Book Two of The Demon Cycle (The Demon Cycle Series 2)

The first book was a great coming of age novel and thoroughly enjoyable. I feel that a lot of the encounters were based on the author's experiences as they had some great realism in them and he dated an emotional connection between the characters and the reader. I liked the magic system as well and the whole premise that humanity's under threat.

This though was absolute and utter drivel. The first warning sign was when he said how righteous, fundemental and woman demeaning the desert tribes were. Yes - do please create a Wahabbist Saudi culture clone, but do try and make it a bit convincing. I mean making churches out of dead soldiers bones, allowing any unmarried women's to be raped and making the whole thing so wooden that even the demons seemed preferable for an evening conversation.

One minor flaws was that he didn't have the population economics right. At 4 deaths a night the entire male Krasian was going to be wiped out in 4 years or so with no hope of it being replaced by new blood.....

Then the characters. Allen is now super powerful and doesn't really know what he's doing. It's boring watching him kill demons, kill demons, kill demons, kill demos, kill demons, kill demons. You get the point. The juggler? I missed him, and Leesa ..... The romance was just so cumbersome.

In some ways all the pieces were there for a good tale but it was if the author took a step back to his teens. Utterly disappointed :(

WARNING: I bought this book for my husband for Christmas because he loved the first book in the series. He just started reading it a few weeks ago (June), only to find that the book jumps straight from page 306 to page 339. Of course we cannot exchange it because the store's exchange window has passed. My husband's disappointment is that much more acute given his anticipation of what has been an excellent and engaging series.

I am more motivated to review The Desert Spear by the other reviews on the store than I am by the book itself. Keep that in mind throughout my review. HEADS UP! Spoiler alert in main paragraph 2.

All in all, The Desert Spear is an entertaining sequel that doesn't disappoint. While it strayed in theme from The Warded Man, book 1 of the series, it successfully develops the plot of the series in interesting ways. That a few readers call it a huge disappointment and a terrible book perplexes me (though, of course, they're entitled to their opinion). Some complain that the book focuses too much on Jardir and Krasia for the first couple hundred pages. The focus of the story is centered around Krasia early on, certainly, but the focus serves to contrast the cultures of the Free Cities and Krasia and Jardir and The Warded Man more than pointlessly elongate the book. This contrast is vital to the story as a whole, because the second book of the series seems to be all about gray areas. It is unclear who is the true Deliverer, it is unclear whether or not the subjugation of the Free Cities by Krasia will be beneficial to the world as a whole, and it is unclear that Krasia is justified in even attempting to unify the land in order to wage a unified Sharuk Ka. Peter V. Brett will probably develop the plot in the next book of the series such that these conflicting ideals are more clearly contrasts of good and evil, right and wrong, but in the meantime the reader is left wondering; with a healthy bit of suspense and drama.

The Desert Spear does possess some logical failings, however, in terms of characterization of the main characters. NOTHING about Leesha seems logical. She seems to be a prodigy at everything starting at her 27th birthday, and that gets a bit wearing on the reader's tolerance. She's an unmatched Herb Gatherer. Fine. That seems to be her place in the Arlen-Leesha-Rojer team. Oh wait, she's better than the WARDED Man at warding, though she's been training as a warder for under a year while the WARDED Man (and yes, I'm capitalizing the word "warded" in his title to emphasize that he's probably a pretty darn good warder himself) has been warding across the globe his entire life. Oh, and she's also a linguistics prodigy, learning the Krasian language in a week or two. Oh, and she's also the most beautiful woman on the planet. Oh, and she's also a kind and benevolent leader with infinite charisma. Oh, and now let's make Leesha bone Superman AKA Jardir to make the perfect couple, even if it's way out of character. It seems that Peter V. Brett has removed Leesha from the "character" bin and moved her to the "dream girl/Superwoman" bin, and the book begins to read like a Leesha fan-fiction after a while. But I digress.

All in all, The Desert Spear is a book I would definitely recommend to anyone over the age of 17 (there's a lot of sex in this book by the way) who is looking for a refreshing break from all the other modern sci-fi rubbish that's being churned out these days. Is it long? Sure. Is the logic of the plot development fraying a bit? Yeah. Should you read it anyways? Absolutely.

Desert Spear is truly one of the best fantasy books lately.

As the story started in the Warded Man unfolds, the main characters gain depth. Also the action is much quicker and the reader gains much more knowledge about the Demon Trilogy universe.

Not to spoil your fun - this series, if transfered properly, can be turned into one of the best fantasy movies (or a trilogy). In my opinion it could outrun even The Lord of The Rings as the characters are more mature and the action is quite astonishing. Waiting forward to see the work Paul W. S. Anderson is about to show us on the silver screen. Hope it will be as much a masterpiece as the series itself.

Of course - can't wait for 2012 and the release of The Daylight War. And Mr. Brett, please think about more than 3 books within this series ;)

The desert spear follows the tradition of the Warded Man, in terms of tense plot line driven by a fighting champion beyond the skills of mere mortals. This book deviates from the Warded man in that it focuses a lot on the Desert Tribes instead of the Warded Man for the first 1/2 of the book. Personally I found this frustrating, but as time went on I grew a strong connection to the desert tribe and richly detailed culture. When the land of the Warded Man was first reintroduced, the plot seemed to plod along quite slowly, and the culture felt shockingly naive and innocent compared to the desert tribes. This left me anxious to get back to the merciless ways of the Desert and the intense story line. As the story moves on, more and more of the Warded Man's past is revisited. At first I found this overly detailed and unnecessary, but later in the book it proves warranted. The latter part of the book builds up steam, and is enjoyably intense, building to an ending that is decently satisfying for a trilogy, yet still leaving you hungry for the next book.

All in all, a great story, with intense fighting sequences. A tale for those that want to immerse themselves in the brutality of elite warriors, exotic cultures, femme fatals, and grey morality. A slow middle sequence of about 100-150 pages of emotional character drama. The last 1/3 of the book has a consistent climatic build, with a fairly satisfying ending.

this book made me lose countless hours of sleep. Once i started reading it i didnt want to stop. Some people complain about the book starting out the first 200 pages about jardir, i was a little upset about that as well ( at first ) once i started it though i quickly sunk into the character and had no complaints. i honestly wanted the book to be longer even though its already a decent sized book. Peter does a great job in keeping u interested in all of the characters in this book and had me on the edge of seat many times throughout it. There very few dull moments and the way everything is described made me feel like a was right there with the characters. I cannot wait until the third book comes out and this is by far the best series i have ever read.

I kept putting this novel off because of the fact that the first third of the novel is all about Jardir (the antagonist from The Warded Man) but when I was finally able to look past that and actually started the book I was amazed by how entertaining Jardir's story really is. It's every bit as action packed and interesting as the rest of the story. Is he necessarily a likable character? No not really. But he's a key player from here on out and you need to know him to move along with the tale. After Jardir's segment is over his part's are almost few and far between as we go back to concentrate on Arlin, Leesha, and Rojer and them settling Deliverer's Hollow after the events of The Warded Man. And then the pace just keeps picking up until you're done and demanding more yet again.

Highly Recommended Book

There were parts of this book that I liked but I seriously can not get over how Brett treats the subject of rape.
Spoilers...
At one point in the book Leesha fights off a man that is trying to rape her so she drugs him so he can't perform and escapes. She meets him later and he tries to abuse her. Again. This man sound totally deranged and disgusting. She meets him again later and he apologizes. His explanation for the second attempted rape is that since he couldn't rape her the first time he had to rape her as fast as possible the second time before he deflated. but Leesha shrugs off the apology and feels GUILTY (Seriously?!) for spoiling his first attempted rape. She's pretty stupid. Leesha says:

"'I was as responsible for what happened as you'.... It felt so righteous at the time, but the truth was she had drugged and used him for her own convenience, leaving HIM scarred for years over the ordeal"

It's horrible that HE was scarred over the years because he couldn't get it up to rape someone. This author is WEIRD about women. BEYOND weird about sexual abuse.

I give it 4 stars only due to the fact that it is too long a book. It really would be a better story with at least 100 pages off.

This second book is far more mature than the first installment ( The Warded Man).

Particularly well done the Krasian part.

Having already read the previous book from Peter Brett (Warded Man), the idea for the story in it self was not a surprise, most times the "sequel" of a great story falls short from ones expectations, and i feared it would be so. Still Brett's genius came through and the twists and turns of both the plot and characters comes nowhere short from the breath taking experience i felt with Warded Man. Cant wait for the next book, thank you Peter Brett.

This is straight-up solid story telling. Just finished second book. Loved it-- just loved it. Great fun.

The story telling is solid, the characters are great, the story moves quickly and logically.

I was half hardheartedly looking for something along the fantasy genre one night for my Kindle and came across this series. So glad I did.

Just finished reading the Desert Spear, and couldn't believe how continually awesome the book was from start to finish. Brett continues where he left off in The Warded Man, and you learn more and more interesting details about the world and it's inhabitants over the course of the book. Can't wait for the next installment.

Granted, the book starts off a little slow, but you get to see the story from the beginning from another prominent character's eyes. Learning how his society-and his first wife-pushes him to be the man that he is in 'The Warded Man.' A great read, and I can't wait for the next book in the series!

I read Warded Man in one sitting, but I couldn't even make myself finish this sequel. The characters are overdone and uninteresting. The pacing is terrible; the plot improbable. The whole flashback of Jardir's childhood is contrived and derivative. His backstory could have been told in two pages.

I'd like to give Peter Brett a copy of Said's Orientalism, because I think he should reflect on what he did with Krasian culture, and why. The whole civilization could be straight out of a sensationalist, 19th-century British description of Central Asia or the Middle East. By building half the book out of Orientalist stock images, Brett dilutes what previously was a fascinating, gripping world. (That's not why the book is boring, but it sure doesn't help.)

On the whole, a very disappointing sequel to a book I really liked. I want my $15 back.

This is a well written book for an adult fantasy/sci fi reader. If you're sick of your novels having no sense of excitement because you know the hero will never 'really' get hurt or lose, read this, or george r.r. martin.

The writing in this book is light-years beyond Rothfuss' "Name of the Wind" and yet, he his has superior reviews because he writes a funny blog. If you like that, this will blow you away.

Excellent second book in the series. I really liked how it explained more of why things happened the way they did in the first book. I understand more about the characters now. It did take me a few chapters to get the new character names down, though.

Peter Brett's just getting better and better. The Warded Man was a fantastic heroes-in-the-making story that followed Arlen, Leesha and Rojer as they weathered early trials and gained powers that would enable them to fight the evil corelings. In this second outing, Brett introduces Jardir, the evil (or is he?) leader of the desert tribes that seek to overwhelm Arlen & team's homeland. We also get to revisit all our old heroes, and meet a few new ones.

I was initially disappointed when I realized the first third of this big new book would be devoted to Jardir, because I wanted to see what was going on with the heroes from TWM again. But Brett knows what he's doing. Jardir isn't all evil, and the heroes from book 1 aren't children with pure thoughts and motives anymore. A satisfying and delicious read in and of itself, The Desert Spear is also a wonderful set up for what's sure to be a great third book. I can't wait!

I was disappointed in this book and had to rate it very low because I was forced to skim through the book because I knew the author was messing up the main characters by the middle of the book. It was totally out of character for Leesha to even go with Jardir willingly, marry him and sleep with him and for the Warden Man to end up with someone not relevant in the 1st book. It seems another author doesn't understand that readers bond with the main characters not new or irrelevant ones.

The Warded Man is one of my favorite books of the last few years and while The Desert Spear had positive aspects it simply did not measure up. One of the worst parts is the author's treatment of his female characters. It is possible to be a strong female fantasy character without being a raving bitch but a lot of recent authors can't figure that out. What were interesting and lively characters in the first book became impossible to read in the second. In a few cases I was cheering for the demons. I'm skeptical of book three and will wait to see its reviews before I consider purchasing.

Well, this novel exceeded my expectations. Those expectations, however, were very low, since many of my favorite reviewers said that this novel was a massive drop in quality compared to the first. I only gave the first a 3 star rating, so I came into The Desert Spear expecting to give it one star or DNF it. Luckily, it’s not as bad as I anticipated. There are many things I like about this novel, but, like the first, there are flaws that irritated me and held it back from a higher rating.

Things I liked
¬ Jaddir’s and Abban’s friendship. In The Warded Man, Jardir seemed to despise Abban. Here, you learn that the two have a history of friendship, albeit a tumultuous one. Abban and Jardir have very different views of the world, so it was interesting seeing the contrast between their personalities.
¬ The Coreling Princse. Towards the end of The Warded Man, I was beginning to get tired of the repetitive demon fights. At the start of the novel, the demons were a nightly threat that left the people shivering in terror, knowing that a single mistake in their warding meant a painful demise. But as Arlen and the townsfolk became more powerful, the demons became less fear inducing and more of an annoyance. Sure, they were there, vicious as ever, but I never worried for a character’s safety like I did in the first half of The Warded Man. The townsfolk seemed to be killing them pretty easily with very few casualties. The Coreling Princes added a new dimension to the demons, and a new challenge for the humans to overcome.
¬ Arlen’s storyline
¬ Renna’s storyline (for the most part). Renna’s household drama was definitely one of my favorite parts of the novel, though it was disgusting at times. Her interactions with her father and sisters were well written and emotional.
¬ The second half of the novel, in general. For the most part, I enjoyed the second half of the novel a good bit. It was interesting seeing the how the different cultures clashed.
Things I didn’t like *some spoilers*
¬ Some parts of Brett’s prose. Brett’s prose is nothing special. Compared to that of Rothfuss, Kay, or Beagle, it is pedestrian. But as long as it isn’t noticeably bad, I usually don’t have a problem with simple prose. Most of Brett’s writing is fine, if lacking a bit in description, but he has a couple of bad habits. For example, many times in the book, the characters would be talking about something that happened in the previous book. Instead of assuming the reader remembers what happened and letting the characters continue with the conversation, Brett would break the dialogue stream to give a paragraph long summary of whatever event the character are discussing. Then the characters would continue with whatever they were talking about. This felt jarring and quickly became annoying. Don’t interrupt the dialogue to spoon feed your reader what exactly happened in the last book. Either assume that your reader has a good enough memory to remember what happened in the previous installment, or find a smoother way to refresh his or her memory. Brett also has a bad habit of attaching a certain phrase to an emotion or action, and using that same phrase over and over again when describing that emotion or action. In this novel, whenever a character is relieved, they ‘deflate.’ Whenever they are scared or nervous, they ‘pale.’ These are fine descriptions, but after the twentieth time of reading, ‘he paled’ or ‘he seemed to deflate’ I wished Brett would think of another way to describe relief and fear. There was also a simile that did not not make contextual sense. It described how Jardir ‘bent like a palm tree in the wind’ will fighting. It’s a fine simile, except Jardir grew up in a dessert. He has never never been near an ocean; he probably doesn’t even know what an ocean is. He’s probably never seen a palm tree. The similes need to fit in the context of your character and the world he or she knows. This is a little complaint, but I thought I’d let you guys know.
¬ The women, in general. Most of the women seem to be either manipulators who use their bodies to get what they want, or twinkley-eyed beauties who lose their mind whenever an attractive guy is near them. I’ll expand on this further later in the review.
¬ The structure felt all wrong. The first 200 pages of this novel were dedicated to Jardir’s backstory, and feel more like its own novella than a part of The Desert Spear.
¬ Leesha. Oh, Leesha, what happened to you. You were such a good character at the start. Now you are a Mary Sue who makes completely incomprehensible decisions that go against your core character. Seriously, I don’t know what happened to Leesha. I thought she was bad at the end of The Warded Man, but some of the decisions she makes in this novel give a whole new meaning to FACEPALM. There is a passage where she feels bad that she didn't let a guy rape her. She regrets that she hurt his feelings. She was even considering having sex with him. WHAT THE HELL?! A woman who was brutally gang raped feels sorry that she prevented a guy from raping her? First she jumped into bed with Arlen within 3 days of meeting him, and now this? This is the same girl who refused to marry a guy because he spread a rumor that they had consensual sex. She is willing to forgive a guy that attempted to rape her, but she won't forgive Gared for something he told people when he was 15? That makes no sense whatsoever! Then she considers marrying Jardir. Think about how little sense that makes. Leesha, a woman who has devoted her entire life to saving people; a pacifist who hates when people kill other people under any circumstance; a woman who knows first hand how brutal and savage rape is. She considers marrying Jardir, who has devoted his entire life to being a deadly killer. He is a brutal murderer, and the men under his command pillage and murder and rape wherever they go. According to a survivor of one of their attacks, his men rape any girl who has flowered. This refugee tells this directly to Leesha. And knowing all of this, Leesha still has thoughts of marrying Jardir. GRRRRRRRGHHHHHGADGAHSTRSTRHFXHST. That is like Helen Keller considering marrying Dick Cheney. IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!! Brett pretty much just threw Leesha’s core character on the ground and pissed on it. Oh, it makes me angry!

I can see why many people love this series. There are many parts I like, but just too many flaws to put it among my favorite fantasy series. Will I read The Daylight War? Probably, but not for a while. That’s my long review. Should you read this series? If you have read a great deal of modern fantasy, sure. But if you haven’t, there are much better series out there.

In The Warded Man, the first book in the series, the plot revolves mostly around Arlen who eventually becomes the Warded Man, or in the second book, the Painted Man. I really found myself relating to that character and hoped that The Desert Spear would continue that storyline. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The first half of the book concentrates on Ahmann Jardir, the character that betrayed Arlen and stole his magic spear in the first book. Jardir has now proclaimed himself the Deliverer and has moved to attack the communities to the north. All this is done in an effort to unite everyone against the demons.

