This book was all over the place. It jumps from one thing to the next with little to no context. Although it is a prequel to the series I don’t think it’s something that should’ve been read prior to reading the series. Maybe I’ll mark it as a reread when I read the full series but it adds little to no information about the story, from what I’ve come to understand.

Brent Weeks has come to be one of my favorite fantasy authors, particularly for his Lightbringer series which I binge read last year (or was it this year?). The Night Angel trilogy took a little longer to grow on me – I was unimpressed by Kylar for the most part, but the secondary characters helped things out. The prospect of reading a story focused on Durzo Blint was interesting because of his long history.

Perfect Shadow describes the transition of Gaelan Starfire into the persona of Durzo Blint as we know him in the Night Angel trilogy – master wetboy (how I loathe that term) of the Sa’Kage. It starts off with this stomach churning scene of him climbing up a poop chute in a castle to murder owner/occupant of said castle. Yuck, though vaguely amusing. Then he goes on to assassinate a few more people, hook up with Gwinvere Kirena, and ruminate on his past. All in all, very typical Durzo.

This book wasn’t long enough to really give me feels either way, hence the 3 stars. I will note that this special hardcover edition of Perfect Shadow also includes the I, Night Angel short story that I was not a particular fan of.

2.5* at most, quite a disappointment.

This novella (and at forty eight pages of story I use that term loosely) is an interesting backstory to the character Durzo Blint.

It’s a very enjoyable read after completing Week’s trilogy as it does a wonderful job at filling in some gaps.

The writing is unique as it’s sort of fragmented and non-linear, more of a retelling of important events in order of importance, you’ll find that the timing becomes irrelevant.

Although it is very short it’s certainly a great evening of reading that adds a new depth to a very central character in his previous works.

3... maybe 3.5 stars. Its definitely fun to see Durzo again and get a bit of an exploration into his past, but honestly the story was a bit all over the place and i much prefer the full novels.
Also definitely dont read this before the rest of the Night Angel trilogy because I highly doubt you'd understand any of it and it would also spoil some of the twists especially of book 1 if i remember correctly.

reviews.metaphorosis.com

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3.5 stars

Acaelus Thorne has been alive for a very long time, carrying out the instructions of his long-departed Emperor, Jorsin Alkestes. Acaelus has had several identities, and is shifting to the latest - Durzo Blint, assassin. This is the story of Durzo's (and Acaelus') origins.

I liked Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, and I've been interested to know more about how it all started. The Perfect Shadow provides a very small taste of the answer.

The Perfect Shadow reads more as a collection of scenes than as a short story. In fact, one might suspect it of being composed largely of the author's background character sketches, loosely tied together. It provides the answer to why Acaelus/Durzo became a wetboy (assassin), but in a strangely unsatisfying way. While the story is told from Acaelus' point of view, there's very little introspection. It's a classic case of telling and not showing, so that while we know he's upset about losing wife after wife to age and violence, we don't really feel what he's feeling.

All in all, it's a mildly interesting addition to the series, and only for fans. While chronologically first, it should definitely be read last. Without knowledge of the main trilogy, this story will both confuse readers and spoil later revelations.

A nice novella for the series. A fun read.

Read the Night Angel Trilogy first!


+This was a decently fun ride.
-/+Brent Weeks is a master of his craft, but this is by far my least favorite....but kind of hard to compare to a full novel. -There are just some areas that I thought were a little too simple?
-/+The pace just wasn't there for me, but any more back story I can soak up I cherish.

That was an audio book from graphic audio it was so great, spectacular, really thanks to my kind and nice friend Mr Aren for giving me a gift copy of this book... Really appreciate it... Definitely I'm gonna continue the series