Brent Week's compelling Night Angel tale wraps up in the final installment of the trilogy, Beyond the Shadows. Having helped save Cenaria from Khalidor and it's god-king, Kylar Stern goes to make good on his promise to the Wolf to find Curoch and hurl it into Ezra's wood where it will be safe from those who would use it for evil. From there he becomes involved in the power struggle between Ceura, and Cenaria's unlawful (and incestuous) queen. But that is just the beginning of a journey that will conclude in a Return of the King-style battle against legions of undead creatures. Weeks continues to demonstrate that he is better at characterization than he is at story mapping. What do I mean by that? Well, while Weeks excels in creating likable and endearing characters, the flow of this story sometimes felt inorganic and disharmonious. This wasn't a problem in the first volume of the Night Angel Trilogy, but seems to become prevalent in the second and third installments. Let me be clear. I liked this book - a lot. But I finished it feeling like Weeks hadn't taken full advantage of the intriguing world he has created (parts of which he borrowed heavily from Robert Jordan). It is only in the end of the third book that the characters encounter another Kakari, and that is a vague scene that left me with several unanswered questions. Also, the strongest story thread of Beyond the Shadows was not the main character’s journey, but that of the prophet Dorien. Having rejected his birthright as successor to god-king Gareth Ursuul and using the dark magic of Khalidor’s goddess, Khali, Dorien returns from exile to rescue his future wife. Unfortunately, while trying to escape from Khalidor, Dorien is cornered and forced to draw on the Vir to defend himself, thus taking his first step to becoming what he hates, a tyrant like his father. The story of Dorien’s fall from grace and ultimate redemption is so compelling, that it alone made this book worth reading.
B minus for the compelling, but disappointingly thin, Beyond the Shadows.
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