The Warded man starts off as three separate but inter-related tales which take place in a land where demons rule the night. Being outside after the sun goes down isn't wise or safe. There are many breeds of demon ranging from dog-sized to man-sized and larger, any one of which is powerful enough to kill a human. The demons don't travel alone, but like wolves and other animals, they hunt in packs. While defensive magical symbols (known as wards) can be used to keep the demons from attacking, magic isn't the entire answer to the demon problem.

Mr. Brett's concept is enticing and his prose well written, his characters appealing. I was hooked on page one and didn't want to put this book down until it was finished. I became a part of this world while I was reading about how the characters survive, the primitive society in which they live, and, all too often, die prematurely. Simple things like infections, caused by close contact with sharp demon claws, are deadly because few know the herbs with which to treat such injuries.

The low level of technology available to the general population and the even lower instance of literacy in this world are intriguing and bring another level of interest to this not-to-be-missed debut novel. I eagerly await the next novel in this brand new fantasy series, which I recommend to all readers of fantasy age 14 and up.

This review was previously published on Dragonviews. ( )

The character development was awkward. ( )

I am at the point where I choose books by strange authors at random from the Santee library. While not an illiterate community, it is a far cry, a distant shifting, from the opulant savory indulgence of a visit to the library in Seattle.

So I grabbed this book. And was happily surprised, after putting down a couple as unreadably bad.

Good d*** book. 4 star rating. I enjoyed it immensely. This review is several weeks after the reading, so the details are lost, but I remember it was a compulsive, happy, giddy to have found a decent book to read read for me.

If I see the sequel, I will read it. Demons and magic etc, yet in a fresh manner. ( )

I loved this book because they showed the characters as they changed and grew up. ( )

This truly is an excellent book. The concept is intriguing, the characters are appealing, the writing is brilliant . . . there are many, many good things to say about it. As a central character, Arlen is brilliant, especially the way the author develops him from childhood to adulthood. The other main characters, Leesha and Rojer, are the same -- at every point in the story you understand where they are coming from and why they make the decisions they do. That aspect of Brett's writing makes this a very relevant story about humanity -- human mentality, human society, human weakness and strength. But for all its philosophical depth, this book is still vastly entertaining. I would absolutely recommend this book to fans of the fantasy genre.

I was put off by one part of the story, though, and here be spoilers, so consider yourself warned. Like other reviewers, I didn't care for how Brett handled Leesha's rape. Not the actual rape itself -- which fit with the setting and circumstances she was in -- or even her sexual encounter with Arlen after -- because it makes sense to me that after having her virginity from her she would reclaim her body through the act of choosing to give sex to another man. What didn't sit well with me was the emotions portrayed in Leesha and Arlen during and after their involvement. It all felt forced, insincere. Happily, this isn't a romance novel in disguise, and the plot moved quickly back to the battle against the corelings. I'll consider this issue a hiccup in an otherwise fabulous story, and I look forward to the sequel. ( )

What a great book, especially being the first published work of Peter Brett. While it initially sounded like a cool story, I really wasn't sure what to expect from this. Seemed at first like a typical fantasy novel, but my goodness after only reading a few pages, I was hooked. There are three different point of views that we rotate between until near the end where the three meet up. Usually in books like this there is always at least one POV that is drudgery to read through. Not in this case, all three were incredibly written. Just enough back story was given to help you understand the current situation and there is enough left unresolved that I can't wait until book 2 and 3 are released.

I kept looking for something to dislike about this book. I felt that there must be a deeper message, something that the author is trying to tell about the current state of humans, but I never could really put my finger on it and even if it was there it did not get in the way of the story telling. One of the best I've read this year so far. ( )

I liked this book, although the title is a bit of a misnomer. It's not solely about the Warded Man, especially after the first part. The magic is interesting and the characters solidly fleshed out. I actually wish the US had the UK title. I would have liked to have seen an appendix with a few of the wards drawn out (like Brandon Sanderson's Elantris). A good fantasy with promise--can't wait to see what happens next. ( )

I read this book in December '08 and just now realized that I didn't review it.
I guess the best thing that I can say about this book is that I remember it. I'm waiting for the next one in the series. I'm not a veracious reader, but I do read a lot and remembering a book, a story line, a plot point months after reading the book means it left an impression. And as I rated it 4-1/2 stars, it was a good impression. ( )

Wow... Just wow.

