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aliehsn's review against another edition
5.0
Sone may feel little happened in this book, but there's a ton of information and detail and I feel I'm finally understanding the characters. Also, cliffhanger :)
ozzyjones's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and War
Moderate: Infidelity, Slavery, and Pregnancy
theavidread3r's review against another edition
3.0
About halfway through the book I had begun to wonder if Brett had lost his way. The story of Inevera, while captivating, gets so bogged down in her sexual nature I felt it detracted from the overall story.
I come to a fantasy series to read about characters and the struggles of good vs evil in a world. There were times when it felt as though Brett was instead taking us into 50 shades of Grey. The women in this book seem to live in a strange dichotomy of natures: they are strong independent women who need no ones council, and slaves to their passion all at once. It felt disingenuous to the character progression at numerous points.
Once you wade through the first half of the book, you do have a much deeper understanding of Inevera and Ahmann. This is where the story finds its legs and starts to fit in with the previous books.
The ending was satisfying, if a bit rushed. After painstakingly laying out the motivations for every action up until this point, Brett says 'screw it' and hits warp speed. It is not out of character, just jarring compared to the pace of the rest of the book.
I enjoyed the book, but the first half detracted from the overall pace and tone of the story for me. Your mileage may vary. Enjoyed it in its whole, and hoping Brett can find a balance between methodical character development and blistering battle scenes.
I come to a fantasy series to read about characters and the struggles of good vs evil in a world. There were times when it felt as though Brett was instead taking us into 50 shades of Grey. The women in this book seem to live in a strange dichotomy of natures: they are strong independent women who need no ones council, and slaves to their passion all at once. It felt disingenuous to the character progression at numerous points.
Once you wade through the first half of the book, you do have a much deeper understanding of Inevera and Ahmann. This is where the story finds its legs and starts to fit in with the previous books.
The ending was satisfying, if a bit rushed. After painstakingly laying out the motivations for every action up until this point, Brett says 'screw it' and hits warp speed. It is not out of character, just jarring compared to the pace of the rest of the book.
I enjoyed the book, but the first half detracted from the overall pace and tone of the story for me. Your mileage may vary. Enjoyed it in its whole, and hoping Brett can find a balance between methodical character development and blistering battle scenes.
lachralle's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant at times, a long awaited extension of this series but also a bit much room for Inevara. And you can't even call the ending a cliffhanger, it's a cliffjumper. So back to waiting mode for part 4.
tannertrinity's review against another edition
3.0
somewhat redundant. little progression in the storyline until halfway through the book.
The most important 3 nights of the new moon battles were not covered well. Only the fights of the first night are described. after miraculously surviving night 1, apparently nothing happened in the following 2 nights.
The most important 3 nights of the new moon battles were not covered well. Only the fights of the first night are described. after miraculously surviving night 1, apparently nothing happened in the following 2 nights.
ralphd00d's review against another edition
3.0
I was a bit miffed at Brett's third book of the Demon War series. I had read quickly through the first two, and even the additional short stories. This one made me feel a bit let down, as I had to slog through what I felt was boring content.
The story continues the ongoing war of humans versus the demons that rise at night. Whereas the first book brought us Arlen Bales, the changed (and warded) man, and book two gave us Jardir's background more in-depth. Book three seemed a bit of a waste as it spent much of the time backtracking about Inerva, Jardir's first wife. I never cared how she came to be his wife, and still don't see the relevancy to the whole story line of why we need to know this.
Also, Arlen hooks up with Renna, and they get Promised (married). This gal is a brat! Defies all warnings, suggestions to the good, and does whatever she wants. And the dialogue she has with anyone is like a third-grade kid. Yes, I know she is supposed to be 'backwoods' and thus uneducated, but it's cheesy stuff.
I did like the advancement of the current story line, though I am a bit miffed at the ending. Obviously there is a fourth book to come, as it would suck for Brett to end the series this way. I do hope the next book will stick more to the current story, instead of going back over every character's life up to the point where they enter the story.
The story continues the ongoing war of humans versus the demons that rise at night. Whereas the first book brought us Arlen Bales, the changed (and warded) man, and book two gave us Jardir's background more in-depth. Book three seemed a bit of a waste as it spent much of the time backtracking about Inerva, Jardir's first wife. I never cared how she came to be his wife, and still don't see the relevancy to the whole story line of why we need to know this.
