Just skimming some of the other reviews for Shadow's Edge it seems most people liked this more than the first book, but I felt the opposite. This sequel just wasn't as compelling to me for several reasons.Firstly, I didn't find reading about Kylar's attempts to fight his own nature and settle down to domestic bliss very interesting. So much of the book was spent following him as he tries to live a normal life, when -- to use one of Mr. Weeks' own metaphors -- we all know Kylar's a wolf, not a lapdog. Elene becomes annoying and moody and so many times I just wanted to tell her to snap out of it and get her head out of the clouds. Kylar makes dumb choices you wouldn't expect from an experienced assassin. The mood in this section where they try to settle down and be a real family didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the series.
The book gets better after this, but I still had mixed feelings about the plot. The author milks a tired old trope in order to get everything set up, then in about two seconds, previously clueless characters manage to finally figure out everything in their heads in order to push the story along. It just felt so forced.
Another thing I've started to notice about Brent Weeks is his occasional habit of sabotaging perfectly good dialogue by inserting inappropriate comments from various characters at an attempt to be witty. This was so distracting in The Black Prism, and was thankfully not as noticeable in The Way of Shadows, but it seems to happen a lot in Shadow's Edge. The most damning example I can think of is the scene towards the end of the book when Kylar finally confronts Garoth Ursuul. It arguably should have been one of the most intense scenes in the book. And it was...until the Godking actually does the whole KYLAR, I AM YOUR FATHER! schtick and -- no joke -- follows up with "Haha, just kidding."
Like, what?
Still, Shadow's Edge was by no means bad. I just wanted to explain why I gave this book a lower rating than The Way of Shadows, but there were definitely things in this book that were better than in the first. The ending for one was shocking and awesome. Looking forward to pick up the next and final book of this trilogy.
