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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Surprisingly, much better than the first one - the world and characters have a sense of place, this time around.
The Desert Spear: Something new and fresh inside the epic fantasy realm. It takes two different cultures and aims to weave them together into a whole. Two men see themselves(well at least a little) as something called the deliverer, but there can be only one. Though they fight the same cause; against the demon army, they cannot bring themselves to agree. Very good stuff, and although this is the second book of the series I ran right through it with ease; without having touched the first book. This was by accident mind you, and I will be going back now and reading book one.
I read The Warded Man a while ago and definitely enjoyed it. I didn't actually own The Desert Spear, so it was a while before I got to reading it. Honestly, most of that was because it had been so long since I read the first one, that I was afraid I'd forgotten too much. But I ended up going ahead and giving this one a try and I'm glad I did. For the first 30 or so pages, I was annoyed and couldn't figure out what the deal was since I didn't really remember Jardir at all from the first one. And where was the Warded Man? But I soon got into his story too and all was good. I'll definitely be continuing on sooner rather than later with this series.
I really enjoyed "The Desert Spear". When I first started reading it I was expecting it to be set up much like the "Warded Man", the first book in the series; great characters and good plot but quite a bit of world building before any real action started. The Desert Spear began like this but only to introduce one new character and the world building was interesting enough that I did not mind it at all. Brett kept it relatively short and sweet and dove into the action immediately following this which I enjoyed a lot.
Perhaps the best thing about this book is the characters. The different POV's keep the story interesting and give it a fast moving feeling but Brett really shines in his choice of POV's and the way he seems to bring them to life. These feel like real people - with a real person's flaws, ambitions, and motivations. Throughout the series, and especially the book, the characters evolve and change as could be expected with any real person undergoing tramatic events over a period of months or years. This progression, this evolution, of the characters as they come into their own is the real reason I have stuck with this series and will continue to stick with the series. Any reader knows that when the characters come to life to such a degree that you are hopeful for them or angry at them then the author has done his or her work masterfully.
I took off one star for the ending. Personally I love a good, action packed and surprising ending and here is the only real area that I feel Brett failed in his endeavor. By the time the fights happened the outcome was a forgone conclusion and it left what should have been the climax feeling very anti-climatic instead. Still it did leave plenty of room open for the newest editiion, "The Daylight War" and I look forward to continuing the Demon Cycle series.
Perhaps the best thing about this book is the characters. The different POV's keep the story interesting and give it a fast moving feeling but Brett really shines in his choice of POV's and the way he seems to bring them to life. These feel like real people - with a real person's flaws, ambitions, and motivations. Throughout the series, and especially the book, the characters evolve and change as could be expected with any real person undergoing tramatic events over a period of months or years. This progression, this evolution, of the characters as they come into their own is the real reason I have stuck with this series and will continue to stick with the series. Any reader knows that when the characters come to life to such a degree that you are hopeful for them or angry at them then the author has done his or her work masterfully.
I took off one star for the ending. Personally I love a good, action packed and surprising ending and here is the only real area that I feel Brett failed in his endeavor. By the time the fights happened the outcome was a forgone conclusion and it left what should have been the climax feeling very anti-climatic instead. Still it did leave plenty of room open for the newest editiion, "The Daylight War" and I look forward to continuing the Demon Cycle series.
this was definitely not the sequel I wanted but it turned out to be the sequel I needed. there's a depth to this world that I didn't quite catch in the first book but in this 2nd book I got answers to questions I couldn't possibly believe I wanted to ask. minor details that I overlooked in the first become major plot points in the second. it just feels so well thought out.
ABANDONED.
I am abandoning the book and the rest of the series. I'm just tired to death of books where worlds are created that STILL treat women worse than pigs. Tired of it. I keep hoping for a saving grace, no such luck. Sadly, a well written book too.
I am abandoning the book and the rest of the series. I'm just tired to death of books where worlds are created that STILL treat women worse than pigs. Tired of it. I keep hoping for a saving grace, no such luck. Sadly, a well written book too.
