Maybe it improved later, I don't know. I think if the book was shorter I would finish it and could give some more objective review. But over 900 pages was a little to much for a moment...
Unfortunately lot of the issues I had with the previous trilogy stayed the same. Maybe it improved later, I don't know. I think if the book was shorter I would finish it and could give some more objective review. But over 900 pages was a little to much for a moment...
November 6, 2023
Frustrating, irritating garbage. Incompetent, emo, assassin goes through 400 pages of angst that we don't care about and is unbelievably repetitive. Weeks has joined that unfortunate group of writers who don't listen to their editors.
And, AND, the end is both overly complicated and left on a doozy of a cliffhanger. Friends don't let friends read the next book, someone needs to save me when he writes the next one.
And, AND, the end is both overly complicated and left on a doozy of a cliffhanger. Friends don't let friends read the next book, someone needs to save me when he writes the next one.
May 14, 2023
If you're hoping for a well-executed, experienced author's return to Midcyru, this isn't it.
I loved the original trilogy, but it had a lot of "new author" flaws: storylines that didn't quite add up, travel times that didn't make sense, characters that seemed to know each other for no reason, moments that were clearly very cool in the authors head but didn't translate well to paper, etc. Not to mention a bunch of the characters in the "lonely sad virgin" archetype, which I actually appreciated seeing by otherwise competent cool characters in a fantasy novel, but it was too much. They were otherwise really excellent fantasy books in a world with a lot of potential.
I was looking forward to this book as a mature evolution on the NA series. Weeks has another good series under his belt with Lightbringer, and I was expecting the Midcyru revisit to be a culmination of his growth as an author over the last 15 years of writing. Unfortunately, that isn't what I got. I get what he was trying to do here, but in my opinion he wasn't a skilled enough author to pull it off. Simply too much of the novel is cringy edgelord stuff, boring parts that don't end up mattering at all, and Kylar waxing poetic about how depraved readers are for wanting to read about wet work, how tortured and edgy he is. It's great when authors use a wide vocabulary, but Weeks keeps having Kylar use bizarre long words and then joking about it, and characters that are supposed to be intelligent talk the same as everybody else with archaic, unusal words jammed into their sentences. It's like middle school level thesaurus use. Overall I found a lot of the book pretty embarrassing to read.
I will say, there were a bunch of things at the end of the original trilogy that didn't quite make sense, and I don't think it would have been possible to write a Midcyru novel without a little retconning, so I don't mind that. In the original series it kept fluctuating how powerful magic and the Talent was supposed to be, and here it's overall pretty buffed, for example. Which is fine and I'm not complaining about it. He did some work to build the universe, and then 50% of the damn book is spent . We get some other returning characters, but they're pretty much miniscule cameos and we don't see them actually do much, which is a big disappointment when the original trilogy had POV from many of them.
The big baddie is just
Also (ending spoiler)
I really wanted to like this novel but it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I won't discourage NA lovers from reading it, but be prepared for some disappointment.
I loved the original trilogy, but it had a lot of "new author" flaws: storylines that didn't quite add up, travel times that didn't make sense, characters that seemed to know each other for no reason, moments that were clearly very cool in the authors head but didn't translate well to paper, etc. Not to mention a bunch of the characters in the "lonely sad virgin" archetype, which I actually appreciated seeing by otherwise competent cool characters in a fantasy novel, but it was too much. They were otherwise really excellent fantasy books in a world with a lot of potential.
I was looking forward to this book as a mature evolution on the NA series. Weeks has another good series under his belt with Lightbringer, and I was expecting the Midcyru revisit to be a culmination of his growth as an author over the last 15 years of writing. Unfortunately, that isn't what I got. I get what he was trying to do here, but in my opinion he wasn't a skilled enough author to pull it off. Simply too much of the novel is cringy edgelord stuff, boring parts that don't end up mattering at all, and Kylar waxing poetic about how depraved readers are for wanting to read about wet work, how tortured and edgy he is. It's great when authors use a wide vocabulary, but Weeks keeps having Kylar use bizarre long words and then joking about it, and characters that are supposed to be intelligent talk the same as everybody else with archaic, unusal words jammed into their sentences. It's like middle school level thesaurus use. Overall I found a lot of the book pretty embarrassing to read.
I will say, there were a bunch of things at the end of the original trilogy that didn't quite make sense, and I don't think it would have been possible to write a Midcyru novel without a little retconning, so I don't mind that. In the original series it kept fluctuating how powerful magic and the Talent was supposed to be, and here it's overall pretty buffed, for example. Which is fine and I'm not complaining about it. He did some work to build the universe, and then 50% of the damn book is spent . We get some other returning characters, but they're pretty much miniscule cameos and we don't see them actually do much, which is a big disappointment when the original trilogy had POV from many of them.