This book is one of the best new fantasy books that I've had the pleasure to read in some time. The premise of the story is creative and unique, and the pace is fast. Although there are definitely some cliched elements (a warrior, a healer, and a bard adventuring together -- that's just SO AD&D), even these add to the story and are brought together in an interesting new way. The characters, while not always likable, are very real -- and their motivations are well thought out, and very well described.

My only real complaint is that the second book in this series isn't out yet. This first novel was as much background for future novels as it was a stand-alone story, and it definitely leaves you wanting more. ( )

A thrilling new fantasy with an interesting concept.

Humans live in fear trapped in their homes at night living behind magical wards hiding from the Demons. At night the demons rise from the ground and attack the wards looking for weaknesses. The book follows 3 young people each overcoming their fear to fight back against the demons. Humans rarely leave the comfort of their villiages or towns as travelling overnight is extremely dangerous.

I was really hooked by the characters and situations and kept reading desperate to see where the book would go next. It leaves some of the characters in a bad place for the upcoming sequels, but also paves the way to hope for all humans.

Really looking forward to book 2. ( )

I've been eager to read this book for some time now - it's had so many fantastic reviews - so when I saw it in the bookshop, I grabbed it. I'm very pleased that I wasn't disappointed, as so often happens with much-hyped stories.

This is a demon of a novel: it grabs you by the throat and pulls you in from the start, and spits you out at the end, exhausted and emotionally drained. I went through this novel in two evenings, with illicit, snatched readings in the intervening day whenever I got the chance - I couldn't keep my mind out of it, and even now it's still turning in my head. I might have to adopt a policy of not reading trilogies until all 3 books are published: to have to wait so long for the next book (already on pre-order) AND THEN THE FINALE is pure torture.

Brett has built a world so coherent and convincing, and a trio of characters - Arlen, Rojer and Leesha - who are both engaging and credible, so that the unfolding of their stories is as enthralling as an enchantment and as gripping as a boa constrictor. The writing is spare and stark and beautiful, and the descriptions enhance without ever overwhelming the action in the foreground: Brett makes every word of every scene work for its place, and the result is a wonderfully tight and compelling novel.

In this world, there is a very good reason to be afraid of the dark, and this is hammered home in the opening scene through the experiences of Arlen, a young boy intimately affected by the demons' destruction of his community and his family. Through him, we acquire a sense of the dread and terror under which every human must live, the knowledge that in the dark, hope only extends as far as a good ward, and without one, death is certain, slow and terrible. This sense of fear underpins the entire novel, but it is drawn subtly, a deep, cold current inferred from the characters' actions and so deep ingrained in their thoughts and behaviour that it is a constant. Only at the end are the seeds of change sown, with fear starting to turn to defiance and action against the demons. However, one gets the impression that this is only the beginning of the war, and that there are many more battles to be fought.

Those battles will not only be against demons.

The extra dimension here is that, despite the constant fear of demons, humankind is riven by political factions and the delicate balance of power between church and state, and between duchy and duchy, are under strain. The demons are killing humans faster than they can reproduce, and the economies of the duchies and states are starting to buckle under the strain. The ruling classes are looking to consolidate their own positions, with little care to the plight of common people, and the church preaches a doctrine of sin and punishment by demon plague, a puritanical and sometime hypocritical position that does little to lighten the burden of sorrow on the people to whom it ministers.

However, this church also delivers the prophesy of a deliverer, who will come to rid the world of demons and reinstate a peace and prosperity that has been long missing. Into this prophecy, Arlen's decision to fight rather than flee unfolds. His position outside of society - one of the few willing to brave nights in the dark with no warded walls between himself and the demons - leads him to uncover what might be the salvation of humanity. This puts him into opposition with the established church, who will either condemn him as an imposter or, worse (in his eyes), attempt to force him into the role of 'Deliverer'.

