Night Angel (3): Beyond the Shadows Book 3 of the Night Angel

A power vacuum remains in Midcyru with the defeat of the Godking. As every ruler with an army behind him sets out to fill this void and become the prophesized High King it seems unavoidable to result in an ultimate showdown of forces on the battlefield, one where it will be unclear who is the ally and who the foe … and the stakes are raised even higher with the possibility to raise the goddess of suffering.

After getting off to a rocky start in the two preceding novels the Night Angel trilogy redeems itself with this final installment. While in the previous parts the story development relied in large part on coincidences, this is less the case here. Perhaps the most important improvement in this book is the more convincing characterization. Mostly this is due to the removal of the Godking and the other bad guys which never surpassed stereotypical caricatures, leaving more room to develop the remaining characters. In addition, the storytelling becomes more compelling with an increased attention to world building. In particular the portrayal of the Chantry, Mount Thrall, the island empire of Seth, and the Krul turn Midcyru into a world that the reader can really immerse himself into.

Unfortunately not all is good as the Kakari, Kylar’s magical artifact that makes him the Night Angel, obtains a voice and turns into a gasbag with a lame sense of humor. While this is distracting it should be noted, however, that with the much improved characterization, storytelling and world building this is a very satisfying conclusion to the Night Angel Trilogy. The same fast-paced writing style that also typifies the previous parts turns this novel into a real page-turner.

Geschreven bij Beyond The Shadows

Waar het eerste boek startte met de belofte van een straatschoffie die zich opwerpt tot assassin is dit derde boek pure geo-politiek.

Er is geen recht doel in het boek. Er zijn ineens vlagen dark fantasy. En alles word ingewikkelder en ingewikkelder. Wat gewoon mijn smaak niet is.