The big baddie is just
Also (ending spoiler)
I really wanted to like this novel but it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I won't discourage NA lovers from reading it, but be prepared for some disappointment.
May 1, 2023
I just re-read the first trilogy to prepare for this and it really held up. I read it like 15 years ago and I've read a lot since but it's still good if not as good as I remembered.
Anyway, this book was...bad. It is about 5x longer than it needs to be. The descriptions just never end, god they go on so long, they waffle and don't get to the point. And then it will repeat them 50 pages later. Paired with the long speeches given by sterotypical Disney villains and it's not good.
It's like it's written by a first-time author writing fan-fiction. Kylar is really edgy and constantly opining about what being the Night Lord means. This would make sense as he's quite young but it's a total attitude change from the first trilogy.
There's a fixation on boobs constantly.
Jenine's character is ruined.
The heist is really generic and has an obvious bait and switch.
Nothing really happens. It's like a 1,000 page middle book. The worst part is that I found it boring, I ended up skimming pages.
Anyway, this book was...bad. It is about 5x longer than it needs to be. The descriptions just never end, god they go on so long, they waffle and don't get to the point. And then it will repeat them 50 pages later. Paired with the long speeches given by sterotypical Disney villains and it's not good.
It's like it's written by a first-time author writing fan-fiction. Kylar is really edgy and constantly opining about what being the Night Lord means. This would make sense as he's quite young but it's a total attitude change from the first trilogy.
There's a fixation on boobs constantly.
Jenine's character is ruined.
The heist is really generic and has an obvious bait and switch.
Nothing really happens. It's like a 1,000 page middle book. The worst part is that I found it boring, I ended up skimming pages.
March 25, 2023
I was so excited about this book, and as I knew he wouldn't, Brent Weeks did not disappoint.
I loved the original trilogy, and have read his other books, so I was excited about this. And I was not disappointed with the story. In fact, I forgot how nice it can be to slip back into the world of the Night Angel, it was like wearing a warm and fluffy coat in cold weather, one you have forgotten you owned.
And while the world felt old, the story indeed felt new all over again, and it holds the original charm and chaos of a world that had still so recently been a war. The story was engaging, along with the politics that ran through everything, not to mention the well-described fight scenes and the emotions that Kyler can not seem to shake.
If you loved the original description, then I highly recommend you get this book into your life.
I loved the original trilogy, and have read his other books, so I was excited about this. And I was not disappointed with the story. In fact, I forgot how nice it can be to slip back into the world of the Night Angel, it was like wearing a warm and fluffy coat in cold weather, one you have forgotten you owned.
And while the world felt old, the story indeed felt new all over again, and it holds the original charm and chaos of a world that had still so recently been a war. The story was engaging, along with the politics that ran through everything, not to mention the well-described fight scenes and the emotions that Kyler can not seem to shake.
If you loved the original description, then I highly recommend you get this book into your life.
March 26, 2023
I never even for a second thought Brent Weeks would go back to The Night Angel series for some reason. Although there were some loose ends in Beyond the Shadows, I felt that the trilogy had a satisfying conclusion. Nevertheless, as an ardent follower of The Night Angel series, especially Kylar Stern and Vi (be still my beating heart!), I am elated that Weeks has chosen to expand on the series.
In the book acknowledgements Weeks mentions when he finished writing Beyond The Shadows he wasn’t sure whether he was skillful enough to add more to The Night Angel world and thought of revisiting it once he gained more writing experience. I don’t believe Weeks ever was a bad or a weak writer. His plots were always solid, the storylines sublime and world building simply out of this world. But were there problems with The Night Angel series in the first three installments? Yes. Like most high or epic fantasy writers his target audience was male and almost all his female characters were oversexualized. There were some deeply cringey moments which actually carried in to The Lightbringer series and that was the reason I gave up on that series after reading the first book only. HOWEVER, I am extremely happy to say that Weeks indeed has improved so much when it comes to addressing the aforementioned issues with the first three books. I never had a single moment of ‘oh not this again!’ while reading The Night Angel Nemesis. Weeks was thoughtful and navigated the female characters narratives with apt care and respect. So as a female high/epic fantasy reader I really appreciated this effort on his part.
