The Way Of Shadows - Brent Weeks

Who doesn't love assassins?

ISBN: 978-0316033671
format: Paperback
pages: 688
publisher: Orbit
pub. date: 2008-10-01
started reading: 2009-02-17
finished reading: 2009-02-19

Ooops... and by assassins, I mean wetboys. What's the difference you ask? Well, an assassin has targets, cause sometimes they miss. A wetboy has deaders... cause they don't.

This first book in the trilogy starts off as so many fantasy stories do, from the Hobbit to Star Wars, with a small and seemingly helpless protagonist that grows to become a hero. The classic rags to riches story, only the riches are not in gold - though sometimes they are, but are in the experience, strength and character of the hero.

This book, like the other two that follow it in the series, weighs in at a hefty 600+ pages. However, it does anything but drag, and one can only imagine that had Robert Jordan attempted the same story, we would have had a twelve volume series.

Weeks is a first time author and, as with many of the other first time authors I've read recently, it is an amazing first effort. While many of the characters are somewhat cliche at times, they never feel stagnant or like pale imitations of other stories but remain fresh and enjoyable.
Part coming of age, part romance, part adventure and all intrigue, this is a good read and sure to be enjoyed by anyone who loves those genres.