Book One of The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett (2009-03-10)

I bought this expecting just another mediocre fantasy novel, but it suprised me in the best way possible. The characters were interesting & well developed. The book ended with enough closure to not make me mad, but made me interested in what happened next. I could hardly put the book down & dreamt about it when I was reading it! I can't wait for the 4th to come out to find out what happens next. Seriously worth a read.

I really enjoyed the Warded Man; definitely a good start to a series that I will continue to look forward to. I think it's worth a solid 4 stars, not the most amazing or original fantasy I've ever read, but it certainly kept me fascinated and entertained throughout its length. There's such a definition of character traits in the novel that it lacks a certain depth achieved by other authors. In this world, you're either a coward or a fighter, good or evil, knowledgeable or ignorant. There's no room for the shades of gray that one would find in more realistic writing styles. But still very interesting nonetheless. And certainly the fact that we watch the main characters grow from children into adults is a very strong foundation for the audience to understand their personalities and motivations as the series continues. It was an original move for Brett to start the story with Arlen, Leesha and Rojer at such young ages and I think it will pay off well for him in the end in terms of character development.

I agree that the romantic chemistry between Arlen and Leesha felt very forced and I don't think he should've tried to push them together as early as he did. But I did enjoy the 3 main characters chemistry with each other overall, I felt like they were a good match for each other and will make good companions as time goes on.

One huge warning I have: I bought this book on the Kindle and was highly, HIGHLY disappointed with its formatting. It was missing capitalization and punctuation, paragraph separation-- basically anything you can think of that could be wrong with the format, was wrong. It made for a horrible read, and even though I prefer my Kindle books to trekking to the bookstore, I would recommend not wasting your money for the Kindle version. It's incredibly distracting and hard to read. And the formatting never gets better, but stays awful throughout the book.

This book was just okay. The writing is stiff. The characters aren't as developed as they could be. There were interesting ideas. I liked some areas of the story I just think Brett could have done a better job of bringing these ideas to life. I was definitely disappointed with my purchase. If the main male character was a little shallow all of the female characters were even more so. If you enjoy strong female characters look elsewhere.

Incredible. This book was a feast for the imagination. I loved the writing style. The only problem I had was a female character's reaction to a particular scene that the author sort of had her brush off like it was no biggy. I would have liked to seen a more believable reaction.

I'm interested in the characters and the tale. As a standalone, it's decent - nothing groundbreaking. As the first part of an enormous tale, it feels just right. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good, fun fantasy series.

Do not start this series. Unless you enjoy misogyny, rape, object rape, genital mutilation, and many other equally dark and offensive behaviors, this is not the series for you. I could potentially give this and the rest of the series 2 stars based on the story since it is moderately interesting. However, the prolific dark and disgusting behaviors portrayed as normalized throughout, overshadow any enjoyment gained from the story. The characters are shallow, with either ever-changing core philosophies or trite rigid qualities that prevent any kind of meaningful attachment. In my opinion, the only characters with any depth and relatability were Amanvah and Ragen Messenger. Sadly neither of these characters get more than a few chapters in the entire series.
I rarely give reviews less than 3 stars, and usually 4-5, but this book and the rest of the series were a fail for me. I did read the entire series, but it was because I kept hoping something would change. That somehow some semblance of light or moral character would be introduced, but it was not to be. I realize the grimdark subgenre is a thing, and I guess this could fit there, but I finished feeling depressed and frustrated in the end. No thanks.

I just finished reading the Warded Man and i have to say i loved it. Yes it has some of the traditional story lines we normally see in fantasy. However, it was quickly paced and i really enjoyed the content. I wouldn't liken Peter Brett to the always frustrating GRRM (gods finish a dance with dragons already), but i would put him in a class with David Gemell for a fun and fast read.

It's hard to get into. But there is much to like as you progress thru the book. Give it time. By the end you will want more of the Warded Man...PAR CHIN! My rating is based on the overall book, the story is unique. The 2nd book gives you more of the culture of the Krasian people and really is excellent.

I always think of Haplo and The Death Gate Cycle when I think of a great character covered in tattoos. There are seven books in that series; but, they keep getting better and are worth the commitment. This series, judging by the further ratings, keeps getting worse and, not being 12, I was not the target audience. Some of the clear parallels that are drawn between the Mid East and occurrences in this book also made me feel that the author was lacking inspiration. Even if one chooses to forgive the fumbling, coming of age, peach fuzz moments and idiocracy that is this world, the whole demon thing is about as scary as keeping rabbits out of the garden.

Great book! Couldn't put it down from start to finish!! Strongly recommend this to anyone who likes books that keep you in suspense.. found myself wondering when the main characters were finally going to cross paths through the whole book.. twists left and right throughout

Buy it. Just do it. My husband I have both read it now and both thoroughly enjoyed it. The author has done a fantastic job weaving a tale that gives you the need to read it through with out setting it down.

The Warded Man seems to be a very concise and entertaining reading. I enjoyed it alot. It even had and ending. All fiction is somewhat predictable, but not all of it is obvious, all the time. Read it and see. There is much worse.
RV

Great start to an amazing series with a completely new system of magic and unique view on the fantasy genre. The book is gritty and the characters well developed. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Great start to an amazing series with a completely new system of magic and unique view on the fantasy genre. The book is gritty and the characters well developed. I look forward to the rest of the series.

The Warded Man is a good fantasy novel. There isn't as much depth as I was hoping, and the character development of Leesha was appalling. Overall, it kept my interest but not enough to warrant reading the second book in the series.

Got this book for Christmas, and it's been polished off already. I started it in the afternoon, and immediately lost all productivity as I read it from cover to cover. Brett's characters are amazing, his scene building is terrific, and the history of his little world is fascinating.

The book is unbelievably ridiculous. The setting (demons rising at night) had some promise, but the idea was so poorly executed that it completely kept me from getting immersed in the world. Countless monsters rise from the earth and slaughter everything they can find that isn't secured behind a protective ward, but there is still wildlife running around. Unless animals have figured out how to "ward" their dens, it doesn't make much sense to me. Additionally, the lead character rapidly becomes invincible, slaughtering these things with medieval karate and super bad ass attitude. The writing was about as poorly executed as mine is, and made me roll my eyes and cringe several times.

It was recommended to me on the store when looking for similar works to Martin's epic series, and I couldn't have been more disappointed.

If you're looking for any sort of depth in a fantasy novel, or want some characters to engage with, you'll likely be disappointed with this effort. I liked the initial concept and bought the book on that basis, but after reading the majority of the book (it was so predictable I stopped reading at the 'final battle') I was left with the usual taste of frustration that bad fantasy writing routinely generates. No character development, no real development of setting and a plot that fails to surprise. I sold this one at my local used book dealership and got $1.50 and I still feel like I ripped the guy off.

Nothing more than a knockoff of Barbara Hambly's The Darwath Trilogy coupled with George RR Martin's obsession with sex. Save your money and read Hambly or something else. I even tried book two in the series but put it down. Disappointing.

Edited to add that the reviews detailing the violent rape of women, their second class status and absolute misogny are spot on. I think I got this from the daily Bookbub e-mail. Lesson learned here - check the reviews before you buy a Bookbub recommendation.

With so many reviews typed up, I'm not sure that mine will be even read - and I normally don't write reviews at all, but this book was something else. I loved it for the first 2/3's of the book, and like other readers I wanted to give it a 5 star up to that point and I was probably driving my family crazy by talking about it too.

Pro's
- I love how the book was put together for the most part. There are three very different main characters that the author shares with the readers. And we get to see how they all grow up and how they develop.
- The writing style was really neat. Brett brought in so many different cultures, ideas, topics and perspectives with enough detail that readers could appreciate and understand them all, but not too much detail that readers got lost in the background.
- The plot (for the first 2/3's) was AMAZING!

Con's
- The last 1/3 of the the book - the characters that the author had spent most of the book developing did a 90 degree flip if not a 180. You didn't recognize the characters that you grew to love
- Almost every scene where there was a woman, sex or child bearing was the topic of conversation. Brett made it seem like a woman's only interest/purpose was creating babies or making men happy. I totally get why (in a world where human population is decreasing, you want to have more children) but, really, there is no point in kicking a dead horse.
- Leesha - one of the main characters. (SPOILER) She really emphasized the above point and I don't like how she "saved" herself for 27 years, then completely falls in love the another character, and gives herself to him, at the end of the story after having met him for all of 1 week. Her character was honestly really unrealistic. At the beginning of the story she was bearable, but in the last 1/3 I read through her portions as fast as possible.

As you can see from the lengths of the pro's and con's, sadly, I could not give this book that 5 stars that the first part deserves. I would recommend it if you need a change of story, b/c it really is an intriguing idea. But I just want you to take this note as a warning about the last part of the story.

There are a few great fantasy writers working today. Despite the abundance of 4-5 start reviews on the store, Brett is not among them. This book is chock full of clumsy unbelievable characters, who all act pretty much the same. "The Warded Man" doesn't feel like a living breathing world, it feels like a bunch of marionettes shambling around a cardboard world. Characters, even main characters, exist without having their motivations or inner lives explored to any degree of depth.

I am sorry, but the person who wrote that this is the best book he has ever read in this genre needs to broaden his or her horizons a bit more. How this book gets 3 or even 4 stars is beyond me. This book reads like the author read a primer for how to write the modern fantasy novel and then proceeded to write the book with a check list in hand:

I. The modern fantasy novel must be gritty - check!-- we insert one incest/child molestation scene and one rape scene gratuitously.

II. The modern fantasy novel must have a strong female character inside a traditional female role - check! -- enter the medicine/wise woman.

III. The modern fantasy novel must be non-linear - check! -- we give you three chapters of one character and leave off for another character whom we have never met, but are supposed to care about. (Not everyone can be James Joyce or Marcel Proust. Doing this requires skill and careful editing. Neither of these were available to Mr. Brett)

IV. The modern fantasy novel MUST be a series - check! -- the author uses the back story as his story the whole book could have been a chapter of a well written book... ok, fine, three chapters.