My favorite characters from the first book, Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer still play a big part but it took a lot of reading to get to their characters. I think a lot of people were disappointed in the second book and I think that is why. You fall in love with characters and learn to hate others. When you pick up a sequel and have to spend half the time reading about one of the characters you learned to hate it's really not a pleasant process.

I have to give the author credit for a very complex and engrossing story. Even though Jardir is a character I dislike, you have to respect what he stands for. I just really hope that in book three Arlen kicks his ass. :)

Push through the first half of the book and the last half makes it worth reading.

This book is a roller coaster ride as far as quality goes. The Warded Man (the first book in the series) was better at maintaining pacing and flow but it was also shorter which helped. Despite some weak points in The Warded Man I thought it was good enough to buy Desert Spear right after finishing it. I think Desert Spear is also a good book but overly long and in need of better editing.

I really liked the demons in Warded Man, they were pretty well fleshed out with just enough details left unrevealed to keep them interesting. This time around though they aren't much more than a convenient plot device, terrifying when required, little more than cannon fodder when not. There is one scene somewhere at the midway point of the book that is just ridiculous. The village elders take on a pack of demons while hobbling around on canes and leaning on youngsters for support. The worst part about this isn't that it's silly but that it is unnecessary in my mind. I think this is where a good editor could have stepped in and given the author a little guidance. That could have helped keep the implausibility to a minimum and shortened the length without losing the important details.

A lot of the reviews here seem to point out the unrealistic characterization of Leesha and Arlen. While it does seem on the surface they can do no wrong, each makes mistakes based on inexperience and I think the author does a decent job of fleshing them out. Some characters are well detailed and others are obvious bit players but overall everyone is good enough for what they are there to do.

Some of the content didn't match the overall tone of the rest of the book. Renna's "origin" subplot seemed kind of dark. I'm a little on the fence with this criticism however, I don't necessarily mind darker material and it does seem to inform her character's world view and motivation. The political intrigue is pretty straight forward with the extent of the power plays being one duke trying to get another to marry his daughter. Not exactly Games of Thrones level subterfuge (I know there is an element of that in Game of Thrones however).

This book left my mind wandering from time to time but really drew me in toward the end. I think it had a pretty satisfying conclusion with a fair bit of action. A few lose ends were tied up and resolved but it has also left me interested enough to continue reading the series. I gave the book 4 stars based on the strength of the last 1/4th but due to length and some back story stuff that wasn't that interesting to me it could have easily been 3 stars.

Destined for disappointment; about 2/3 through my MP3 shut down and each time I went back to where it shut down in the book it died again. The book has numerous faults, so I'm not too disappointed that I have not been able to finish it. Character change their personalities for no apparent reason, except to move the plot forward. Bret employs what has become popular in action-adventure novels, since 24; torture and rape of characters we are supposed to care about. Is this an aspect of our victim-culture? Even heroes must be beaten and raped so we can relate to them!? That's what develops character, really?

The narrator sounds like he's angry much of the time -- maybe because he too didn't much care for the book -- and there are odd breaks/pauses in the narration.

The demons create a dark feeling of fear overlaying the world the characters inhabit. And they are a way to rid the world of inconvenient characters. I thought we would come to some understanding of them and their motives, but by the time the book died in my MP3, they were no more than unthinking killing machines. It worked in Jaws and The Walking Dead, but not so much here.

Authors sometimes defend the use of rape in fantasy novels as being "realistic" but that's bull. Rape is easy for writers. It's a lazy way to create conflict, to make a setting seem gritty, to threaten women characters. Much like killing a hero's wife or mother, rape is the de facto motivating force for authors who can't bother to think of something better.

So yeah, this book averages a rape every 40 pages. Apparently after readers complained about the rape in the first book in the series, the author decided to double down.

But that isn't the only problem in this book. The chief problem--aside from the gratiutous rape--is the structure. Instead of gracefully weaving the origin story of sterotypical Muslim-ish conqueror Jardir into the narrative, the whole bit is inelegantly plopped down at the front of the book. 180 pages of one POV--again, full of rape--before you get back to the things you enjoyed in the first book.

It is shockingly clumsy. (Note: in the third book in the series, the author seems to have learned from this and weaves his new origin story into the book.)

My biggest problem with the story is that it feels like a bait and switch. The first book promises a Men vs Demons story, but here it's clear we are switching to a MUSLIMS ARE SCARY story. Didn't we get over Othering these peoples? This kind of story was old fifty years ago. We can do better. Again--it's lazy. And it's a shame because many other parts of the book are clever and interesting, but the author clearly has a problem creating believable stakes for his characters and so falls back on the oldest, most stereotypical methods possible.

Also, as other reviewers have mentioned, Leesha had evolved into the Mary Sue-est of Mary Sues. She is the smartest, prettiest, most talented, most best, most perfect person ever. She never makes a mistake and is prepared for everything. This is boring.

Additionally, the role of Rojer is still fairly pointless. He does very little of note and his POV adds no additional insights.

I'm reading the third book out of morbid curiosity now.

After really loving the first book in the series, I ended up rather frustrated with this book. I’m still impressed by the world and the general concept that surrounds this series, but there were a couple of things that dropped the rating on this book for me from where I rated the first one.

The attitude and culture surrounding how women are viewed and treated in this book is pretty contradictory. It would work better if we were talking about the way Krasian society treat women versus the rest of this world as they are different cultures, but the differences and contradictions are actually within a single culture. Women are in one moment expected to be pure and chaste with only their husband and on the next page that same woman is being chastised for still being a virgin and encouraged to find and take a lover. The two views and how they play out within the society do not mesh. I don’t even want to discuss overabundance of the theme of rape throughout this book.

I’m not a fan of characters that are fickle and we see that with several characters in this book. I don’t have a problem when characters change their minds when given reason, but I have a problem when characters turn their views, opinions or morals on a dime without explanation or reason. The biggest example is with Leesha, who has apparently spent her entire life avoiding having a physical relationship with a man, preferring to find one that is worthy of her trust only to jump on a man that has given her no reason what-so-ever of being deserving of her trust and is more than likely an enemy, which she is well aware of. It goes against her character as it has been built. Besides that, there are at least 3 separate characters whose affections for other characters are easily turned towards others without second thought or skipping a beat. It just makes what were previously characters that I was enjoying feel flaky and much less strong character wise.

The biggest downside I had with this book was the nearly 1/3 content that was focused on the history of the Krasian characters, some of which was even just a repeat of events from book one, but from a different character perspective. Since this group is my absolute least favorite in this world, this part of the book seemed repetitive and tedious. Much of it could have been cut or condensed and the reader still would have been able to get a better feel for the culture and characters that were needed in the series that we weren’t able to get in book one.

I did still enjoy this book despite those things. I want to know more about what happens from here, but may find myself skimming a bit in the next book if I have to run across more of the same issues.

Second books can be difficult because you lose the suspense and novelty of a new world and characters. However, Brett did a good job of delving deeper into the insular land of Krasia. I enjoyed the parallel of the growing conflicts in the present with Ahmann's past rise to power through his wife's machinations.

The Warded Man, while showing the wide ranges of magical demon fighting, did not delve very deeply into the mysticism of this world. While many facets of Krasian society draw heavily from Middle Eastern Islamic society, Brett added in an intriguing demonic magic for the "oppressed" female society.

Inevera and Ahmann's relationship dynamic is very entertaining to read about, as was Leesha's development as a stronger leader.

The ending isn't a cliffhanger but it will definitely leave you ready and waiting for the next installment in the Demon Cycle.

I wasn't sure I was going to bother reading this book. I liked the first book well enough as it introduced some interesting characters and set them in a world that was very apart from our own in some ways and yet also achingly familiar in others. But there was an event in the last third, or rather a response to an event, that set my teeth on edge and I mentioned it in my review of that book (spoiler tagged, of course). For that reason alone I was debating whether or not I would move forward with the series but curiosity prevailed and here I am. One of the benefits of multiple POVs in a story is that it gives us readers insight into those characters. We're not hampered by unreliable narrators because for the duration of those passages we <b>are</b> those characters, experiencing their victories and defeats right along with them. It may not make us like them any better but it helps us understand them better. And so it is with this book, which gave some insight into why Leesha chose to respond the way she did immediately following her trauma in the first book. It made sense for her and now I can move on.

This book continued with the excellent world building, layering the world with more history and texture. It also added two additional POVs, bringing the grand total for the series to five (so far). This was a longer book but it felt like a fast read. I was pretty much absorbed from start to finish. When a POV would shift I would often rebel at first, not wanting to leave the POV in which I'd been immersed but it wouldn't take long at all for me to become just as immersed in the new POV. I didn't love all the characters all the time. In fact I often swing wildly between actively rooting for a character one minute to wanting to throttle him/her the next, from feeling sympathy for characters on one page and wishing fervently that someone would knock them down a peg or two just a few pages later. That, to me, is the mark of some good writing.

There is a lot of good stuff here. While the first book introduced the world and gave readers a very vivid sense of the danger presented by the Corelings, this book swings the camera around and shows that a new danger, a very human one, is coming from a different direction altogether. The Corelings, while still a very present danger, seem be relegated to the sidelines this time around while the focus temporarily shifts to the human schisms that are forming but what we do see of them gives strong evidence that we've only touched the tip of the iceberg.

I thought the first book was interesting and looked at the review stars for the series rather than actually reading the reviews-big mistake. I borrow a lot of books on CD and hardback books from the library so I’m always looking for new authors. From a females perspective I think the writer has some seriously twisted fantasies. I was about half way through the second book and took a break to read some of the less positive reviews. I wanted to see if I was the only one who couldn’t stand the sexual violence. This book really should come with a warning.

This is a decent book that really creates the awful series. Sadly the focus on the Krasians is what the rest of this series is about. SO if you like rape, slavery, genital mutilation ,hermaphrodites, the same fight sequence over and over, lude plotless sex, the prophet muhammed, women who think only with their nethers, rediculous cure-all magic, endless parasite characters, and only a few pages dedicated to the main character whom the series is named for, then read this book and the rest of them. If you want to read more about The Warded Man, then sadly this series isn't for you.

Although I loved the first book this one struck me as rushed and pretty racist. The characters were underdeveloped and the way he orientalizes arab society is pretty disgusting. the people of Krasia (the fictional country that stands as an allegory for the arab world) are a bunch of barbaric sand dwelling, boy raping, wife beating, kebab eating religious fanatics who hate and mistreat merchants. That right there kind of killed it for me. It's not even a tirade against the Muslim world; it's some sort of sick bastardization of it.

Other than that, the book does not excel as its predecessor did. The storyline was markedly linear and predictable. It didn't instill the same passion that book one did. #sigh.

The vast majority of this book deals with the backstory of characters who may or may not become important or even likable later on down the road. That isn't uncommon for a follow up, but it wasn't exactly welcome either.

The real issue is Arlen, the main character and the demons everyone is supposed to fear. By the end of this book, the demons which were nigh on unbeatable in the first book are so easy to kill that an old woman can do it without breaking a sweat. As will be seen, this gets even worse in the third book, which is awful. Its as if the demons have become bothersome for the writer in his goal to take the series in a direction of political intrigue and plots which are not really that veiled or cagey in the first place. What was cool about the beginning of this series was the demons and the warding. That has, unfortunately, dropped to virtually unimportant by the end of this book.

All in all, this book starts the downward slide of one of the more promising series in a very long time. The first book was so unusual and refreshing in its ideas that it is really disappointing to see the direction that it has taken.

"The Desert Spear" is the second volume of Peter Bret's series. While it seems to have received more mixed reviews that "Painted Man", I found it still as good as "Painted Man" (the first volume), although somewhat different. It seems that some reviewers did not like these differences. However, they worked very well for me and I liked this book as much as the previous one, even if, once again, the story is not entirely original and somewhat predictable.
Peter Bret's universe is one where the human race has been reduced to a few hundreds of thousand human beings divided into five "Free Cities" and a number of villages. Humans are haunted by demons which appear at night only but prey and feed on them as if they were cattle.

The second volume's prologue introduces the reader to yet another type of demon, more powerful and more dangerous than any that has been encountered up to now: the "mind demon" or Demon Prince. Two of them have been sent from the Core to the surface to see what is happening and to put an end to the human cattle's successful and unusually effective resistance. As another reviewer mentioned, the feeling of terror that was pervasive in the first volume is somewhat toned down in this volume. While some readers might not like it, this is largely because the humans on both the North and the South have united around their respective "Deliverers" and rediscovered bit of ancient knowledge and power that enables them to fight back more effectively, rather than being helplessly culled. The Demon Princes (whose heads reminded me of that of Alien!) and their bodyguard, will, of course, go for each of the Deliverers and seek to eliminate them.

Another original feature is the book's construction. The previous volume was largely about telling four parallel stories, at least until the character meet. This one alternates sequences about the presence and the past to tell the story of the youth, rise to power and first conquests of Jardir, the Warrior King and religious leader of Krasia, "the Desert Spear". The "flashbacks" have a dual purpose. They allow Peter Bret's to summarize much of the events that have taken place in the first volume but from a different perspective so that a reader might just about be able to read this volume independently. They are also, and perhaps more importantly, the pretext for describing and presenting in more depth the militaristic and fanatical society and culture of Krasia, the most southern of all the Free Cities in the middle of the desert.

This was a good, exciting, easy and very entertaining read, even if I did find some of the characters (Lesha and her bickering with her mother, in particular) less convincing than others. Four stars.

I thought this book started with a bang. The first few chapters were great. Until the story started to meander and change the pace and characters.... We already had a background for Leesha in the first book but then, all of a sudden, the character did a 180 degree and changed to something completely different.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the warded man himself changed from a tormented soul to someone that just had to 'fix' his past. And with that the biggest flaw of the book appeared with introduction of Renna!

Not sure what was that all about? Why did we have to have her back in the story? The only reason I can think of was for the author to have a neat explanation of the new love interests for both Arlen and Leesha...

By the 3rd or 4th chapter about Renna I was so tired of the word 'ent' used in place of either aint or aren't that I would have thrown the book across the room if I wasn't actually reading it on a Kindle...

Come on guy, I get that this girl is a hick that uses ent all the time. I don't get why Arlen would so easily fall back to something he left behind ages ago. Worst of all, I don't get how a hick will take up killing demons and navigating the free towns at such speed!!! or how Arlen is recognized by the hick after so many years or how they fall for each other for no apparent reason??? I mean, Arlen has seen the world. Why would you change him from such a worldly persona to a narrow minded person that will be satisfied by someone who constantly uses 'ent'? Worst still, why would he start doing the same!!!!! such a disappointment!

I am truly disappointed. 'ent' you?

A superior series. Intricate plotlines and fully delineated complex characters. I first read the author's "Lore" series which was only mediocre. Much to my surprise, this series outstrips it by an order of magnitude. Usually, one expects authors to improve as they gain experience. This series has a fully realized world and a story that will keep you turning pages long after you should have gone to bed.

I really enjoyed the epicness of the first book, Warded Man. Desert Spear was disappointing though.

The core of this story is the story of the human spirit. That as bad as things get, there are still some people who refuse to surrender to tyranny. It reminds me much of Robert A. Heinlein's stories. "Tortured by fire and ice, I still will not break." Warded Man was awesome because this theme came out strong. Desert Spear ... did not.

In Warded Man, the martial arts was good enough that I thought Brett practiced something. When I read Desert Spear, though, there were enough glaring misunderstandings that I realized he did not. When I looked it up online, I read some of his blog posts. Those posts revealed that he based some of the fighting methods from Hapikido. Which is great, but he also made some misunderstandings common for people who don't practice. By it self, it doesn't normally effect the story ... until it became a major plot point. (The fights Jadir had to seize power). I've seem some similar mistakes in otherwise epically awesome books (such as A Wise Man's Fears), but since they were not major plot points, and they were not so glaring, it didn't really matter. Authors who practice are rare, anyways.

Much more importantly though, was the way the rivalry between Renna Tanner and Inevera played out. It devolved into a cat fight. Wha...?!? When I read that scene ... it felt wrong. Perhaps the aim was to show a different aspect of Tanner and Inevera, to make them look more human. ... But we were just reading an entire book celebrating that human spirit. I'm not sure how to verbalize this. Maybe it could have been pulled off, to delve into the (Jungnian) shadow side of the human spirit ... but I think, like how glaring mistake(s) in the martial art tells me the author doesn't understand that ... maybe the author doesn't understand the shadow side either.

I will probably read Daylight War. The main theme is strong enough to carry the story. But I've taken the series out of my collection of, "Read this story for some deep wisdom." I hope Brett keeps writing though. Maybe in twenty more years, he'll write a series I can put into that collection.

**mild spoilers**
PROS
1) The back story of the desert people is Amazing!
2) The meeting of book one and book two is Masterfully done.
3) The contuniation of the Warded Man's story is exciting.
CONS
1) The whole - longggggggg- useless and unneeded story about the farmers in book one and book two is FRIGGIN annoying.
They should be removed from book one AND book two. I advise anyone reading my review to SKIP everything to do with them and skip to the characters and story that actually matters. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE WARDED MAN'S CHILDHOOD BETROTHED and her crappy child raping father. He crappy abused sisters and the uselessly annoying town.
I was uncomfortable with the soldier on soldier buggering but it served as useful plot point that led to solidifying the of the determination of the main character who eventually took over the desert people. EVERY page of the farmers, the incest, the murder, the trial SERVE NO PURPOSE except to pad the page count.

