Beyond The Shadows - Brent Weeks

Another simply amazing trilogy completed. And room for the possibility of a follow up series.

ISBN: 978-0316033664
format: Paperback
pages: 720
publisher: Orbit
pub. date: 2008-12-01
started reading: 2009-02-22
finished reading: 2009-02-26

This was the action-packed conclusion to the Night Angel Trilogy, and perhaps the best thing about it that I can say, without simply repeating my praise for the previous two books is that, unlike many authors whose writing begins to drag towards the end, Beyond the Shadows picks up pace as you go.

By the end of the book the timeline seemingly whips by in a blur and yet, it is a controlled blur with Weeks nicely glossing over things that you don't need at that point (such as day by day character development of well established protagonists).

All in all, a satisfying read and a series I would recommend to anyone looking for a little light fantasy reading with good character development and a gripping plot.

Shadow's Edge - Brent Weeks

The perfect killer has no identity.

ISBN: 978-0316033657
format: Paperback
pages: 656
publisher: Orbit
pub. date: 2008-11-01
started reading: 2009-02-19
finished reading: 2009-02-22

Once again, Weeks writes a book that is hard to put down. Though some of the twists and turns you see coming, in general I found that he manages to catch you off guard just often enough to keep you guessing and engaged. This is the sort of book for people who like a read that you can't put down to go to sleep at the end of the day.

While this is very much a classic tale of Good vs. Evil, what makes it compelling is all the shades of grey inbetween... after all, our hero is a killer, his best friends a mixture of royalty and street vermin, and his idol the most feared man of all time... or maybe not.

Filled with fun characters, it is a good continuation of the first book in the series.

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.

The Tipping Point - Malcom Gladwell

Probably my least favorite of the Gladwell books, but also his first and the one that paved the way for the rest.

ISBN: 978-0316346627
format: Paperback
pages: 304
publisher: Back Bay Books
pub. date: 2002-01-07
started reading: 2009-01-28
finished reading: 2009-02-06

This is yet more pop sociology, but as with Galdwell's other books that I read, it is entertaining.

The entertainment stems mostly from the core premise of the book which is that little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world.

When I was in Grade 9 I did an independent project on Chaos Theory. While there is a lot behind Chaos Theory that is quite interesting and unrelated to this, the 'pop' association with Chaos Theory is that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Japan, a tornado hits Kansas.

We've all heard of that, and some part of us loves the idea that a small thing can have huge effects. And why not? As our understanding of the scope and scale of the universe grows, and as there are more and more of us every year, it is a naturally human sort of sentiment to want to believe that something small - like ourselves - can have a huge impact in something large - like the world.

Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened.

This part of Gladwell's book, while a little restrictive for my liking, was the most enjoyable for me. When he breaks off to talk about Seasame Street and Blue's Clues, I will confess that I got largely bored. It is clearly an area that Gladwell had a passion for, but that section of the book felt like an attempt to take what could have been a small anecdote and turn it into a compendium of childhood psychology.

Given that Gladwell's background is really as a columnist, and this is his first book, I think the obvious conclusion one can draw is that he hadn't quite mastered the medium and made the change over from small his roots as writer of articles for the New Yorker, to his new and more prestigious role as the trendy author of popular sociology books.