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A review by jaredwsaltz
The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett
1.0
Few times have I seen a book with good potential become so bad, so quickly. Whereas the pace in Warded Man was good, and the story compelling, Desert Spear lampoons the pacing, the plot, and the characters. We go from the Jordan-inspired Warded Man to Jordan-Rip-Off Desert Spear, with George R. R. Martin's proclivity for sexual deviancy, acceptance, and transformation tossed in as an "extra." Brett seems to have written the first book as an interesting fantasy and then felt that he needed to write something "more," and attempts to make his book some sort of commentary on gender theory, sexual liberation, and psychoanalysis all at once.
Needless to say, he fails horribly. Fantasy can be an excellent place to explore sensitive cultural issues, but the ham-handed approach shown by Brett and others (think: Terry Goodkind's awful Naked Empire) isn't the way to do it. While fantasy can provide social commentary, it must first be good fantasy. Brett has failed at that. Mainly because so little happens in the six-hundred pages of the book. The first third is flashbacks, and instead of quick snipped or even extended commentary, we are treated to little information that a perceptive reader wouldn't have gleaned from reading through the Warded Man. The final two thirds' plot can be summed up in a single sentence: Jardir and Arlen can kill demons even better now, even the really powerful ones, and everyone else is catching onto the the trick as well.
I rarely give books a single star, but this is the one of the worst books I've read in quite awhile and--from what I've read about the third one--it just gets worse from here. I will likely not complete the series, something which speaks volumes from someone like me.
Needless to say, he fails horribly. Fantasy can be an excellent place to explore sensitive cultural issues, but the ham-handed approach shown by Brett and others (think: Terry Goodkind's awful Naked Empire) isn't the way to do it. While fantasy can provide social commentary, it must first be good fantasy. Brett has failed at that. Mainly because so little happens in the six-hundred pages of the book. The first third is flashbacks, and instead of quick snipped or even extended commentary, we are treated to little information that a perceptive reader wouldn't have gleaned from reading through the Warded Man. The final two thirds' plot can be summed up in a single sentence: Jardir and Arlen can kill demons even better now, even the really powerful ones, and everyone else is catching onto the the trick as well.
I rarely give books a single star, but this is the one of the worst books I've read in quite awhile and--from what I've read about the third one--it just gets worse from here. I will likely not complete the series, something which speaks volumes from someone like me.