This book picks up the story where book one (The Warded Man) ends. Author Peter Brett picks up steam with his story here, bringing a lot of history into the character of Ahmann Jardin. Brett has created complex characters, which is a good thing. Some supporting characters are merely caricatures; good or evil, wise or fool. They are all well-used to support the plot.
In all a well-told story.

If the book has one major problem it is that so much of the plot has already been revealed to us in the previous book. The previous book weather you call it The Painted Man or the Warded Man was at least readable and in its better moments enjoyable here the author commits the worst sin of all telling as what is essentially the same story again from what is supposed to be a different point of view but really reveals no new information. Here while we do get the backstory of Ahmann Jardir it isn't particularly interesting. If you can make it past that hurtle you still have to deal with every single self righteous person that lives at Fort Krasia which is absolutely not (at least according to the author) a social commentary on Islam. Even when there is new information added it only serves as a teaser for the third book in the series which to be fair is a marked improvement.

Overall-I want to read one of these books where just once we can sympathize with the crazy religion from the desert.

I really enjoyed the first book, but this one was just bad.
Arlen is in superpower mode, the pseudo Arabic culture of Jardir is not well defined.
Brett treats rape as a method of character development.
I just really did not like this book.

It was a major letdown from the first book, and I will probably not pick up the 3rd book.
It is disappointing that the unique style of Horror/Fantasy that Brett built did not survive the end of his first book.
Book 2 is just a bad ripoff of Wheel of Time generic fantasy. I feel like he developed a great book/idea over the course of years, then he rushed to expand it.

The first book was good enough that if book 3 gets good reviews I might pick it up as a mass market paperback.

1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

2) Genre: Fantasy

3) Synopsis: Who is the deliverer? Will it be Ahmann Jardir the leader of the desert tribe who feels he is called from God to save the human race? Or will it be Arlen the 'Painted Man' who is a lone wolf and thinks there is no way God sent him. With the offensive wards knowledge back in the world demons are starting to die and humans are starting to fight.

4) Feelings: I was worried at first Arlen wasn't going to be in this book. The first third of this book focus on Ahmann Jardir. I am not even sure you could call this book a prequel. There is quite a bit of overlapping from book one and book two. It just comes from another point of view.

5) Final recommendation: If you liked the first book this is a must read. If I had known the first part was mostly Ahmann and Arlen was coming in later it would have been better for me in the beginning. Still the end was great and I need to pick up book 3.

Ryan James Burt
Husband, Father, and Writer
[...]

To begin with, this book is the sequel to The Warded Man and is the second book in Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. This review will contain some spoilers for The Warded Man, you have been warned.

Setting

The same setting from the first book, obviously, although this book focuses much more on the Krasian people and their culture than the first book. The author also shows more of the world in a much different light because the characters are not as afraid of the corelings as they were in the first book.

Characters

This is where the book fell flat in my opinion. The book focuses on the same three characters who were primary to the first book while also introducing several new viewpoint characters. Of the new characters, Jardir, Abban, and Renna were briefly included in the first book, and all three are given much larger roles in this story. Most interesting of the new characters, although the rarest of the viewpoints, is the viewpoint of the mind demon, who we find shadowing Arlen as well as Jardir throughout the story. Although there were more viewpoints, for a while I wasn't quite sure how they fit into the story and in many cases didn't feel like they worked as well as they could've. The character's arcs seemed forced at times and at other times simply made no sense. Having watched Leesha develop over the first book to where she was a strong and competent character and then watching her in this book go back to being walked over by her mother was irritating. Similarly with Arlen, the author proposed a wonderful new path to take him down, examining the effects of warding his body, but this isn't really explored until the end. The overall direction of all of the character arcs seemed to be to regress and take a slightly different direction than I thought they were going after the first book.

Plot

The plot also suffers from the same regression that the characters followed. The book begins by going back to ten years before the first book started so that we can watch Jardir grow up and go through the arc that we saw Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer go through in the first book. While it was interesting to see some of the Krasian culture, to me it felt like it should have been in the first book or not included at all. We already know from the first book that Jardir is a powerful leader and that he takes the Spear of Kaji from Arlen, I didn't need to know everything about how he grew up. It felt out of place in this book and started to irritate me after a while, especially because many aspects of it ultimately don't matter to the rest of the story. We know quite a bit about the Krasian culture from Arlen's viewpoints in the first book, and most of the extra information from the first 200 or so pages of this book wasn't really needed for the rest of the story. Many events in the book seemed forced as the story seemed like it was mostly in place to bring other characters up to where Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer ended up after the first book.

Enjoyment

Quite a few parts of this book were entertaining, unfortunately there were also quite a few irritating parts to the book. The ending shows good promise towards the future of the series, but getting to the ending is a chore at times.

Overall Grade

This book had so much potential based upon the direction the first book went, unfortunately, much of that potential was lost in confused and pointless passages. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, and while I was disappointed with much of it, I'll still read the sequel, but probably won't be breaking down the doors to my local bookstore to buy it the day it comes out.

5/10 (3 stars because I think it still shows promise for the future of the series)

I expected pretty much everything to be better when I read this book. There were the same issues with the prose; flat and uninspiring, with characterisation that seemed to be lazier than in the first book. Second books often have this kind of problem, but as a reader I always hope that the author goes harder on their second effort. Not so in this case.

What annoyed me the most was the predictable and almost disparaging view of Middle Eastern culture, as well as the over sexism demonstrated. There are a few authors who speculate about their worlds and don't go for the road well trodden: Peter Brett is not one of those.

I was a little confused at the start of the story, not really understanding who the new character was; however, when it finally dawned on me, I was as engrossed as I was with The Warded Man. There was a bit of weaving with the story's past and present that reminded me of how Pulp Fiction is told and it was tricky to follow in one spot, but once I realized that's what Brett was doing, I appreciated it as a nice twist to the storyline.

I'm sad that I have to wait until tomorrow before I get my next credit from Audible, because I want to start listening to the next book NOW!

Wow. As The Warded Man wrapped up, I thought I knew precisely where the story was going, with the ominous march of the Deliverer's army across the desert setting up the next logical chapter. Imagine my surprise when The Desert Spear opened not with their march, and not with the Painted Man's journey, but with the introduction of a new class of demon. Peter V. Brett raises the stakes right from page one, exposing us to a hierarchy of cold, calculating princes and sinister mimics within the demon ranks. It takes a while before we make our way back to this new threat, but it makes for a climactic ending that puts many similar novels to shame.

As if that weren't enough of a shock to system, Brett takes the bold step of rewinding matters to the opening chronology of the first novel, and then switching the dominant focus from Arlen (the Painted Man) to Jardir (the Deliver). We get to re-experience much of their relationship, this time from the other side, providing deeper insights into just who Jardir is, and what made him the kind of man who could so coldly put duty and destiny before comradeship. Like I said, it's a bold move, establishing him as a protagonist in his own right, rather than just the villain he seemed set up to be in the first book. It took me a while to settle into his world, anxious as I was to get on with the story, but I really appreciate the way in which it creates a conflicted sense of loyalty for the author, the reader, and the characters.

Jardir's opening arc ends with the first stage of his Northern conquest, and that's largely where the core plot stops moving forward. It's another gamble on Brett's part, taking us to what we expect to be the main thrust of the novel, and then hitting 'pause' on the war. Instead, what he does is layer on the character development, bringing back all the key characters from the first book. If that sounds like a complaint, it most definitely is not. He allows his characters to mature, to grow, to explore their relationships, and to take on new responsibilities within a world on the cusp of war. Main characters become fully-fleshed out, with Arlen, Leesha, Rojer, and Jardir carrying the weight of the tale, but even the secondary characters taking on new life.

It's interesting the way in which Brett adds a political aspect to the story, offering us an alternative to war that relies on the tenuous relationships of challenged, damaged individuals. The culture clash is just as harsh as you would expect, and the ways in which it's dealt with are as entertaining as they are original. I truly appreciated how Leesha and Rojer became involved in Jardir's world, and the long-simmering conflict between Leesha and Inevera was a high point of the tale. It's not just a culture clash between the North and the South, however, but between those who would fight and those who would hide. In taking his wards to the people, the Painted Man demands that they prove themselves up to the challenge of making use of those wards. It's a journey that ultimately leads him back to Renna, with their relationship forged anew, contributing to an ending that's as dark and dangerous as it is exciting.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure what to expect with The Daylight War, given the ways in which Brett so surprised me with the transition between the first two volumes. I do know that I'm far more invested in the characters than I was in the first volume, and that the revelations regarding demon hierarchies has me intrigued to see where he's taking the story next. The Demon Cycle is quickly proving to be a favourite of mine, with the back-to-back-to-back journey between books precisely the kind of exhilarating ride I always envy in readers who are new to a series.

I love this series! This follow-up to The Warded Man is such a strong sequel! Though quite hefty in its hardcover format, the pacing remains fast as Brett adds more perspectives to the tapestry of his detailed and epic fantasy series. At first, I will admit to being a bit disappointed that the book did not immediately pick up with Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, but that disappointment did not last long. Brett does a wonderful job creating remarkable realistic and three-dimensional characters. And his sense of scene only helps them to further leap off the page. It's easy to get swept into the story, the characters and the wonderful detailing that he offers to create his vivid imagery. Brett really captures a range of emotions, as well - including humour. One scene in particular - a sort of homage to Jaws - really just further cements my love of this series and Brett's talents as an author. It's so exciting to find a new fantasy series to follow and love!

This sequel does have less of a novel-specific story arc than the first. There is a lot of build-up that I am sure will continue to be important later in the series. But there is an added layer to the demons, and this does give the book its own central plot, while still building toward a goal to reached later on. And his characters continue to develop here. Arlen has come back into himself, but it is Leesha's future that particularly makes me nervous. The Krasian storyline, as the title suggests, plays a dominant role here. Characters first introduced in The Warded Man gain their own perspective here, and though the story backtracks to fill in important details, these characters quickly grow to be just as significant (and fun to read about) as the Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. The details continue to be filled in about this unique world, and there are more and more hints of the types of things to come. I am so excited to continue the story in The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle, while being a bit sad that there is not yet any information about when the fourth installment will be released.

I must say that I have had mixed feelings about this series. Fascinatingly told, Brett's novels whipsaw the reader through anticipation and frustration as he advances the plot, only to yield to seemingly endless flashbacks that rip you from the heart of the story, only to layer in ... or should I say slather in ... rich backstory that could have been done without. Still, as with any storytelling or sexual master, the frustration only makes the resulting climax that much the hotter. Highly recommended ... but only for those who can take it.

The second book in the series. FYI warded man does not show up until 3/4 way through the book. This makes me hate Jadir "the main char of this book" even more. The book is about the desert spear and the culture. Again makes me hate the people in this book even more. They are a complete war culture with little thinking.
Also this book starts to look at the religious aspect of the characters.
Also this author for this series is a great guy. He actually responds to fans.

The first book, Warded Man, was in my top 10 list of books for 2012... this second book, while good, fails to meet the standard set by the original. The story was good, but it lacked the detailed story development of its predecessor... now, having said all that, if you hadn't had the first book to compare this to, you would probably be quite pleased with the story. This is a trilogy, so I will definitely read the third book when it comes out, but I hope the author reverts back to the same care and careful plot development that made the first book so outstanding. This is an excellent writer.

This is the second book in the Demon Cycle trilogy. I didn't 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 Cutter's 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 didn't need to spend half the book reading his back story...seriously I just didn't care all that much.

Because of the long digression through Jardir's back story, the story progresses at a crawl. We really don't 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 didn't 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 can't have a strong female lead that hasn't 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 wasn't 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 don't 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 Jardir's 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.

Not a very good second novel to The Warded Man, which thoroughly engaged me. In The Desert Spear, much time is spent focusing on micro-world building, focusing in great detail on such mundane details of the world, and such mundane conversations, that you often begin to wonder what the point of it all is. Though the characters were what fascinated me in the first book, they're what drove me to insanity in the second. All them become charactures of themselves using the gimmick they established in the first book. Leesha goes THE ENTIRE BOOK playing the sexually repressed goody goody who's admonished ad nauseum by her obnoxious mother. Arlen spends the entire book doing his brooding, angry, loner routine. Rojer just keeps being an idiot. And so on with everybody. Towards the end I began skipping whole chunks of interactions because the way Leesha and Rojer interact on page 500 is no different than how they interacted when they first met in book one.

That being said, I'm still captivated by the idea of a world of night time demons and the wards that control them. The threat they still pose and the action in the fights against them remain strong and compelling. Though I'm reluctant to read the third book under the threat of having to hear more about how sexually repressed EVERYBODY is, I'll likely still read it to continue learning more about the core and it's hive.

I enjoyed the Warded Man and I continue to work my way through this one. Although this new book has some extended world building, half-way through and I am getting very tired of hearing (audiobook version may make a difference) the same things over and over. I get it, the desert warrior caste thinks the merchant caste are worms. I get it the demons have 'razor sharp' teeth. Mentioned often here, but yes it feels like every other conversation/paragraph is about sex, getting promised, getting married, having children, incest, rape, etc. Needs more depth.

Slight spoiler - during the first book I kept asking myself why didn't the demon/corelings simply throw dirt/rocks/etc. onto the magic warding symbols and just walk on in for a human snack? In this book they do that a couple times. It is by mistake, and the author says they are not able to strategize, but still strange they couldn't figure that out more often.

This was good. Much better than the first book in my opinion. You've got the deep characters and inter-character relationships along with lots of action and a spotlight on a new culture- the Crasians. Now at first I really hoped Crasian was short for "crazy Asians" because that could have been really cool. But instead the Crasians are basically Muslims-with-a-twist. Not that I didn't like that but come on, Crazy Asians sound really fun. The culture was really integral to the story and words like Shar'Dama Ka and Inevera gave the book a very exotic feel.

I love the idea of warding and the whole "demons come out at night" thing leaves a lot of room for action. My only real problem with the book was that somewhere near the middle, after focusing on the exciting Crasians for a long time he went back to the non-crasians and things settled into the "Little House on the Prairie" mode again (like most of the first book). It was kind of jarring and not that much fun except for some much needed revenge.

There was one other small problem: the series didn't end. It really seemed like everything was going to be finished and then it wasn't. I didn't know that a third book was already written and scheduled for release in Feb 2013.

Reading the first book is definitely worth it to get to this one. Hopefully the third will be as good (and finish the series).

Note: I listened to this on audio so if Crasians is actually spelled with a "K" then my whole crazy asian thing does totally not apply. Also after reading a couple reviews it seems like most people liked the part I didn't like and vice versa.

how does a author feel he can charge 8.99 for a kindle book after the first one was 1.99 and then all the reviews are
so bad, I guess its greed with another author getting on the soap opera books that keep coming out. I think I
will keep my dollars in my wallet

Really, this entire book had pacing problems, and the demons became less and less of a strange elemental threat and more a weird sci-fi thing. But honestly, Leesha's sudden switch as to her sexual mores and concerns was just bizarre. I mean, I went back and forth through the pages trying to see if somehow she missed the whole thing where Jardir has women raped so as to create strong warriors.

I find rape to be way too easily used in fantasy novels, but Leesha being raped in the first novel was such a powerful and painful event for all of us. Sadly, it made sense in the context of the novel. I found it heart breaking but understandable that she wanted Arlen to have sex with her so she could pretend he was the father if she got pregnant.

Then, out of nowhere, she falls for the guy who is telling his men to go out and rape women. After being drugged. 'Nuff said.

I really enjoyed the first book, but this one was just bad.
Arlen is in superpower mode, the pseudo Arabic culture of Jardir is not well defined.
Brett treats rape as a method of character development.
I just really did not like this book.

It was a major letdown from the first book, and I will probably not pick up the 3rd book.
It is disappointing that the unique style of Horror/Fantasy that Brett built did not survive the end of his first book.
Book 2 is just a bad ripoff of Wheel of Time generic fantasy. I feel like he developed a great book/idea over the course of years, then he rushed to expand it.

The first book was good enough that if book 3 gets good reviews I might pick it up as a mass market paperback.

1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

2) Genre: Fantasy

3) Synopsis: Who is the deliverer? Will it be Ahmann Jardir the leader of the desert tribe who feels he is called from God to save the human race? Or will it be Arlen the 'Painted Man' who is a lone wolf and thinks there is no way God sent him. With the offensive wards knowledge back in the world demons are starting to die and humans are starting to fight.

4) Feelings: I was worried at first Arlen wasn't going to be in this book. The first third of this book focus on Ahmann Jardir. I am not even sure you could call this book a prequel. There is quite a bit of overlapping from book one and book two. It just comes from another point of view.

5) Final recommendation: If you liked the first book this is a must read. If I had known the first part was mostly Ahmann and Arlen was coming in later it would have been better for me in the beginning. Still the end was great and I need to pick up book 3.

Ryan James Burt
Husband, Father, and Writer
[...]

Spoiler warning to the first book:
The second books starts of at Jardir’s life and point of view. We see why he betrayes Arlen and the outcome is quite surprizing. Again the book gives us events which are expected and excites us none the less, while also giving room for more excitement later on. The ward magic, tactics of war, and politics are all included. The culture of the krasian people is also better explained. Uou can tell the author did research of other cultures. He created a new cultue with aspects of other cultuers and his own imagination.

To begin with, this book is the sequel to The Warded Man and is the second book in Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. This review will contain some spoilers for The Warded Man, you have been warned.

Setting

The same setting from the first book, obviously, although this book focuses much more on the Krasian people and their culture than the first book. The author also shows more of the world in a much different light because the characters are not as afraid of the corelings as they were in the first book.

