Brent Weeks: Beyond the Shadows

Hi

Beyond the Shadows is the third novel in The Night Angel Trilogy.
Another very generic cover hides a novel of 689 pages.
You can find all my Brent Weeks reviews here.

* NO SPOILERS AHEAD *

I will only write about the things that differ in my opinion or in the book itself from the first and the second novel.

This final novel is even more action-packed than its predecessors. Action is basically all there is to it.
The story is fraught with problems. It’s hard to know where we are and what the characters are at because everything is about fighting and it all leads up to this great battle in the end.
So I’m still confused about the story. It feels too fast, very rushed and way too epic. He tried to write an epic conclusion but he failed miserably in my opinion.
It’s not credible anymore. There is so much going on at the end I had trouble keeping up. Everyone just needs to get to the final battle in time and everyone needs to win. That’s it. The motives behind the war are rather weak for some people.
The changing viewpoints helped a lot, but I still had a hard time figuring out why some things happened the way they did or why some decisions were made. The changing viewpoints are unfocused at times, but it does make the story move forward. And we miss a lot too. A character is suddenly in another country for example. Something is recovered and we have no idea how this character managed to do that because it was deemed impossible. Elene turns up out of the blue towards the end and we don’t know why. I mean, that’s just a cheap, lazy trick to play on us Weeks. If you want this to happen, figure out how this character should do it.

* SPOILERS AHEAD *

The real price of Kylar’s immortality is not that surprising, but still very, very sad. This was a very good element in the novel.

But I am so over Elene! She’s such a dollike, perfect and self-righteous, Virgin Mary type of girl. She is a very unbelievable character.
Besides, the Vi/Elene/Kylar relation is ridiculous. They both love him (and I truly can’t see why) but Vi is selfless (all of a sudden) enough to give Elene and Kylar their chance together. And as in any teenage novel (which this actually isn’t) they finally have sex. Enough with this obsession now Weeks!
I also find it very hard to believe there really was no way to break the bond between the wedding rings right until the very end. How convenient.
 And what happens to Uly? She’s mentioned a few times in passing, but that’s it.
But the ending! Oh my word. Love saves everything. Love. F*cking love. As if this is a chick lit or a teenage novel. So lame and cheesy.

Happy reading.
Helena

Lazy weekend.