So much for the actual book. Now I must really beat myself up, because I read the synopsis of this book, and thought "Nah, you can't really write a book about that..." However, after reading the reviews, for the most part glowing 4 and 5 star reviews, I thought perhaps it was worth reading... Bad idea. The book's premise is built on a flimsy premise, and little if any thought has gone into this. At night demons come out and kill EVERYTHING... everything except what is protected by wards. These are monsters that no human weapon can kill or even harm. We are told that with them rampaging around killing everything in sight... "with corelings culling the weak, only the strongest predators remain." (Brett, Peter V. The Warded Man. p. 192. Del Rey. Kindle Edition).

Meet the strongest predator, the RABBIT: "Arlen cursed the hare, and cursed all the more when it darted right for him. If it damaged the inner wards, they were both doomed." (Brett, Peter V. The Warded Man. p. 65. Del Rey. Kindle Edition). Huh? Swords can't cut them but boars can gore them... HOW???? The hare, of course, is mightier than the sword....

This is just one example of how the books premise is about as solid as dust bunny (had to keep with the rabbit theme). Others have commented already on the poor character development, and I will second them on this... Where I disagree with other critics is the sex in the book. Come on! One rape scene and off-stage allusions to people having sex? Maybe I missed some scenes that were in the parts that of the book I skipped because they were insufferably boring...

Del Rey should fire the editor who let this one through. This is an unfinished draft, and not a book. My advice: skip this and read the first Rothfuss book "Name of the Wind" which is an actual book (skip "Wise Man's Fear" as it is another draft purporting to be a book) or, if you want gritty, read "Game of Thrones" (skip the rest of the series as you will begin getting disappointed by Martin's failure to deliver on his promises and his editor's decision to leave all editorial decisions up to Martin).

This is an innovative and very well-crafted story with very human characters that I connected with quite strongly. The Warded Man is set in an undetermined, Earth-like land sometime after an age of technology has fallen in the face of a demon scourge. These aren't the Satan-like demons of religious stories, but they're also not simplistic imps of many fantasy stories. They are complex and yet mindlessly hungry, and the humans are outnumbered.

Enter our heroes, and we get to watch them learn to become heroes and heroines. Peter V. Brett does an excellent job of writing strong female characters without reducing them to a stereotype of the selfless, sexless (or oversexed) heroine. Not all the women are good and strong, not all the men are either. This is a broken society, and the demons are not the only contributing factor.

The action is interspersed with snapshots of different societies and social mores, most recognizable from the Middle Ages, but tweaked just a bit for this fantasy story. Caution: there is some dialect, among the rural communities, but it's not quite Tom Sawyer-levels, so bear through it. Some graphic detail, violent and sexual, but nothing gratuitous of either type.

All in all, an engaging story that keeps you eager for the next installment.

Finally! A truly inspired fantasy worth reading. This book has a beautifully crafted, unique world that is easy to get lost in. It and the incredible characters are well articulated so it is easy to see what it is you are reading. There is a lot that this book needs to cover to get the series going, so there are a few parts that may seem a bit slow, but are more than worth it to get to the really good stuff, of which there is lots.

The characters are wonderful, fully rounded personalities. Each having their unique talents that we get to see germinate and grow through this book. I liked that we got to watch that growth. It is done in a way that we see all the important parts along the way without it becoming tedious or repetitive. It stays interesting all the way through.

I am absolutely digging this world and all the different parts and possibilities with it. Magic of this style, with the wards and the actual work and learning that goes into the different talents of our main characters, is exactly the kind of thing I love in a really good fantasy book. Nothing is free and easy. It takes time and effort to be truly great at it.

After reading this first book, as a reader, you know there is so much more to come and you are anxious to devour it.

as a lifelong fan of the fantasy genre, i approached this book with some trepidation. turns out my instincts were not wrong. i listed to it as an audiobook, which is probably the only reason i finished it. had i been reading, its numerable and glaring offenses would have been too painful to slog through. this book couldn’t be more derivative of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan in some very heavy handed and direct ways. it's one thing to be inspired by, and pay homage to, the material of your predecessors, as Jordan was by Tolkein, but it's another to plop racist simulacrums of someone else's material directly into your work. and the way this guy treats his female characters, and the women in his story in general, is shameful. his representation of women is immature, one dimensional, and misogynistic. his male characters (including the central hero), though slightly more realized, aren't much better and smack of cliche. and the world he spins feels finite and limited in scope, further burdened by the fact that it hinges on a gimmick that had to be retroactively explained and justified over and over throughout the story. though i probably could have suspended my disbelief and continued with the series had it not been for his pilfering of Jordan and his feeble attempts at rendering female characters.

Three interweaving coming-of-age stories in a world where demons rise as the sun sets. All survive traumas and develop unique skills they use to fight the demons. It's almost like a standard role-playing game trope: Healer, Damage Dealer, Bard.

The story moves fast enough. There's plenty of tragedy and misery to convey what a truly craphole world the heroes live in. The writing is workmanlike, which works fine for the story. I would love to give this four stars and recommend all my friends read this. But I can't. Here's why:

GRATUITOUS RAPE

As in, the one woman main character--who suffers small town slut-shaming and reacts to it by shunning all romance--gets raped while her male companion just gets mugged. Why? Why couldn't she just get mugged too? Why did she need to get raped? And why does she react to the rape by trying to sleep with the hero? NO. Nope. Un uh. No thanks.

Flame demons and wood demons and secret runes that impart mystical power? I'm there with you. But punish your beautiful virginal healer with rape and then have her try and bone a dude right after? YOU JUST LOST ME.

I won't be recommending this to anyone without serious warnings.

Definitely an enjoyable action-packed book. The rest of the series.... eh. Once you get to the second book, everything slows down considerably. Once you get to third, it becomes fairly clear that Brett doesn't really know where he is going with his main characters, and is penning their actions in any given situation to build maximum soap opera drama rather than have them be true to their motivations. Take Leesha for example. Over the course of the series, she shifts from a budding paragon of female independence into a bitter, tortured woman completely obsessed with her romantic and sexual entanglements with various male characters.

It's really quite disappointing, given how good this first novel is.

I'm giving the book two stars for the first 80%. If I could give it negative stars for the last 20%, I would.

The premise of the book is pretty cool. Every night, demons come out and destroy everything. They're terrified of wards, so humans keep all their stuff behind them and live to fight another day.

The plot is a bit disjointed - it follows three characters, all of whom have unique destinies with regards to the demons. (A musician, a scribe, and a healer.) It's prey to a lot of the cliche's of fantasy. The healer is, of course, the girl. All three are special little snow flakes with important destinies, etc. And female characters are treated mostly as sexy, sexy objects of desire. (Other than the cranky old herb woman, who's my favorite character.) But I'm used to fantasy, so am pretty tolerant of that kind of thing. And the world is well developed and was interesting enough to keep me reading.

The major problem comes at around the 3/4 mark. Suddenly the scribe becomes a super hero (WTF? How did we go from dark realistic fantasy to Superman?), and then the healer is brutally gang raped, which upsets her for all of maybe an afternoon, until she's off being healed by the power of scribe-turned-superhero's super sexing. (As an added bonus to the magical healing sex trope, she wishes he came inside her, so that she could get pregnant and pretend the kid was his. Instead she takes ye olde herbal morning after pill to get rid of the rape-spawn.) It's so utterly implausible that I found myself wondering whether Brett has ever spoken with a woman - or whether the editors who acquired and edited this had, either.

I'd throw in that I'm not super happy that this isn't a self contained story - except that I can't see myself reading more of this.

I've read the Warded Man and its sequel. They are wonderful books and have amazing stories. The characters are well done, diverse, and the art of the wards is just incredible. Seriously I wanted nothing more than to love this series. But...
This author likes to rape characters. There is no plot relevance to this. Even the characters a chapter later will act like nothing happened and this will not be brought up again. You will endure a few hard rape scenes and they have no meaning. They kill the vibe for me. I just want to shake the author and ask what the hell is the point!

I couldn't put this book down, reading far longer into the night than I should have. It is a unique fantasy tale, with creatures of unexplained origins rising from the ground during the night. Mankind had faced and conquered these creatures long before, but the secrets to dealing with them were forgotten over the centuries, and when they eventually returned, there was no defense against them except to hide behind barriers marked with magical wards to repel the demons. The wards were complex, and few knew how to create them accurately. Three children of various ages survived demon attacks and had the will to fight back. One had a talent for creating wards and a thirst for knowledge. A second was trained in the knowledge of herbs and their chemistry, and the third became an entertainer who found that his music had a way of manipulating the moods of the demons. The tale describes the development of these three characters and how they find one another and grow into a force that inspires mankind to fight back. There is explicit violence, some sexual situations and a rape, but no graphic sexual descriptions.

The book is extremely well-written and superbly edited. I highly recommend it to all fans of high fantasy, and it has a post-apocalyptic flavor. The book stands on its own, but leaves you wanting more, and there are three additional books that follow this one, but I have not yet read them.

I got this out of the library on the basis of one of those lists of "over-looked fantasy you should read." So the fact that the description/title of this book usually wouldn't get me to buy it/borrow it from the library should be kept in mind to inform how you read my review. (I'm not usually a reader of fantasy that is written with some kind of "cool" magic system involving combat, I'm more of a fantasy world as a backdrop for character development kind of reader)

So I liked it. Kind of against my will. Or, actually, I should say I kept reading it despite the fact that a major portion of the book is spent dwelling on how the middle-ages-esque villagers and townies of this world deal with demons that appear at night and like to eat humans and burn down their homes by spitting demonfire.

