Peter V. Brett

I'm very pleased with this one, maybe even a bit more than the previous two novels. There's quite a bit of court intrigue and Leesha and Rojer are everywhere. I admit to liking those bits a lot more than the whole Krasia bits, but upon a reread I might change my mind.

I'm honestly amazed at just how much magic, fighting, magic fighting, and just how much plain good story there is in-between. It never gets boring at all, and here's the interesting trick: Arlen his new best friend and his show more promised are BARELY in the book.

Far from being an issue, these beastly characters spice up the text when they show up and fling the rest of the world into a demon-cored world, proving to everyone else that it's time to stand up and fight.

Of course, with all these new warded weapons and a truly delightful coinage, no one said they should stop fighting each other.

WAIT!!! Fight the demons, core-you!

War. There's a lot of great war stuff here. I'm usually annoyed with that kind of thing, but I was totally hooked this time. I'm invested in all these characters big time. Even the new ones are interesting as hell. (Thanks, in part, to having read the novella that precedes this.)

But how do I like this? How much do I love this series?

I'd tell you, but the moment I touched sunlight, I'd burst into flames. I've got a demonic interest in this. :) show less

The Warded Man had a tremendously strong start and was well on the way to a five star read. Then three quarters of the way through, I became extremely disenchanted with characterization and plot jumping.

Brett's world is fascinating: a feudal system at the mercy of demons arising from the earth each night, and the only way to defend against them is through the work of drawn/carved wards. The story begins by following a young boy, Arlen, allowing well integrated world-building as Arlen grows. show more Brett did a fabulous job of creating the feeling of subsistence living, of huddling behind the doors each night and the race to get daily chores done by dusk to prevent demon attacks. Before Arlen reaches teen years, the point of view switches to a young girl, Leesha, and then on to another boy, Rojer. Their tales are equally interesting, although Rojer's is significantly shorter; it was almost as if someone said "enough exposition, let's move on." Leesha experience and creation was well done, and I got a great feel for what it must be like to be female and growing up in a village. Then we move to the city of Miln, and Arlen's life takes a sharp turn; in short order he is apprenticed to a Warder and planning to be a Messenger.

Section 2 of the book focuses on the teenage years, roughly speaking, so for Arlen that means his apprenticeship in Miln, Leesha her apprenticeship as a Herb Gatherer and Rojer's own apprenticeship as a Jongleur. This section is much shorter, a mere 88 pages to the 158 of the first section, although it felt anemic, as the time period of growing into adulthood makes for rapid and significant changes. Oddly, what seems to happen to these three is that the "moral code" of their childhood selves solidifies, becoming a kind of arrested development.

The final section is what caused rapid downshifting in enjoyment and rating: Section three is where Brett seriously tested my belief in the characters he created and the world he built. We catch up with Arlen three years after he's left Miln. He's in some mysterious ruins (aren't they all), discovering wards and a heavily warded spear. He takes the spear he's found to the city of Krasia, which is clearly modeled on every stereotype about Middle Eastern desert tribal culture. That's right: warrior men, women that do all the labor, cripples are in the untouchable class and outsiders are "considered cowards." Arlen shows them the spear, fight corelings alongside them, and for his reward, is thrown into a pit weaponless to fight his way free of corelings. Yes, that's right; the boy that spent every day in study--who had to be told by his master to go play outdoors with the other kids--is suddenly an expert in hand to hand combat.

Once he becomes the tattooed man, his physical skills increase. I found suspension of disbelief seriously threatened in this section; one, Arlen's becoming the perfect warrior: highly intelligent, creative (we knew from work with the wards) and now physically amazing. It's always a little annoying when your protagonist becomes superhuman, and I really don't feel Brett gave us enough justification for getting there. Two, I mention again his entire teenage youth spent in the library or crafting, except on Sundays when he studied physical skills with Ragen, and riding around on horses with Mery once they become more intimate? How exactly did he get amazing? Three, Arlen was afraid to make wards into the spear, because they would be damaged with the attack, but he's not afraid for his tattoos? Break tattooed skin and scarring mars the tattoos. Later we get the justification that he's started to absorb magic from the demons when he destroys them.

