Rating: 3.5 stars
Recommended for: Adults only–those who enjoy action scenes and romance, and who can deal with a lot of swearing.
Although I absolutely enjoyed Brent Weeks’ Night Angel Trilogy, with its wonderful, twisting plot and its incredibly well-developed characters, I simply could not handle all the needless swearing in these books. The fact that nearly every other word out of the mouth of the main character, Kylar, was an expletive was very distracting. I loved the plot–the magical ka’kari, the romance between Kylar and Elene, the amazingly detailed, magical world in which they live, the glorious battle scenes. Honestly, it was a terrific storyline, and everything fit together perfectly. If only Mr. Weeks had left all, or at leasthalf, of the swearing out of it, it would have been a much better trilogy.
A redeeming point in the books was Elene’s pure love and goodness, in her refusal to do anything that would go against the laws of the God. She was an influence on Kylar, an influence for good, and he became a much better person by the end of the trilogy. In fact, in the final book,Beyond the Shadows, the reader is allowed to see just how good she is when she sacrifices herself to save the world, refusing to hate the evil woman who has kept the world dark for centuries, and instead fully embracing her with love. Elene is, indeed, the best character in the books, in my opinion, and almost makes up for the excess swearing.
I applaud Mr. Weeks’ brilliant ideas and storytelling skills, but I cannot give this book the five-star rating it would otherwise deserve.
GalumptiousWords 