It also runs counter to the beliefs and needs of the ultra-religious Krasians who would rather see him dead than admit that the deliverer might arise from outside their clans. Their fanatical culture has strong Islamic overtones, and whilst the use of prejudiced, thinly-disguised stereotypical portrayals of traditional Islamic cultures as inherently evil/tyrannical in fantasy is not something I enjoy - it plays too much to the cheap seats in terms of ticking the box for an easily identifiable 'evil empire' that will both appeal to and strike a chord with a contemporary audience - this one is more well-balanced than most and does make some attempt to demonstrate the effect of an absolute commitment to faith that makes the importance of the temporal world secondary to the hereafter. This dependence both drives and defines the Krasian's outlook on life, and whilst it may have unpleasant cultural implications for non-warriors and those unable to achieve the perfection of faith, it nonetheless highlights the vacillations and hypocrises of the Northern kingdoms and places the Krasians in direct opposition to them - the more so at the end of the novel, which promises to expand the personal conflicts of this into a wider, political conflagration in the next.

Arlen's single-mindedness contrasts well with the other major players in this story. Rojer is orphaned by a demon attack and subsequently brought up by a Jongleur (a jester, or bard) and follows in his trade. Leesha becomes an Herb Gatherer, a medicine woman, for her village after her mother and betrothed betray her trust. Both of these characters, again, exist outside of their society's comforts, though they are important contributors to that same comfort, but neither of them posess the same certainties and determination as Arlen. Their quest for meaning and purpose both contrasts with and complements Arlen's driven hunt, and when the three strands of their very different stories come together to make a single, satisfying whole, the result makes for a powerful, convincing finale to this story.

Like so many who have read this already, I loved this story. I am so excited about reading the next one, I can hardly bear to wait until August ... ( )

Demons rise during the night, preying on mankind and men who are unable to adequately fight back and have no known weapons that will kill demons. Villages and cities are gradually are being worn down with people huddling behind weak wards (runes of some kind that can form barriers) that sometimes keep the demons away. (I wonder what the demons will eat when mankind IS finally wiped out? Apparently it's not a concern of demons, who seem mostly unthinking, voracious beings.) Ages past, mankind had learned to deal with the demons through magical means--wards and weapons that could actually kill demons instead of just keep them away; but after the demons were defeated, an age of science and technology rose and the magic was lost and demons forgotten. Then the demons returned and no tech could harm them, and mankind was thrust back into dark ages of no tech. They have only regained the ability to make weak wards and everything in the past is just legends.

Three young people are featured, growing up and having to cope with this harsh world. Arlen is from a small village where attacks and deaths are a nightly occurrence. Even at eleven years old, he is frustrated that men just cower in their homes, waiting to be attacked. He thinks there must be something to the past legends of ways to defeat the demons. This comes to a head when his father will not step beyond the wards even to help his mother who has been caught beyond the wards by demons.

Leesha is a girl awaiting adulthood and marriage, also in a small village. She, also, comes to believe there should be more that could and must be done. She's introduced to a wider world by apprenticing to the village Herbalist-Healer.

Rojer's story starts when he's three years old. A traveling Jongleur is visiting when demons break through the wards. The man cowardly pushes all aside to squeeze into the small safe space and Rojer is orphaned as well as maimed, losing two fingers.