I think this is when my credibility stretched and snapped. Oh, now Arlen is magical as well? And the first in centuries to discover this? Then, by the time he meets Leesha and Rojer, he's riding a war charger he bred and trained to stand with him against demons. Like a little selective breeding and horse training wouldn't take another ten years and be a whole new set of skills. So now he's a natural warder, a scholar, an amazing fighter, a subsistence forager and hunter and now a horse trainer? Doesn't strike me as possible within the boundaries of the world Brett set up. It felt like suddenly we have the Epic Hero, but we missed out on the process of getting there. The lavish detail showing in their childhoods and world building is suddenly cut down to bare bones.

I think it goes without saying that it is about time that we leave the female rape scene out of fantasy, particularly when it is your only female character.

The rest of the book became a chore to finish, as my enjoyment in the world Brett created was spoiled by the metamorphosis of his lead into an invincible superhero. I found the moment of sommersaulting in the air and double-heel-striking two corelings annoying--how did I get in a Jet Li movie? The immediately doomed love scene between him and Leesha was a complete letdown in it's unoriginality. He immediately decides it needs to end because he must be part demon and his "seed is tainted." Yawn. Like we didn't get an enormous diatribe on how Leesha learned to prevent pregnancy at part of her training. We get the stereotypical dual stomp-off instead. Leesha becomes mother figure to village and alternates between tears and screaming at people. Sigh. What happened to our more thoughtfully created female?

I really loved the beginning and spent hours wrapped up in the book. Once section three came along we switched into Epic Fantasy Action Hero mode and I lost a lot of enjoyment. That said, world building until then was solid. Language use was well done. Plot believable (until then). I down rated this from a "must buy" to a "borrow" book.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/the-warded-man-demon-cycle-1-by-peter-... show less

Pros: lots of action, character development, satisfying series ending

Cons: at a disadvantage if haven’t read the novellas

This is the fifth and final volume of the Demon Cycle. A lot has happened as Arlen and Jardir finally take their party down to the core. Their captured mind demon alerts them that the hive is close to swarm, but it’s too late for them to help their friends and loved ones who are about to be overrun at the new moon. All they can do as they journey below is hope show more they’ve prepared those they leave behind well enough to survive on their own.

There are a lot of point of view characters, some for the first time. This allows the reader to see events all over Thesa as the demons attack. And they attack hard. The book does a fantastic job of consolidating all of the people and places that have been visited in the series.

Having said that, I was surprised that the people and events of some of the novellas were referenced without preamble. Derek from Brayan’s Gold shows up with no introduction and I’m assuming the novella Messenger’s Legacy (which I haven’t read) explains why Ragen and Elissa aren’t in Miln when The Core begins. While I felt Briar was properly introduced in The Skull Throne, when Regan and Elissa showed up it felt like I’d missed a chapter, as there’s no explanation of what they’ve been doing though there are a few cryptic hints that they were in Laktown looking for Briar. Once they were back in Miln I found their political situation quite interesting.

There is a lot of action both with the defenders up top and those penetrating the deeps. The battles are varied, as the mind demons fight dirty. Once or twice we’re shown the after effects of a scene rather than a scene itself, which lessened the impact of some tragedies. But on the whole it’s a whirlwind of battles intercut with preparations for surviving the next battle.

I liked that Arlen and Jardir continue to develop as people. Seeing Jardir start to question his beliefs as he learns more about Kaji’s own descent while Arlen starts to realize there may in fact be a Creator after all, was kind of neat. I thought that the birth of Leesha’s child and the politics surrounding its identity were handled well.

There are a number of touching, heartfelt moments in the book. I particularly liked when Jardir says his goodbyes.

The final battle was hard fought and gave a very satisfying ending for the series. show less

At last, the start of a new series from Peter Brett. I have been looking forward to see if he could improve on his Night Angel series. So far, this first book is a bit of an improvement and shows some promise.
The book is set in a world where every night, 'demons' rise from the Core and attack any human that isn't protected by magic wards. The demons are almost completely invulnerable to normal weapons, and humans have learned to live in fear every night, hiding behind wards. For an show more unspecified reason, the demons are completely destroyed by daylight. For another unspecified reason, just about anyone is able to draw warding symbols that keep the demons/corelings at bay. How this warding magic works or why it is so common isn't explained. The demons aren't explained well either, and they are alternately referred to as demons and Corelings. They are described more like elementals than demons which adds to the confusion.
The story is fairly well written and introduces a set of characters that are clearly going to carry the rest of the series. The characters are interesting and the world he has created is interesting. I wish it was a bit better explained and a bit more logical, but even so, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to the 2nd book in the series. show less