So, I'm about halfway through The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks and I must say, it's actually pretty good. I was a little taken aback at first when Azoth, who I was thinking (before starting the book) was the main character, turned out to be eleven. Within the first two hundred and fifty or so pages, he does age to 'about' twenty though, which was closer to the age I was expecting him to be. This certainly explains why some people insist on calling it a young adult novel, when I really don't think it is. I mostly say this because it doesn't have the YA structure - thankfully enough. You see, it's been quite awhile since I got by to my roots, as it were, and read a gritty, fantasy novel that wasn't bogged own on romance.
This book is certainly showing signs of being pretty awesome, if a little wordy at times, but still - it's fantasy, so I can forgive that.
The oddest thing for me is while a couple of the characters are essentially assassins, they do not use that term. There are assassins in this world, but the characters that we get to deal with that kill people for a living are - are you ready for it? - wetboys. Okay, I'm not sure what it says about me that I find this term for peerless assassins incredibly funny. Not even the quote early on saying that, essentially, wetboys are assassins the same way a tiger is a kitten. Well, that gives you a pretty good idea what they are, but it isn't explained until later why they don't have a 'target' but, instead, a 'deader'. (This just doesn't sound like proper English to me...)
No matter my light teasing, the book's not bad so far - good enough, even to almost make me forget the very sexist slur one of the men thought. Though, considering that he was a sixteen year old boy - and rather creepy anyway - might have something to do with my ability to forgive.
So far, I think I did moderately well with the book - but it doesn't seem to be anything grand or earth shaking.
*Edit*
And now, I've not even touched it for six days and will probably not finish it. One too many curse words, gratuitous gore scenes and a healthy dose of misogyny. Thought I'd finish it, but barely made it past the halfway mark and will probably never read any more.
With my book I chose to brew myself up a cup of one of my favorite teas. It's brand is Good Earth and it is called 'Original Sweet & Spicy'. It is an herbal tea blend and the one I drink is caffeine free. It's basically a chai tea (love chai tea!) made from Red Rooibos with plenty of herbs added to it. Good Earth has some wonderful teas and many that I like.
I knew I wanted chai tea, and that I would have to chose the perfect cookies to go along with it. I think I did with my Snowball Cookies. The nutty sweetness of these cookies went perfectly with the tea and, even better, the cookies were entirely sugar free - with none of those questionable chemical sweeteners. (Course, your opinion of the sweeteners I did use might vary, as some people say they're no good either. However, the recipe can be easily adapted back to sugar and the recipe can also be adapted for those unable to do gluten.) These cookies really took me back to my childhood when I used to make them with my mom.
Curious about my Snowball Cookies?
Click here for the recipe.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little chat about books and food (and I sincerely hope I've made you hungry - that's what always happens to me when I read recipes on the internet).
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Chai tea; yay or nay? Ever had the Good Earth teas? How about Snowball Cookies? Ever had them? Like them?