Characters

This is where the book fell flat in my opinion. The book focuses on the same three characters who were primary to the first book while also introducing several new viewpoint characters. Of the new characters, Jardir, Abban, and Renna were briefly included in the first book, and all three are given much larger roles in this story. Most interesting of the new characters, although the rarest of the viewpoints, is the viewpoint of the mind demon, who we find shadowing Arlen as well as Jardir throughout the story. Although there were more viewpoints, for a while I wasn't quite sure how they fit into the story and in many cases didn't feel like they worked as well as they could've. The character's arcs seemed forced at times and at other times simply made no sense. Having watched Leesha develop over the first book to where she was a strong and competent character and then watching her in this book go back to being walked over by her mother was irritating. Similarly with Arlen, the author proposed a wonderful new path to take him down, examining the effects of warding his body, but this isn't really explored until the end. The overall direction of all of the character arcs seemed to be to regress and take a slightly different direction than I thought they were going after the first book.

Plot

The plot also suffers from the same regression that the characters followed. The book begins by going back to ten years before the first book started so that we can watch Jardir grow up and go through the arc that we saw Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer go through in the first book. While it was interesting to see some of the Krasian culture, to me it felt like it should have been in the first book or not included at all. We already know from the first book that Jardir is a powerful leader and that he takes the Spear of Kaji from Arlen, I didn't need to know everything about how he grew up. It felt out of place in this book and started to irritate me after a while, especially because many aspects of it ultimately don't matter to the rest of the story. We know quite a bit about the Krasian culture from Arlen's viewpoints in the first book, and most of the extra information from the first 200 or so pages of this book wasn't really needed for the rest of the story. Many events in the book seemed forced as the story seemed like it was mostly in place to bring other characters up to where Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer ended up after the first book.

Enjoyment

Quite a few parts of this book were entertaining, unfortunately there were also quite a few irritating parts to the book. The ending shows good promise towards the future of the series, but getting to the ending is a chore at times.

Overall Grade

This book had so much potential based upon the direction the first book went, unfortunately, much of that potential was lost in confused and pointless passages. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, and while I was disappointed with much of it, I'll still read the sequel, but probably won't be breaking down the doors to my local bookstore to buy it the day it comes out.

5/10 (3 stars because I think it still shows promise for the future of the series)

I expected pretty much everything to be better when I read this book. There were the same issues with the prose; flat and uninspiring, with characterisation that seemed to be lazier than in the first book. Second books often have this kind of problem, but as a reader I always hope that the author goes harder on their second effort. Not so in this case.

What annoyed me the most was the predictable and almost disparaging view of Middle Eastern culture, as well as the over sexism demonstrated. There are a few authors who speculate about their worlds and don't go for the road well trodden: Peter Brett is not one of those.

I was a little confused at the start of the story, not really understanding who the new character was; however, when it finally dawned on me, I was as engrossed as I was with The Warded Man. There was a bit of weaving with the story's past and present that reminded me of how Pulp Fiction is told and it was tricky to follow in one spot, but once I realized that's what Brett was doing, I appreciated it as a nice twist to the storyline.

I'm sad that I have to wait until tomorrow before I get my next credit from Audible, because I want to start listening to the next book NOW!

Wow. As The Warded Man wrapped up, I thought I knew precisely where the story was going, with the ominous march of the Deliverer's army across the desert setting up the next logical chapter. Imagine my surprise when The Desert Spear opened not with their march, and not with the Painted Man's journey, but with the introduction of a new class of demon. Peter V. Brett raises the stakes right from page one, exposing us to a hierarchy of cold, calculating princes and sinister mimics within the demon ranks. It takes a while before we make our way back to this new threat, but it makes for a climactic ending that puts many similar novels to shame.

As if that weren't enough of a shock to system, Brett takes the bold step of rewinding matters to the opening chronology of the first novel, and then switching the dominant focus from Arlen (the Painted Man) to Jardir (the Deliver). We get to re-experience much of their relationship, this time from the other side, providing deeper insights into just who Jardir is, and what made him the kind of man who could so coldly put duty and destiny before comradeship. Like I said, it's a bold move, establishing him as a protagonist in his own right, rather than just the villain he seemed set up to be in the first book. It took me a while to settle into his world, anxious as I was to get on with the story, but I really appreciate the way in which it creates a conflicted sense of loyalty for the author, the reader, and the characters.

Jardir's opening arc ends with the first stage of his Northern conquest, and that's largely where the core plot stops moving forward. It's another gamble on Brett's part, taking us to what we expect to be the main thrust of the novel, and then hitting 'pause' on the war. Instead, what he does is layer on the character development, bringing back all the key characters from the first book. If that sounds like a complaint, it most definitely is not. He allows his characters to mature, to grow, to explore their relationships, and to take on new responsibilities within a world on the cusp of war. Main characters become fully-fleshed out, with Arlen, Leesha, Rojer, and Jardir carrying the weight of the tale, but even the secondary characters taking on new life.

It's interesting the way in which Brett adds a political aspect to the story, offering us an alternative to war that relies on the tenuous relationships of challenged, damaged individuals. The culture clash is just as harsh as you would expect, and the ways in which it's dealt with are as entertaining as they are original. I truly appreciated how Leesha and Rojer became involved in Jardir's world, and the long-simmering conflict between Leesha and Inevera was a high point of the tale. It's not just a culture clash between the North and the South, however, but between those who would fight and those who would hide. In taking his wards to the people, the Painted Man demands that they prove themselves up to the challenge of making use of those wards. It's a journey that ultimately leads him back to Renna, with their relationship forged anew, contributing to an ending that's as dark and dangerous as it is exciting.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure what to expect with The Daylight War, given the ways in which Brett so surprised me with the transition between the first two volumes. I do know that I'm far more invested in the characters than I was in the first volume, and that the revelations regarding demon hierarchies has me intrigued to see where he's taking the story next. The Demon Cycle is quickly proving to be a favourite of mine, with the back-to-back-to-back journey between books precisely the kind of exhilarating ride I always envy in readers who are new to a series.

I love this series! This follow-up to The Warded Man is such a strong sequel! Though quite hefty in its hardcover format, the pacing remains fast as Brett adds more perspectives to the tapestry of his detailed and epic fantasy series. At first, I will admit to being a bit disappointed that the book did not immediately pick up with Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, but that disappointment did not last long. Brett does a wonderful job creating remarkable realistic and three-dimensional characters. And his sense of scene only helps them to further leap off the page. It's easy to get swept into the story, the characters and the wonderful detailing that he offers to create his vivid imagery. Brett really captures a range of emotions, as well - including humour. One scene in particular - a sort of homage to Jaws - really just further cements my love of this series and Brett's talents as an author. It's so exciting to find a new fantasy series to follow and love!

This sequel does have less of a novel-specific story arc than the first. There is a lot of build-up that I am sure will continue to be important later in the series. But there is an added layer to the demons, and this does give the book its own central plot, while still building toward a goal to reached later on. And his characters continue to develop here. Arlen has come back into himself, but it is Leesha's future that particularly makes me nervous. The Krasian storyline, as the title suggests, plays a dominant role here. Characters first introduced in The Warded Man gain their own perspective here, and though the story backtracks to fill in important details, these characters quickly grow to be just as significant (and fun to read about) as the Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. The details continue to be filled in about this unique world, and there are more and more hints of the types of things to come. I am so excited to continue the story in The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle, while being a bit sad that there is not yet any information about when the fourth installment will be released.

I must say that I have had mixed feelings about this series. Fascinatingly told, Brett's novels whipsaw the reader through anticipation and frustration as he advances the plot, only to yield to seemingly endless flashbacks that rip you from the heart of the story, only to layer in ... or should I say slather in ... rich backstory that could have been done without. Still, as with any storytelling or sexual master, the frustration only makes the resulting climax that much the hotter. Highly recommended ... but only for those who can take it.

The Warded Man is one of my favorite books of the last few years and while The Desert Spear had positive aspects it simply did not measure up. One of the worst parts is the author's treatment of his female characters. It is possible to be a strong female fantasy character without being a raving bitch but a lot of recent authors can't figure that out. What were interesting and lively characters in the first book became impossible to read in the second. In a few cases I was cheering for the demons. I'm skeptical of book three and will wait to see its reviews before I consider purchasing.

The second book in the series. FYI warded man does not show up until 3/4 way through the book. This makes me hate Jadir "the main char of this book" even more. The book is about the desert spear and the culture. Again makes me hate the people in this book even more. They are a complete war culture with little thinking.
Also this book starts to look at the religious aspect of the characters.
Also this author for this series is a great guy. He actually responds to fans.

The first book, Warded Man, was in my top 10 list of books for 2012... this second book, while good, fails to meet the standard set by the original. The story was good, but it lacked the detailed story development of its predecessor... now, having said all that, if you hadn't had the first book to compare this to, you would probably be quite pleased with the story. This is a trilogy, so I will definitely read the third book when it comes out, but I hope the author reverts back to the same care and careful plot development that made the first book so outstanding. This is an excellent writer.

This is the second book in the Demon Cycle trilogy. I didn't 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 Cutter's 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 didn't need to spend half the book reading his back story...seriously I just didn't care all that much.

Because of the long digression through Jardir's back story, the story progresses at a crawl. We really don't 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 didn't 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 can't have a strong female lead that hasn't 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 wasn't 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 don't 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 Jardir's 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.

Not a very good second novel to The Warded Man, which thoroughly engaged me. In The Desert Spear, much time is spent focusing on micro-world building, focusing in great detail on such mundane details of the world, and such mundane conversations, that you often begin to wonder what the point of it all is. Though the characters were what fascinated me in the first book, they're what drove me to insanity in the second. All them become charactures of themselves using the gimmick they established in the first book. Leesha goes THE ENTIRE BOOK playing the sexually repressed goody goody who's admonished ad nauseum by her obnoxious mother. Arlen spends the entire book doing his brooding, angry, loner routine. Rojer just keeps being an idiot. And so on with everybody. Towards the end I began skipping whole chunks of interactions because the way Leesha and Rojer interact on page 500 is no different than how they interacted when they first met in book one.

That being said, I'm still captivated by the idea of a world of night time demons and the wards that control them. The threat they still pose and the action in the fights against them remain strong and compelling. Though I'm reluctant to read the third book under the threat of having to hear more about how sexually repressed EVERYBODY is, I'll likely still read it to continue learning more about the core and it's hive.

I enjoyed the Warded Man and I continue to work my way through this one. Although this new book has some extended world building, half-way through and I am getting very tired of hearing (audiobook version may make a difference) the same things over and over. I get it, the desert warrior caste thinks the merchant caste are worms. I get it the demons have 'razor sharp' teeth. Mentioned often here, but yes it feels like every other conversation/paragraph is about sex, getting promised, getting married, having children, incest, rape, etc. Needs more depth.

Slight spoiler - during the first book I kept asking myself why didn't the demon/corelings simply throw dirt/rocks/etc. onto the magic warding symbols and just walk on in for a human snack? In this book they do that a couple times. It is by mistake, and the author says they are not able to strategize, but still strange they couldn't figure that out more often.

This was good. Much better than the first book in my opinion. You've got the deep characters and inter-character relationships along with lots of action and a spotlight on a new culture- the Crasians. Now at first I really hoped Crasian was short for "crazy Asians" because that could have been really cool. But instead the Crasians are basically Muslims-with-a-twist. Not that I didn't like that but come on, Crazy Asians sound really fun. The culture was really integral to the story and words like Shar'Dama Ka and Inevera gave the book a very exotic feel.

I love the idea of warding and the whole "demons come out at night" thing leaves a lot of room for action. My only real problem with the book was that somewhere near the middle, after focusing on the exciting Crasians for a long time he went back to the non-crasians and things settled into the "Little House on the Prairie" mode again (like most of the first book). It was kind of jarring and not that much fun except for some much needed revenge.

There was one other small problem: the series didn't end. It really seemed like everything was going to be finished and then it wasn't. I didn't know that a third book was already written and scheduled for release in Feb 2013.

Reading the first book is definitely worth it to get to this one. Hopefully the third will be as good (and finish the series).

Note: I listened to this on audio so if Crasians is actually spelled with a "K" then my whole crazy asian thing does totally not apply. Also after reading a couple reviews it seems like most people liked the part I didn't like and vice versa.

how does a author feel he can charge 8.99 for a kindle book after the first one was 1.99 and then all the reviews are
so bad, I guess its greed with another author getting on the soap opera books that keep coming out. I think I
will keep my dollars in my wallet

Really, this entire book had pacing problems, and the demons became less and less of a strange elemental threat and more a weird sci-fi thing. But honestly, Leesha's sudden switch as to her sexual mores and concerns was just bizarre. I mean, I went back and forth through the pages trying to see if somehow she missed the whole thing where Jardir has women raped so as to create strong warriors.

I find rape to be way too easily used in fantasy novels, but Leesha being raped in the first novel was such a powerful and painful event for all of us. Sadly, it made sense in the context of the novel. I found it heart breaking but understandable that she wanted Arlen to have sex with her so she could pretend he was the father if she got pregnant.

Then, out of nowhere, she falls for the guy who is telling his men to go out and rape women. After being drugged. 'Nuff said.

I really disliked this book. I felt like the demons in the first were always menacing and the characters were interesting. In this one, the demons were like a bad infestation and not a threat whereas people were the issue. Yes, I understand adding depth. Unfortunately, Brett, at the time of this writing, did not pull it off. I hope the next is good but I wont be reading it after this. I'm giving 2 stars instead of one just because the first one was such an interesting world.

After having read and loved The Warded Man, book one of The Demon Cycle, I looked forward with keen anticipation to book 2, The Desert Spear. Quite frankly, I was disappointed. The first half of the book was an in depth look at one of the societies that Peter V. Brett had created. There were no sympathetic characters and no one to root for. The second half of the book was better when there was conflict between the two protagonist societies. This made the book worth reading, barely.

Folks, there's no sophomore jinx here of any kind. In fact, I find The Desert Spear to be even more awesome than The Painted Man in every way possible. Characters feel much more fleshed out and the story feels much more engaging, although this could be debatable for some. Here, we learn a lot more about our main characters of Jardir, Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. Because I have read and enjoyed The Painted Man, I already knew that I would continue with the series and thus, I read The Desert Spear without reading any prior notes or plot summary of any kind. Therefore, I was surprised that the book put so much focus on Jardir of Krasia in the beginning of the book (about the first 20% of the book). This is excellent because I hate when books or movies leave out details of the supposed main villain to only have him or her killed in the end by the good guys. By spending time with Jardir, you learn of his past and how he became the Shar'Dama Ka. You literally go to the very beginning of his young life to learn of his trials and tribulations. How did he come to power? Is he really all that powerful? Who is Inevera? Why did he betray Arlen? Can he really be considered evil even if his intentions are good?

With The Desert Spear, focus is once again on Arlen Bales, one of the so called "Deliverer" come again. We learned of his sacrifice in the previous book but there's just something that I don't like about his character. He just seems the same throughout the book. Yes, he can kick demon ass pretty good. Yes, we know he walks the path he walks now based on the choices he alone had made and now is forced to live with it. Yes, he doesn't want to be labeled as the Deliverer and only wants humankind to make their own choices of standing together to drive the demons away by providing them with warded weapons. But somehow, he just doesn't seem as exciting as I thought he would be. In fact, I found myself wanting to read more about Jardir than The Painted Man himself. While Leesha and Rojer remains pretty much unchanged from the previous book, I expected one of the more important characters to be more refined.We also learn that Renna Tanne plays an important role in Arlen's life.

In the previous book, we learned quite a lot about the demons. However, we never really had a "main" demon boss of some sort. While this definitely is OK, I wanted the demons to have some sort of leader to lead the destruction against humankind. With The Desert Spear, that wish sorta got fulfilled with the mimic and mind demon. I thought that the story progressed at a steady rate although it might be considered a little too slow by some. Initially, this series was suppose to be a trilogy. However, I have recently learned that the author now plans for the series to be five books instead of three. The Desert Spear actually provided for some good humor, especially when the Krasians meet with Leesha and the people from Deliverer's Hallow.

Upon conclusion of The Desert Spear, I felt much more inclined and excited for the next book in the series. This wasn't my exact feeling after reading The Painted Man and this goes to show how awesome a job the author did with this one. It felt as if a big weight has been lifted off the shoulders of the author from having to introduce us to the main characters and can finally begin the real story.

I was a bit disappointed when I learned that this initial three book series will now turn into five. Now, I understand the author wants to extend the story and whatnot but as a reader, I sometimes want closure as well. After reading the Song of Ice and Fire series (still on-going), I feel so tired. The more a author gets to write, the higher the chance that they might just write about nothing at all and fill the book with pointless fillers. Also, it doesn't help the fact that each new book doesn't get released until after 2-3 years of the previous one.