I think what got me to keep reading was that the book is called "The Warded Man", and in the book, while humans use magical painted wards to keep the demons out of their homes, the demons are kind of winning by occasionally breaking through wards, and humans are dwindling. From the beginning there is talk of a mythical deliverer who will help defeat the corelings (demons) once and for all. So you know that one of the 3 POV main characters we get is going to end up being the Warded Man, and even after you're pretty sure who that's going to be, you stick with the story to find out how the 3 POV characters (all from different parts of the world) manage to hook up with each other.

So it's the fun tension of what you know the characters will become that kept me interested despite gory fight scene after fight scene involving humans getting eviscerated by fire, rock, and wood demons.

That and a fascination with the slightly feminist development of one of the main POV characters who becomes a healer instead of shacking up with a local village boy who considers her "his property." Although near the end of the book something happens that made me cringe at how it seemed the healer was "punished" for her decision not to participate in the normal male-centric lifestyle that only gives value to women through their marriage and giving birth to children.

So if you like "cool fighting/magic system" fantasy, or if you're in the mood for just escapist, entertaining fantasy, this is a good book for you. It's the first book in a series, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to go get the next one unless I was having a beach vacation somewhere with lots of time for mindless pleasure reading.

This Book's Snack Rating: Cool Ranch Doritos for the distinct flavor of demon fighting in a fantasy world you find yourself consuming even if you're not a cool ranch fan

I'm not sure why this book is getting the same rating overall as its sequel, because the quality is going downhill as the series progresses. But this book is excellent. I mean "I wish I could rush out and buy a copy" excellent, and for someone who is extremely choosy about buying physical copies, this is saying a lot. But it was that good.

The story begins innocuously enough, as many fantasies do. Enter Arlen, an ordinary boy with a knack for some "wards" - runework that drives or otherwise affects demons when nothing else apparently does. But when the demons do attack his village one night, his life is turned upside down and repeatedly beaten over the head as his mother is gravely injured, his father fallen from the pedestal of bravery, and he must act... or lose his mother. When his mother dies in front of him due to his father's inaction, only to find out that his father has hitched himself a new bride while on the way to getting his mother to a cure, he cannot handle it any more. He leaves, braving the dark, when dark, magical creatures roam, all quite without moral and intent on rending any living thing's flesh apart to eat it.

The tone is somewhat familiar with Gene Wolfe's series as the novel opens (and even the setting in terms of its histories), and the premise is somewhat borrowed from C.S.Friedman's Darkfire trilogy (or maybe vice versa? Dunno which came first). The other two protagonists - a healer named Leesha, who chafes under the burden of her sexuality, and Rojer, a jungleur who loses not only his family but also his hand to the demons in one night - suffer a similar tale, their talents coming to fruition at the end. Their destinies undecided, but clear that their talents are on par with each other and each one's skill crucial to defeating this centuries-old threat, their fates converge at the very end, when Leesha's village is direly threatened.

So what makes this novel a five-star as opposed to three? Well, a few points:

1. Characterisation. Each character chooses a calling, despite various obstacles that block the way that many of us must choose; family or work? Freedom or safety? And the struggles are outlined quite well; how does a minstrel without a voice make it? Would Leesha commit herself to the life of a crone? Why can't Arlen live like his mentor (who evidently could choose both family and living a dangerous life)? Tempered by their own choices and events through no fault of their own, we see three very different people become who they are as they grow into adulthood. It is not so much a bildungsroman as these three are forced to mature into adulthood literally overnight, but rather, three very young adults (and I mean young) struggling to free themselves from the shackles of the society. It teaches that you really can't have both the safe life of conforming to the society and the life of pushing boundaries. Freedom comes with risks. But at what cost?

2. The world. Some people were disturbed by the sexual themes of the novel; this is a rather medieval fantasy with hamlets as settings, and it is undeniable that in a village with no other entertainment, sex was rather liberal. And since it is repeatedly mentioned that reading was only reserved for those who were extremely educated, this kind of setting isn't that unnatural. In this manner, Brett portrays the simple, medieval village life extremely well, from all the gossip to people ganging up on someone to the corruption within the village that people turn blind eye to, while entwining the hamlet life with a rather structured form of magic and the demons that have established races. The cities also make appearances, making a clear, stark contrast to the village life. I did not find the sexual theme grossly played out like Terry Goodkind, but rather to make a point of the choices Leesha has... and hasn't. It is a harsh world, making the three protagonists' struggles even direr.

3. The messages. This novel is peppered with phrases that makes one at least consider the validity of it, as most of them are morally grey. Was Rojer's master a bad man? Is inaction wisdom or cowardice? Is Leesha's mother (who uses her sexuality as a weapon) the wiser one, or Leesha (who hoards her sexuality like a treasure)? Are the Kasyans (who are the only ones actively fighting the demons, but at a great cost) the right way to go, or the other free Cities? Should Arlen have stayed in Miln? If you use your enemies' weapons or powers to fight them, are you any better than they are, or any different? Is Jardir a bad man for doing what he did to Arlen?

These questions have no right answers, and thus resemble the real life far more closely than "good guy beat bad guy and win". The protagonist is not necessarily a good man, but nor is he a bad one; he is just a well-meaning individual who cannot always make the right choices. Neither is Leesha, or Rojer. They are the people who might have been in your high school class; the well-meaning but not too brave comedian, the pretty but uptight (and at times judgemental) good girl, the class fighter who has a sense of honour and justice but sometimes cannot contain the rage against the world.

It is clear that Brett put a lot of thought into this book. And it shows. I am definitely buying a physical copy of this book (as the copy I have is an e-book).

I won this through Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

I absolutely LOVED this book! The writer did a fantastic job creating and building each of the characters. I was able to follow and understand the complexities that make up the three main characters of this book, Arlen, Rojer, and Leesha. There were no wasted chapters on setting up the "lay of the land" or why the world was in the state it was in. The explanations were given along the way allowing for more story development and getting the background on a "need to know basis."

The only thing I disliked, although not enough to dock a star from this fabulous book...SPOILER ALERT ----... throughout Leesha's back story, we are repeatedly reminded of her "saved maidenhead." I would expect that is because she finally gives it away to someone worthy of being her first, but to be gang-raped was a disappointment. Not because I abhor gang-rapes (that sounds awful to even type, but you get my drift), but why all the hoopla building up to it and you don't even know about the rape until after it takes place? I'm not making much sense I know. Let me try again... After going on and on about her fragile maidenhead, either let her give it to that worthy person, THEN allow the gang-rape, or... Leave out the building up of her virginity and all together, or... At the very least write about it (not graphically, perverts! lol), but to explain the huge let down that it was and not just in hindsight. Of course as always, I am probably not making as much sense in writing this out the logic that is floating around in my head. Back to the non-spoiler stuff ---SPOILER OVER.

I was actually shocked to find out this was the author, Peter Brett's, first book! Bravo times a million! He really knocked it out of the park with this one. I only hope he makes it through the next hurdle of living up to this kind of writing!

Since there are already quite a few reviews out here that tell the synopsis for everyone, I will leave it out of my review and just let you know the important stuff needed to know before deciding to read the book... JUST READ IT! If it were not for the basic necessities in life... sleeping, eating, and raising loud kids, I would have finished this book in one sitting. I have to add this book to the short list of books I've gotten into fights over with my hubby because I kept refusing to "PUT THAT $#*!&? BOOK DOWN FOR ONE SECOND!!" LOL

** spoiler alert ** I have to admit when I started this book I felt it plodded a bit with the characters. You have your standard heroes rising from obscurity into greatness trope you see in so many fantasy genres. For half the book I was wondering "Where is the freaking Warded Man??!?".

Then something life-changing happens to blow your mind.

The Warded Man starts like any fantasy epic with the character set up, but I like how this world is depicted more realistically. Characters in small villages are uneducated and ignorant. There are dark moments where physical violence against women are hard to read (and sometimes stretching its credibility) but essential to establish the world these characters live in.

[The sad tale of Arlen's and his father encountering a man who bed his oldest daughter after the death of his wife was particularly disturbing, but it showed how horrible this world can be without the corelings coming out at night. (hide spoiler)]

The last half of the book is where the great action starts and where you get to see The Warded Man in action.

Arlen's betrayal had to be one of the most unexpected and shocking moments I've read in any fantasy epic. When he is betrayed by Jardir, you understand why he becomes a "lone wolf".

After spending so much time learning from his travels and with the warriors of Krasia, you see how he has become a coreling hunter and his rise as a hero.

Leesha's rise to a master Herb Gatherer, medic, and coreling study proves to be a essential part of the group. I was very shocked at her rape during her journey back home and found it a bit unsettling how easy she shook it off after the initial shock.

Rojer rounds out the trio of adventurers as the young, foolish, but brave musician that has power of corelings with his violin. His failure to protect Leesha is a great motivator for him to set things right.

PROS: Great character development, interesting world mythology on corelings, high adventure culminating in a fantastic end battle
CONS: It does take a while to get to the meat of the story, but when it gets there...GREAT STUFF.

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There is something you should all know. This is possible the best book I have ever read. If you have seen my Reviews, and you know how picky and critical I am, you know how much this statement means to me. Peter Brett just went on the fast track to my top 5 favourite authors of all time– very high on that list at that. One of my oldest friends gave me this book and insisted I read it, even though it seemed a little dark for me, I followed his advice and read it. I didn't look back once and I love my friend dearly for introducing me to this fantastic book.

Now about the book its self. The novel is split into 3 different story lines about 3 completely different people in 3 completely different parts of the world until they finally meet up at the end. Time wise, the book spans over 15 or so years. Not my usual repertoire At first, I was frustrated with the switching of story lines. Right when one would get good, it would switch to something else. It was absolutely maddening, especially in the beginning, but you soon get into the flow of the other story lines and they are just as addicting as the first. Each story starts off with the main character as a child and you slowly watch them grow up. Peter Brett did this fantastically, never too slow, never too fast, and never spewing useless fluff at his readers to fill in the chapters and more pages. Every single word had a purpose, and every detail was important.

