Published: November 7, 2017 (Sp. Ed.)
Publisher: Orbit
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Night Angel #0.5
Pages: 144 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 3.0/5.0
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.Synopsis:
Discover the origins of Durzo Blint in this original novella set in the world of Brent Weeks’ New York Times bestselling Night Angel trilogy.
“I got a bit of prophecy,” the old assassin said. “Not enough to be useful, you know. Just glimpses. My wife dead, things like that to keep me up late at night. I had this vision that I was going to be killed by forty men, all at once. But now that you’re here, I see they’re all you. Durzo Blint.”
Durzo Blint? Gaelan had never even heard the name.
***
Gaelan Starfire is a farmer, happy to be a husband and a father; a careful, quiet, simple man. He’s also an immortal, peerless in the arts of war. Over the centuries, he’s worn many faces to hide his gift, but he is a man ill-fit for obscurity, and all too often he’s become a hero, his very names passing into legend: Acaelus Thorne, Yric the Black, Hrothan Steelbender, Tal Drakkan, Rebus Nimble.
But when Gaelan must take a job hunting down the world’s finest assassins for the beautiful courtesan-and-crimelord Gwinvere Kirena, what he finds may destroy everything he’s ever believed in.
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.
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