Bradley Schaefer

Slow start, and abruptly jumps ahead in time in a couple spots. The way the story was framed by the prologue/epilogue was a bit meh for me - probably because of how it slowed down the pace at the beginning, and felt a bit perfunctory at the end. Despite those issues I had with the pacing, it was still a great tale with a grand scope and intriguing mysteries.

Enjoyable tale of an assassin apprenticeship. Plenty of twists, action, and deep characters. There are clearly some loose ends left dangling, however it has enough of a complete arc in itself that it isn't disappointing.

Though I haven't read this series in its entirety yet, it reminded me somewhat of Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, also about an assassin-in-training story, also a good read.

I really enjoyed this entire series, and the third installment (this book) is no exception. Jalan is a fun character. His non-heroic heroism seems more like the kind of decision-making that a real person would have, so it's easy to align with his perspective. Don't want to spoil anything in this review, so I'll just say that it wraps things up nicely.

I won't lie, I kinda want a BrainPal

This is the third book in what was an excellent series. It's not perfect, but it IS action packed, witty, and does a good job of not telegraphing the twists too much.

My only complaint with this installment is that the protagonist, Kylar, rarely seems to be in any danger even when facing the events in the climax. Maybe he's too much of a badass :) I enjoyed Dorian's storyline most of all in this book, although I'm not satisfied by its conclusion (a bit of an anticlimax, really).

Minor quibbles aside, this was a solid entry, and I'll definitely be reading more of Brent Weeks' work.