The character development was phenomenal, the best I think I have ever seen. You see beliefs challenged, and watch as each character, and even some supporting characters, change as time goes forward. You see how other characters effect the main ones and how the main characters effect the others. You understand the reasoning behind the main characters actions, you accept their beliefs in accordance to their personality and upbringing, and you approve (for the most part) of the choices they make in the situation they are in. Everything is incredibly realistic in this aspect and I have never seen an author perfect such a thing to this magnitude.

I don't really know what else I can say other than the fact I don't really have any complaints about this book. It was absolutely fantastic!!! The friend who lent me the first in the series, knowing how speedily I read (I started this first book last night at 8pm and finished at 6:30pm today while having gone to school in the middle... I sacrificed a lot of sleep on this one), lent me the second in the series that I am going to start the second this post is published. For the record it is called The Desert Spear. I'll keep you all informed in the sequel and if it measures up to the first.

THE WARDED MAN is an epic tale that pulls you into the lives of the three young children the story is centered around. So well written, and with such graphic details from the introduction of Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer as youngsters, then following them through to young adults, it feels like you’re reading a biography on the three. Mr. Brett does a masterful job of bringing together what seems like three of the most unlikely companions. This is not a light hearted fantasy. It’s dark and gritty with enormous disappoints and betrayals for the protagonists. At the same time there are lighter moments of hope, of neighbor helping neighbor to survive, of individuals that rise to heroic deeds to save others. Man, I LOVE this book!

This story is set in a time where demons, called corelings, rule the night. Humans barricade themselves behind wards trying to survive the nightly assault from a host of every imaginable kind of demon. But humans are losing the war, always the hunted and never the hunter. Arlen, Leesah, and Rojer each have a disastrous encounter with the demons when they are children. They manage to survive and in their survival their lives are changed forever.

Arlen is my favorite of the three children. Don’t get me wrong, Leesah and Rojer are fantastic characters, it’s just that Arlen seems to be the one, to me, that has his childhood illusions shattered the most cruelly. One of my favorite quotes in the book is one that is directed at Arlen; “Welcome to adulthood,”…..”Every child finds a day when they realize that adults can be weak and wrong just like anyone else. After that day, you’re an adult, like or not.”

Once I started reading it was very difficult for me to put the book down. Was so consumed as to what was going to happen next to each of the main characters I stayed up way to late reading, promising myself just one more chapter over, and over, and over……..I’m sure you get the picture. How wonderful to find such an enthralling story! Can’t to read the next book in the series!

Would recommend to anyone over 18.

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett was much better than I first expected it to be. I received the book in December, even though it was my October 2013 LTER book. I absolutely love fantasy books and I often find it hard to get into new series because I have really high expectations for books. However, The Warded Man finds a way to distinguish itself from other series and create its own unique experience.

Man is no longer the master of the world. Magical beings, called corelings, roam the night and slaughter all humans who fail to protect themselves. The only defense is to create wards, written symbols that crate magical barriers that prevent corelings from entering and area. Arlen, the first character, is a young boy who aims to become a Messenger so that he can travel the world and help find a way to fight back against the corelings. Rojer, who lives many miles away, finds himself appreticed to a Jongleur (An entertainer with many skills) after his family is killed by corelings. Leesha lives in yet another town and finds herself fighting pressures passed down by her mother's legacy and the society around her. These three distinct characters all live their own lives in a broken world, but find themselves grouped together by the end.

First off, I found that the plot simpler than many of the other "epic" fantasy series. While Brett follows the rest of the crowd in using multiple characters to tell the story, each person stays remarkably distant until the last quarter of the book. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, there is no interwoven plots within plots. The story just flows along nicely, no sudden twists or crazy subplots to throw you off a plot cliff. There is an occasional time jump (There are time stamps every chapter, making it very easy to keep track of events) a few times throughout the story, but it shouldn't throw you off at all. I actually enjoyed the not simplistic plot structure that Brett used. It's a nice break from the muddled and complex plots that permeate the fantasy genre and makes the book more accessible to read.

There is much less world building than in most fantasy books. The book's version of magic, which is never explicitly named, is channeled through the use of wards inscribed on objects. Brett delves a little bit into the history and description of the wards, but they never seem to be fleshed out very well. For something so vital to the world, I expected a much more thorough exploration, but what is given is just enough to get by without being completely confused with what is going on. Also, the entire world just seems much smaller than in other series. The map of the world at the beginning of the book makes it seem fairly small and the description of traveling only supports that idea. Once again, this idea of simplicity makes the world unique in comparison the the gigantic continents and worlds of comparable books.

I really enjoyed reading The Warded Man. It is one of the few books that I have read that has actually caused me to lose track of time and read late into the night. Although it's less complex than many of its competitors, Brett found a way make The Warded Man just as engaging, interesting, and in some cases more enjoyable than many of the series like it. The characters are absolutely wonderful and the premise of the series is definitely very intriguing. The Warded Man is a great introduction for those wanting to make their way into epic fantasy and also a wonderful series for fantasy-lovers.

I picked up Warded Man having heard that it was an excellent book. I didn't have much else in the way of details and I've not read anything else by Peter V. Brett. For me, it lived up to the hype.

Warded Man takes place in a world where the night is owned by Corelings, demons that arise from the Core (the ground) each night and destroy anything alive that they find. Humanities only protection is wards, written signs and sigils in specific formations that create protected areas. We learn the story of three young people in the world who are thrust out into the world to try and make the best of it.

The book is relatively short and a very easy read. It's not overly simple but the characters are distinct and easy to follow, the prose is well constructed and flows off the pages easily. Brett leans on how small this bark ages-eque world would have felt to keep it manageable for the reader.

I enjoyed the story of each character. Because of their ages there is a coming of age element but they all mature past that into a reasonable semblance of adulthood. The characters are well constructed enough that even the secondary ones have both motivations and flaws that make them believable.

For me, this book sits alongside Sanderson and Rothfuss. It's simpler and shorter than both and lacks the science edge that each takes on but this book would act as a beautiful gateway into the best, modern, epic fantasy.

One of my issues with male writers in the fantasy realm, is there's a tendency to lose the female audience. I'm not asking for mushy romance, but develop the female characters as either a.) non victims of violence and/or b.) make her believable (no Mary Sue's please. They are ubiquitous and LAME on so many levels). Now, granted, I'm sure there are plenty of ladies out there that have no issue with rape scenes, derogatory references to female body parts, incest (father raping his daughter), etc. But to me, it's an unnecessary description that Peter Brett inserted in The Warded Man. I want escapism into an interesting fantasy, not yet another barbaric world that leaves women in a trash heap (don't we get enough of that in the real world?). Even if there wasn't any of this, I'd still would barely give it a 3 star. It was... shall I say it? Boring. I was waiting for it to get better. It never did. Overrated and I have to say, I believe people will give a five star to anything.

The first book in Peter V. Brett's debut series, The Demon Cycle, does a number of things all great epic fantasy books should do to grab readers and never let them go. He has created an interesting world that feels both familiar and yet new and different at the same time. He uses a magic system that is both easily understandable and quite simple, but also incredibly cool. He creates an enemy that is constant and seemingly unrelenting. He has a relatively large cast that he keeps clear and separated, so readers know who is who. Finally, he packs a lot of action and story and character development into the first book to keep readers hungry for the next books in the five-book series.

The Warded Man begins with simple beginnings, as most epic fantasies do, and while the theme of this series is that of the hero archetype that just about any fantasy reader is already familiar with, to shake things up a little, Brett introduces three potential heroes to be. This is a world of demons, which rise up at sunset each night -- wood demons, fire demons, rock demons -- they exist in most forms, collectively known as corelings, since they rise up at nightfall from the earth, proceeding to wreak havoc, destruction and death on the people of this world. The only thing that can stop them are wards: specific wards of protection to keep them at bay; if they have been correctly done, there is a flare of magic and the demon can get no closer, but if the ward is covered or partially rubbed out, it becomes an open doorway for the demon to enter and kill. The origin and history of these demons is revealed from various viewpoints, though it is not exactly certain where they came from or why this happened; what is known is that each night at sundown everyone needs to be behind the wards, or there will be bodies to clean up at dawn.

Our titular main character is Arlen, a young boy who lives in a simple town that trains its people how to draw wards. Arlen is more skilled than most, with the incredible ability to draw the wards in exactly the right way to grant full protection; he also has many of them memorized, and is a quick learner. After a devastating demon attack leaves his mother almost dead, when Arlen had to rescue her while his father just stared in horror, helpless with fear, she eventually dies and the boy can no longer look the father in the face. He flees in search of the messenger, a man of a particular order who travels the lands to deliver mail and messages, but are also trained in the ways of wards to protect themselves on the roads at night against the demons. Arlen has his own learning experience that is the first part of his long and dangerous quest to become the scary but powerful person known as "the warded man."

There is Leesha, who is a young, beautiful girl looking to wed the man of her dreams, even though she is just thirteen. But in this harsh world, one's life expectancy is incredibly short with the demons coming every night, so having every girl becoming a woman when her cycle begins makes sense for the survival of the people and its propagation. In various cities, women who bear children become known as Mothers, important people in society, as producing offspring is a powerful advantage in a world that has untold dead each and every night. When Leesha is shamed by the lies of her man to be she becomes apprenticed to a medicine woman and herb gather, and begins to learn the important power of healing and helping the sick, making her one of the most powerful people in this world.

Finally there is Rojer, who barely survives as a young child from a devastating demon attack that leaves his family dead. Rescued and raised by a jongleur -- those who entertain and tell stories to the peoples to brighten their days and give hope to their nights -- he learns these arts of simple magic tricks and music, though he is a terrible singer. And yet becoming a master of the violin, he begins to dazzle the audiences, while the jongleur who raised him takes more to drinking and becomes jealous of him. It is as Rojer continues his learning quest to become a master jongleur known throughout the world that he discovers his music playing has unique properties and effects on the demons when he plays to them.