The Desert Spear is a fantasy novel that is the sequel written by Peter V. Brett to his first book The Warded Man. The series is set in a fantasy world where a civilization that, in descriptions in the book, is comparable to our own. It is at the beginning of the series in a dark age, due to the corelings that rise up each night and return to the center of the world with each sunrise. No modern weapon could stop them, the only hope and reprieve that humanity had was wards, specific symbols and designs drawn on the ground on posts or other materials, that stopped the corelings. Some wards even use the magic of the corelings to produce other effects, some that were even used to kill the corelings.
The story is about Arlen and Jardir both men who could be the Deliverer, the prophesied leader of humanity against the corelings. Arlen, who tattooed his skin with combat wards he learned from the ruins of Anoch Sun, the ex-messenger who now lives near Deliverer's Hallow who fights the corelings on their playing field many believe him to be the Deliverer but all he wants is to kill corelings for all they have taken from humanity. He fights beside Rojer a jongleur who can charm corelings with his music to do as he wishes, and Leesha a herb gatherer who has knowledge long lost to mankind including the the lost art of making , and the people of Deliverer's Hallow who have been given wards to combat the corelings. Jardir is the Shar'Dama Ka, the Deliverer in Krasian, leads his people to the lands of Thesa to wage the Daylight War, where man will fight man, to take over and unite mankind to fight the corelings and drive them from the world.
The first half of the book centers on Jardir, a character that was introduced in the first book as the battle leader of Krasia, who now has the Spear of the Deliverer, and is now the leader of all Krasia. In this book his history is explored in the form chapters of flashbacks interspersed in chapters that continue the story from the end of the first book. In the flashbacks we see his motives explored, the brutal nature of the training he was put through, how through it all retains his faith and sees every setback and all his suffering as a path to glory for him and his family. His guilt over what he did to Arlen, but how he sees it as a small price to pay to kill all the corelings, and save the many lives that they would take.
The pacing in this story when compared to the first book leaves something to be desired. The first book was fast paced, almost frenetic, and that carried with it the sense of urgency of the situation that the characters were in. But in this book, the plot gets bogged down in flashbacks, they enhance the story and make the reader understand who Jardir is and where he is coming from, but the exposition derails from the style that the author set in the first book. The flashbacks are necessary to understand the Krasian culture and why they, both individually and collectively, are doing what they do.
The only complaint I have with this book is the main female leads in it. It seems like the women that each potential Deliverer attracts is someone that is beyond the pale above every other woman in existence. Leesha learns a language in roughly two weeks, can cure any disease, knows everything about killing corelings, and is a better warder than Arlen who has been doing it for about a decade. Enevera is the most beautiful, seductive woman to ever live. She has "demon dice" that can tell her the future which she uses to tell Jardir what to do, can seemingly manipulate the whole of her culture single handedly with barely a thought, and can figure out the plans of others at barely a glance.
Overall I would recommend this book to many people. It is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart, there is a lot of brutality in it and things that may turn some peoples' stomach. For all of that it is a great read and I could barely put it down when I got it, but that may also be because I enjoyed the first one so much. This series is a breath of fresh air to the fantasy community, it uses few traditional elements in fantasy aside from humanity struggling for survival against an unstoppable enemy.

File me in the loved-debut-disliked-the-sequel camp. I was really looking forward to Peter V. Brett's sequel to THE WARDED MAN, which felt so compelling in terms of characterization, world-building and plot. I was underwhelmed by everything in this book: the prose, the characterizations and most especially the plot. I can't say anything much happens. The biggest gripe I have of fantasy series is pages on end of nothing much happening. In the opening chapter of THE DESERT SPEAR, Jardir's army invades the northern city of Fort Rizon. After that, it's pretty much a lot of soapish, childish storylines. The prose contained more dialogue than anything else-- a quick read for sure, but a sure sign of below average to average prose.

Although I enjoyed Brett's thorough characterizations of Arlen and Leesha in the PAINTED MAN, I'm not sure what Jardir's backstory really added to the overall plot. Arlen's meeting with Ahmann Jardir from THE WARDED MAN is fleshed out pretty good here, and I'm not sure it's for the better. I already knew Jardir wasn't a bad guy, just a misguided one. Here, we learn that Jardir's "Jiwah Ka" or First Wife Inerva is pulling Jardir's strings. We learn that Inerva seduces Jardir to betray Arlen, Inerva convinces Jardir to challenge and kill the prior Andrah (or leader) of his people. So basically, an strong, ambitious woman is behind Jardir's ascension to power.

As we return to the present, I was most put off by the relationship which develops between Jardir and Leesha. Essentially, Jardir visits Deliverer's Hollow, sees Leesha and he's smitten instantly. Despite having 14 wives, many of them unequaled in beauty and sexual proficiency, Jardir must have Leesha. What he wouldn't allow or tolerate with Arlen, he goes above and beyond tolerating with Leesha. When Arlen attempts to heal a man's life, Jardir kills the man, whereas when Leesha attempts to do the same, he obliges. Leesha returns his attraction because she's been bottled up for a long time and she needs release. After jumping in the sack with each other, this interminable soap opera takes a turn as the mind demon makes a move to eliminate Jardir. I was actually rooting for everyone dying. Unfortunately, Jardir, Leesha and Innerva all survive with some minor scratches. Nothing that can't be healed. I also didn't care for Arlen and Renna's fight with the mind demon. Nothing happens. The Krasians (Jardir's people) have only conquered Fort Rizon still and they haven't advanced since the opening chapter. The coreling princes weren't able to eliminate either of the potential Deliverers.

The best part of the book (and the reason this books receives 2 stars instead of 1), is for the plot which has Arlen rescuing Renna from the people in his home town, Tibbet's Brook. That's about all there is. This isn't enough to make this a satisfying read. An underwhelming reading experience to say the least

A great many reviews of "The Desert Spear" seem to be of the opinion that this novel, while having its own merits, is generally inferior to the first book of the series, The Warded Man. In my honest opinion, this verdict is not true. "The Warded Man" was indeed a faster-paced novel that advanced the story far more effectively than "The Desert Spear." It was also a superior horror story--the invincible demons of "The Warded Man" become far more vincible in "The Desert Spear." However, in my opinion--the admittedly biased opinion of a reader interested in mythology and character rather than straightforward plot progression--"The Desert Spear" is the better constructed and more interesting of the two novels.

If "The Warded Man" focused on, well, the Warded Man, "The Desert Spear" focuses on Arlen's frenemy, Jardir. Somewhat of a villain in he previous novel, Jardir's story occupies well over half the novel. While his tale does not forward the overall plot of the story much, it does provide one of the most interesting biographies of a fictional fantasy character in recent memory. The reader is allowed to understand Jardir much as the reader had understood Arlen--and by the end of the biography, we understand that Jardir (much like Arlen) is more of a tragic hero than a villain. And that the fate of the world would be determined by the actions of these two deeply flawed men.

Of course, "The Desert Spear" is not without fault. Most obviously, the book only forwards the "present day" plot by a small amount. A multitude of questions remain unanswered by the end--but that is a common curse for a novel that is only part of a larger series. Whatever the case, "The Desert Spear" is a work worth reading.

I really enjoyed the Warded Man and the Desert Spear and I can't wait for the third installment in the Demon Cycle. I love to see how the populace of humans progress from cowering townsfolk to courageous warriors. And The Warded Man character is clearly my favorite hero of any story I have read since Master Chief. Read it because the story is fast paced unlike Game of Thrones, and has great action like the Halo novels. And a special thing that is important in any story is that I am truly interested in, and want the best, for all the characters.

The Desert Spear is Peter Brett's very worthy follow-up to his excellent first novel, The Warded Man. The Desert Spear may not be quite as consistently good as The Warded Man, but it remains a strong book in its own right, more than avoiding the pitfalls of that dreaded second novel curse.

One way Brett avoids the second problem is by focusing at first on a character (Jardir) and setting (Krasia) that we were only briefly introduced to in book one. Similar to what he does with Arlen in The Warded Man, Brett takes us through Jardir's youth as he rises up the tribal ranks of the desert people to eventually become their leader. Brett makes a good decision structure-wise here by showing us Jardir's rise via long flashbacks between present day where Jardir is leading his people on an invasion of Arlen's homeland. Brett gets to have his cake and eat it too by keeping us in tune with an immediate sequel chronologically to The Warded Man while also going back a few decades and introducing us to a whole new group of characters.

Jardir and his best friend Abban are particularly well-drawn characters, each compelling for very different reasons, as is their complex relationship. Jardir's wife is a bit more one-note--I actually thought she had richer potential when she was introduced then what Brett does with her--but we start to see better possibilities for her as a richer character at the very end. The larger culture of the Krasians is as sharply depicted as its leader, and while fantasy fans will find it all somewhat familiar--the stern desert warrior Eastern way of life--the details are precise enough that it really comes alive as a foreign culture. Fair warning--it truly does have a tough-for-us-to-imagine view of the world and so the reader should be prepared for some repugnant action, including rape, though it isn't gratuitously detailed.

Once we've spent a good chunk of the book getting young Jardir caught up to current-day Jardir, we shift focus to the main characters from book one: Arlen (the eponymous Warded Man), Leesha, Rojer, Renna, and others. This section isn't as gripping or urgent, but maintains a high enjoyment/interest level in other, more personal ways: Rojer's unrequited love for Leesha, Renna's nightmarish life with her father, Arlen's fear of what he is turning into, his revelation of how his actions affect others etc. Eventually, the two worlds and character groups come together (though not Arlen and Jardir yet) as they must, but the clash is one more of culture than force, at least for now.
The characterization, as mentioned, is a strong point as it was in The Warded Man. Characters, including some minor characters from book one, grow and change, as do their relationships (Brett does a nice job of avoiding the predictable there). And we get some real grey area character types and actions, some quite uncomfortable. I personally like that sense of discomfort.

There are fewer "action" scenes in this one, especially once we're past Jardir's section, but that doesn't really feel like a lack in the book; the plotting certainly holds your interest throughout. The pacing was a bit off in the parts dealing with Arlen I thought--his revisiting of places/events from book one felt unbalanced and somewhat rushed/perfunctory. I liked what Brett was having him do, but it almost seemed like he was worried about overstepping a page limit and so zipped through it too quickly.

I did miss some of the detail on the demon world that we had in the first book, though we are introduced to a new category of demon here though intermittent chapters (the type of demon was interesting and certainly raises the bar/changes the game quite a bit, but the way it was presented was a bit flat I thought). And we only get a hint of that mix of magic and old science that I so enjoyed in The Warded Man.
Those were minor issues though and it's also obvious that some of what I missed in this book we'll return to, probably in more detail, in future ones. The Desert Spear was one of my more anticipated reads this year and it certainly didn't disappoint. Two books in and this remains one of my favorite series going, leaving me looking as forward to book three as I was to The Desert Spear. Highly recommended.

This is the second book in a projected series (The Demon War). I thoroughly enjoyed the first book - `The Painted Man' (UK and Australia); `The Warded Man' (USA) - and have been eagerly awaiting this one. I was not disappointed.

This instalment does not start where `The Painted Man' finishes. Instead, the book opens with Jardir (who played a role in the first book), and we follow his journey from childhood to adulthood. This provides a detailed look at Krasian customs and culture and succeeds in bringing Krasia to life.
Once the desert world of Krasia is described, with Jardir considered to be the Deliverer (Shar' Darma Ka), the story widens out to encompass the green-lands where Arlen Bales as The Painted Man is considered to be the Deliverer and returns to the present, and to follow the journeys of a number of different characters including Jardir, Arlen, Leesha, Rojer and Renna.

Two different men considered to be the Deliverer, each representing different cultures but with one common enemy: the corelings. Humanity is running out of time: the population is dwindling and the demons are growing in number, intelligence and strength. In this complex world, both the green-landers and the desert people possess critical knowledge and skills: will they be able to work together? Is there really a single Deliverer? If so, who is it and how will they save the world?

`Monsters do not always hide in the shadows.'

In some ways I enjoyed this book better than `The Warded Man'. Even though I wanted to read more about Arlen Bales, this instalment more clearly establishes the world in which the battle for survival will be fought. I'm now looking forward to the third book.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Ahmann Jardir has united the Krasia desert tribes under his rule claiming he is the Shar'Dama Ka Deliverer who can destroy the night demons. He yields an ancient spear and wears a crown as old as his weapon as he leads his demon killing army towards the cities of the north.

Others also claim to be the legendary Shar'Dama Ka. In the north there is Arlen Bales although he insists he is not the Deliver, but the Warded Man; whose tattooed skin contains magical wards that devastate demonic opponents. These two charismatic leaders have arrived at critical juncture as humanity has all but lost the night to the demon hordes. Jardir and Arlen were brothers in arms, but are now opponents whose rivalry further divides the humans. Key supporters like Jardir's ambitious psychic wife Inevera, Leesha the warding healer and Rojer the fiddler with the magical music struggle with who to support. This is a particular bad time to remain at odds as a new demonic breed has challenged the humans leaving those like Renna in dire straits.

The sequel to the Warded Man continues Jardir's conquests though he seems heroic rather than brutal as he did in the first fantasy thanks in part to his Machiavellian wife coming across more villainous than him. Fast-paced and filled with tons of action as armies battle on the epic scale, The Desert Spear is an exhilarate saga even with romance including for the Wild Thing "as love is all around us, it's everywhere we go" (the Troggs did have another hit). Readers will enjoy the second entry as the Deliver and the Warded Man are opponents at a time humanity cannot afford divergent internal strife.

Harriet Klausner

While the Warded Man was all about setting the stage... The Desert Spear is more about Action.
The story drifts away from the Warded Man & focuses on another warrior.
The Desert Spear reads more like historical fiction than fantsy.
There are definitely some Ghenghis Khan elements sprinkled here & there.
Whereas the first book is tense and centered on survival... the sequel illustrates the stratgies that enable mankind to fight back.
In short - 1st book is about Fear
2nd book is about Glory. Thus, the pace is quickened.

Do not skip the 1st book - you'll be COMPLETELY lost.

T'weener books in a trilogy usually serve as the transitional stage settings for the more climactic final episodes. Often, the middle book is the lull between two more exciting volumes. But not "The Desert Spear". All of the action, excitement and intrigue of "The Warded Man" continue seamlessly in "Desert Spear". Author Peter V. Brett does an excellent job of keeping the story moving at a brisk and crisp pace.

Where "The Warded Man" told the tale of the Northerners Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, "The Desert Spear" recounts the history of the Southerner Jardir and his Krasian culture. This is critical to delineating the forces of the North (led by Arlen aka The Warded Man) and the motives of the South (led by Jardir) as they drive towards an inevitable final showdown. Both forces believe that they are being led by the prophetic Deliverer who will guide mankind to its ultimate victory over the demon corelings. The clash between men must first be resolved before the ultimate battle against the demons may commence.

From my perspective, "The Desert Spear" was as exciting and engrossing a read as was "The Warded Man". Prior endearing characters are expanded upon and a few new ones are introduced. The action never seems to cease.

Now for the long wait until the release of the third and final volume.

The Warded Man (see my A+/A review) creates a fantastic world where the night belongs to demonic creatures who terrorize and kill any humans or animals who are unlucky enough to be outside unprotected by wards. Wards are special symbols which when written on a surface magically can protect it from demons. Humanity is basically trapped behind warded gates and windows in an era which has almost no technology (no electricity, no internal combustion engine, no machinery period). There is some medical knowledge and society has a basic agricultural and feudal nature. Life expectancy is in the fifties.

However, as with most meaningful works of fiction, the emotional impact is centered around the characters. The first book introduces us to Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. Arlen becomes the first person in his village who wants to fight the demons and devotes his life to destroying as many demons as possible, searching for the fabled (and long-lost) "fighting wards" which can not be used defensively to protect the bearer but also offensively to kill demons. Leesha is the brilliant apprentice to Bruja, the town Healer and through her eyes the reader gets to experience the politics of gender in a patriarchal, small-town society. Rojer is an orphan who saw his mother and father killed by demons but was taken in by an itinerant musical entertainer. Rojer becomes a talented musician despite having a mangled hand that he received from the demon who killed his parents.

The Desert Spear is the second book in what is now called The Demon Trilogy. It is primarily set in Krasia. a dry land far in the desert, where through insane bravery and a warrior culture of machismo every night the people of the desert lure demons into a maze and kill them in hand-to-hand combat or trap them in pits where they are destroyed when the sun rises in the morning.

Much of the second book takes place in Krasia, following the main character Ahmann Jardir, who had a minor role in the first book. This time his entire backstory from youth is given (a similar practice is used in the first book for the main characters of Arlen, Leesha and Rojer). Also like in the first book, here, too, we get an interesting look at cultural norms, this time a quasi-Muslim society. I thought some aspects of the society were slightly derivative of Frank Herbert's Dune but overall the Krasia-set chapters were as interesting as the stories following our now-familiar favorites from the first book. We are also introduced to Renna, who is a girl from Arlen's hometown who goes through a horrific ordeal and eventually follows him down the path of being a singular opponent of demons.

One (slight) downside of the books for me as a gay reader is the way that homophobia and sexism of the Krasian society is depicted, especially through the character of Abban, who although it is clear that he is straight, is perceived as a "lesser man" by all other Krasians. At some point the author does make it clear that being gay is not looked down upon in Krasian society. In the North, where Rojer, Leesha and Arlen live much of the plot and dynamics of the characters revolve around the presumed (and confirmed) heterosexuality of everyone. I would have liked to see a more nuanced approach to sexuality in The Desert Spear since Brett does an excellent job of depicting and deconstructing gender hierarchies quite well in both books.

A new feature of the second book is some scenes from the viewpoint of the demon, at least one demon in particular, "mind demons" who happen to be "coreling princes." This forebodes an interesting component of the story, which will be resolved in the third installment, apparently title The Daylight War and scheduled for release in 2012.

Title: The Desert Spear.
Author: Peter V. Brett.
Length: 608 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Date: April 13, 2010.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A+.

PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

***1/2

I found the second book in Brett's series to be almost as entertaining as the first, though the flaws in his writing seemed more evident this time around. As before, the story is pretty character-driven, and this book fills in the backstory of the Krasian warrior Jardir, revealing him to be a more sympathetic figure than he seemed in the first book. The reader learns a lot about the desert culture of Krasia, which resembles a mix of the Middle East and ancient Sparta. While this digression away from the events and characters of The Warded Man takes up about a third of the book, I much enjoyed the detailed exploration of a world quite different from the "western"-style lands of the north.

