The Night Angel Trilogy

Saw this trilogy during a trip to the bookstore sold separately, but purchased this slip edition here on Amazon, and, arriving in perfect condition, I couldn't be more satisfied. The neat cover art gives the books an Assassins Creed vibe and was what sparked my curiosity into giving this series a try in the first place, but I kept my expectations low because the summary in the product description was too short and simple to arouse much interest, and also because, personally, after enjoying another brilliant trilogy so much, I haven't found any other works of fiction I've read after it to match its excitement).However, that was not the case with the Night Angel Trilogy. First of all, the author did an excellent job creating an interesting setting and including magic in the plot without being cliche (think Tolkien) about it. While all three of the books in the trilogy numbers more than 600 pages long, the plot is well-crafted and moves at a fast pace, and is worth the time to get through, with plenty of action to keep you up at night that builds up as each book go along in the most outstanding way. There are loads of characters with a lot of side stories, but they all fall into place with each other without losing any focus on the protagonist or the plot itself, while the characters are interesting and well thought out. However, I would NOT recommend this for the under-18 age group or for the particularly sensitive -as in the description, the main character is an assassin, so there is a lot of violence and murder to be expected, with the details included; there is also violence against children, sex scenes and innuendo, rape, and other unpleasant topics, while the protagonists (who are not exactly what one would consider "good" people) are only thus because the antagonists are much worse in comparison if not irredeemably evil. Despite the grit, though, the story-line is well-written and difficult to single out any excellent area, including the number of character development. All of the characters are flawed -some horribly, and hold varying degrees of personal trauma, though their individual quirks are written with depth, while the prime characters all gradually become stronger as the series goes on, and only because the love and hope of their friends kept them all from getting lost in the darker aspects of their personalities and actions and becoming monsters.While this overall series is complex and dark, the ultimate purpose of it is (to quote the author in an interview in the extra pages in Book One) finding the light after fighting to escape the darkness, starting out "in a place that's dark and gritty because without that, light and peace are meaningless, worthless, boring" -and you'll find yourself fully agreeing with that after finishing the series, despite what I thought was a bittersweet ending for the main character. All in all, the trilogy as a whole is essentially a story about love and hope and what makes us human, as well as about how much we are willing to sacrifice for what we need to do to survive and perhaps triumph in a broken world or for who we love. It's hard to put into words how entertaining and engaging I found this trilogy, and was kind of disappointed that it ended. Overall, I rate this among my favorite works of fiction, and look forward to reading more from the author.

The first book is a fantastic rags to riches tale where the main character is wonderfully conflicted and torn between a conscience and taking a dark path to escape a miserable origin, and contending with the consequences of those choices. The role of magic is underplayed, even non-existent in the first book, and then takes center stage in the following books. As the hero becomes more powerful, the story (and character development) is essentially no longer about the hero, but the people around the hero, and exploring the greater impact of how decisions made by the protagonist impact the people around him. The action is insane, fast paced, and very enjoyable. The villains are ridiculously despicable. It seems like the author realized that having normal villains was to risk losing empathy for the protagonist. There was at least one occasion where the protagonist is so over-matched against ordinary thugs that it dawned on me that it was like an adult finding a group of five-year-old, schoolyard bullies and executing them as punishment. This is good, in a way, because in doing so, the book unwittingly explores a the more genuine dark reality of vigilante justice. A vigilante doesn't live very long if he fights fair. An normal assassin has no real super powers and can only choose to kill or not kill. There is only one degree of justice he could hope to meet out. But once magic or super powers are involved, the hero has a vast new arsenal of choices on how to solve problems or save girls or deal with thugs. In such a case is dealing death to low-rent hoods still moral, or does it border on the psychopathic. Does the threat of retaliation warrant brutal methods, or would his loved ones be at risk regardless? The series as a whole was well written and a page turner in general. A dark hero archetype keeps the reader guessing about what the character will do next. I recommend it for anyone that enjoys epic fantasy or sword and sorcery.

First let me say that I read this series and have already lent my set out to a friend. I read all three books in rapid succession because I just could not put it down. It was a rather quick read which is surprising because normally fantasy for me takes some time to get through. I do not even know if I would call this fantasy but rather something else because it was just so good. I really liked the premise of the book.Breakdown:PlotSuper original, but has some cliches. Poor kid from the warrens meets a legendary wet boy (not to be confused with assassin) who ends up taking him under his wing and tutors him in the way of the wet boy. There are so many twists and turns along this journey that if I put just one I feel that I would be giving away major plot points. This must be read. I feel that I can not say much on the plot without giving away anything so... thats all you get.Character DevelopmentThis is awesome from book one to three I just felt that all the characters within the book grew as people. The romance was great and it showed growth that would be normal. The skills that each character acquires add another layer to their personalities. The struggles that each character faces and must overcome feel real and compelling. The only character I found boring and the reason this is not getting five stars is Dorian... you can argue this with me later but I felt that he was forcing too much.ActionTons of it. From one on one battles to sneaky assassinations to giant melees.I am just gonna say that if you want to read something fresh and new give this series a try.

Cannot recommend this book enough!

Can’t say enough good things about this author and this trilogy. I absolutely loved it

If you love this type of genre then this trilogy is for you. Couldn't wait to read the next page when forced by such inconveniences as work to stop! Really sad when I finished the last book.

Great edition of an awesome trilogy.

Did a Naruto ninja run through this series, finished it in 10 days took my time throughly enjoying it,the books are in paperback but the medium size version,but that doesn't even matter at all, it's worth the price and more,if you are a fantasy lover you better purchase it