Perhaps the one weak point in the book is the religion, which seems a simple Christian-based one that could've been turned into something different and more interesting; and some of the other peoples of the world bare harsh resemblances to our own in too similar ways. Nevertheless, these relatively minor failings are greatly made up for in this brilliant new piece of epic fantasy that deserves to be shelved with the likes of Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, and even George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It is epic fantasy at its best that takes you away to a strong, believable fantasy world and doesn't let you leave until you've read the last page.

Originally written on March 20, 2012 ©Alex C. Telander.

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I was looking for something to read while waiting for more George Martin and Brandon Sanderson books. I found this book while looking for similar books on Goodreads.

And what a find it was!

The story is not the usual warrior/sorcerer/adventurer Dungeons and Dragons format that honestly, is getting very old. Brett paints a detailed world and hints at a forgotten past of knowledge an technology, that feels a little like what Jordan did in his epic WoT series, and that is a great thing as I adore those books.

The characters have depth, are relatable, and are easy to fall in love with. Arlen, the main character in this story, is the usual 'from a small village/becomes a great savior' type but isn't unbelievable like some other stories.

The magic system is very unique, the antagonists/monsters are much different the usual baddies are, an the progression and unfolding of the plot is such that I couldn't put this book down for hours at a time. The only other books to do that to me have been LOTR, Mistborn, Stormlight Archives, Song of Ice and Fire, and Lies of Locke Lamora. Brett is in ELITE company there.

Highly recommended and I can hardly wait to start reading book two in the series.

I feel very conflicted about this book. It opened incredibly strongly, introducing a world stalked by demons who rise up in the dark. Humanity's terror of the corelings is threaded into their every action. I liked the main protagonist, Arlen, who hates the demons instead of fearing them. His desire for freedom -- from the demons, from the city walls, etc -- is a believable driving force for his actions, even when said actions actually hurt him. He's a solid, fallible character. I finished the novel and wanted to know what happened next! That's good! After reflecting for a few days, however, I've decided I'm not going to read the rest of the series. Here's why:

There are some pacing problems. The setup of the novel, which begins when the three protagonists are children and then checks in with them at various points in their lives, necessitates a degree of "telling" rather than "showing." (For example, one character becomes an apprentice Herb Gatherer, but we don't see any of her apprenticeship, how she was taught, or what she learned. We simply come back into her life years later, at the end of her apprenticeship, and are told that she's now a super awesome Herb Gatherer who's ready to travel to another city to cure a sick kid that no one else knows how to save.) I'm not sure how this could be avoided given the length of time the novel covers, and this alone doesn't merit a two star review, but it's worth noting.

Something that drove me crazy was the number of real world names spelled differently just to add some sort of fantasy flavor. Rojer instead of Roger, Gared instead of Jared, Mairy and Mery instead of Mary, Steave instead of Steve, etc. It's not a bad technique to use sparingly, but it was so prevalent that it distracted me from the story! Am I supposed to pronounce them differently, like Gared with a hard "g" and Steave as Ste-ave? Or is it just Jared and Steve, and if so, why didn't he just write them that way?

There's some vague racism that made me uncomfortable; the middle section of the book sets up the origin story for the villain of the rest of the series, who is from a fanatical desert race whose women all wear veils/hijabs. It's very stereotypical and comes off as Islamophobic. I suppose it could be turned around, since we apparently get a PoV character from that culture in the next book, but it's not handled well in this book.

Really, though, my biggest problem with The Warded Man is the amount of rape and incest that takes place.

Why is it that so many fantasy novels resort to raping the female protagonist just to be gritty? Why does every female need to be ~damaged~ and ~have her sacred virginity taken~ to justify her place in the story?

Spoilers:
Look, I get that it "makes sense" for the bandits to rape Leesha, because they are bad men and that's a thing that bad men do. My complaint is that there was no need to include the bandits in the first place. It sets up the Warded Man rescuing Leesha and Rojer after their warding circle is stolen, but I could name dozens of ways to set that up without falling back on a cliched and misogynistic trope like rape. The warding circle could have been damaged -- it was already established that it was old, and furthermore that wards are very tricky. Having a bit of mud splash on your ward is enough to break the magic. One of them could have accidentally nudged it in their sleep, making the wards fall out of alignment. The circle could have been stolen from their bags when Rojer was performing, and they didn't notice until they were out in the woods. Sooooo many ways it could have happened that didn't include last minute, random bandits. It's not just sexist, it's poor storytelling. Kind of like the opposite of a Deus ex Machina -- the author needed a way to make something bad happen so they could be saved by the Warded Man, so he just came up with this out of nowhere. Blah.

Oh, and apparently the incest subplot that is introduced early on is there to establish the backstory of another female character who will be important in later books, because Peter V Brett does not know how to write female characters without giving them a rape background.

This is a tough review to write, because frankly I'm not quite sure what I feel. "The Warded Man" has a lot going for it: a fascinating and unique world, compelling and interesting lead characters, and generally great writing. It also has a number of serious problems.

First, the good: Brett has created a unique and interesting post-apocalyptic world. Every bit of lore, history, or culture he reveals feels right and helps to paint a better picture, making for compelling reading. There's a lot we still need to learn about this place, but that's to be expected. The exposition never feels lacking or overwhelming.

The lead characters (and a handful of the side characters) are definitely well-drawn, fully realized, and interesting to spend time with. That said, this is clearly Arlen's story, which is a bit unfortunate as Leesha and Rojer both deserve a bit more than they get. Their Bildungsroman chapters feel a bit tacked on and mandatory; neither really has much of an overarching plot to it. As a result, the net effect is that their chapters seem to only slow the story down until all three characters come together. It's a shame, as I'd gladly read an actual story featuring either.

The pacing of the transitions between the point of view characters also feels a bit awkward. Brett wisely chose to follow the demands of the story rather than imposing an artificial constraint such as alternating chapters, but with such uneven stories to tell, that leads to large chunks of the story where any given character is wholly absent, and it's an absence that doesn't go unnoticed. I found myself wishing at times that the story would get back to Leesha or Rojer.

The final quarter of the story, once the lead characters come together, is quite good, save one rather glaring problem. There's a sexual assault that's handled so poorly that I almost stopped reading entirely. Sexual violence plays a surprisingly large part in the backdrop of the story — there are times at which Leesha's chapters feel little better than "so who's trying to rape Leesha now?" — but it's generally handled well enough, and for the right reasons: the world of the remaining humans is a dismal, terrible one, and even moreso for women. The real problem with the sexual assault is that it's presented entirely from the point of view of the woman's male companions, and becomes almost entirely about how it affects them, leading directly into a major character shift for one of them. It just plain feels gross, very Women-in-Refrigerators-y, where a woman is subjected to horrible violence merely to develop a man's character. It's a staggeringly bad choice by an otherwise capable writer — basically a textbook example of how not to write about rape.

The depiction of the Not-Arabs feels similarly ham-fisted (and why is there a desert with an entirely different ethnic group within walking distance, again?), seeming at times more like a caricature of real-world middle eastern cultures than an attempt to create a unique society within a fantasy setting.

Will I read the other books in the series? Probably. Eventually. I'm intrigued by the story Brett is telling, but there are enough pitfalls in this one to have dampened the considerable enthusiasm I had going into it.

This book is confusing. I'd give five stars for the first three quarters: Well written, great character development, great world building. Then everything goes to hell as one of the characters more or less solves the problem, fast. At that point, demons are defanged, sense of darkness and danger goes to hell along with character development for two out of three of the leads, culminating in a romance that was predictable from the beginning, yet also feels too hurried when it finally happens.

I'm not even sure if I want to start the next novel in the series, as what drew me in the first place is gone.

Every once in awhile a book comes along that I don't want to end. I just want to keep reading forever about the characters in stay in the author's make-believe world forever. Brett's The Warded Man was one of those novels. I bought this novel on a whim during my birthday shopping spree. I saw the cover of the third book in this series first and picked it up. I put it back down when I realized that it was the third book in a series I had not read. But I kept thinking about it, so I went looking for the first book. Luckily Barnes and Noble had it. Has anyone else noticed that they are notorious for not having a full series in stock? Anyway, they had it. I picked it up. I almost purchased the whole series that day but didn't. Now I am angry with myself. I'm glad I bought The Warded Man, and upset that I talked myself out of the whole series. Now I have to wait until I save up some more book shopping money before I can read the second and third books in this awesome series! Brett sucked me into his world and will do the same for you. Go read this book!

If you like this book you may want to read:
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Hounded (Iron Druid Chronicles Book 1) by Kevin Hearne
Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy Book 1) by Robin Hobb

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I had to go back and look at the ratings after I started this book. It seemed very childish. And that continued for about the first quarter. Things got interesting after that. Good storyline with enough characters to keep the story going quickly. I bought the first book for like $2. However there are 5 in the series I think. So it may be a while before I finish the series.

I lost interest in fantasy, heroic, epic or urban, for a long while. But I came back to it with a vengeance with this book. It does everything that's been done before but does it afresh, with vigor and style and complete sincerity. I almost lost interest once the story shifted from the first protagonist's point of view, and had some difficulty warming to the second and third protagonist--maybe because I somehow assumed from the title and cover blurb that it was a single-pov story--but once I kept reading, I found that they were as well delineated as the first.

That is Brett's first and greatest achievement: to create vivid believable characters that not only hold our interest and earn our empathy but have a growth arc that would take many other fantasy series a half dozen books to achieve. What Arlen, Leesa and Rojer go through in this one 544-page book alone is more than most fantasy trilogies. Not all of it is pleasant. Much of it is quite the opposite. Yet, we root for them and want them to survive and thrive.