Eventually, the novel gets back to Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer. At this point, the story flounders a bit as the characters get sucked into endless personal drama and some dull and repetitive coreling-fighting sequences, after they discover weapons and hitherto hidden combat skills that make the formerly scary demons ridiculously easy to kill. While Brett is by no means lacking insight into human behavior, some of his plot choices feel cheesy and contrived. "How can I make this story more interesting?", the author seems to be thinking, "I know -- I'll make Leesha and Jardir fall for each other." Never mind that one abhors violence, and the other commands the troops sacking her country -- some soap opera-style mooning quickly overcomes these little differences. Also, my second Peter Brett reading experience made me painfully conscious of his tendency to use the same verbs and phrases over and over. Not a page goes by without someone shrugging or scowling, and "he embraced the pain and let it pass through him" becomes a familiar mantra. And characters sometimes say and do things that seem a little anachronistic for their world, such as suddenly developing a fixation on the scientific method.

All in all, though, I was in mood for escapist fantasy, and this book was a satisfying if not altogether stunning continuation of its predecessor. The invasion of the north by Krasia and the differences between the two "Deliverers", not to mention Arlen's steady shift towards the dark side, should offer the forthcoming third book plenty of plot fodder, though, hopefully, the editor will be a little more empowered on that one. If you're a fan of the modern fantasy genre, this series is a solid entry, though it falls a bit short of better works, like George R.R. Martin's.

Great book, generally, with a fantastic ending that makes me itch for the third book in the series.

High points are the magic system, even better character development than the first book, great action sequences, and the foreshadowing of what appears to be a fantastic conclusion.

Low points are as follows: (1) A lack of world-building. Brett could a lesson from Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin on this one, both of whom paint vibrant environments. Here, most of the cities and hamlets blend into one another. They're all grey. Nothing distinguishes them. (Oh, and a map would have been nice.); (2) The name of the book and picture on the front cover. Both are misleading in that they give the impression that the entire book centers around a Lawrence-of-Arabia-type desert environment. It does not. Regardless of the number of pages devoted to the desert characters, the primary focus of this book remains around the main characters from The Warded Man.

Overall, a wonderful job by this relatively new author. I look forward to many future works from him.

Having read the Painted Man (PM) the day before, I was highly anticipating Desert Spear, curious to know how the story would progress after PM. The first part of the novel were based on Jardir's PoV, switching from present, to past and then back to the present. The alternate switching could only be differentiated based on the years written on the start of the chapter was quite annoying at first since I had to switch to the previous chapter to see which year I was reading on. Can't say I was immensely relieved after Peter was done talking about the past and the story progressed how it should be.

The involvement of so many people's PoV was quite overwhelming as well (about 8 of them). But it was different from the other novels and I had a glimpse of a different perspective and a different opinion to every scene. It was also more realistic and I liked that about Desert Spear. However, if you have a favourite character you might be itching to read their parts more than the other characters'.

Although I found Jardir's part a bit lengthy, it was actually fair to give him a bigger role than Arlen since the cover featured him and the part which shaped Arlen's life in the present was already done in PM. More character development in Jardir than I'd imagined, and towards the end I wasn't surprised with the events which took fold. I could say I was quite disappointed with the pairings, since I imagined Leesha with Arlen instead. (So the last few pages were quite disappointing as well - although I have to agree Renna deserves Arlen more than Leesha).

My only lament is that there was a lot of pages written for the past (not that it's not beneficial to the story) but less progress in the present. Hopefully in the Daylight War Peter could now focus on the present and move the pace faster.

I loved the Warded Man and was looking forward to the Desert Spear. Way too much of the book is on Jardir-- we fell in love with the characters in the first book and was hoping to continue there. In the Warded Man, Jardir was the bad guy, in this book he tries to make him into a compassionate and understanding guy. Really? Is this the same man who lets his warriors rape women as they please? SPOILER: Is this the same man who conquers a city, kills many of the men, lets his warriors rape anyone they want. Forces people to change their religion? He makes Jardir into a victim of his childhood, so that's why he's make the choices he makes. It's crap!

The second half of the book is worth reading, but some of that was hard to read too. It didn't make sense. SPOILER: Leesha sees thousands of refuges from the city/hamlets that Jardir conquers. People are starving, lost everything to war, raped. But Leesha wants to give Jardir a fair chance. What crap was that?

I skimmed the first few hundred pages to get to the good parts on the people from the first book. Also, skim a good chunk of the middle/end of the book when Jardirs evil wife takes center stage.

Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle is among my favorite coming-of-age fantasy series along with Robin Hobb's Farseer & Tawny Man trilogies and Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle. It is certainly not the best yet still impressive and exciting, flawed but not off-putting. Overall quality isn't as good and complex as Ms. Hobb's and Mr. Rothfuss', and the amount of rape, incest and infidelity made me uneasy. However, the connection and emotions I felt for the titular character were just as profound as those I felt for Hobb's Fitz and Rothfuss' Kvothe, for Arlen is a character I quickly loved and believed in from the beginning that I couldn't help reread the series immediately and non-stop.

Book 1, The Warded Man: Alternatively entitled The Painted Man. Although the title is revealing and may feel somewhat predictable, it does not spoil the plot. The pace is refreshingly quick and the premise of demons rising each night and the use of "wards" (magic symbols) is very promising and engaging. I felt really moved and inspired by the hero and my excitement did not diminish when the other main characters became less believable. Pivotal and very entertaining is the demon One Arm.

Book 2, The Desert Spear: Provides backstories and retelling of events that shaped the life of the warded man but little plot advancement, essentially a setup for an upcoming conflict typical of how a middle volume in a series works. Gone is the sense of fear cultivated in the first book due to the overuse of wards, replaced with political interactions and soap dramas. While the other main characters became even less convincing and their decisions questionable, Arlen continued to captivate me with his self-deprecation and influence, and very stirring is his reunion with his maternal-figure.

Such is my experience and despite its faults, I greatly enjoyed this series, hopeful and eagerly looking forward to reading the rest.

The Desert Spear follows Brett's first novel The Painted Man, a tale about a demon ridden world where humans huddled in fear of the night hours. The novel essentially followed a rather D&D format as we saw three children grow to become the warrior (Painted man), Healer and Bard.

In many ways Desert Spear almost feels like an apologetic piece. Many of the criticisms I and many other reviewers had were addressed in a sort-of rewrite of history. The wierd hook-up between Arlen and Leesha, Arlen's first visit to Krasia, and a more in depth look at Krasian society are all covered in Desert Spear.

In saying that in many ways Desert Spear is an improvement on the previous book, the prose is tight, the storylines weave together a little better and the characters are 'mostly' genuine. Many questions risen from the previous novel are answered: The demons do have leaders who possess intelligence, the world depicted is a post-modern (literally, not the artform) there is a very promising plot-line of one city adopting technology in the fight against demons and everyone else.

Ultimately I find myself more miffed by the negatives however, the first 100 or so pages are devoted to Jadir and his upbringing and rise to leadership, which feels like it should have been part of the first novel and too obviously is provided to make us relate to Jadir as more than just 'the bad guy'. And after Jadir's life pretty much nothing at all happens, the war between Krasia and Thresa doesn't occur due to an unbelievable love interest between Jadir and Leesha, Arlen visits the core but doesn't find out anything about it, and the one nobody remembers the name of gets two wives.

Worst of all is the creepy atmospheric setting created in the Painted Man is gone. In Desert spear all the people know how to fight demons and so the main dangers of the whole story are reduced to little more than awkward insects rather than the evil creatures that are the whole purpose of the plotline.

I'm still looking forward to the conclusion (I'm assuming a trilogy) but I can't honestly say that Desert Spear is good as a stand alone novel.

I really enjoyed the first book and its plot and character development. This book changes pace from the first and seems like a build up for the next book. The plot didn't move as much as I prefer as more time was spent integrating other characters. I still thought it was good, but not as fun as the previous.

"The Desert Spear" is the second novel by Peter V. Brett and continues (partially) where "The Warded Man" left off. The night belongs to demons, and only with the help of painted wards can people defend themselves from the evil onslaught. Arlen, the Warded Man, has discovered the lost wards that can kill the demons, hopefully freeing mankind from their nightly imprisonment.

The entire first section of "The Desert Spear" is devoted to Jardir's rise in Krasia, the desert warrior theocracy. Jardir's character and motives from the "The Warded Man" and "The Great Bazaar" are fleshed out, and the entire Krasian society and structure is so well-defined that it is a character unto itself. The warrior society has parallels to Mongols, Muslims, and Samurai, borrowing heavily from the cultures without becoming a shallow copy of any one.

A spoiler-free synopsis of the novel involves the Krasians invading the Free Cities in a Crusade/Holy War scenario to unite mankind under Krasian rule. The Krasian's fight against both The Free Cities and demons allows for some engaging encounters that test human values and loyalties. This plot is told through the eyes of five main characters: Arlen, Leesha, Rojer, Jardir, and Renna. Each character has a unique voice, with Jardir and Leesha's standing out as the strongest.

"The Desert Spear" includes many fantasy elements that could be considered commonplace, such as demons, warrior theocracies, or lost magic being found. Yet, these ingredients create a great world that doesn't feel stale or rehashed.

Surprisingly, the largest contention that I have with "The Desert Spear" is Arlen's viewpoints. Whereas "The Warded Man" was able to strongly convey Arlen's beliefs through his wandering encounters and travels, "The Desert Spear" makes Arlen feel like he is truly wandering. Some of his decisions seemed arbitrary, while others forced, and the isolated, dehumanized nature of his character allowed me to develop only a weak emotional attachment to him.

Overall, "The Desert Spear" is an entertaining fantasy read that doesn't revolutionize the genre. The writing is largely solid, and the story will keep you engrossed in the novel and awaiting the next in the series.

When I realized that so much of the book would focus on Jardir, and not Arlen, I thought I would be very disappointed. I was wrong. Although I did not always agree with his behavior, I now understand why he is the way he is. I ended up liking him a lot. I could not put the book down. I do not buy hardcovers but I don't know if I can wait for "The Daylight War" to come out in paperback. I'm excited to know that the series is planned for 5 books. The only thing that bothered me about this book was that I was constantly looking up words in the Krasnian Dictionary in the back of the book. There were so many similar "terms" that I could not keep them straight in my head. I think this series, so far, would be a terrific movie. If you liked "The Warded Man", you must read "The Desert Spear".

After taking a chance on the Warded Man when it first came out, I eagerly awaited the second book in the series.

I must admit, I was surprised that the first part of the book deals with the Krasians and not Arlen Bales (the protagonist of the Warded Man).

However, the story of how the desert people's culture and fighting techniques against the demons (corelings) was very entertaining.

Eventually, we are brought back to the story of the "warded man" Arlen Bales who must bring back the combat wards to his people and deal with his growing power.

He never actually meets his enemy Jardir in this book, but it is assured that they will meet and battle in the following book.

Overall, this book makes for great reading. I love this author's work and can't wait for more books.

The first book was fantastic, but the second book was no more than a boring retelling of the first. The character's opinions do not change and their journey become depressing and extremely sad. If you loved the first book enough. Then let it end there. Dont read the second book.

I'm a bit surprised at the influence of wards over machines. The context felt throughout the first 2 books establishes capable aspects of the lower classes plus the knowledge locked in the libraries. It would seem a perfect counterpoint with a potential separate class but nothing seems to come of this except Leesha's knowledge of 'Greek fire'. Intentional and a gap not easily filled?

Yes ladies and gentlemen that would be the burner that also greatly scarred me. I was thrilled with Mr. Brett's first showing in the Warded Man series but then he just had to try to "shake things up" without the least bit of knowledge how to do that.

This is the second low rating review I have written of an author I really used to like, no in this case worship! I thought Brett's characters were well developed the plot well done for a first foray into this brave new world. Two stars is more than I thought it deserved but I will save my true anger in review if he continues in this theme further.

This is the pre-spoiler part ladies and gentlemen.
Women in this world are sneaky, moral-less hussies who might do a snake if someone would bother to hold it still for them.

Now for some back ground about what I mean, with SOME spoilers.
Brett decided that his character of Jadir needed more depth, so he practically re-wrote his past. All the "bad" "backstabbing" actions he undertook in the first book? Not his fault. In fact, when his men refused to kill Arlen because he killed the coreling with nothing but his wits in the previous book it somehow MAGICALLY changed into Jadir's kindness and inability to put his friend to death.

Now we move on to the worst of all the characters... Leesha. Leesha was a caring woman who was determined to teach the Warded man to care no matter what it takes.. knowing his rejection is his own fear.. UNTIL this book when all that changes and Leesha drops her panties to the New Jadir because he is hawt and the warded man means nothing but an old school girl's fancy. Brett's attempt to make things more adult and mix things up just made me sick.

Those two are the worst Brett has to offer and are about as worthless a show of re-written history and human empathy that I can point a finger at in any recently published work.

I loved the first book, and I don't mind a twist. This wasn't a twist this was a re-write of the history and of the character core principles. I was dancing waiting for the release of this book but after reading it, and hearing that there will be now FIVE if he keeps this up I will have to stop reading if he doesn't pull himself together in the next book.

This book read like Been there done that, in reverse order for Arlen. This all feels played out, and Mr. Brett should be ashamed of himself for this horrible game. I am sure he will say well just wait and see.... The rumors of two deliverer's was perhaps the nail in the coffin. Your re-write and attempts to make Jarir more compassionate would have been better if there was the slightest hint of it in the first book. Since you didn't this was obviously a ploy to drag the story out longer, keep the original love interests away longer and make us wonder where your brain went sir.

I cannot tell you how ashamed I am right now for how I shouted the praises of the Warded Man from the mountain tops, and now they will read this and say WFT?!?!? Just like I did. This was a cheap trick to make money and prolong the story so you could push a trilogy to five books. Your characterizations of women are bad, and pushing Leesha off as the good wife for Jadir make me want to vomit. This series had the potential to surpass the Wheel of Time in my opinion. That would take more than a miracle now with this re-write tripe!

Sequel to the Warded Man, this book is well worth the time. Top 10 for me.

2nd in what's expected to be a 5 book series, the book is fast paced and, at times, violent. Great world building and characters.

I really can't put into words how eager I was for The Desert Spear to be released this year. I loved The Painted Man when I read it last year, and The Great Bazaar short collection just whetted my appetite for it even more. In my eyes there was a lot of pressure on Brett to deliver (no pun intended) a superior novel that would build on the foundations of The Painted Man, but I can't deny that I had a slight worry that it would fall short of my huge expectations. As soon as it arrived in early April I put everything else to one side to get it read, which I did in a couple of sessions - it's that enjoyable!

The format Brett used in The Painted Man following the lives of the main characters from childhood onwards is once again present here, but this time we get to see the history of a familiar, but now much more important, character - Jardir, the self-proclaimed Deliverer and leader of the Krasian people. The first couple of hundred pages focus on Jardir and the Krasian culture that is brutal to the core. I knew that this was the case before picking up The Desert Spear and, to be honest, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it. Jardir was a character in The Painted Man that I did not like, he seemed arrogant and uncaring towards Arlen during the time when Arlen used the old combat warded spear. However, these early glimpses into his life made him a character that turned out to be more than I expected, his culture leading him to the man he is.

The Krasian culture that is presented is truly a brutal and unforgiving one. Children are taken from their families at a young age to undergo years of training and practice at fighting the demons, eventually allowing them to take part in the battle and the chance at an honourable death. The treatment of women and outcasts is a stark reminder that this is not a nice culture to grow up in, the women often being raped and the outcasts beaten, if not murdered. Brett's prose is extremely easy to read, and I felt that these subjects were well portrayed given the society. It's not a nice thing to read about at all, but in context it works and shows us just how unforgiving the Krasian ways are.

Once this back story is done we return to the present with the events of The Painted Man only recently taken place. This is where the pace and format takes a different direction, following each of the main characters - Arlen, Leesha, Rojer and Jardir - as they continue on their respective paths in the world.

Jardir is now taking his army across the desert to the green lands to unite the people of the world under his rule to fight the demons. But it is done in typical Krasian fashion, conquering rather than by diplomatic means. It's done well and it's done unforgivingly, Brett not hesitant to use the less favourable aspects of the Krasian society in his narrative. Leesha and Rojer are still at Deliverer's Hollow, rebuilding and expanding it after the events at the climax of The Painted Man. With Jardir's army marching on the free cities many travel to Deliverer's Hollow in the hope of finding a safe place to stay during the strife that is facing the lands, and in doing so cause the village to swell in numbers and struggle to cope with the influx. Arlen is still travelling the land and slaying demons at night, but he's struggling to come to terms with what he has become, and the discovery of Jardir's plans do nothing to improve his mood.

While the demons take a back seat to some extent here, there is a very important addition to their numbers - the demon prince. Introduced in the first chapter, it adds another depth to that side of the story and raises many questions about the nature of the corelings. It does feel like a side story due to the main events of the novel, but it's an aspect of The Desert Spear that works in its favour, adding to the mythos but never quite taking centre stage.

The speed at which the story unfolds is also very different to The Painted Man. Instead of focusing on the important events from the characters past with large leaps forward in time, the story takes a slower approach and takes place over only a few months. While this does slow down the story, it helps it in many ways. We start to get a deeper understanding of the characters and their motivations rather than building them from scratch as happened in The Painted Man. I liked this approach and felt that it enhanced the story rather than detracted from it, building to a climax that will make the third book, The Daylight War, one of my most anticipated books when it gets its release.

