Melissa B. (dragoneyes) -
I absolutely loved The Warded Man. I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Desert Spear. Knowing it would be about Jadir because of the title, I was a little apprehensive. In The Warded Man I ended up really loathing Jadir and wasn't real sure I wanted to read about him. I'm glad I gave in. Even though I still don't think very highly of Jadir, I can understand him better. The beginning of the book starts off with his life at present and flashes back to his past. Brett does this in an easy manner which is simple to follow. The warded man appears later in the book as does the other characters that you learned to love or hate in the first book. I enjoyed how everything was placed together in this book and can't wait to see how it holds up in the third. I also like the relationships that Brett stirred together. It wasn't something you totally expected which is what I enjoyed. What's the point in reading a book if the author writes about what you thought should happen all along. The only downfall of the book for me is that it was a bit slow in the beginning but totally kept me entranced about a quarter of the way through. If you liked the first in the series I highly recommend this one.
I loved this sequel to the Warded Man! So much was explained that I had questioned in the first volume and Brett has really come into his own as an author. Highly recommended. My only complaint is having to wait for the next volume!
This is the second book in the Demon Cycle trilogy. I didnt enjoy it as much as The Warded Man, the first part of the book was really a drag . The second portion of the book really sucked me in though and convinced me to keep reading the series.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job of distinguishing between character voices and conveying the emotions of the characters. I definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook.
The first part of the book goes back and forth in time following the story of Jardir, who leads the Krasians. He was a villain in the first book, but here we learn how he rose to power. About a third of the way through the book we go back to Kylar, Rojur and Leesha and what they are doing at Cutters Hollow. Some of the story also focuses on Renna (the girl Kylar was promised to when he was young) and her struggles. All of the events are leading to war between the Krasian and the Northern folks.
All of the characters go through quite a bit of character development. I will bluntly say I do not like Jardir and I did not like reading about him. It is fine to want the readers to understand the villain a bit better, but I didnt need to spend half the book reading his back story...seriously I just didnt care all that much.
Because of the long digression through Jardirs back story, the story progresses at a crawl. We really dont get much past the point where we ended in book one. Yes there are some battles and the story progresses some, but really half of this book didnt need to be here.
The second half of this book is very well done. The characters and world are intricate and fascinating. I loved the addition of Renna to the story as well, she really brings something special to the story. The Warded Man continues to gain interesting and new powers.
----------SPOILER START-----------------
Why is it that all the featured female characters have to be raped in the story? It is a right of passage or something? Is there a reason why we cant have a strong female lead that hasnt been raped, beaten, and abused? Just curious why this seems to be a prerequisite for all the females in this book...
----------SPOILER END-------------------
The book is well written and the second half of the book redeems the first half. Seriously though this is a really, really long book...and it feels really, really long. It wasnt a fun kind of long either, the first half was a truly epic struggle for me to get through. I can only hope that future books move the story along a bit faster and dont digress into side stories that are unnecessary.
Overall a decent read. I enjoyed the second half of the book immensely but throught that the first half that was dedicated to Jardirs back story was an epic waste of time. I have The Daylight War to review, so hopefully that will be a quicker moving read. I tentatively recommend this series to fans of epic fantasy. The characters and world are very well done; the book just needs to be cleaned up and have a more concise plot.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job of distinguishing between character voices and conveying the emotions of the characters. I definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook.
The first part of the book goes back and forth in time following the story of Jardir, who leads the Krasians. He was a villain in the first book, but here we learn how he rose to power. About a third of the way through the book we go back to Kylar, Rojur and Leesha and what they are doing at Cutters Hollow. Some of the story also focuses on Renna (the girl Kylar was promised to when he was young) and her struggles. All of the events are leading to war between the Krasian and the Northern folks.
All of the characters go through quite a bit of character development. I will bluntly say I do not like Jardir and I did not like reading about him. It is fine to want the readers to understand the villain a bit better, but I didnt need to spend half the book reading his back story...seriously I just didnt care all that much.
Because of the long digression through Jardirs back story, the story progresses at a crawl. We really dont get much past the point where we ended in book one. Yes there are some battles and the story progresses some, but really half of this book didnt need to be here.
The second half of this book is very well done. The characters and world are intricate and fascinating. I loved the addition of Renna to the story as well, she really brings something special to the story. The Warded Man continues to gain interesting and new powers.
----------SPOILER START-----------------
Why is it that all the featured female characters have to be raped in the story? It is a right of passage or something? Is there a reason why we cant have a strong female lead that hasnt been raped, beaten, and abused? Just curious why this seems to be a prerequisite for all the females in this book...
----------SPOILER END-------------------
The book is well written and the second half of the book redeems the first half. Seriously though this is a really, really long book...and it feels really, really long. It wasnt a fun kind of long either, the first half was a truly epic struggle for me to get through. I can only hope that future books move the story along a bit faster and dont digress into side stories that are unnecessary.
Overall a decent read. I enjoyed the second half of the book immensely but throught that the first half that was dedicated to Jardirs back story was an epic waste of time. I have The Daylight War to review, so hopefully that will be a quicker moving read. I tentatively recommend this series to fans of epic fantasy. The characters and world are very well done; the book just needs to be cleaned up and have a more concise plot.
I really enjoyed the book. I was a little disoriented in the way the story started, but I adjusted and settled in for a good read. I am very happy with Brett's writing style and story telling. I worry about the characters when I am away from the book and always feel disappointment when I have to stop reading. I hope he gets book three out very soon.
A good sequel to "The Warded Man" [also known as the Painted Man overseas].
Follows the growing up of Jardir, who becomes the head of the Krasians and who wants to defeat all demonkind.
Not quite as interesting as "The Warded Man", mainly because the first 1/4-1/3 of the book takes place in Krasia, a kingdom based unabashedly on arab culture. And it is a brutal culture, make no mistake. Women are as nothing, raped, abused and used whenever and however the warrior class sees fit, merchants and all non-warriors are seen as filth and treated no better than, or worse than, animals. Strength, above all else, is prized. Love, mercy, forgiveness, none of these play a part.
Thankfully this is not presented in a favorable light. The story continues and we see a tiny little bit more insight into the demonworld. Not much, just enough to know that there is a LOT more we don't know :-)
Looking forward to more in this "Demon Cycle" series.
Follows the growing up of Jardir, who becomes the head of the Krasians and who wants to defeat all demonkind.
Not quite as interesting as "The Warded Man", mainly because the first 1/4-1/3 of the book takes place in Krasia, a kingdom based unabashedly on arab culture. And it is a brutal culture, make no mistake. Women are as nothing, raped, abused and used whenever and however the warrior class sees fit, merchants and all non-warriors are seen as filth and treated no better than, or worse than, animals. Strength, above all else, is prized. Love, mercy, forgiveness, none of these play a part.
Thankfully this is not presented in a favorable light. The story continues and we see a tiny little bit more insight into the demonworld. Not much, just enough to know that there is a LOT more we don't know :-)
Looking forward to more in this "Demon Cycle" series.
I really looked forward to this book after reading The Warded man, but it was a disappointment. The characters were less defined, the story trite at times, had unnecessary sexual violence, and strangely/infrequently incorporated mind demon stuff. Unlike the Warded Man, I kept putting this novel down. Some parts were very good but other areas were ho-hum, been said before in other books, and "well, that was unneeded pages." If I hadn't read the first book, then probably I would rate this one higher since the first book set my expectations high. Giving it a 3 as some parts were good.