Do they? Ah, that would be telling. What's important is that the journey is well worth taking. The action sequences are brilliantly staged and described and never do you feel the author flags in energy or attention, even ending with a terrific battle sequence to cap a great journey. This is closer to Abercrombie than Tolkien and the better for it. Recently, I read it's been optioned for a film adaptation by Paul W.S. Anderson of the Resident Evil series fame and I think that's a terrific choice: this is also a strong fighting protagonist adventure saga and I hope The Demon Cycle goes on to spawn its own franchise.

I'll certainly play the PS3 game with relish! Hopefully, they'll bring out a version for the Move, so you can use your hands to ward off and battle demons, with an AI interface that's intelligent enough to track sunlight and shadow (or mud and rain, and the like) to make it as realistic and exciting as the book. This one's a true breakout in the genre and Brett has my admiration and loyalty from here on out. Write on!

No spoilers in this review. Brett creates a unique world where demons have the upper hand, though theybare limited by daylight. The story follows three heroes who have no idea of their import. Once the initial awkwardness of the story's beginning is over it quickly falls into a rhythm. The action is intense and the style is refreshingly smooth. The story flows well and the protagonists are likeable. I'm excited to begin book two!

received this new novel by Peter V. Brett a couple days ago from Del-Rey for review and so I decided to sit down from my few months being a mom to read it. I was so glad I did. The Warded Man is an intense ride that begins with the lives of three young children that through different diversities survive to fight on in a world where just the corelings or demons aren't the only things that should be feared.

In this well written novel, you will meet Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, each set on their own path by tragedy or by the evil of others. Their journeys are all thwart with different types of danger from One Armed demons to the evil of greedy men. Each one will have you wrapped around their stories as they pull you from the world you know into one that nights are feared and demons roam only to take you into that darkness never to return.

The Warded Man is a well put together novel. With intense actions scenes that do not rob from the brilliant dialogue, the beautiful, yet, horrifying imagery literally engulfs you in a world that is filled with mountains, deserts, wall cities, and small villages. Each chapter brings you deeper into the shadows filling your mind with visions of small fire demons to the large stone ones.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves good fantasy and great action. It is a bit on the dark side with some violence to kids as well as to grown ups so please use discression when looking at it for kids younger than sixteen or so. Other than that, I implore you to give Mr. Brett a chance. I know I will be reading the next in his series for sure.....

This was a really well told story. It is a classic fantasy story set in a dark fantasy setting while not being too dark. The world building in this series is a backdrop where humans live in fear while demons ravage the night. The demons are called corelings because they come from the core of the earth, and every night when the night comes they rise from the earth and do whatever they please because they have defeated the humans. The humans now live behind magical wards which hold out the demons. But the humans can't kill the demons so they live in towns that are like cages.

The strong point of this novel is the character building of three characters. Even though the point of view is from three characters throughout the books, Arlon is the main character. As he becomes the Warded Man. Arlon's story is revenge and his ability to not want to fear the corelings like his father and every other villager did. He watched his mother dies by the corelings while his father looked on too afraid to help their mother. This fuels Alron to become what he becomes all the while searching for offensive wards that have been lost to the humans. Leesha is the female lead and she decided to become a healer, especially after a young boy tells the village that he slept with her. She becomes so disgusted and finds that the escape is to devote her time to being a healer. And Rojer is a Jongleur, the third main character. His story was the fact that he was the only survivor of a coreling attack and was brought up on his own. He becomes an apprentice jongleur to an aging drunkard jongleur to survive, but soon finds out that his fiddle playing is something extraordinary.

All three of the characters paths cross within the book and the story is a coming of age story about all three characters. We start with them as young children until they rise to young adulthood. This book is a combination of a typical fantasy with one of darker tones, i.e. the corelings. I preferred the darker aspects and I enjoyed the ending which is a revelation for the second book to build on. This was a very good fantasy book.

I read just about any and every well-rated or well-received sci-fi and fantasy book under the sun, or at least the first 5-10 pages of them. Typically I just stop reading them due to careless prose, dialogue or flat characters.

I am extremely critical of literature, especially sci-fi and fantasy, which is largely cliche and terrifically annoying.

This book left me breathless! I marathoned it!! I was dying to read the second, which at first threw me for a loop and then I was totally behind it and dying for the third! Which also fulfilled all my hopes.

I loved this book so much I contacted the author about the rights for it, want to create a video game series like Mass Effect and either a movie series or mini-series based on the books.

Arlen is born into a fierce world. Every night, like clockwork, demons rise from the center of the Earth and attack every human alive. If an area is properly protected by "wards" then demons can't enter and content themselves with repeatedly smashing into the warded zone. Most people refuse to fight the demons, which are strong and tough, and settle for hiding and hoping their wards hold through the night.

When we meet Arlen he is merely a young boy. His mother is severely injured in a demon attack and he sets off on a trip to the local Herb Gatherer (doctor) to find treatment for her injuries. Along the way she dies, and Arlen runs away from his father in a rage. He must now face the perils of the demon-filled night alone.

There is a cast of minor characters who face similar travails. Leesha is a beautiful young woman whose mother is the village slut and who is engaged to the town bully. She escapes her mother by apprenticing to the local herb woman, eventually becoming highly skilled in healing. Rojer's parents are killed when he is only a toddler and he is raised by an alcoholic performer, becoming skilled himself in performing music. These lesser characters eventually meet with Arlen, who has become a demon-killing machine, to unleash some serious whoop-ass on the corelings.

My main problems with this book were that A) it's a bit formulaic, and B) the demons become tiresome. You can already see how the novel fits well with tired fantasy cliches such as the young protagonist maturing into an old, embittered protagonist, the beautiful love interest, and a medieval society plus magic. The demons are interesting at first. You have to wonder, at some point, how there are just so many demons that they can simultaneously attack every human being on earth all night every night in groups of five or more. Killing any number of demons only attracts more demons. Fire demons, wood demons, sand demons, air demons, water demons.... if you enjoy demon attacks on primitive cultures, this is the series for you! As other reviewers have mentioned the author's attitude towards women, children, and sex was a bit disconcerting. 3.3 / 5 stars.

When darkness falls, Demons rise from the mists and rule the night. In a frenzy they kill, devour and destroy; held at bay only by ancient wards. However, when the Corelings breach the wards; tragedy strikes. Houses and towns burned to rubble; family and friends slaughtered. There is no way to fight back; all you can do is cower in fear, hide and pray that your wards will hold through the night - and be thankful that it isn't you that's being devoured.

The story follows three main characters; Arlen, who after a series of events and observing a great cowardice from his father; runs away in an attempt to be free, and moreover - fight back against the demons. Arlen is ever willing to do what others have thought impossible for generations, ever since the lost wards and the return of the Corelings. He gains his talents and specialties during his quests for knowledge and the desire for change.

After escaping from her manipulative and demanding mother, Leesha goes trains under the town hag and becomes a skilled healer. As she grows older, she must also deal with the leering looks of men, and protect herself in a male-dominant society; all the while searching for the right guy. She shows great strength of character; and alongside her skills with healing, she finds herself with a will to fight.

Rojer was raised by a Jongleur after his parents were killed by the demons when he was three. Scarred from that encounter; Rojer is missing fingers, though they serve as a reminder of his parent's love. Struggling with juggling, Rojer more than makes up for that lack with his extraordinary skills playing the fiddle - skills which may prove magical.

Peter Brett`s debut novel, The Painted Man (A.K.A The Warded Man) at first begins like the traditional well-known fantasy story; with a country-boy in a small village. Yes, there are a few clichés in the plot like that, however Brett does a fantastic job with making it his own. With the characters starting out fairly young; as they mature and age (the story spans about 15 years) the plot goes from the idiosyncrasies of small villages to the complexity of city-life, with the different sights, sounds and people.

In short: It's a great book, The Painted Man is among my favorite fantasy books; this would be my fourth re-read of it. I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy novels, action - and can deal with some mature themes.

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This Review was originally posted at : [...]

A fantasy world of villages and walled cities haunted by demons that rise every night. The people of this world have a system of markings or ruins called wards. The demons can't pass wards, though the wards sometimes fade, get covered or are not plentiful enough. Demons kill daily while the people pray for a deliverer who was foretold by legend.

So, for a simple setup, this was an outstanding read. There are a series of young people we get to know who all have their own personal issues. As each finds their own path through various adventures, they all find their inner heroes. There is some drama, some humor, some irony and lots of adventure.

If you like pseudo-medieval worlds haunted by demons with strong heroes and beautiful heroins, this is a classic. If you don't find fantasy your thing, this isn't a good place to start. While it is a classic hero tale, it reeks of dungeons and dragons - thatched roofs, warded stone cities and ancient ruins. As a graduate of Middle Earth, student of Hogwarts and lover of a good hero tale, I bought the story, went with it and enjoyed it. First class fantasy fiction.

Meh - I stayed with it to the end, but there was no reward - the things that you think will happen do - the things that would make the book interesting are missing - characters are not stand-out - the only reason I stayed? - the world was great - the demons (corelings) were interesting and the different ways to combat them - but the warded man - well, very anti-climatic in story-telling - I will not continue, because every character that lived I don't care about and I didn't skip a beat when a character died - also, the females are treated, well, cardboard - even though there is a strong female character (kind-of) she still is treated like a useless throw-away - it is not horrible, but when I get to the end of a book, I ask myself, do I want to know what happens to these characters? - the answer simply is - NOPE.

Honestly this is more of a Horror Fantasy novel than anything else. It has a really good feel to it.
It is definitely worth a read. It has its flaws as many people pointed out. Only the first 3/4ths of the book is 5 star, the remaining 1/4th is still readable.
Pros:
Great Magic System
Well developed main character (Arlen).
Fast Paced
Will keep you turning pages

Cons:
The two secondary characters (Leesha and Rojer) are a little flat. Ironically the supporting characters are quite good.
The book really goes downhill at the end, Arlen is a fascinating character when he relies on his wits and learning to escape danger. When he no longer needs to do that, he becomes less interesting.
Violence towards women is a little jarring, and although I passed through those sections, it did detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Still it is a very unique book, and I highly recommend it.

