Author: Peter V. Brett
Type: Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes. Book Three of The Demon Cycle
Pages: 639
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Del Ray Books
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Summary: from Good Reads.
On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.
Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead him to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.
The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.
Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons--a spear and a crown--that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.
But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.
Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all--those lurking in the human heart.
Feelings:
The third in The Demon Cycle series I thought this book was better than the ones that came before it. The characters are more developed and the story is still about the struggle between human survival and the demons but this book also looks at humanity. The relationships between individuals and how they relate to each other plays an important part in this book.
My biggest complaint about the book is that I feel a little like we have a Middle Eastern based people, the Kasians, who will take over the world with their believes and a more Western interpretation the Thesan, Greenlanders, as they are often referred to. I'm willing to let that go though because the story is very will done and it isn't only about the struggle between the people but a struggle to survive.
I didn't notice in the other books but the chapter headings have images that indicate from which characters perspective the chapter will be from. Inevera has dice, Renna has a knife, Rojer a violin, Leesha a mortar and pastel, Abban a camel crutch, Arlen a hand with a ward, the Royal Consort, a mind demon has a demon head, and Ahmann Jardir has a warded spear. There are eight points of view in the novel and it works there wasn't any confusion even without the symbols in the chapter headings to indicate who we would be reading from their perspective.
In this book Inevera was the character we got to know and she became a main narrator. In The Desert Spear most of the book was spent getting to know Ahmann Jardir, and in the first book The Warded Man Arlen was given most of the space however we also got to know Leesha and Rojer's stories from the beginning.
Unlike the other books this book left you hanging at the end. With the first two I wanted to read the next book. However, I wasn't left feeling like it was imperative to read the next book as soon as possible. There is only one problem with this, in that this book was published in 2013 and the next book is set for 2015 meaning I have a good while to wait. There are a projected five books in the series and it looks like it will be 2018 or later when the series is wrapped up. Let the waiting begin.
I highly recommend this book to those that love fantasy.
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