I just finished the second book of the Demon Trilogy (third, not yet published). The author weaves a story about humans and demons from the point of view of several different characters. Many of the characters fit into standard fantasy novel archetypes, but I still found the series to enjoyable. It'll be interesting to see if the author has any plot twists to introduce. Although it seems to be headed in one particular direction.
SPOILER ALERT: Arlen will probably have to enter the Core to defeat the demons in battle or perhaps merge with them.
SPOILER ALERT: Arlen will probably have to enter the Core to defeat the demons in battle or perhaps merge with them.
I went back and forth on wether I enjoyed The Desert Spear (book #2) more than [b:The Warded Man|3428935|The Warded Man (Demon Cycle, #1)|Peter V. Brett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354571949s/3428935.jpg|6589794] (book #1). I think in the end I still enjoyed The Warded Man more, but it was very close.
The Desert Spear starts out with a whole-lotta back story on Krasia, a city only briefly touched upon in The Warded Man. This back story almost ruined the entire book for me as it took over 200 pages to catch up to all the characters I cared about from the first book. Seriously, I get that some history was needed, but it's almost a third of the entire book. Even with so much page-time devoted to these 'new' characters, Jardir and several other Krasians still felt a two-dimensional to me.
Once the timelines finally caught up though, woo-hoo! The main characters have all finally grown into their own with several minor characters also taking their places among the leading stories in the world of Thesa. At times it bothered me a little that so many minor characters from the past now seem to coincidentally have importance, but I can understand the necessity to fill what appears to be shaping up as a very expansive world.
Keeping that in mind however, I could have done with a little more diversity in some of the naming conventions. I get that the Krasian people seem to love the letter 'A' (with so many words ending in either an 'a' or 'ah') but try keeping this mess straight: Abban, Ashan, Asome, Asukaji, Aleverak, Ahmann, Ahmanjah, Amadeveram, Amanvah, Andrah, Amkaji, Alagai, Angiers, Arlen, Araine. Seriously, there are a few other letters in the alphabet, USE THEM!
As for the demons, it was nice to see them shaping into more than just mindless swarms of feral creatures. From a writing standpoint, I appreciate that the "bad guys" are becoming more complex along with the "good guys." It's much more intense when the characters appear to be evenly matched. It's also very satisfying when any of the protagonists discover a new ward or long forgotten demon-hunting trick. This helped to keep fresh what could have otherwise become very repetitive battle sequences.
Arlen is still very much my favorite character and he seems perfectly setup for something epic in [b:The Daylight War|9268487|The Daylight War (Demon Cycle, #3)|Peter V. Brett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360777092s/9268487.jpg|14150105] (book 3). I can't wait!
The Desert Spear starts out with a whole-lotta back story on Krasia, a city only briefly touched upon in The Warded Man. This back story almost ruined the entire book for me as it took over 200 pages to catch up to all the characters I cared about from the first book. Seriously, I get that some history was needed, but it's almost a third of the entire book. Even with so much page-time devoted to these 'new' characters, Jardir and several other Krasians still felt a two-dimensional to me.
Once the timelines finally caught up though, woo-hoo! The main characters have all finally grown into their own with several minor characters also taking their places among the leading stories in the world of Thesa. At times it bothered me a little that so many minor characters from the past now seem to coincidentally have importance, but I can understand the necessity to fill what appears to be shaping up as a very expansive world.
Keeping that in mind however, I could have done with a little more diversity in some of the naming conventions. I get that the Krasian people seem to love the letter 'A' (with so many words ending in either an 'a' or 'ah') but try keeping this mess straight: Abban, Ashan, Asome, Asukaji, Aleverak, Ahmann, Ahmanjah, Amadeveram, Amanvah, Andrah, Amkaji, Alagai, Angiers, Arlen, Araine. Seriously, there are a few other letters in the alphabet, USE THEM!