Overall The Desert Spear is successful at what it does, building a picture of a world thrown into chaos by an impending war with the Krasians, a war that could not come at a worst time. Brett's prose is improved this time around and goes to show that he's not just a one hit wonder. His skill at telling the story is always masterful and at times completely absorbing. I really can't recommend this highly enough.

Desert Spear was even better than the previous installment, Warded Man. I have to say that I do not really care for the fantasy genre and especially for the sub-genre involving demons. But this book does not fall into the all too often temptation to lather on the Christian religion (or associations) in heavy doses (which is one of the things I detest most about this genre). In contrast, this book takes place on a alternative world or at least one which one whose universal foundations (physically, etc.) have been dramatically changed by the presence of the "Core" and all things associated with this...This book changed up things quite a bit from the last book by including the perspective of the "Krasians" (modeled of course on "Arabic"/Middle Eastern culture if there can be said to be something of the sort) and introducing some new characters. I agree with the Publisher's Weekly review that the ending felt a bit abrupt (and yes an epilogue would have definitely helped) but it was still an awesome ending that leaves readers chomping at the bit for more...

If you like fantasy (or even good science fiction such as myself), magic, and the swords and daggers type of reading then this is essential reading!

Honestly, I have not even finished the book yet, and I can already write a really bad review for it. The Warded Man was incredible, so I eagerly awaited it's sequel. Then I started reading it. You do not even get to hear about any of the main characters from the previous book for the first 150 PAGES. All it focuses on is Jarid. JARID! Do you care about Jarid? I don't care about Jarid. Yet apparently Brett does. So, I suffered through 150 pages of Jarid's past that I do not care about, and finally got to all of the main characters from the last book, and it was not worth the wait at all. I am still considering whether or not I should finish the book. The chapters are divided between chapters when nothing happens, to chapters when random characters have sex or get raped, to chapters where old grannies somehow manage to defeat demons. It makes no sense. I would just read the summary on wikipedia if I were you. Maybe you could try borrowing it from the library, but DO NOT buy it.

Let me start by acknowledging that I thought The Warded Man was a fairly average debut novel. Its linear plotlines (converging on one master plotline of course!), uninspired fantasy environment, and rather poor character development didn't begin to compare with an actual achievement like Patrick Rothfuss's "Name of the Wind" for example. When I saw that Hollywood had already optioned the rights for a blockbuster, it was immediately clear why.

I grabbed The Desert Spear nonetheless and was immediately blown away by the contrast between the two novels. The Desert Spear, compared to The Warded Man, focuses more much more on its characters and the conflict between their desires and their obligations to society and others. In addition to the three main characters of The Warded Man, this novel focuses most of its attention on their head-on collision with the character of Jardir, who was only briefly engaged in the first novel but brought to new life in this volume. The vivid depiction of the warlike Krasians and their primitive, fanatical desert culture makes me truly wonder how this novel could ever be brought to the silver screen. It's very clear that Brett's priority was to tell a good story about the characters introduced in the first novel instead of focusing on how the novel could be sold to a popcorn-munching audience.

If you were satisfied but not thrilled by The Warded Man, then you may want to give The Desert Spear a chance.

I have read both "The Warded Man" and "The Desert Spear" and I love them both. If you have read the first book and disliked it, then do not read the sequel as the formula does not change. However if you did like the first book then I recommend this book highly. It has everything you liked from the first book and expands the plot by adding the demon princes in an interesting side plot. Jardir from the first book has added depth after we spend the first half of the book on him (don't worry the author did not forget Arlen). This book is part of a trilogy where book one is the introduction and book two is the buildup to a full on demon war. There is plenty of action and none of the characters are forgotten. I can't wait for the next book.

I'm fairly new to PVB, having just begun the Warded Man series. While the first book had its flaws (again, mostly with characters), the sequel fails in pretty much every way its predecessor succeeded. Strap in folks, this is gonna be a long review.

SPOILERS

First, the atmosphere of this book is entirely different than that of the Warded Man. The first book took place in a world of fear and tension, where demons were thought to be immortal and the slightest hole in your wardnet spelt a grisly end. I will say that Brett did an AMAZING job of building up the corelings in the first book, and you could feel a genuine fear for the main characters with every sunset.

In this book, the corelings are little more than rabid chihuahuas. At their most intimidating, I couldn't picture them as being anything scarier than those leering trees in Snow White. I recall Arlen having a devil of a time killing his first demon, even when he got a warded weapon. Here, the task poses no problem for an octogenarian with the cane kicked out from under him.

Truth be told, the total castration of the demon race didn't bother me nearly so much as the book's main flaw: its characters.

Creating likeable characters was a bit of a challenge for PVB in the first book as well, his most obvious failure being the inclusion of Leesha (Look, say what you want but she was NEVER anything more than a Mary Sue). Fortunately, Leesha's chapters in the Warded Man were easy to skip and far between. The Desert Spear offers us no such reprieve from her grating perfection, as even when she's not physically present, other characters often find a way to bring her up and spout on about what a beautiful, intelligent, fierce, strong, domineering, virtuous, innovative, artistic, fast-learning, self-sacrificing little angel she is. Seeing as just about EVERYONE in the Desert Spear is singing her praises, I'm not sure why no one's nominated her for Deliverer.

Tragically, the characters assassinations do not stop with Leesha. I will say that I didn't mind the intro with Jardir all that much in the beginning, as it could have been interesting to explore the source of Krasian fanaticism, and get an inside perspective on how good intentions (ridding the world of demons) can beget terrible actions (turning unwilling northlanders into cannon fodder to shore up the numbers in your war). Unfortunately, Jardir is one of those characters where the more you know about him, the less you can forgive him. I still don't get how the readers are supposed to think he's not such a bad guy when he encourages rape, pillaging, and murder.

The majority of supporting characters are cardboard cutouts of much better stereotypes. Wonda and Gared are bumbling idiots created only to verbally glorify the main characters and start random fights over some minor offense for the express purpose of being berated by their posturing masters. They kinda remind me of my buddy's overactive pitbulls who try to rip my arm off every time I steal a bite of her nutrigrain bar.

Jardir's henchmen are sneering douchebags who, again, only exist so that he can lecture them in front of other people to seem like a nice guy.

On the barest note of positivity, there is the Arlen and Renna subplot. Arlen was a very well-written character in the first book, being that he was strong and relatable, while at the same time imperfect. That is, he could appear selfish and uncomprehending as often as he was brave and friendly. In this book, he is a different character, who happens to share Arlen's name and origins. Much of the book is his worrying that he will eventually become a full demon, and being sad that he gave up his good friends and pretty face. Even though the angst was a bit much, it was one of the less frustrating parts of the book, not to mention Arlen heralds some good action scenes. Renna wasn't too bad either, though I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that her incest situation could have been solved by throwing the old rapist to the corelings and living your merry life. It was a little weird that she was so hung up on Arlen for so long after that one chance encounter as a child. Desperate much?

The last thing that I HATED about this book was the teeth-grindingly obnoxious hockney accent that everyone mysteriously picked up. I don't remember Arlen talking like a hillbilly in the last book. Or Elona, for that matter. But for some reason, the majority of characters in this book (foreigners excluded) talk like they're straight out of Deliverance. But only sometimes. Not only did it make it impossible for me to take the characters seriously, it got to be so annoying that I had to do automatic translations from the ye old hick dialect or risk getting annoyed enough to break my $200 nook.

I won't be reading the next installment.

Love the first two books in this series: The Demon Cycle. Three more to go (hopefully) and I can't wait. I read a lot of Science Fiction/Fantasy books. Peter Brett is doing great stuff. I don't especially agree with some previous reviews, but to each his own. The character development is great in my opinion. I don't see a lot of cliches or repetitive phrases/words, which really distracts from the story, always a plus. I like the multiple POV from the characters, especially Jadirs. At first, I was annoyed with a departure from Arlen as the focal point, but I grew to appreciate Jadir's life. I like the characters' faults and deficiencies as well as the potential for growth. Most of the characters are believable and identifiable with.
I think the next book will focus much more on the demons and the Core's storyline, which were left on the back burner in this book. The hierarchy and true strength of the demons was only hinted at in The Desert Spear. That bothered some people, but it can't be all fear driven helpless people for 2 books, after 2 potential Deliverers are on the scene with the ancient lost wards... I was never confused or lost, but there is some jumping around in time, past to present to past, which some people's little brains couldn't follow. Too bad for them.
Great read, I highly recommend.

This series is great for a multitude of reasons. I have been enthralled with the series from book one. The second installment is just as good and while it backtracks into an alternate characters past, it continues to compound on the ongoing storyline brilliantly.

I've a new drinking game.

Everytime somebody gets raped in Peter V. Brett's book, take a drink.

If the rapist is later praised as a hero and his previous rape-a-holic exploits are completely forgotten, take a drink.

If a character mentions that they embrace pain... but not rape, take a drink.

You'll be sidways in 1-hour.

All kidding aside, decent book. I've the usual complaints about the first half, yada yada yada. Second half was great, yeada yada yada.

Can't wait for more. Buy the book.
4 1/2 Stars out of 5.

While it may not be as good as the first book, it was still an enjoyable read. The part on Jardir's early life was a little long, but it did show much of their culture, which was necessary. But the idea that a bunch of senior citizens could take out wood demons..... well I found that a bit hard to believe. The demons, even with magical weapons, would still be difficult to kill. But even with these flaws, it was still a great book to read.

This series is well written and has great characters. The chapter are layed out similar to Rober Jordan's. Where the story jumps back in time to cover a different character. I enjoy this because of the suspence it builds

Peter Brett returns with a superbly paced and plotted novel and takes us back to the world of "The Warded Man," but boy-oh-boy, it's not going to be quite what you expected!

"The Desert Spear" shows no sign of Arlen, The Warded Man, for over 100 pages! Instead,the first part of the book tells of the life of Jardir, the leader of the desert tribe that Arlen visited, and also the man who took the runed spear of power away from Arlen, and then left him to die in the desert. In many ways this whole section feels like it should have been included in 'The Warded Man,' but might have been excised by an overly cautious editing team. It's a terrific beginning, and you'll soon find yourself caught up in the ways of the desert people and all their conspiracies and politics.

Then we get back to all the characters we met in the first book, and follow them as they attempt to warn their part of the world about the impending attack from Jardir, who believes himself to be The Deliverer! Most of the Northern people think Arlen is the Deliverer, however, and when Jardir catches wind that there is another person who might be the Deliverer, he is none too pleased.

At the heart of the book is that both men want the world to be freed from the demons that rise at night. There are many exciting action sequences, and lots of new information regarding the history of the runes, and the battle between men and demons are revealed.

I loved this book! I wish the third entry was out right now, because it's good enough to make me forsake my policy of not reading two books in a row by the same author.

I just can't figure out why it took over 100 pages to get back to the main characters from the first novel.

You know, I was a huge fan of the debut novel. It was fresh with compelling characters and a good swords and sorcery plot of boy to apprentice to serious hero type. An easy 5 star recommendation for me. I understand that the scope of this series needed added complexity provided by more characters, but I have some gripes:

1. I'm tired of writers in modern fantasy portraying women as scheming manipulative characters who complicate everything and get away with all sorts of hijinks that would not be tolerated if perpetrated by their fellow male characters.(I'm a guy by the way, not a feminist). This seems to be a common theme that once a good storyline is established in the first novel or two, then the author can slap a couple of original sin symbols in there, squandering the enthusiasm his audience has developed for new books in order to add page count and boost cover prices. As they say, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." It gives me a headache every time. I toss the book down in disgust for several days before I can bring myself to finish it. No offense to the author if this pattern was your original vision for developing the series; but read a few other modern series and you'll find that in the second or third books, this is becoming THE common thing to do. Are you betting that the momentum from the great first book will net at least TWO more? There are probably teams of editors at the publisher with statistics to support that this is the most profitable way to operate.

2. The same applies for the very evil betrayer from the first novel who develops into a misunderstood dark hero. He had a rough childhood; his situation forced him to employ ruthless means; he and the protagonist will work toward the same goals even as they remain bitter and suspicious of one another: the dark hero battling to let his inner code of honor shine through the murky cloud of his circumstances. Gives you a warm fuzzy right? No, gives me another headache.

That being said I remain enough of a fan to continue purchasing books; paying the author and publisher for what is an entertaining fantasy series even though these genre-typical stunts are starting to crop up. I guess the statistics were right this time, better not push it in the next one!

great book series that i recommend. Negative comments for book? I didn't feel that it was a full story in of itself, kinda just a lot of exposition and rising action, two minor climaxes, one for each main character and then the book just ends. Its kinda like he just split one book into two right down the middle. Cannot wait for the 3rd book.

The first book in this series was an enjoyable read, but I pretty much knew what was going to happen by the title alone, which left me slightly disappointed. The second book in the series started off a little slowly for me, but by the time I was 15% into it, I couldn't put it down, and I ended up enjoying it more than the first. I don't really dissect books when i read, I just go on whether or not I get bored. I was not ready to be done with this book when it was over, and I am excited for the next one.

SPOILERS.

Am I the only one who thinks some of the reviewers here need to grow up? There's been a lot of crying over the fact that instead of simply carrying on with the main charcters from the last book, some minor characters from the last book were expanded on instead. Personally I prefer this approach! It gives the world a much bigger feel, and it fits in well with Arlen's view that there's no one 'savior' that can fix everything. The other thing people have been crying over is the fact that Arlen doesn't look to be getting together with Leesha anytime soon. Eh? Who cares! Their relationship in the first book was nothing more than her wanting him and him not wanting her, so it makes alot more sense that shes gonna move on and he's gonna find a bond with someone who's just as damaged as him.

As for Leesha's relationship with Jardir, I don't think we've heard the last of it. Jardir went a long way to hide the worst excesses of the Krasian culture from Leesha, even to the point of lying to her on occasions. My guess is she's gonna be pissed when she meets back up with Arlen and hears about just how back Jardir can be. On that note, I thought the author did a wonderful job of transforming him from a backstabbing bad guy into a conflicted anti hero whos just as much a victim of his own culture as the people he's trying to enslave. Other triumphs include the mysterious Abban's role (whats up with him anyway? My guess is he's not actually crippled), and my personal favourite parts of the book, when Arlen goes home and confronts his past in the form of Mary, Ragen, Elissa, and the people of Tibbets Brook. I felt myself getting really emotional at these points, most notably when Elissa first sees Arlen's wards, and also when Arlen saves Renna from the towns 'justice'.

Now on to the bad parts. I agree with what many have said about the demons getting seriously nerfed in this one. They went from being horrible, world destroying threats in the last, to simple cannon fodder in this - including one laughable scene where the Tibbets Brook town elders take out a few for themselves. Now this can be explained by the good guys now having battle wards, and perhaps you could theorise that the demons around towns in the west arent as powerful as the ones fighting Krasians in the east, but its still a bit of a shame to see powerful enemies reduced to a simple incovenience in a book that was more to do with match making and romance than the demon threat.

Perhaps the worst thing about Brett's books though is his frequent use of rape, which is frankly just disturing, and the fact that women are either simpering little helpless creatures, or domineering and controlling. Its not the worst crime, and other authors have gotten away with it, but it could use some work.

Overall its not as strong as the last one, but its got a few moments of brilliance that make it worth the read. Looking forward to the next installment. 3 stars.

If you have read The Warded Man, this novel is a must read for a compelling, character driven story. If you have not read the first book, then you should and then pick up The Desert Spear because you will want more and will be unable to put it down. At least that was how I was an I enjoyed every minute and every page.

First off, I really loved the Warded Man. It was a surprise discovery, the book sitting on a rear shelf in a local store. Me, not really looking for anything, coming across it and finding the story intriguing. Then reading the book and loving the originality (why didn't I have the imagination to come up with a novel about demon corelings that arise out of the mist night after night to terrorise good folk who hide behind scribed wards at great peril?). Not only that, but the characters were a major strength of the first book. The innocence of Leesha, Arlen's coming to grips with his destiny, the betrayal by Jardir. Simply great.

I handed the book to my wife, mother, sister in law, mother in law...etc etc. All loved it. They harassed me frequently asking me on news as to when the Desert Spear sequel was coming out. So it finally arrived...

In short, I was NOT disappointed. It is a different flavoured book than the first to be sure. The first third of the book is devoted to the backstory of Jardir and the trials and tribulations he faced growing up in a militaristic society. It explains his enormous sense of destiny and, to a degree, offers a sympathetic view of why he betrayed Arlen earlier. I found it to be the most interesting part of this book. The writing from Brett here is exceptional in developing this character.

The remainder of the book is a manoevering of Arlen's people in the north and the desert warriors in the south, with both groups having different views as to how to combat the demon hordes. The juxtaposition of the war with demons and the newly started war amongst humans was clever. The ever present coreling demons watch and wait while the humans fight amongst each other. The demon prince monitoring developments amongst the humans is a nice surprise in this novel. It shows that there is a purpose and cunning underlying the demons' wanton destruction.

There were some unusual twists that went against the grain of the first novel and some of these have been the cause of discontent amongst some reviewers. The biggest gripe seems to be the lack of consistency and continuity between characters. Leesha for example was innocent and thoroughly Arlen-devoted in the first novel, but waivers in the second. Arlen seems less driven in this novel and it seems is trying his absolute best to win the "World's Biggest Anti-Hero" award.