Also, Arlen hooks up with Renna, and they get Promised (married). This gal is a brat! Defies all warnings, suggestions to the good, and does whatever she wants. And the dialogue she has with anyone is like a third-grade kid. Yes, I know she is supposed to be 'backwoods' and thus uneducated, but it's cheesy stuff.
I did like the advancement of the current story line, though I am a bit miffed at the ending. Obviously there is a fourth book to come, as it would suck for Brett to end the series this way. I do hope the next book will stick more to the current story, instead of going back over every character's life up to the point where they enter the story.
brunovasconcelos's review against another edition
4.0
This was a strange read.
Some parts were terribly bad, some were very good.
I was about to give max. only 3 stars for this one, but the last 300 pages (german version)
were really strong again, so I think as a whole, this book is a 4 stars read.
Some parts were terribly bad, some were very good.
I was about to give max. only 3 stars for this one, but the last 300 pages (german version)
were really strong again, so I think as a whole, this book is a 4 stars read.
g_na's review against another edition
3.0
Book three in a series of five, and so far it's my least favourite despite the first book being a five-star fave.
My laundry list of complaints:
The Demon Cycle books are written from the point of view of different characters. Here, the first chunk of the book is spent introducing a new point of view and extensive flashbacks from a previous character, Inevera. Why wasn't this done in the last book, when Inevera was introduced to us? And why did that introduction have to be so long?
Speaking of long, there were so many descriptions of fighting with demons that I started glossing over them; after the first handful of battle descriptions they all start to sound the same and, honestly, I got bored with them.
Arlen was such a powerful character in the first book, but here he's become one-dimensional and his relationship with Renna escalated and intensified very quickly without much explanation other than Arlen saw inside the demon's mind. I really wish Brett had spent more time developing their relationship and describing the emotional process that changed Arlen.
Many of the Krasian characters have similar names starting with an "A", and many of those people are related. I couldn't keep track of who was whose son/nephew/brother/whatever, and honestly, it doesn't really make a difference in the story.
As much of a fan as I am of fantasy I know there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that has to happen to enjoy the genre, and I am okay with that. But there's also a tipping point where there's just so many outrageous things happening that suspension becomes difficult, and this book seems to have reached that point with me.
Okay, despite the above list I am still interested in the story and want to finish reading the series. I do hope the future books are better reads than this because I'd like to really enjoy reading them.
My laundry list of complaints:
The Demon Cycle books are written from the point of view of different characters. Here, the first chunk of the book is spent introducing a new point of view and extensive flashbacks from a previous character, Inevera. Why wasn't this done in the last book, when Inevera was introduced to us? And why did that introduction have to be so long?
Speaking of long, there were so many descriptions of fighting with demons that I started glossing over them; after the first handful of battle descriptions they all start to sound the same and, honestly, I got bored with them.
Arlen was such a powerful character in the first book, but here he's become one-dimensional and his relationship with Renna escalated and intensified very quickly without much explanation other than Arlen saw inside the demon's mind. I really wish Brett had spent more time developing their relationship and describing the emotional process that changed Arlen.
Many of the Krasian characters have similar names starting with an "A", and many of those people are related. I couldn't keep track of who was whose son/nephew/brother/whatever, and honestly, it doesn't really make a difference in the story.
As much of a fan as I am of fantasy I know there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that has to happen to enjoy the genre, and I am okay with that. But there's also a tipping point where there's just so many outrageous things happening that suspension becomes difficult, and this book seems to have reached that point with me.
Okay, despite the above list I am still interested in the story and want to finish reading the series. I do hope the future books are better reads than this because I'd like to really enjoy reading them.
tazzymk's review against another edition
4.0
Disappointed in the character development which is very frustrating because the story is interesting and clever. Really dislike Renna and struggle to understand Arlen's strong feelings for her, seems forced by the Author and along with a her very quick raise in power which frankly compared to everyone else's long learning journey is bonkers.
Very much enjoyed learning more about Inevera and both her and Ahmann Jardir have really grown on me. Feel for Lesha though, she has diminished and feels in a no win situation at every turn.
I didn't mind see the multiple points of view across the same time period which I noted others disliked. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Very much enjoyed learning more about Inevera and both her and Ahmann Jardir have really grown on me. Feel for Lesha though, she has diminished and feels in a no win situation at every turn.