Trust me when I say there are some pleasant surprises for The Night Angel fans in this installment. At first you are going to be a bit confused and then you are going to go ‘That’s just genius!’. Oh and there’s going to be a perspective change as well. Which, I have to say, was brilliantly executed. As is typical of Brent Weeks’ writing, the plot progression is complex and multi-layered, while his characters possess nuanced moral identities that exist in shades of grey which made it truly a joy to read this book.
I particularly enjoyed Skylar’s evolved thought process in The Night Angel Nemesis. He was vulnerable, relatable and was struggling to find and separate himself from The Night Angel persona. There were so many heart breaking moments where Weeks delved into Skylar’s inner monologues which made you love his character more. In this book Vi is given a front seat, which she deserves, and her character is developed brilliantly, I fell in love with her all over again. Ah, I can’t say anything more without giving away spoilers, so let me just say there is a new MVP and you are going to absolutely love them. They are sarcastic, funny, distant, chaotic but surprisingly at times very empathetic as well.
All in all, I truly enjoyed reading The Night Angel Nemesis and getting to dive back into The Night Angel world with some of my beloved characters and Mr. Weeks you deserve all five stars I am giving you, especially since I rated you extremely poor in The Light Bringer series. You did well! Extremely excited about the installments to come! My sincere thanks to Brent Weeks and Orbit books for providing me this advanced reader copy.
In the book acknowledgements Weeks mentions when he finished writing Beyond The Shadows he wasn’t sure whether he was skillful enough to add more to The Night Angel world and thought of revisiting it once he gained more writing experience. I don’t believe Weeks ever was a bad or a weak writer. His plots were always solid, the storylines sublime and world building simply out of this world. But were there problems with The Night Angel series in the first three installments? Yes. Like most high or epic fantasy writers his target audience was male and almost all his female characters were oversexualized. There were some deeply cringey moments which actually carried in to The Lightbringer series and that was the reason I gave up on that series after reading the first book only. HOWEVER, I am extremely happy to say that Weeks indeed has improved so much when it comes to addressing the aforementioned issues with the first three books. I never had a single moment of ‘oh not this again!’ while reading The Night Angel Nemesis. Weeks was thoughtful and navigated the female characters narratives with apt care and respect. So as a female high/epic fantasy reader I really appreciated this effort on his part.
Trust me when I say there are some pleasant surprises for The Night Angel fans in this installment. At first you are going to be a bit confused and then you are going to go ‘That’s just genius!’. Oh and there’s going to be a perspective change as well. Which, I have to say, was brilliantly executed. As is typical of Brent Weeks’ writing, the plot progression is complex and multi-layered, while his characters possess nuanced moral identities that exist in shades of grey which made it truly a joy to read this book.
I particularly enjoyed Skylar’s evolved thought process in The Night Angel Nemesis. He was vulnerable, relatable and was struggling to find and separate himself from The Night Angel persona. There were so many heart breaking moments where Weeks delved into Skylar’s inner monologues which made you love his character more. In this book Vi is given a front seat, which she deserves, and her character is developed brilliantly, I fell in love with her all over again. Ah, I can’t say anything more without giving away spoilers, so let me just say there is a new MVP and you are going to absolutely love them. They are sarcastic, funny, distant, chaotic but surprisingly at times very empathetic as well.
All in all, I truly enjoyed reading The Night Angel Nemesis and getting to dive back into The Night Angel world with some of my beloved characters and Mr. Weeks you deserve all five stars I am giving you, especially since I rated you extremely poor in The Light Bringer series. You did well! Extremely excited about the installments to come! My sincere thanks to Brent Weeks and Orbit books for providing me this advanced reader copy.
April 14, 2024
Dear Brent Weeks,
First, when I got this book I said to myself that the story sounded good and I might like it and without having a clue of your writing I was also a bit hesitant but when I opened the book the magic happened! You drowned me in Kylar Stern the night angel's life and got obsessed with him, I couldn't put this book DOWN. I went through turns after turns and twists after twists, mountains, rivers, hills all that in ONE book! Why my ka'kari never whispered to me that you are so GREAT! I became so obsessed with The Night Angel that before the next book comes out am going to read the first trilogy.
Thank you for allowing us readers to take this adventure with you, you are the REAL night angel, and am going to hunt every single book you've written. You just gained one more fan.
Sincerely
One of your readers
First, when I got this book I said to myself that the story sounded good and I might like it and without having a clue of your writing I was also a bit hesitant but when I opened the book the magic happened! You drowned me in Kylar Stern the night angel's life and got obsessed with him, I couldn't put this book DOWN. I went through turns after turns and twists after twists, mountains, rivers, hills all that in ONE book! Why my ka'kari never whispered to me that you are so GREAT! I became so obsessed with The Night Angel that before the next book comes out am going to read the first trilogy.