Book Stats

Fantasy

453 pages (paperback)

1st book in its series

Characters

This book focuses on three main characters, Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer. The book takes place over about 10-12 years and follows these characters over that time. By following them all and showing different experiences that they have over a course of years, you get a good sense of why the characters change as they do throughout the book. The book focuses primarily on Arlen for the first two-thirds of the book and as a result he is probably the most well developed character of the three. All three of the characters were interesting and while at times I wondered exactly how all three of the characters would relate to the overall plot, I still enjoyed reading all of their viewpoints throughout the book.

Setting

The story is set on a world where every night demons arise from the core for seemingly no purpose other than to terrorize the few humans still left in the world. The only defense that humans have against the demons are wards that can be used to prevent the demons from entering their homes at night. The wards that people have are remnants from society hundreds of years in the past when humans knew how to fight the demons as opposed to simply hiding from them. Many of the cities in the world are small and separated so that only a few people are willing to travel between them. These few people are known as messengers and are trained in creating wards, this allows them to travel and even occasionally stay out at night.

Plot

The plot follows the three main characters who start in separate parts of the world and we watch them as they grow up from somewhat naive children to much more competent adults in different areas of their life. Arlen and Rojer are forced to grow in their life when their villages are attacked by demons, while Leesha has obstacles relating to her life being promised to a brutal young man who threatens her dignity. Arlen is ultimately led upon a journey to become a messenger after being trained in the making of wards. While journeying through the world he ultimately discovers some wards that have not been known to humans in the world. Leesha becomes apprenticed to an Herb-Gatherer and is trained in healing. She learns to deal with her own problems as opposed to relying on others to solve them for her and becomes a well respected healer in the town where she works. Rojer is the youngest of the three characters at the beginning of the book, where he is just 3 years old. After having his village attacked early in the story he is apprenticed to a Jongleur, learning different performing arts including singing, juggling, tumbling, and playing the fiddle.

The plot causes all three characters to learn their respective skills and how these skills can be used to help deal with the ongoing problem of the demons who corrupt the world. Ultimately the three are united where they learn how they can all help one another to survive out in the wild which most humans avoid while cowering behind their wards in their cities.

Enjoyment

I loved this book and read the first 350 pages in one day, I would have finished the book that day but it was getting late and I had to get some sleep since I had class the next morning.

Overall Grade

While the books does slow down slightly about two-thirds of the way through, the end is still satisfying and gives promise towards the next book in the series.

9/10

On the whole, a worthwhile read. I disliked the way that one character's story stopped abruptly and the next chapter introduced another completely unrelated character. This practice of chopping up the storyline was used in chronology too, so that sometimes I wasn't sure whether events talked about in new chapters were from several chapters before (the last time the character was featured) and I had forgotten them or if the telling of the events was meant to bring me up to date on what had happened to the character while the story focused on someone else.

I almost stopped reading because of this disjointed organization. The multiple chapters written to introduce a new character seemed like massive info dumps, and I felt the author was lazy in not trying to weave the storylines together more. After about the first third of the book, though, the irritation was gradually replaced with growing interest in the story.

I will definitely read the next book in the series. Since this book is the writer's first effort, I hope his second book will read more smoothly.

This book never develops an actual plot. Hard to believe for a fantasy novel but you'll get through the first 2/3s of the book waiting in vain for some form of actual antagonist, challenge or direction to emerge in the story. This isn't to say they develop in the last third, they don't. Instead, what had been been passable character development simply gets thrown out the window as our lead protagonist finally adopts the 'Warded Man' role becoming an overnight ninja superhero and it is clear the rest of the series will be about how he single-handidly sets the world to rights.

Well not alone, of course, as was blindingly obvious from the beginning he'll be accompanied by his healer love interest and minstrel friend/romantic competitor. As soon as the three main characters meet the book goes into deep Mary-Sue mode but the flaws are deeper than this.

* We spend two hundred pages in the childhood of the three protagonists, covering ground any decent novel would have done in its first few chapters. The extra length doesn't bring any extra depth to the characters and as they get older we begin jumping years at a time. There is no flow to their development and the time and viewpoint cuts serves only to lessen your interest in them.

* The author decides to use a proxy Muslim culture, Arabic named desert warriors, where women cover themselves and are poorly treated by their men. These people are portrayed as xenophobic, fanatical and treacherous.

* Women in the novel are respected as Mothers once they give birth. This is the most amazing thing any woman can do any women who have not had a child are looked down upon. The author no doubt thinks making his female lead a 'strong willed exception' someone balances the fact that every other female character is a two-dimensional drone.

* The books Messenger class use wards to defend themselves against demons that can be woven, carved, inscribed, written or painted. The messengers all also have tattoos. Nobody except the title character ever thought to tattoo a protective ward on themself.... There is no reason whatsover this (or wearing warded armor) should not have completely altered the basic rules of the world he builds.

At the start, its not terrible and then you wait for an actual story to begin, and for a long time it doesn't. Then our hero becomes the Warded Man and it just gets cheesy real quick.

Terribly disjointed, major plot holes in the world-building, lacking any tension or suspense, highly predictable and centered on inconsistent poorly sketched characters. This won't be obvious from the start but you wil not be rewarded for persevering.

All in all, this book is a strong debut that has its fair share of problems.

First of all, the positives. The book has strong characterization for its three leads and many of the supporting cast, especially Leesha's mentor Bruna, Rojer's master Arrick, and Arlen's mentors, Cob and Ragen. In addition, its demons are enjoyable unique, as it the magic that combats them: wards. It's a lot of fun watching characters use this magical tool inventively, and it's even more fun watching Arlen make discoveries about them throughout the book. Not only do the characters and the magic get good treatment, but the world itself is well-developed, with rivalries, cultures, and economies there for the discovery as characters make their way through the wold.

Secondly, the negatives. Mr. Brett's style is still developing, and he has a few idiosyncracies that grate, such as dialog attribution ("Here's some example dialog," I recommended) along with a lack of emotional weight to actions in the world. At one point, Rojer loses a favored Jongleur tool to rivals, and all that's described is the thing's destruction with no reaction from Rojer whatsoever. Besides the stylistic flaws, there's a development in the plot that I hesitate to even call a twist. It felt like it was played for cheap drama, and it even took away from a potential romantic culmination not 50 pages later. I wasn't quite offended by the development, but it felt like a cheap and tasteless trick just to keep tension high. The worst part is that the character seems to have completely brushed it off by the conclusion of the book, only lending credence to the perception that it was a cheap trick.

All that said, the positives still outweigh the negatives. I greatly anticipate reading the Desert Spear (the sequel to this book), especially if Mr. Brett avoids the pitfalls of this book.

Three stars.

I bought this book because I liked the cover. (Yes. I know.) Also, it seemed to get rave reviews. But from the start, I found it trite, shallow, and poorly written. It wasn't just bad. It was insultingly, embarrassingly bad. Take the following passage:

"In face and form, Elona was much like her daughter. Still beautiful at thirty, she had long hair that hung rich and black about her proud shoulders. She also had a full, womanly figure that was the envy of all, the only thing Leesha hoped to inherit from her. Her own breasts had only just started to bud, and had a long way to go before they matched her mother's."

Ewwwww!

What's more, Brett's characters have names like Steave, Jeph, Rojer, Arrick, Piter, and (God help us!) Rusco. I'm not sure I understand why Brett finds it necessary to change the spelling of these names, but it quickly becomes annoying.

Here's another bit of ugliness: "Keep an eye on Arrick with your wife," Geral muttered. "They call him 'Sweetsong' because his voice will make any woman sweet between the legs, and I've never known him to stop at a wedding vow.

or how about this:

"She was not yet flowered, and thus could not wed, but she was promised to Gared Cutter, the handsomest boy in the village. Gared was two summers older than her, tall and thick-muscled. The other girls squealed as he passed, but he was Leesha's, and they all knew. He would give her strong babies."

Brett's worst writing seems to revolve around his female characters, but others like the "Tender Michel" get equally bad treatment. A shallow attempt at feminism from an old, wrinkled herb-gatherer later in the story just can't compensate for this bit of teeth-curling ickyness.

Here's a piece dialogue I drew at random from the book:

"Promise me," Ragen ordered.
"I promise," Jenya said.
Ragen nodded, hugging her one last time. "I'll look in on you when I can," he said. She was still crying as they left. Arlen stared back at her as they went.

Clumsy, blockish, and dull.

I once read a book review in which the critic claimed he felt sorry for the tree that lost its life so that a certain book could be printed. In this particular case, I felt sorry for the ink and the glue as well. Do yourself a favor, and spend your time reading something--anything--else. Or just knock yourself on the head with a hammer. You'll be better off, I promise.

For starters, I have so far read 132 pages, and I would like nothing more than to beat the village idiots over the head with a bat,accept the old healer. The plot of this story has great potential, with demons rising each night to cause destruction among the Village, as well as other nations, and the only way to protect themselves, is by drawing or painting wards around your house in order to keep the demons away. Three main characters are introduced who have the potential to stop the demons for good... Now here is my main problem with this book... as someone who has been reading fantasy for several years, including the likes of George R. R. Martin, and Joe Ambercrombie, I am not easily offended by sexual content in anything I read, however, I do have a problem with the way its being presented, each time a male and female are interacting with each other, there is always some kind of sexual reference made. I started reading this book with the idea that I was to enjoy an amazing action packed novel with great characters. Instead I find myself wanting to hit the delete button on my iPhone, however I will continue reading this book with the hopes that I will be able to get past the dysfunctional part of the village people, and get right into the action and plot part of this book.