Unlike other reviewers, I believe that the second novel does a good job of fleshing out the more complex aspects of the characters. Simply put, the characters from the first novel have grown up. The weight of destiny changes them but the core (no pun intended) of their being still remains. This is a story that truly has progressed, unlike many other sequels out there. The job of writing any follow up to the Painted Man was going to be enormous and I think Brett succeeded.

Do yourself a favour, get both books and make up your own mind. I know that for my part, my family and I are now anxiously awaiting the next instalment.

Peter Brett's books are gripping, challenging and wonderfully complex.
But that doesn't excuse the simple math of an electronic version of a book being almost twice as expensive as the mass paperback.
Inexcusable.

To start with, like many of the other reviewers, I loved the first book. I *bought* the first book, and, as a college student who moves frequently (so money and space are both at a premium), that's saying quite a bit.

That being said, I found this book a rather disappointing sequel. While the first book focused on three characters, building them up slowly, developing them a little and then moving to another, this one spends the entire first half on a single character, Jadir, who we have no reason to like, and not a lot of reason to care about.

I will grant you, the backstory for him is kind of cool, but I can't even give it the praise of being well-written, because the transitions in time (from present day to backstory and back again), were frequently poorly handled, leaving me confused as to why something was happening because I was in the wrong time period.

Even coming in knowing that the first half was about him, I found myself wishing early on that we could just get back to the characters I liked, and their much more promising development. That, however, disappointed as well.

Arlen: Arlen was, and remains, my favorite character in this series. Most of the parts about Arlen involved him beating it into our heads that he isn't human any more, and is such an abomination that he ought to just give up and die. However, his travels alone, and interactions with the people from his past were very well written and fascinating, and his reunion with his adopted parents was poignant.

The Jongular (who's name I forget): That probably says most of what needs to be said about him. He felt like an adjunct character in the first book, and he doesn't seem to be much more here. His sole points of note are his abilities to charm demons with music, his pining for Leesha, and oh, by the way, his ability to charm demons with music.

Leesha: Why, hello there, Leesha, do you mind if I call you Mary Sue, instead? That is, rather sadly, what she's become in this book. Not only can she ward better than anyone, even those who have practiced their whole lives, and who's survival depends (more) upon it *cough*Arlen*cough*, but she is the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet, claims to be able to heal an illness which has stymied all other gathers (a man's inability to have children), and, by the way, can pick up an entire new language in a week or so, in her 20s. Her sole complaint is that her mother remains spiteful and controlling, despite Leesha's ability to control everyone else, and her mother seems to be stuck there solely to annoy the reader.

In fact, I rather hated the way he handled all of the women in this book. They're all beautiful, and are, without fail, either domineering, controlling women, or helpless victims to be abused. This was true in the first book, too, but here it seemed much worse. I won't say more on that issue, because others have said it better than I could, but it would be worth a rant all on its own.

That all being said, it was still a good book. The humor and ingenuity that made me fall in love with the first one was still there, and the plot kept going strong. I loved the inclusion of the demon princes and the way they interacted with and influenced the world around them, making them perhaps my favorite characters this time around.

I probably won't buy this book. I almost definitely won't buy the sequel, especially if he doesn't start wrapping up more loose ends than he creates. I feel a little like I've been down this road with the Wheel of Time books, and I have no desire to keep reading this one until it reaches the point of plotlessness as well.

man this book is just great. i love the adult aspect of the sci-fi because that harry potter-lord of the rings kid crap gets on my nerves sometimes. the characters are great and i love the setting of the world. it is hard for a part 2 to do the part 1 justice but this book was even better than part 1 to me. good stuff chief.

I read alot of books, (More so as of lately) but this is by far my favorite series yet! The characters are diverse yet fit together so perfectly. I can't WAIT for the next book to be released and am anxiously waiting. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read.

The writing is smooth and highly addictive to read. This book is not perfect but is much closer to 5 stars than 4. A hugely satisfying and epic tale, yet seems to fly by quickly. Great character development within a plot that both has substance and moves forward at a rip-roaring pace. Highly recommended.

This is a fair follow-up to the warded man. drags quite a bit, spend too much time with poorly written sex scenes. a bit heavy handed and maudlin in parts. BUT, Action is complelling and does leave you waiting for the next installment. I am interested where it may lead to.

The first book was a better read. than "The Desert Spear" wich is a nice sequel, even better than the the"Daylight War" but the series is going slightly downhill. Waiting for the fourth book to reverse this tendency.

Let me begin by saying the first book in this series The Warded Man is easily one of my favorite books of all time. Brett did a brilliant job setting up a world (possibly in our future) where the total human population had been reduced from billions at its peak to a few hundred thousand struggling to survive. In this world, indestructible demons ruled the night and people huddled behind fences that were tested every time the sun went down and where the slighted mistake in setting them up meant that everyone inside would die a violent death. At the end of the first book, the discovery of the combat wards allowed the humans to start to fight back and removed "indestructible" from the demon description. They were still at least the equivalent of a horde of hungry grizzly bears though -- a Krasian in his prime who had trained his entire life should be able to defeat it 3 times out of 4, but they were hardly a push over.

By the end of the second book though, Brett had reduced the demons a little more than a nuisance. The point in the book where he completely lost my support was when Arlen went to the village and told the elders that if they did not take up a spear and go demon hunting he would leave them. So this 80 yr old granny who walks with a cane grabs a spear and goes out and kills a wood demon. Really? Do you think a untrained senior citizen could kill a bear with nothing but a sharp spear and a Taser?

Other reviewers have complained about all the time spent on the Jardir/Krasian back story. Personally I was fine with Brett giving more depth to the culture. After all, this is a civilization who's entire way of life was based around fighting demons and making sure the best fighters had lots of children. They should get top billing in the human's fight against the demons. The training, dedication and sacrifice the Krasians had to go through to be able to fight them was perfectly balanced with the destructive power of those demons. Where the story fell apart was where ordinary farmers, mothers and grannies were just as effective as the Krasians after a few weeks of training. That completely destroyed the mood of fear and danger Brett had cultivated during the first book.

I'm still hopeful Brett will be able to pull it out in the next book. If he had not reduced the demons to a pack of rabid poodles and kept the palpable sense of fear that permeated the first book, this would have been another 5 star review. As it is, this is still a great series and if this book was standing by itself, I'm sure it would have rated higher. It only pales in comparison to the first book.

When the Matrix turned movies upside down with it's originality and depth it seemed like an obvious choice to make a Matrix 2. Unfortunately, Reloaded was simply an awful waste of time and resources that never came close to the original masterpiece.

The Desert Spear is the Matrix Reloaded of fantasy novels. The Warded Man will stand as one of the most original, mind blowing fantasy masterpieces of modern times. Sadly the Desert Spear pales in comparison. This was my most anticipated book of 2010 - what a letdown!

Five Reasons I Feel this Way:

1. I didn't necessarily hate the Jardir POV but felt I knew all I needed too know about him in the first 20 pages. Why did I have to grind through 100+ more?

2. The Warded Man doesn't even show up in the book at all until page 241. WHAT!?

3. In the Warded Man, the structure of the book made for fast reading and unputdownable urgency. The Desert Spear spent too long on characters I didn't care about and lent itself toward a lot of skimming (covered in next point).

4. Trim the fat Mr. Brett. I started skimming after the first quarter of the book out of boredom and didn't miss a thing plot wise

5. There was a sense of getting ripped off as this story was told at the same time as Warded Man in parts. The same lame technique David Eddings used when he wrote Polgara and Belgarath. These books told the same meta-story as the original(Belgariad series)just from different POV's. Rip-off.

I apologize if I seem overly negative about this book but it stands as an exact opposite of the first book which, again, is a fantasy masterpiece.

The first book was very compelling, but I believe there was not true editor for the author. The second book reads much more smoothly as I think Peter had a real editor on hand for book 2 and 3 in this trilogy. Even with poor editing, I still would have read the books because the story is so unique and compelling. However, I was completely surprised at the level of polish in the second book compared to the first and it was an absolute pleasure to read. Character development of some of the first book's minor characters, compared to the protagonist, is major focus in this and the third book. It is done extremely well and your view of some of the, what I felt were, hated characters may change. At least you can sympathize with their actions a little more.

A great story, well worth the read. I hope Peter keeps on writing great stories, because I plan to keep on buying and reading them!

After reading "The Warded Man," I too was excited to read the sequel. The story concept itself is great, but what worked well enough in the first novel faded after 500-odd pages of the second. Here is some of the questions I have with Brett's book:

1. Why is it so damn long? He could have cut out 200 pages and not lost much.

2. What's with all the sex? Everyone is the book is either doing it or wanting to do it, causing it to read like some 14 year old boy's fantasy of how grown adults are supposed to act.

3. Why is every strong woman in the story portrayed like a scheming succubus?

4. Why does everyone in the hamlets sound like they're from Oklahoma?

5. How is it that the characters suddenly turn from yokel-farmers to Demon-Killing Jujitzu masters after only two weeks and a few lessons? The demons, so terrible and fear-inspiring in "The Warded Man," become little more than cannon fodder in this sequel.

6. Why is Peter Brett so averse to the word "said"? The author shows his lack of proficiency in the use of dialogue tags, which become clunky and distracting after a reading, over and over again, that someone "hissed" when he/she reacts in anger to a certain comment. Nobody actually talks in this book, but they "hiss," "snarl," "snort," and "spit" more than a bunch of farm cats in breeding season.

Basically what killed it for me was the characterization in this book, which ranged from mediocre to downright awful--so bad in places that it caused me to put the book down and shake my head, thining "There is no way a real human being ever would have (done/said/thought) that just now..." I found myself skimming through the last 100 pages just to get it over with.

It's too bad, really. What started out as an excellent story concept has derailed into a clumsy caricature of a good fantasy epic, which--in more capable hands--might have been a really good read.

I have never felt compelled before to write a review for any item I have purchased from the store, but this book has. This book I felt was such an epic failure from the first that I feel I needed to write a review warning others from wasting their time and money on this book.

There is not much more that I can add that has not already been said in the other one, two, and three star reviews. I loved the first book, The Warded Man, and could not wait for this one. I was so frustrated by this book, the Desert Spear. I felt the author rewrote history in what seems like an attempt to extend series from a trilogy to a series of five books. It may remain a trilogy, but the second book did so little to advance the story that the third will feel rushed. To combat this, Mr. Brett may then have a third book of more than 1,000 pages, considering the fact that he managed to write 579 pages in the Desert Spear and that dragged on and added little to the plot.

SPOILERS:

1.The first hundred plus pages of the book is dedicated to the back story of Jardir, the eventual leader of the Krasians, and the man who betrayed Arlen and left him for dead in book one. This is done to make him a sympathetic victim to his past whose actions in the present are not entirely his fault due to his tough upbringing. I'm sorry, but I don't care how bad your past is, it does not excuse rape, murder, and enslaving people.

2.The idea of Leesha being courted for marriage by Jardir, and has sex with him is ridiculous. Leesha is a kind and compassionate women who abhors violence and those who bring pain and suffering to others. She is unique in the book because of how much she valued her virginity, saving it until she was I think in her late twenties. She loses it in the Warded Man Leesha when she was raped, robbed and then left for dead by three bandits. When Rojer and Arlen stole their horses and wards, which resulted in their deaths to avenge her, she was enraged, saddened, disappointed, and appalled. In the Desert Spear Leesha spoke to Marrick, a messenger the reader was introduced in the first book. In this one we see him again after he saved hundreds of refugees from the attacks on Fort Rizon by Jardir and the Krasians. Leesha is encouraged by her mother to go up to his room and pursue a relationship with Marrick, but after he admits that saving the refugees was a bit of a burden, she is revolted by him and leaves. However she falls in love and has sex with Jardir, whose actions are directly responsible for the murder, rape, and enslavement of the people of Fort Rizon, and threatens to do the same to all the other people of the greenlands, which makes no sense at all.

3. Arlen is in love and getting married to Reena, a character from the first book who may have been mentioned maybe three times in a span of 10 pages in a book of 450+ pages. The idea that Leesha with Jardir and Arlen, the Warded Man, marrying Reena was annoying. I think most readers expected Leesha and Arlen to marry, but the author seemed to throw in this plot twist just to keep readers on their toes, which failed and did more to annoy than entertain.

4. The action in this book fails to inspire any true suspense as in the first, now that everyone now seems to have become master demon slayers with no fear of death. This makes it so the demons, who in the first book were a serious threat now seem little more than an annoyance.

5. The book was much longer than it needed to be and could have been edited down, with much of the useless stuff taken out. There were about 150 pages I felt that could have been left out because it served little more than filler.

There are so many other gripes I have with the book to list. This book did little to advance the story other than to introduce new demons that were smart and were the leaders of the elemental demons from the first book. The other story advancement being the Krasians invading the greenlands. These only two advances in the story could have been done in 200 pages. The rest of the book was back stories to characters we don't care about or hate, and stupid plot twists that do little more than make it so the series will no longer be a trilogy, but a series of five. After this book I have no intention of buying the third book or the fourth and fifth books if they go on. I would not be surprised to see the series extended further by a greedy author and publisher only interested in making more money. The Warded Man was a strong start to a promising series to what will surely become mediocre at best if the books continue along the path of the Desert Spear.

Read this book recently and simply could not put it down. Gives a lot more depth to the characters from THE PAINTED MAN and stands alone as a fantasy masterpiece. Mr. Brett has an incredible imagination and a fantastic writing style. I look forward to his next one. Don't miss this one !

Too bad the kindle edition is $2 more than an actual paperback novel. I have discovered that Kindle prices are higher than an actual physical book for many of the titles I'm interested in reading.

Here's hoping that the store get it right or my Kindle will be getting less and less use. If this trend continues I won't be sticking with Kindle for long.

Disappointing, to say the least!

A worthy sequel - better than the painted man. At first I felt disappointment that Arlen's story wasn't immediately picked up, but I was soon sucked in to the Krasian world. A thrilling and emotional story - I can't wait for the next book. Please let there be more!

The book is well written. The idea is wonderful. I liked the characters. Why just one star? Another open ended series if the book sells then I can see the editors and the author milk it for everything they can. I want at the very least, some of the story lines to end one damn way or the other. Cliff-hangers no longer amuse me. I can feel the author reaching into my pocket and trying to take my money and more importantly my time.

I'm confused by the subset of reviewers who thought this book "dragged on." I couldn't conceive of a more tightly-written, action-packed book. The Desert Spear is almost glaring in its lack of filler description and pointless sub-plots. Granted, in some ways these first two books have set the characters up for even more dramatic action in the third book, but that's how a series should work.

It seems like several people are grumpy that the series isn't over yet. I can only suggest they go back to 30-minute episodes of some crappy TV show, if reading full-length books is too hard an endeavor.

This story was pure fantasy comfort food and escapism. I'm definitely looking forward to the third installment.

This is the second book after The Warded Man, which is awesome by the way, and is from the point of view of Jardir whom you meet in the first book. Jardir believes himself to be The Deliverer and this book tells of his journey down that path. It's not as fantastic as The Warded Man but it is still a great read and it does progress the story.

The straight first 32% of the book is all about Jardir. It was pretty good, but also just frustrating. It was good to have the backstory on Jadir, but I felt like it was a little overkill.

The story also follows 9 POV perspectives, which is also a bit annoying.

Still, the ending was great. I loved the ending. It is definitely a great book.

The story picks up from the first book "The Warded Man". I really enjoyed the more in-depth information relating to other characters in the series and how they relate! I definitelly will read the remaining series!

Spoiler warning to the first book:
The second books starts of at Jardir’s life and point of view. We see why he betrayes Arlen and the outcome is quite surprizing. Again the book gives us events which are expected and excites us none the less, while also giving room for more excitement later on. The ward magic, tactics of war, and politics are all included. The culture of the krasian people is also better explained. Uou can tell the author did research of other cultures. He created a new cultue with aspects of other cultuers and his own imagination.

Not as good as the Warded Man. The demons definitely have lost their scariness in this book and the female characters are....not likeable. It's still a good book, just not a great one. I'll definitely come back for the third in the series, but I will expect improvement.

I have the audio book. I got disgusted with the amount of women getting raped in the story line. It seemed every other women (and sometimes man) was raped...often times repeatedly. Also the good guy gets their asses handed to them too much. It seems the author was more into writing details about the rapes and was excited about how the women did not put up an resistance or fight back what so ever. I like to read/listen to books that lift my sprites, this was NOT the book. I guess if you like the kind of book where evil wins, the good guy/women gets beaten down(raped) all the time and does not fight for themselves until they have been beaten down a million times and usually the evil person get a quick death then this is the book for you! If it wasn't for this issues I'd give the book 4 stars, but this to me is a deal breaker.

Maybe the author should go see a psychologist, seem he/she has a serious problem.

It was a good book, I enjoyed the first book more because it seems to go slower in this book, but since I've begun on the third it brings together all the stories of the first well and shows the different perspectives of the characters in the first book and ties together a lot of lose ends. After reading most of the tired I appreciate more the second book. It retains the darkness of the first and also shows the underlying hope throughout the series that even in the worst parts of the characters life, there is always the drive that they could make the world a better place tomorrow no matter the circumstances of their current predicaments.

Enjoyed the first book, but this sequel truly disappointed. It moves slowly, going over a vaguely middle eastern-esque culture and its worldviews. The constant explanations of social caste and repetitious battle sequences against the “core-lings” gets really tiresome and you spend a lot of the book wondering when you’ll get back to the original cast of characters. I finally had to skip a few chapters forward cause I was so bored with the tedious characters going on and on about Everam and Dama this, Dama that.