Thank you for allowing us readers to take this adventure with you, you are the REAL night angel, and am going to hunt every single book you've written. You just gained one more fan.
Sincerely
One of your readers
April 26, 2024
This didn’t really do it for me. The voice of the main character was annoying and so I kept getting thrown from the story. I think though that many Brent Weeks fans will be happy with this though so don’t take my word for it! Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
May 23, 2023
2,5 stars
Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Tw/Cw: Murder | Torture | Mentions of Rape | Misogyny | Blood | Child Murder | Kidnapping
I was both excited and hesitant to read this continuation of the Night Angel Series. I read the original trilogy about 15 years ago and I remember loving it at the time. I have been meaning to reread it but I never did quite get around to it. And after reading this installment, I think I shouldn't. I should just keep my original fond memories.
This book is the diary of Kylar Stern as they are being read by sister Viridiana. He send her the magical diary of his last story before he supposedly died, magically enchanted so only she can read it. It is an interesting set up, in itself that could have worked if the diary was not actualy a step for step of what Kylar did. Step.for.step.
It made the book an incredible hard read because of that. I like Kylar! But in this installment he was not at all great to follow around. He whined, complained, whined and felt sorry for himself an awful lot. Together with the Ka'kari he wears he is pretty much the most powerful person in this world but you could not tell from the way he blundered his way through everything. His choices were dumb and rash and it felt like he had not at all grown from the teen we met in the very first book.
'In fact, let's quick establish a rule of thumb. If I ever do something rash or even dumb, you should go ahead and assume that there were very good reasons for me the act the way I did - the way I do? The way I'm about to? Tenses are hard.'
Going for an unreliable narrator style and then doing this, that doesn't work.
It dragged the plot down a lot which in itself was rather interesting. Logan, now king, is trying to gain allies. As he is away for that his twins get kidnapped under Kylar's watchful eye. But why would they? It turns out that it wasn't just political but that there still was a backlash from the final fight at the end of the original trilogy.
The ending especially saved a lot of this book for me. Where there were some final twists and turns. Some answers.
'I'm the sacrifice everyone is willing to make.'
Kylar tries a bit of philosophy on the whole nature of being a night angel but because he bumbles and whines through this whole book it doesn't really work. But this one did hit home. I wanted more of that. Less words. Less whining. And this book could have worked.
Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Tw/Cw: Murder | Torture | Mentions of Rape | Misogyny | Blood | Child Murder | Kidnapping
I was both excited and hesitant to read this continuation of the Night Angel Series. I read the original trilogy about 15 years ago and I remember loving it at the time. I have been meaning to reread it but I never did quite get around to it. And after reading this installment, I think I shouldn't. I should just keep my original fond memories.
This book is the diary of Kylar Stern as they are being read by sister Viridiana. He send her the magical diary of his last story before he supposedly died, magically enchanted so only she can read it. It is an interesting set up, in itself that could have worked if the diary was not actualy a step for step of what Kylar did. Step.for.step.
It made the book an incredible hard read because of that. I like Kylar! But in this installment he was not at all great to follow around. He whined, complained, whined and felt sorry for himself an awful lot. Together with the Ka'kari he wears he is pretty much the most powerful person in this world but you could not tell from the way he blundered his way through everything. His choices were dumb and rash and it felt like he had not at all grown from the teen we met in the very first book.
'In fact, let's quick establish a rule of thumb. If I ever do something rash or even dumb, you should go ahead and assume that there were very good reasons for me the act the way I did - the way I do? The way I'm about to? Tenses are hard.'
Going for an unreliable narrator style and then doing this, that doesn't work.
It dragged the plot down a lot which in itself was rather interesting. Logan, now king, is trying to gain allies. As he is away for that his twins get kidnapped under Kylar's watchful eye. But why would they? It turns out that it wasn't just political but that there still was a backlash from the final fight at the end of the original trilogy.
The ending especially saved a lot of this book for me. Where there were some final twists and turns. Some answers.
'I'm the sacrifice everyone is willing to make.'
Kylar tries a bit of philosophy on the whole nature of being a night angel but because he bumbles and whines through this whole book it doesn't really work. But this one did hit home. I wanted more of that. Less words. Less whining. And this book could have worked.
April 30, 2023
DNF @ 31%
The original Night Angel trilogy is the series that first got me into reading fantasy, so it will always be special to me. Night Angel Nemesis just didn't work for me. I will likely give it another go, but I got about a third of the way through, and genuinely didn't like anything about it.