Much of the book concerns Arlen's early life (and Leesha's too) and beyond establishing some world-building, it can be somewhat slow-moving and not seemingly pertinent to moving the plot forward. Disconcertingly, when things start developing later on there are more gaps in time. This speeds up the plot, but seems to leave interesting bits out. The three characters do not come together until towards the end of the book. The book ends with: End Book I. There is a decent arc concluded before then, so that's not quite so frustrating as it might be. Overall, the first part was not terribly compelling, the characters were sympathetic, but still somewhat distant and their lives not that interesting. Things did pick up, though, but then, as I said, time was skipped to move things forward. It seemed uneven in that respect. But still, not a bad read. ( )

In the genre of secondary worlds fantasy where it’s difficult to turn around without bumping into a cliché, finding a book that feels new and fresh can be difficult. Brandon Sanderson managed to do this in his Mistborn series by creating a unique system of magic that underpins the politics of the world. In The Warded Man, Peter Brett distinguishes himself by crafting a unique world, one where demons rise from the darkness each night to prey on humans who do their best to hide behind magical wards each night.

However, despite the interesting world, this is not a fantasy novel that is content to move its readers through the new (and sometimes gritty) world and show off its wonders and horrors. No, The Warded Man focuses on and follows three main characters whose stories begin to weave together near the end of the novel. While many fantasy novels are about the making of heroes, usually by characters doing classically heroic things, the adventures in Brett’s novel go beyond that and also explore the nature of heroism.

I have a confession. I have had this book for months, an orphaned early review freebie. I read the blurb on the back and imagined a Robert Jordan quality novel with a demon concept that is eerily familiar to those who have read Barbara Hambly's Darwath Trilogy. As a result of these preconceived notions, I was pleasantly surprised to find a book with excellent character development and a decent enough plot. The Warded Man begins during the childhood of the main character, Arlen. The boy is bright and has an insatiable desire to experience the world, but he is thwarted by requirement that he be indoors after dark or risk being eaten by demons. He runs away from home, a risky proposition for ten year olds who do not have flesh eating demons to consider, and he studies the "warding" magic that keeps the demons at bay. The novel also follows the stories of an adolescent girl who escapes an arranged marriage that has lost its appeal by becoming a healer and a young orphan boy, who is raised by a drunken bard. All three characters are dealt hard blows throughout the book, but they are blessedly free of the angst that seems so commonly mistaken by mediocre authors for depth of character.

The Warded Man is a solid work of fantasy. I read the whole book in one sitting at the expense of my very precious free time, and I will look for future works by this author, particularly in this series. I do hope, however, for improvement, particularly in the area of prose and vocabulary. This is Peter V. Brett's first published novel, so some room for improvement is expected. On the whole, The Warded Man is an excellent debut novel. ( )

It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of Peter V Brett onto the fantasy scene! I have just finished his novel, The Painted Man, Book One in the Demon Trilogy, and have no doubt that Brett’s talent, abounding in this book, will only grow with time. Read the rest of my review here: http://davebrendon.wordpress.com/2008... ( )

I confess: most fantasy bores me. The conventions are usually overworked at the expense of character development, the action bogs down in tiresome descriptions, and most plots consist of marching the combatants from one place to another through magic neverlands. None of these flaws exist in Peter Brett's fine debut novel. What draws five stars from me is the book's clean portrait of believable characters dealing with situations that have less to do with mystic malarkey than with the perils of the human condition. Strip away the fantasy elements, and you'd have an early Cormac McCarthy novel with a laconic, flawed hero, a desperately-seeking heroine, and a coming-of-age orphan trying to overcome his physical and psychological tormentors.

Still, I suspect there is enough fantasy for most fans of the genre. The post-apocalyptic world is detailed enough for belief yet hazy enough in its outlines for the reader's imagination to lay whatever map on it they like. The demons are finely drawn and the magic powers, the "wards," are useful without tipping too far over into deus-ex-machina territory.

The real strength of the book, though, is the characters and the very real-world issues they face. Arlen struggles to define heroism throughout the book after watching his father cower while his mother is killed in the beginning. Leesha must deal with an over-bearing mother and a loudly-ticking biological clock while searching for true love amid the chaos of the world she inhabits. Rojer grows up mildly crippled and psychically scarred, a seeker of self respect and belief in his own fortitude. When the three finally meet, the meld is a good one that produces many answers while raising several new questions for the next book in the series.

