Reviews

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

calbowen's review against another edition

2.0

Meh - I stayed with it to the end, but there was no reward - the things that you think will happen do - the things that would make the book interesting are missing - characters are not stand-out - the only reason I stayed? - the world was great - the demons (corelings) were interesting and the different ways to combat them - but the warded man - well, very anti-climatic in story-telling - I will not continue, because every character that lived I don't care about and I didn't skip a beat when a character died - also, the females are treated, well, cardboard - even though there is a strong female character (kind-of) she still is treated like a useless throw-away - it is not horrible, but when I get to the end of a book, I ask myself, do I want to know what happens to these characters? - the answer simply is - NOPE.

estelle127's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

broomrider's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.75

timinbc's review against another edition

3.0

(title The Painted Man in some areas) Pretty good for a first novel. Basic premise good, characters interesting. Follows the rules, sometimes to a fault (for example, any time a character plays a musical instrument, you KNOW a bad guy is going to smash the instrument). Too many of the bad guys are one-dimensional, and if he doesn't kill off Leesha's mother soon I may not finish the series. Near the end there are some sudden leaps in the plot that made me wonder if I was missing some pages; odd, because the pace had been steady before that. And, as others have noted, the author seems to have a load to carry about dysfunctional sexual relationships and attitudes.

frances_the_red's review against another edition

2.0

Obwohl ich im ersten Drittel sehr viel Spaß hatte, kam irgendwann der Moment an dem ich einen Protagonisten so unerträglich fand, dass ich das Buch in die Ecke werfen wollte.

Spoiler

Am Anfang machte der 'Außerwählte' nur einen auf Mary Sue, der immer alles richtig tat, ein perfekter Lehrling, ein Außnahmetalent. Als er jedoch anfing das Fleisch seiner Gegner zu essen und sich die Hände tattoowierte um den Monstern nicht nur mit seinem overpowered Speer sondern auch mit seinen puren Fäusten die Fresse zu polieren, wars für mich vorbei.

Dennoch tolles Worldbuilding und originelle Fantasy-Elemente.

llayaz's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

rockhopper's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

joaosc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

dreaming_ace's review against another edition

1.0

This was an ok adventure with an interesting concept but a poor execution. The world it is set in is extremely sexist. Women are for having children and that is really the only path for them. Yes there are a few who are healers but even among them having children is important. I also was so disappointed in the atrociously sexist ending. I am giving this 1 star instead of 2 or 3 because 1.The one female lead who seemed to be choosing another path for herself gets raped in the last 50 or so pages for no good reason (and it did not even move the plot along), 2. She then the next day decides that she wants to have kids with the random guy she just met 3. When for various reasons he says no she basically goes I will wait and convince you we need to have kids. 4. And for Acephoic lines such as this one about them having sex "His body continued of its own accord, acting on instincts ingrained into every living thing since the dawn of time" (This is completely false, even disregarding asexuals and those on the asexual spectrum there are plenty of "living things" which do not have this instinct)

veraann's review against another edition

2.0

I struggled with my rating on this. I liked the concepts and the main story, but I didn't really care about the characters and this is a very character driven fantasy. The flow of the book felt really jumpy we have chapters upon chapters of Arlen, then a chapter or 2 on another character, then back to Arlen. Arlen's story was more detailed and in depth, while the others felt like a quick summary of another character and only there so when we go back to Arlen we could time jump to his next big event.
It is also a first book and feels like it's a whole ton of backstory and set up for not just these characters but the world itself. If this is the case I may appreciate this book later on in the series. For me the first 3/4 of the book was slow and jumpy. The last 1/4 moved quicker for me, but still felt like that backstory and setup for what is to come.

Since the major concepts of the wards and core, fight between mankind and corelings is interesting I will continue to read the series to see what this book leads into. I have hopes that it will get better than book 1 since this series is highly talked about and I can imagine the high ratings on this book has some to do with the series as a whole and an appreciation for this setup book more than the book itself being that good.