Yes, Weeks has improved as a writer. The quality of the writing was much more Lightbringer-esque, but you'd expect that sort of an improvement after over a decade of time. Weeks has his flaws, like his male gazey depiction of women where he is overly focused on breasts and his deus ex machina endings, but usually his storytelling shines, sucking me into the story.
I just didn't care. Despite taking place only 8 months after the ending of the original trilogy, the characters have changed, as if they had aged years. The story is Kylar chronicling his story, meaning it was told in first person for his chapters. As someone who loved the third person POV in the original trilogy, this was a bit jarring. I read nearly 300 pages, and didn't feel any connection to Nemesis Kylar like I did to OG Kylar. I missed characters like Logan, Durzo, and Vi. Vi felt like some random side character, unimportant, though I know that likely changes as the book progresses. A new character is introduced, Phaena, and I just didn't care for her. A third of the way through, and her defining traits are that she is hot but insecure (wow, the exact same as Vi and Elene, great job Weeks!).
I just wasn't sucked into the story, which has a heist aspect. Usually I get immersed withing a few chapters, and a third of the way through, I was just angry at the characters and the authors obsession with boobs.
I wanted to love it, and I will likely pick it up again, but it just isn't working for me right now.
The original Night Angel trilogy is the series that first got me into reading fantasy, so it will always be special to me. Night Angel Nemesis just didn't work for me. I will likely give it another go, but I got about a third of the way through, and genuinely didn't like anything about it.
Yes, Weeks has improved as a writer. The quality of the writing was much more Lightbringer-esque, but you'd expect that sort of an improvement after over a decade of time. Weeks has his flaws, like his male gazey depiction of women where he is overly focused on breasts and his deus ex machina endings, but usually his storytelling shines, sucking me into the story.
I just didn't care. Despite taking place only 8 months after the ending of the original trilogy, the characters have changed, as if they had aged years. The story is Kylar chronicling his story, meaning it was told in first person for his chapters. As someone who loved the third person POV in the original trilogy, this was a bit jarring. I read nearly 300 pages, and didn't feel any connection to Nemesis Kylar like I did to OG Kylar. I missed characters like Logan, Durzo, and Vi. Vi felt like some random side character, unimportant, though I know that likely changes as the book progresses. A new character is introduced, Phaena, and I just didn't care for her. A third of the way through, and her defining traits are that she is hot but insecure (wow, the exact same as Vi and Elene, great job Weeks!).
I just wasn't sucked into the story, which has a heist aspect. Usually I get immersed withing a few chapters, and a third of the way through, I was just angry at the characters and the authors obsession with boobs.
I wanted to love it, and I will likely pick it up again, but it just isn't working for me right now.
July 3, 2023
Man, I forgot how dark Weeks can get. The Lightbringer series had its moments of dispair, for sure. But the Night Angel is definitely on another level. This reminded me of when I first read the initial Night Angel books (what, like 14 years ago now?) and recommended them to another fan of fantasy. She came back and told me how she didn't even finish it once Logan was put in the dungeon. I'm not sure this book is as pervasively dark, but when it spikes it is very sad and grim.
This book employs a story-within-a-story format in which neither POV is omniscient. And while there is overlap, both narrators know things the other doesn't. This creates an interesting tension to the story that is compounded by the fact that we're reading POVs of two characters who have to survive to a certain point (at least long enough to write the in-story story). All of this played with my assumptions and perceptions as I read. It was also a heist story, except not nearly as cheery as Ocean's 11. In true Weeks fashion, while I felt certain plot points coming, I was not ready for the ending.
I saw a review critique the "male-gazi-ness" of Kylar's POV and.. there is a lot of that. But.. it's probably an accurate protrayal of the average teenage/20's mind: Easily distracted by sex. For me, I probably could have used a re-read? I did not remember much of Kylar and his world. There's certainly enough context included that I didn't feel particularly lost, but at the same time I never felt particularly connected to any of the characters. Maybe that's a function of how long it's been since I read the first three, and maybe its tough to connect to characters living in such a bleak world. That said, the book wasn't bad and I will certainly be looking for the next one. I mean, he can't possibly leave it like that.
This book employs a story-within-a-story format in which neither POV is omniscient. And while there is overlap, both narrators know things the other doesn't. This creates an interesting tension to the story that is compounded by the fact that we're reading POVs of two characters who have to survive to a certain point (at least long enough to write the in-story story). All of this played with my assumptions and perceptions as I read. It was also a heist story, except not nearly as cheery as Ocean's 11. In true Weeks fashion, while I felt certain plot points coming, I was not ready for the ending.