I didn't mind see the multiple points of view across the same time period which I noted others disliked. Looking forward to the next instalment.
rinn's review against another edition
4.0
Update November 2024: I attempted to re-read this series earlier this year, and really disliked the CONSTANT sexual assault and treatment of women as second class citizens. I gave up halfway through re-reading the second book in the series, so did not get round to re-reading this one, but I imagine my thoughts and rating would now be very different.
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I devoured the first two books in this series, so when I saw the ARC of The Daylight War on Edelweiss I immediately requested it. And reading this ARC has shown me just how badly I get on with the Kindle.
This is a book I'd been anticipating since I finished The Desert Spear. One that I couldn't wait to start - but even then I didn't pick it up until June, despite getting a copy of the ARC at the beginning of the year. And I didn't finish it until a couple of days ago, in early September.
But I'm not actually sure if it was just the fault of the Kindle.
Whilst I can't fault Peter V. Brett's wonderful writing style and vivid imagination, there was just something about this book that just didn't match up to the other two. We spent a vast majority of it in the past, with Inevera - which whilst explaining her behaviour and perhaps justifying (some of) her actions, really made me feel like there was far too much background. In fact the book barely advanced time wise, because so much of it was spent in the past.
I also got irritated by Arlen and Renna, eventually. Their relationship was sweet at first, and it was nice to see the real Arlen Bales that I knew from the first book, rather than the Warded Man, but their way of talking to each other started to bug me. This volume of the series certainly tends to focus a lot more on relationships, with even Rojer getting some action. He lost my respect though - although he may have been embracing Krasian culture, it felt kind of... creepy.
However, Leesha was her usual headstrong self, and has some problems she will have to face in the next book. As well as this, we will see the conclusion of the cliffhanger - and I can't decide if that frustrates me or gets me excited for the next book!
Sorry this review is so short. I didn't take very comprehensive notes because of the time it took me to read it, plus I read a large majority on a long train ride home so didn't manage to make any notes during that time. I just want to express that The Daylight War keeps up the wonderful world-building of the first two books, whilst lacking most of the excitement. There was just far too much of the past, and not enough of the present, where the demon threat is. Although some of the developments (Rojer's talent in particular) were exciting, it fell flat compared to the action of the first book in particular.
However, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a four star rating. Keep writing, Mr. Brett.
Thank you to Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
----------------
I devoured the first two books in this series, so when I saw the ARC of The Daylight War on Edelweiss I immediately requested it. And reading this ARC has shown me just how badly I get on with the Kindle.
This is a book I'd been anticipating since I finished The Desert Spear. One that I couldn't wait to start - but even then I didn't pick it up until June, despite getting a copy of the ARC at the beginning of the year. And I didn't finish it until a couple of days ago, in early September.
But I'm not actually sure if it was just the fault of the Kindle.
Whilst I can't fault Peter V. Brett's wonderful writing style and vivid imagination, there was just something about this book that just didn't match up to the other two. We spent a vast majority of it in the past, with Inevera - which whilst explaining her behaviour and perhaps justifying (some of) her actions, really made me feel like there was far too much background. In fact the book barely advanced time wise, because so much of it was spent in the past.
I also got irritated by Arlen and Renna, eventually. Their relationship was sweet at first, and it was nice to see the real Arlen Bales that I knew from the first book, rather than the Warded Man, but their way of talking to each other started to bug me. This volume of the series certainly tends to focus a lot more on relationships, with even Rojer getting some action. He lost my respect though - although he may have been embracing Krasian culture, it felt kind of... creepy.
However, Leesha was her usual headstrong self, and has some problems she will have to face in the next book. As well as this, we will see the conclusion of the cliffhanger - and I can't decide if that frustrates me or gets me excited for the next book!
Sorry this review is so short. I didn't take very comprehensive notes because of the time it took me to read it, plus I read a large majority on a long train ride home so didn't manage to make any notes during that time. I just want to express that The Daylight War keeps up the wonderful world-building of the first two books, whilst lacking most of the excitement. There was just far too much of the past, and not enough of the present, where the demon threat is. Although some of the developments (Rojer's talent in particular) were exciting, it fell flat compared to the action of the first book in particular.
However, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a four star rating. Keep writing, Mr. Brett.
Thank you to Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.