The Way of Shadows

The way of Shadows introduces us the world of Midcyru, and we follow the orphan Azoth and his story being teached the art of being a wetboy by Durzo Blint. It's an interesting world that we dip into and the world building is decent, and while the characters appear a bit one dimensional are there more to them and there is some character growth in this book, especially for Azoth.

A rite of passage and preparation for the time an assassin's apprentice needs to step up when things go sideways.

The Way of Shadows seems to be lumped in with some of the GrimDark fantasy novels which have been in vogue for some time now. And there's plenty of darkness in the novel, but I agree with the author that there's a ray of hope shining through the darkness.

Hard to comment on this book. It was well written and very interesting fantasy, but I feel like there was so much missing. I plan on reading the rest of the series in hopes it fills in the gaps.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Really cool start to this trilogy, set in the kingdom of Cenaria. Azoth is a young boy in the Warrens, member of one of the guilds fending their lives as thieves and beggars. One of the leaders of the guild is Rat who likes to rule over the youngsters with the constant threat of rape and violence. Azoth wants out, and he decides he wants to become apprentice to Durzo Blint, the most famous wetboy aka assassin. He succeeds in his goal, but as he grows up becomes enmeshed in prophecy as he learns the truth about Durzo Blint, and fights against the invasion of the Godking of Khalidor.

Yeah, all sounds a bit vague, I know. This book is a fairly low-fantasy story at first, but has an interesting concept of magic with the ka'kari. I thought the character building was quite interesting, though Logan remained fairly bland for me throughout. It's dark and gritty, but not in a way I found repulsive. From the moment onwards that the Khalidorans start their coup, it's very fast-paced, with a lot of stuff going on. I enjoyed it.