Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Azoth, Jarl and Doll Girl are guild rats, ghetto orphans in the Warrens who band together with others like them to increase their chances for survival. Theft and muggings are how they gather income and they all dream of a day when they can collect enough money to find an apprenticeship to leave the Warrens behind. A psychopathic guild leader named Rat dominates and demoralizes them through rape and assault, and when Durzo Blint, best wetboy in the realm, says Azoth can be his apprentice if he kills Rat, Azoth jumps at the chance.

The problem is, Azoth doesn't jump fast enough. Jarl is raped, Doll Girl is facially mutilated and when Azoth finally kills Rat, there's no joy or release in it for him. It's the first lesson in the empty life of a wetboy for Azoth. Training is hard but fair and over the next decade Azoth becomes Klyar Stern, a new identity for the newest wetboy in the city. During his training Kylar enters a friendship with Logan Gyre, young lord of House Gyre, as well as paying a noble friend of Durzo's, Count Drake, to employ Doll Girl, now Elene, as a house servant.

Every decision and relationship has benefits and consequences. Kylar learns this as he struggles to become a full fledged wetboy. And when the Khalidoran Godking Ursuul, a megalomaniacal monarch, attacks Cenaria, Kylar finds himself caught in the middle of not only a battle for survival but a national war, both military and political. To lose would not only be death, but may very well put into the hands of the Godking a long-lost treasure that would make him invincible and immortal. The question is, how do you defeat, much less kill, a God?

Brent Weeks' debut novel is definitely a great way to start a career. It's well written; great characters, an ambitious plot and a wealth of subplots that keep the story moving along without slowing down or dragging. There is quite a bit of character and relationship establishment going on, but that's necessary for a novel this size, not to mention a trilogy of books that spans about 2000 pages.

My chief complaint about Way of Shadows would be the lack of exposition in certain terms. For example, the first time I read wetboy, vir, aethling or Vurdmeister, I had no idea what they were. Obviously, as the story progresses you can piece the definition together, but it's distracting at first and takes away from the overall feel of the novel. Quite frankly, it jerked me out of the reading zone and it took me a bit of time to get back into it. A quick paragraph or two of conversation between characters to spell it out would have been helpful and quite appreciated.

Other than that, I had a great time with Way of Shadows. There's a nice mix of sword and sorcery ala Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (specifically the later Dreamwalker storyline novels of that series), real-life cultural blending and Japanese samurai and ninja mythos. Weeks manages to keep from over dedicating time or attention to any one of these facets. The result is well-done and evenly paced; at times breathtaking and awe-inspiring and at other times, the unflinching narration manages to keep the reader both repulsed and riveted.

Midcyru is not a friendly place to live, but it is a great place to spend a weekend reading.

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Publisher: Orbit
Pub. Date: October 2008
ISBN-13: 9780316033671