As for the demons, it was nice to see them shaping into more than just mindless swarms of feral creatures. From a writing standpoint, I appreciate that the "bad guys" are becoming more complex along with the "good guys." It's much more intense when the characters appear to be evenly matched. It's also very satisfying when any of the protagonists discover a new ward or long forgotten demon-hunting trick. This helped to keep fresh what could have otherwise become very repetitive battle sequences.
Arlen is still very much my favorite character and he seems perfectly setup for something epic in [b:The Daylight War|9268487|The Daylight War (Demon Cycle, #3)|Peter V. Brett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360777092s/9268487.jpg|14150105] (book 3). I can't wait!
This story could have been very good if it wasn't for the following characters:
The warded man who stopped maturing when he turned 15, the jongleur sub who follows around his dom doing her biddings even though he never gets to “stick” her. If you haven't figured out who the dom is then brace yourself and perhaps read the book again. It's the Leash or Leesha, the compassionate healer on the surface, and an aspiring dominatrix deep inside her rotten core. If you told her that, she would hate you and strike you, then 10 years later, she would secretly admit that maybe you were right about her;) I don’t know what is worse, a pedophile running around trying to “save” children or this conniving cockteaser Leesha who delights in squashing important traditions (like warrior who wants to die fighting rather than live as cripple) when they don’t suit her own shallow designs. There is something sickening and weak about people who are dishonest with themselves, who judge others for their needs while deep inside they harbor the same needs. The worst part is that these characters are portrayed as protagonists. I am not sure why the author feels that some self-righteous, scheming Mary Sue like Leesha is the model citizen that every village idiot wants to follow. To be fair he did refer to them as children. Even Jardir who was well rounded character in Krasia, becomes unbalanced when he is wrapped around the Leash.
I haven’t given up on the author because his portrayal of Jardir and his first wife Inevera was very good, and I am no muslim sympathizer. Unfortunately once the story returns to the “Greenlanders” it falls apart in a wake of poorly written characters. The dialogs drop to high school level and everyone becomes shallow and formulaic, as if they were all part of some lame Hollywood script.
Save lives or die;) (of course killing animals and trees in the process does not count as killing. The earth was created to be abused by all the Mary Sues.)
The warded man who stopped maturing when he turned 15, the jongleur sub who follows around his dom doing her biddings even though he never gets to “stick” her. If you haven't figured out who the dom is then brace yourself and perhaps read the book again. It's the Leash or Leesha, the compassionate healer on the surface, and an aspiring dominatrix deep inside her rotten core. If you told her that, she would hate you and strike you, then 10 years later, she would secretly admit that maybe you were right about her;) I don’t know what is worse, a pedophile running around trying to “save” children or this conniving cockteaser Leesha who delights in squashing important traditions (like warrior who wants to die fighting rather than live as cripple) when they don’t suit her own shallow designs. There is something sickening and weak about people who are dishonest with themselves, who judge others for their needs while deep inside they harbor the same needs. The worst part is that these characters are portrayed as protagonists. I am not sure why the author feels that some self-righteous, scheming Mary Sue like Leesha is the model citizen that every village idiot wants to follow. To be fair he did refer to them as children. Even Jardir who was well rounded character in Krasia, becomes unbalanced when he is wrapped around the Leash.
I haven’t given up on the author because his portrayal of Jardir and his first wife Inevera was very good, and I am no muslim sympathizer. Unfortunately once the story returns to the “Greenlanders” it falls apart in a wake of poorly written characters. The dialogs drop to high school level and everyone becomes shallow and formulaic, as if they were all part of some lame Hollywood script.
Save lives or die;) (of course killing animals and trees in the process does not count as killing. The earth was created to be abused by all the Mary Sues.)
I like the premise of the book, but I typically didn't like his women characters nor the treatment of sex in his book. I'll read the 3rd in the trilogy, but I don't think I could recommend this across the board to my friends. If you like George RR Martin, then this is an excellent series & won't offend.