Kudos for an author who produced an entertaining, literate debut. ( )

What an awesome fantasy! I could give you a list of my high school students who would absolutely love this adult fantasy novel by newcomer Peter V. Brett. The book is the first in a series, and I can't wait for the second one.

A beautiful, patient and stubborn healer, a saddened jester, and a brave fighter combine forces to save a small town from the Corelings, the demons that haunt everyone nightly. This book has everything a good fantasy should have, but it so readable and NEW to someone like me who's read tons of fantasy. It's 416 pages of goodness! It's the best book I've read since The Name of the Wind! ( )

An excellent read, the book captured your attention early and kept it throughout. I could not set it down and had to finish in one long reading. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

Review by Lachlan Huddy

Like all killer setups, the one at the heart of this debut novel is slap-to-the-forehead simple: come dusk every night, demons rise from the ground with an eye to dinner, and mankind survives care of magical wards that, marked out correctly, repel the beasts more surely than solid walls. Three characters move toward one another across the land—and timescape—of this knife-edge world: Alren, a troubled boy training to become a Messenger (postman), a dangerous job in a land where camping between towns brings mortal peril, and who dreams of discovering the long-lost fighting wards; Leesha, a village beauty who takes up the mantle of Herb Gatherer, part medic, part magician; and Rojer, a performer whose music holds a strange power over demons. Brett’s quality of prose flounders occasionally, but in the face of breakneck pacing, thrilling action and characters you can really barrack for, who cares? Underpinning this is smart speculation on a world cut off from itself, and the effects that isolation would have on culture and shared identity. The sometimes unflattering parallels between the novel’s Krasians and our Arabs may piss off the sensitive, but the rest of us will just enjoy a ripping old-school yarn.

Flaws Give Perfection

I have a weird way of telling if I'm truly absorbed in the world of a book (because sometimes these things sneak up on me). It's a way I'd typically keep to myself because it's kind of embarrassing: I start to curse as the characters would.

While reading Anne McCaffery's Pern novels, I found myself thinking "Shards" when I would spill something. While absorbed in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, it was "Light" or "Blood and ashes!" With Harry Potter, it was "Wicked" (though that's less of a curse than just an exclamation).

With The Warded Man, it was no different. Last night, after I'd finished the book in record time, I found myself cursing "Core" when I discovered my heater was broken, and "Creator" when I was peeved that the maintenance men hadn't arrived to fix my leaky ceiling. It was then that I knew that I'd been completely sucked into Peter V. Brett's world.

The Warded Man captured me from the first page, sucking me into the strange world where vicious demons rise from the ground at night and are kept at bay only by special wards people paint on their houses. The plot idea was intriguing all by itself, but it was the characters that made this novel.

Brett's characters, from the three main protagonists to the cast of dozens of secondary characters to the extras populating the cities, rang true and real, rounded out by flaws and strengths unique to each. I loved the way Brett explored his characters through their weaknesses, each ordeal challenging a flaw, pressing them to either grow or be doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Even better, the main protagonists did not always make predictable choices, did not always rise to every challenge nobly, but they managed to grow and change without becoming paragons of virtue or predictably perfect.

The pacing of this novel was also handled masterfully. Unlike my recent read of Gaiman's Anansi Boys, Brett managed to put his protagonists through hell, but still give them (and me) breather time to celebrate small successes and to build toward greater hurtles.

When I finished the book, I felt like a petulant child given a taste of cake and then denied an entire piece. More! I thought. I want more! More story, more time with the characters, more adventure. The book isn't even out yet in stores, and already I want to read the next. Obviously, I highly recommend this novel.

Here's to Brett finishing book 2 much faster now that he's using all his fingers to type, and not just his thumbs.

(And a reminder to all: NON interviewed Peter V. Brett back in January. Go to numberonenovels.blogspot.com to see that interview.) ( )

On a craft level, the characters were not realistically aged—I couldn't believe that ten-, thirteen-, and three-year-olds would realistically act the way they were portrayed through the first part of the book, and in the final part, they were almost aged incorrectly and corrected by a quick slip by the author. However, they still weren't believable for their age even fourteen years later—Arlen seemed to have been written as a thirty-something, which he wasn't, and Leesha seemed to be much, much younger than he was when she was supposed to be older than he.

