Shadow's Edge

Shadow's Edge (not as cheesy but harder to understand)
By Brent Weeks

This is the second book in the Night Angel Trilogy. It was also one of those books where nothing seemed to go right for any of the characters except for the bad ones. And this book is super violent and just plain gross. How come I actually read it and have gotten the third book in this series?

Seriously, I found Shadow's Edge to be depressing. I kept thinking things would turn around for the characters, then something would happen to make their situation worse. I still liked the character of Kylar Stern but he was simply one of many characters this time around.  Kylar was also struggling between his love for Elene and his talents/call to be a wetboy (magical assassin). In addition, he finds out one of his best friends is actually alive -- but this message comes from another friend who is assasignated seconds after telling him about this. He tries to make all the right decisions but a series of circumstances leads him far from where he would like to be by the end of the book. I did like how Weeks kept on surprising me but I wished he would have done it in a much more gentle fashion.

My biggest criticism of Weeks is his treatment of women. I would like to say that there are so many instances of the "R" word in this book that I would never recommend it to any woman who had been abused. He tries to redeem the women in a sweeping gesture at the end but it only seems to apply to "bad girls" as pretty much all the innocent ones have been abused, tortured and killed. Ugh. The really bad part is that I have been learning recently about the abuse and slavery of women on Interstate 20 which is near where I live. I realized how true to life some of the stories of slavery of the women could be even today.

What did this book have to do with my faith? I kept thinking throughout the book about the absence of hope. I certainly felt it while reading. What happens when someone has no anchor of hope and incredibly bad things happen to them? In the book, suicide seems to be the answer. I wanted to know what those still living could hang on to. What is their hope? For me, my hope is in Jesus Christ. I have no idea how I would survive if enslaved and abused as these women were. I like to think I would hold on to God. But would I? Would you?

I only recommend this book if you enjoyed The Way of Shadows.

Happy reading!

Amelia