I saw a review critique the "male-gazi-ness" of Kylar's POV and.. there is a lot of that. But.. it's probably an accurate protrayal of the average teenage/20's mind: Easily distracted by sex. For me, I probably could have used a re-read? I did not remember much of Kylar and his world. There's certainly enough context included that I didn't feel particularly lost, but at the same time I never felt particularly connected to any of the characters. Maybe that's a function of how long it's been since I read the first three, and maybe its tough to connect to characters living in such a bleak world. That said, the book wasn't bad and I will certainly be looking for the next one. I mean, he can't possibly leave it like that.
November 19, 2023
This was bitterly disappointing.
After 10 years of waiting for a sequel and re-reading the entire series I was so ready to dive straight into this and be swallowed whole. What I got was a lot of first person rambling nonsense, a Kylar who has become absolutely useless, and preachy to boot, and a weird structure that has nothing of the thrilling, drag you along the story feel.
One of the best parts, for me, of the original series, and also of the Lightbringer series, is that with multiple povs you can see the story slowly knitting together, the characters coming together, and the noose slowly tightening around them all. There was none of that tension in this, the whole book was Kylar slowly bumbling from one mistake to the next. I was hoping at the end for an unreliable narrator situation that, while frustrating while reading, would have added a massive twist on the story and would have had me desperate for the next book. Vi’s very infrequent chapters were the highlight of this book for me and the only reason I’d consider reading the next, hoping she has a much bigger role to play in that one.
I COULD NOT STAND the storytelling aspect of this book. Kylar narrating to the ka’kari and then saying over and over, oh maybe I’ll come back and edit this, maybe you could clean that up for me, just edit out the dark parts for me would you, was so goddamn annoying. I love a bit of banter with the ka’kari who doesn’t? But this was grating in the extreme, and in my opinion didn’t add anything to the story except a whole lot of extraneous words.
Overall, unless the next book is a massive improvement, I will not be continuing this series. A series and characters that I have loved for over 10 years, have re-read multiple times, and have convinced hundreds of people to read. What a disappointment.
After 10 years of waiting for a sequel and re-reading the entire series I was so ready to dive straight into this and be swallowed whole. What I got was a lot of first person rambling nonsense, a Kylar who has become absolutely useless, and preachy to boot, and a weird structure that has nothing of the thrilling, drag you along the story feel.
One of the best parts, for me, of the original series, and also of the Lightbringer series, is that with multiple povs you can see the story slowly knitting together, the characters coming together, and the noose slowly tightening around them all. There was none of that tension in this, the whole book was Kylar slowly bumbling from one mistake to the next. I was hoping at the end for an unreliable narrator situation that, while frustrating while reading, would have added a massive twist on the story and would have had me desperate for the next book. Vi’s very infrequent chapters were the highlight of this book for me and the only reason I’d consider reading the next, hoping she has a much bigger role to play in that one.
I COULD NOT STAND the storytelling aspect of this book. Kylar narrating to the ka’kari and then saying over and over, oh maybe I’ll come back and edit this, maybe you could clean that up for me, just edit out the dark parts for me would you, was so goddamn annoying. I love a bit of banter with the ka’kari who doesn’t? But this was grating in the extreme, and in my opinion didn’t add anything to the story except a whole lot of extraneous words.
Overall, unless the next book is a massive improvement, I will not be continuing this series. A series and characters that I have loved for over 10 years, have re-read multiple times, and have convinced hundreds of people to read. What a disappointment.
May 19, 2023
I really liked the original Night Angel trilogy, so I was very much looking forward to reading more of the story. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to what I was expecting.
First off, the writing style feels very different from the original. It feels more like a Lightbringer book than a Night Angel one, and while I enjoyed Lightbringer for the most part, it just feels off here. There's far more philosophizing here, and it gets quite repetitive in parts. If those parts were shortened or cut out completely, it would have made for a shorter, tighter story.
The characters are pretty bland as well. Kylar constantly alternates between "I'm special" and "woe is me", and it gets extremely irritating. Mama K and Vi are here as well, and while they aren't as bad as Kylar, they are not as interesting as they were in the original. However, the worst is Repha'im. He comes off as trying to be an Andross Guile-type, but he's far less complex and far more stereotypical villain. It's absolutely ridiculous that he's shocked by Kylar's actions near the end when he himself went through so much trouble to force Kylar to take those kinds of actions.