This was quite obviously written in at least two parts because the characterization in the final part was a very strong (and needless) juxtaposition to what the characters should have been, and then soon after they returned to the way that I would have expected them to be written. I then read the interview with the author in the back of the book in which he explained that one of the later scenes had been written much earlier than the rest of the book, which explains it.

The plot was the saving grace of the book, as the initial and later development of the characters frustrated me. Brett does a good job with expanding the plot in order to make the readers care about the characters and the related action in the book, but I would have liked a bit more smoothness in the different time periods in the book; in Arlen's case in particular, I felt like there needed to be more explanation as to what he was doing in the gaps that the book didn't cover later in the novel.

More description of the setting, the corelings, and the characters (big points on this one—I only know how what Arlen looks like at the very end of the book, and have no idea about the other two main characters!) would be excellent. In fact, there were numerous points throughout that I was wanting Brett to slow down, describe more, give more background, and was disappointed when he didn't deliver and was eager to get on to the next action sequence. The writing style itself was very hurried and felt much more like a "have to get this down on the page before I forget it" kind of thing than anything that was refined. Sentences were choppy and dialogue was unrealistic. Though I'm not the kind of person who demands that every book has to have each sentence carefully and marvelously crafted as if it were the finest work of art ever created, a sentence or several sprinkled throughout the book that makes me sit back and think, "That was a gorgeous sentence!" wouldn't be remiss.

In spite of all of that, the book kept me reading until the end. The sequel will have to be something special for me to want to read it because I'm honestly not sure how much more material he has to continue the trilogy, but Warded Man was a decent read. Advice to the author? Slow down and remember your readers can't read your mind. ( )

Enter The Warded Man. Known as The Painted Man in the UK, this stunning new novel takes epic fantasy and adds new twists to a standardized subgenre. Debut author Peter V. Brett has written a tale about three young people and their quest to return humanity to its rightful place on top of nature’s pyramid. In the world of The Warded Man, demons prowl the night. Rising from the ground at dusk, they do not disappear until the dawn. Humanity can only protect itself and its possessions by hiding behind painted wards, symbols carved or written on their homes. These “corelings” are part of the natural world and take the form of flame, stone, wood, water and wind. But they are extremely deadly, and any encounter with them is almost certain death. But mankind is slowly dwindling, as each night more and more corelings get through the wards and kill off more people. But humanity does nothing but cower, hoping that one day a Deliverer out of legend will come.

Arlen is young boy, raised on a farm, who loses his family to the corelings. Forced onto the road, he manages to make his way to one of the few cities that remain. The circumstances of his leave him with a profound hatred of the corelings, and a desire to wreak vengeance on them and see humanity freed from the shackles the demons have put on them. Leesha is a young girl, near to womanhood, who is being abused by her mother and mistreated by the boy to whom she is betrothed. Rojer was disfigured at a very young age by corelings, but he wants nothing more from life than to become a Jongleur, an entertainer who travels from village to village, braving the dangers of the night.

The primary story is Arlen’s. We are not even introduced to Leesha and Rojer till much later in the book, and although they play a large role in the final battle of the novel, theirs is not the driving force of the story. It is Arlen’s desire for revenge, for some way to get back at the corelings, which provides the motivation of the story.

Brett is a spectacular writer. He writes unhurriedly, building his story and characters piece by piece, but he never lacks for action or human interest. Arlen is a character every young boy wants to be, strong and brave and willing to fight for what he believes. As the reader watches him grow and change into a man out of legend, the reader will become thoroughly invested. The dangers of the night keep the level of suspense high for the entire book. As each night falls the reader is left to wonder if the protagonists will survive. It is an edge-of-your seat sort of excitement, and Brett maintains that suspense level, without feeling the need to top previous encounters with an even more exciting one.

