The Way of Shadows

If you are into fantasy this is a great book to add to your collection. There is such a contrast within each character, and it's impossible to hate them even when they do things that would be viewed as wrong. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

This is sort of hard to explain, but in a lot of books (and movies too) I find things are "too easy" for characters. Things will conveniently happen that help them out or push the plot forward, but they'll be sort of unrealistic. It usually bothers me a lot, but there's none of that in this book.
The characters in Brent Week's "The Way of Shadows" never have it easy. They get trampled upon and shoved in the mud and they have to face the horrors of reality, but because of this they become unforgettable. Their emotions are pushed and played with, so the reader gets to really explore their personalities, relationships, and histories.
Place a complicated yet interesting plot of politics, several action scenes, believable magic, a crumbling world, and an assassination or two on top of great writing, and you've got an unforgettable story. Read this book. You honestly won't regret it.

I don't even know where to begin with this particular trilogy. It was amazing, the characters, the plot, the setting and everything else involved. I find I've read so many books now that I can get a rough idea of what's going to happen in the end. With this trilogy, however, I found it impossible to predict anything. As soon as you've got an idea as to what was going to happen next, a plot twist occurs and sends all of your hunches out the window, leaving you to start from scratch only to have it occur to you again and again and again. An outstanding trilogy that I would recrommend to anyone.

I thought Brent Weeks did an awesome job of portraying a fantasy world, his writing more toned-down than some authors in the genre and he didn't get carried away with making the setting and characters completely foreign. His characters were easy to relate to with desires and flaws and the subtle meanings of life throughout the story were appropriate. I loved the character, Durzo Blint and the many twists accompanied with him throughout the series!