The last thing that annoyed me was a scene near the end. Much like in Lightbringer, the scene is shocking, and I couldn't believe that Weeks, or any writer, would actually have the guts to pull off something like that. But then, the impact is undercut by the reveal that it didn't really happen. It's such a cop out.
There are a couple of good moments in the book, which is why it's getting 2 stars rather than 1, but they are few and far between in an 800+ page book. I'll still give the next book a shot, because I have faith that Weeks can turn it around.
First off, the writing style feels very different from the original. It feels more like a Lightbringer book than a Night Angel one, and while I enjoyed Lightbringer for the most part, it just feels off here. There's far more philosophizing here, and it gets quite repetitive in parts. If those parts were shortened or cut out completely, it would have made for a shorter, tighter story.
The characters are pretty bland as well. Kylar constantly alternates between "I'm special" and "woe is me", and it gets extremely irritating. Mama K and Vi are here as well, and while they aren't as bad as Kylar, they are not as interesting as they were in the original. However, the worst is Repha'im. He comes off as trying to be an Andross Guile-type, but he's far less complex and far more stereotypical villain. It's absolutely ridiculous that he's shocked by Kylar's actions near the end when he himself went through so much trouble to force Kylar to take those kinds of actions.
The last thing that annoyed me was a scene near the end. Much like in Lightbringer, the scene is shocking, and I couldn't believe that Weeks, or any writer, would actually have the guts to pull off something like that. But then, the impact is undercut by the reveal that it didn't really happen. It's such a cop out.
There are a couple of good moments in the book, which is why it's getting 2 stars rather than 1, but they are few and far between in an 800+ page book. I'll still give the next book a shot, because I have faith that Weeks can turn it around.
June 19, 2023
Having read and re read the first trilogy for years, I was insanely excited to hear of the announcement of this book. Having looked forward to it for over a year, I am left wholly disappointed and unsatisfied to the point of anger. It’s one thing to change your entire writing style but quite another to ruin characters for no apparent reason. The book is wrote like a journal from Kylars perspective, the problem with this is it is nothing like the Kylar from the original trilogy. It doesn’t even sound like him. From cenarian godkings, titans and goddesses to being easily and dumbly manipulated? No! Logan… From the depths of hell and becoming a high king to blithering idiot incapable of being the awe inspiring king he was in the first 3 books. None of the characters from the original have the same spark. I finished the book due to my own stubbornness but each chapter was an agonising and painful read. Very disappointing considering the wait for the release. I will still purchase and read the forthcoming books and I am praying Brent Weeks goes back to what works and leaves this horrendous writing style for a different world.
May 4, 2023
I've now read the book and listened to it on audible.
There's a few gripes I have but here's what I think in a nutshell.
If you like me enjoyed the first trilogy and are anticipating an awesome follow up. Don't bother. The writing style is totally different as are the characteristics and tone of all characters. It's very slow and takes itself too serious. This mainly down to Weeks new writing style.
On the audible side this isn't helped with a change of narrator. Who hasn't done any favours to the story or it's original characters. I was an exceptionally bad decision. The characters are also all now British..? Why? And why change the pronunciation of everything especially names?
I'm boring myself writing this so in conclusion,
This book is like BAD fan fiction. Though it pains me to say it. I had such high hopes for a new adventure.
Such a shame.
Such a disappointment.
There's a few gripes I have but here's what I think in a nutshell.
If you like me enjoyed the first trilogy and are anticipating an awesome follow up. Don't bother. The writing style is totally different as are the characteristics and tone of all characters. It's very slow and takes itself too serious. This mainly down to Weeks new writing style.
On the audible side this isn't helped with a change of narrator. Who hasn't done any favours to the story or it's original characters. I was an exceptionally bad decision. The characters are also all now British..? Why? And why change the pronunciation of everything especially names?
I'm boring myself writing this so in conclusion,
This book is like BAD fan fiction. Though it pains me to say it. I had such high hopes for a new adventure.
Such a shame.
Such a disappointment.
May 19, 2023
I slogged through this book in a week and was left angry after I put (threw) it down. It's a bloated (even the acknowledgments are four pages long!), self-indulgent introspective novel that could be a novella. I felt nothing for the male characters and mostly sorry for the female characters who are treated like emotional wrecks. Mr. Weeks I recommend you read some Mr. Abercrombie or R.F. Kuang so that you are female characters are not simply treated like sex objects. Your obsession with describing female bodies and breasts, although disguised as Kylar's obsessions', is obvious. Little effort is made to describe how men look or what they wear but when we get to the women... oh boy, it reads like a teenager wrote this book.
