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The Desert Spear: Book Two of the Demon Cycle
by Peter V. Brett
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!