If the novel has anything against it, it comes from the fact that most of the story is character development. Like many large series or planned trilogies, The Warded Man takes its time in building a consistent world populated by interesting characters. This means that there are no grand scale epic battles (even the final one only concerns a small village) where armies march against each other. The world is not changed, nor are the problems of the world solved in this story. That is left for later books. No, The Warded Man is about its three heroes, and their personal struggles to become something more than society would make of them.

And too, the story is filled with the standard tropes of fantasy. The uniqueness of the story is in the concept of the wards, and the value of the tale is in the deft writing, but there are no surprises or new frontiers crossed in The Warded Man. The story even has the standard rape of the female protagonist, something that is rapidly becoming part and parcel with any epic fantasy with female heroines. Not that Brett doesn’t write it well, or use it effectively, but there are other ways of creating life changing events for women, which was something Brett had done quite well earlier in the novel.

The story is also not heavy on description. The way the corelings look is not clearly defined, but is simply left to the reader’s imagination. For some readers this will be great, allowing their imaginations to run wild, others may dislike the fact that not even the wards are clearly described by Brett. The specifics are left to the imagination. That is not to say that the book is unclear in any way, Brett just does not spend inordinate amounts of time describing what the reader sees, preferring instead to use his words to look in to the minds of the characters and relate the events and action.

For those who dislike novels that are about primarily characters and their personal problems will not likely enjoy this novel. It draws comparisons to novels like Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World (not the later novels), Karen Miller’s Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology or Brent Weeks’ Night Angel trilogy. Fans of early Terry Brooks, David Eddings, or Patrick Rothfuss will thoroughly enjoy this book. In many ways, it is a throwback to the epic fantasy of the late 80’s and early 90’s when many of the series that are held up as being the best of the subgenre were first begun.

I can see why Del Rey wants to promote this book to highschoolers. Although it has some intimate material, the problems of these young teens becoming adults will resonate with the modern teen. Arlen lacks respect for a cowardly father; Leesha is beautiful and suffers at the hands of men who want to posses her, but who care nothing for her as a person. Additionally, she wishes to keep herself pure for her true love, and this is hard in society that praises men for bedding women, and then shuns the women who give in. Rojer, the least developed character, wants to overcome his infirmity and become something great. His character will likely play a much greater role in future books, as his jealousy of Arlen deepens. Young men and women will relate to these characters, and although some of the material is a little more adult than I would prefer for a highschooler, the novel is a good starting point for discussing some of the things that trouble the minds of today’s teenagers.

I cannot recommend The Warded Man highly enough. It is thoroughly entertaining, having the right mix of suspense, action and introspection. It never bogs down for any of its length, as Brett paces the story masterfully. The world itself and the concept of the wards make the story unique among epic fantasies. The tale ends on a note of expectation, making me eager to read the second book, The Desert Spear, to find out what happens. The Warded Man is truly unputdownable. Make sure you have plenty of time for reading it, because you will not want to leave its pages for anything. ( )

http://superfastreader.com/the-warded...

outstanding!!!! ( )

When I read the back of the review copy I received, I figured this was going to be an enjoyable read, but never realized at the time just what a page-turner this would end up being. I've read a decent amount of fantasy literature, and I've never come across a similar concept as this one, with the rising of the demons at night, and only special wards could hold them back. This did remind me somewhat of a few things from some of the Shannara books by Terry Brooks, but it is still most definitely it's own story.

The viewpoint characters were all well-chosen, and the end of the book certainly makes you thirst for more. I look forward to the next one in the series. ( )

I received this book through the Early Reviewers program. I loved it. This is the third book I was able to get thru the program and really it's the only one I would recommend with no reservations. I will be looking out for the sequels. The characters are well developed and even the corelings are well developed as the enemy. I ended up staying up too late on a few nights to read "just the next chapter". I see the different covers and title. For the publisher interested in opinions the title Warded Man is much more interesting than "Painted Man". Either cover attracts. ( )