Overall, you can tell this was written in such a way that it could easily translate to the TV or Movie screen - simple story, small cast of core characters and lots of teenage drama. This book belongs in the Young Adult section.
Overall, you can tell this was written in such a way that it could easily translate to the TV or Movie screen - simple story, small cast of core characters and lots of teenage drama. This book belongs in the Young Adult section.
June 7, 2023
Amazingly well written book. I listed to it on audible, which is good because I can listen to it while doing my 3+ mile walk or when driving, but hate how I hear such great prose and can't stop to admire some bit or write it down to save in my list of favorite quotes.
It has been a LONG while since I read the previous books so will probably have to get those on audible and listen to them again.
There is a lot of killing in this book, so if that is a trigger for you, probably books on assassins' or 'wet boys' is not books you should read.
It seems that feminist's don't like his books. For those who are triggered by it, most of the women key characters are beautiful, and sometimes get naked. I think they are overall strong characters but I am sure there will be flaws in the way they are characterized for those who are looking for them.
My only negative thought is that sometimes the soliloquy went on a little too long at times. The book is pretty amazing overall.
It has been a LONG while since I read the previous books so will probably have to get those on audible and listen to them again.
There is a lot of killing in this book, so if that is a trigger for you, probably books on assassins' or 'wet boys' is not books you should read.
It seems that feminist's don't like his books. For those who are triggered by it, most of the women key characters are beautiful, and sometimes get naked. I think they are overall strong characters but I am sure there will be flaws in the way they are characterized for those who are looking for them.
My only negative thought is that sometimes the soliloquy went on a little too long at times. The book is pretty amazing overall.
May 25, 2023
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4. This really surprised me and pulled me back into the world of Midcyru after all this time!
The novel „Night Angel Nemesis“ by Brent Weeks is set not long after the events of the original „Night Angel Trilogy“. We follow the two points of view of Kylar Stern and Viridiana Sovari. Most of the surviving cast of the series plays a role in this continuation and it really made me feel nostalgic to see them again.
I read the first trilogy roughly ten years ago and it introduced me to adult fantasy. I really liked the characters and they stayed with me for a long time after reading the books. Coming back now I was curious but not overly invested in the book before release. But now after finishing it I’m really glad I came back. There is so much more potential in the story around the Ka‘Karis and characters than I had anticipated.
This book is structured as a story within a story- which I love! We see Viridiana reading Kylars diary of the last months as it has been recorded by the Ka‘Kari. Especially the dialogue between Kylar and the Ka’Kari was so fun to read.
Both storylines were strong and I liked switching between them. There are multiple intriguing new mysteries to make the story feel fresh and pull you in.
However I also have some critique concerning the length and the pacing. Yes this is present in all of Brent Week’s books in some capacity. There are so many parts during the middle section that felt way too long and drawn out. I get that this can be immersive and make you get to know the characters but it really hurts the pacing. The story was meandering and there were so many scenes that felt sometimes repetitive. Cutting down on some of that journey would have made it way more accessible and impactful.
The ending definitely intrigued me enough to read the sequel and I would recommend it to people that are familiar with the first trilogy.
A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Orbit Books for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
The novel „Night Angel Nemesis“ by Brent Weeks is set not long after the events of the original „Night Angel Trilogy“. We follow the two points of view of Kylar Stern and Viridiana Sovari. Most of the surviving cast of the series plays a role in this continuation and it really made me feel nostalgic to see them again.
I read the first trilogy roughly ten years ago and it introduced me to adult fantasy. I really liked the characters and they stayed with me for a long time after reading the books. Coming back now I was curious but not overly invested in the book before release. But now after finishing it I’m really glad I came back. There is so much more potential in the story around the Ka‘Karis and characters than I had anticipated.
This book is structured as a story within a story- which I love! We see Viridiana reading Kylars diary of the last months as it has been recorded by the Ka‘Kari. Especially the dialogue between Kylar and the Ka’Kari was so fun to read.
Both storylines were strong and I liked switching between them. There are multiple intriguing new mysteries to make the story feel fresh and pull you in.
However I also have some critique concerning the length and the pacing. Yes this is present in all of Brent Week’s books in some capacity. There are so many parts during the middle section that felt way too long and drawn out. I get that this can be immersive and make you get to know the characters but it really hurts the pacing. The story was meandering and there were so many scenes that felt sometimes repetitive. Cutting down on some of that journey would have made it way more accessible and impactful.
The ending definitely intrigued me enough to read the sequel and I would recommend it to people that are familiar with the first trilogy.
A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Orbit Books for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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