This is a tough review to write, because frankly I'm not quite sure what I feel. "The Warded Man" has a lot going for it: a fascinating and unique world, compelling and interesting lead characters, and generally great writing. It also has a number of serious problems.

First, the good: Brett has created a unique and interesting post-apocalyptic world. Every bit of lore, history, or culture he reveals feels right and helps to paint a better picture, making for compelling reading. There's a lot we still need to learn about this place, but that's to be expected. The exposition never feels lacking or overwhelming.

The lead characters (and a handful of the side characters) are definitely well-drawn, fully realized, and interesting to spend time with. That said, this is clearly Arlen's story, which is a bit unfortunate as Leesha and Rojer both deserve a bit more than they get. Their Bildungsroman chapters feel a bit tacked on and mandatory; neither really has much of an overarching plot to it. As a result, the net effect is that their chapters seem to only slow the story down until all three characters come together. It's a shame, as I'd gladly read an actual story featuring either.

The pacing of the transitions between the point of view characters also feels a bit awkward. Brett wisely chose to follow the demands of the story rather than imposing an artificial constraint such as alternating chapters, but with such uneven stories to tell, that leads to large chunks of the story where any given character is wholly absent, and it's an absence that doesn't go unnoticed. I found myself wishing at times that the story would get back to Leesha or Rojer.

The final quarter of the story, once the lead characters come together, is quite good, save one rather glaring problem. There's a sexual assault that's handled so poorly that I almost stopped reading entirely. Sexual violence plays a surprisingly large part in the backdrop of the story — there are times at which Leesha's chapters feel little better than "so who's trying to rape Leesha now?" — but it's generally handled well enough, and for the right reasons: the world of the remaining humans is a dismal, terrible one, and even moreso for women. The real problem with the sexual assault is that it's presented entirely from the point of view of the woman's male companions, and becomes almost entirely about how it affects them, leading directly into a major character shift for one of them. It just plain feels gross, very Women-in-Refrigerators-y, where a woman is subjected to horrible violence merely to develop a man's character. It's a staggeringly bad choice by an otherwise capable writer — basically a textbook example of how not to write about rape.

The depiction of the Not-Arabs feels similarly ham-fisted (and why is there a desert with an entirely different ethnic group within walking distance, again?), seeming at times more like a caricature of real-world middle eastern cultures than an attempt to create a unique society within a fantasy setting.

Will I read the other books in the series? Probably. Eventually. I'm intrigued by the story Brett is telling, but there are enough pitfalls in this one to have dampened the considerable enthusiasm I had going into it.

This book is confusing. I'd give five stars for the first three quarters: Well written, great character development, great world building. Then everything goes to hell as one of the characters more or less solves the problem, fast. At that point, demons are defanged, sense of darkness and danger goes to hell along with character development for two out of three of the leads, culminating in a romance that was predictable from the beginning, yet also feels too hurried when it finally happens.

I'm not even sure if I want to start the next novel in the series, as what drew me in the first place is gone.

Every once in awhile a book comes along that I don't want to end. I just want to keep reading forever about the characters in stay in the author's make-believe world forever. Brett's The Warded Man was one of those novels. I bought this novel on a whim during my birthday shopping spree. I saw the cover of the third book in this series first and picked it up. I put it back down when I realized that it was the third book in a series I had not read. But I kept thinking about it, so I went looking for the first book. Luckily Barnes and Noble had it. Has anyone else noticed that they are notorious for not having a full series in stock? Anyway, they had it. I picked it up. I almost purchased the whole series that day but didn't. Now I am angry with myself. I'm glad I bought The Warded Man, and upset that I talked myself out of the whole series. Now I have to wait until I save up some more book shopping money before I can read the second and third books in this awesome series! Brett sucked me into his world and will do the same for you. Go read this book!

If you like this book you may want to read:
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Hounded (Iron Druid Chronicles Book 1) by Kevin Hearne
Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy Book 1) by Robin Hobb

See more of my reviews on my blog: [...]

I had to go back and look at the ratings after I started this book. It seemed very childish. And that continued for about the first quarter. Things got interesting after that. Good storyline with enough characters to keep the story going quickly. I bought the first book for like $2. However there are 5 in the series I think. So it may be a while before I finish the series.

I lost interest in fantasy, heroic, epic or urban, for a long while. But I came back to it with a vengeance with this book. It does everything that's been done before but does it afresh, with vigor and style and complete sincerity. I almost lost interest once the story shifted from the first protagonist's point of view, and had some difficulty warming to the second and third protagonist--maybe because I somehow assumed from the title and cover blurb that it was a single-pov story--but once I kept reading, I found that they were as well delineated as the first.

That is Brett's first and greatest achievement: to create vivid believable characters that not only hold our interest and earn our empathy but have a growth arc that would take many other fantasy series a half dozen books to achieve. What Arlen, Leesa and Rojer go through in this one 544-page book alone is more than most fantasy trilogies. Not all of it is pleasant. Much of it is quite the opposite. Yet, we root for them and want them to survive and thrive.

Do they? Ah, that would be telling. What's important is that the journey is well worth taking. The action sequences are brilliantly staged and described and never do you feel the author flags in energy or attention, even ending with a terrific battle sequence to cap a great journey. This is closer to Abercrombie than Tolkien and the better for it. Recently, I read it's been optioned for a film adaptation by Paul W.S. Anderson of the Resident Evil series fame and I think that's a terrific choice: this is also a strong fighting protagonist adventure saga and I hope The Demon Cycle goes on to spawn its own franchise.

I'll certainly play the PS3 game with relish! Hopefully, they'll bring out a version for the Move, so you can use your hands to ward off and battle demons, with an AI interface that's intelligent enough to track sunlight and shadow (or mud and rain, and the like) to make it as realistic and exciting as the book. This one's a true breakout in the genre and Brett has my admiration and loyalty from here on out. Write on!

No spoilers in this review. Brett creates a unique world where demons have the upper hand, though theybare limited by daylight. The story follows three heroes who have no idea of their import. Once the initial awkwardness of the story's beginning is over it quickly falls into a rhythm. The action is intense and the style is refreshingly smooth. The story flows well and the protagonists are likeable. I'm excited to begin book two!

received this new novel by Peter V. Brett a couple days ago from Del-Rey for review and so I decided to sit down from my few months being a mom to read it. I was so glad I did. The Warded Man is an intense ride that begins with the lives of three young children that through different diversities survive to fight on in a world where just the corelings or demons aren't the only things that should be feared.

In this well written novel, you will meet Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, each set on their own path by tragedy or by the evil of others. Their journeys are all thwart with different types of danger from One Armed demons to the evil of greedy men. Each one will have you wrapped around their stories as they pull you from the world you know into one that nights are feared and demons roam only to take you into that darkness never to return.

The Warded Man is a well put together novel. With intense actions scenes that do not rob from the brilliant dialogue, the beautiful, yet, horrifying imagery literally engulfs you in a world that is filled with mountains, deserts, wall cities, and small villages. Each chapter brings you deeper into the shadows filling your mind with visions of small fire demons to the large stone ones.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves good fantasy and great action. It is a bit on the dark side with some violence to kids as well as to grown ups so please use discression when looking at it for kids younger than sixteen or so. Other than that, I implore you to give Mr. Brett a chance. I know I will be reading the next in his series for sure.....

This was a really well told story. It is a classic fantasy story set in a dark fantasy setting while not being too dark. The world building in this series is a backdrop where humans live in fear while demons ravage the night. The demons are called corelings because they come from the core of the earth, and every night when the night comes they rise from the earth and do whatever they please because they have defeated the humans. The humans now live behind magical wards which hold out the demons. But the humans can't kill the demons so they live in towns that are like cages.

The strong point of this novel is the character building of three characters. Even though the point of view is from three characters throughout the books, Arlon is the main character. As he becomes the Warded Man. Arlon's story is revenge and his ability to not want to fear the corelings like his father and every other villager did. He watched his mother dies by the corelings while his father looked on too afraid to help their mother. This fuels Alron to become what he becomes all the while searching for offensive wards that have been lost to the humans. Leesha is the female lead and she decided to become a healer, especially after a young boy tells the village that he slept with her. She becomes so disgusted and finds that the escape is to devote her time to being a healer. And Rojer is a Jongleur, the third main character. His story was the fact that he was the only survivor of a coreling attack and was brought up on his own. He becomes an apprentice jongleur to an aging drunkard jongleur to survive, but soon finds out that his fiddle playing is something extraordinary.

All three of the characters paths cross within the book and the story is a coming of age story about all three characters. We start with them as young children until they rise to young adulthood. This book is a combination of a typical fantasy with one of darker tones, i.e. the corelings. I preferred the darker aspects and I enjoyed the ending which is a revelation for the second book to build on. This was a very good fantasy book.

I read just about any and every well-rated or well-received sci-fi and fantasy book under the sun, or at least the first 5-10 pages of them. Typically I just stop reading them due to careless prose, dialogue or flat characters.

I am extremely critical of literature, especially sci-fi and fantasy, which is largely cliche and terrifically annoying.

This book left me breathless! I marathoned it!! I was dying to read the second, which at first threw me for a loop and then I was totally behind it and dying for the third! Which also fulfilled all my hopes.

I loved this book so much I contacted the author about the rights for it, want to create a video game series like Mass Effect and either a movie series or mini-series based on the books.

Arlen is born into a fierce world. Every night, like clockwork, demons rise from the center of the Earth and attack every human alive. If an area is properly protected by "wards" then demons can't enter and content themselves with repeatedly smashing into the warded zone. Most people refuse to fight the demons, which are strong and tough, and settle for hiding and hoping their wards hold through the night.

When we meet Arlen he is merely a young boy. His mother is severely injured in a demon attack and he sets off on a trip to the local Herb Gatherer (doctor) to find treatment for her injuries. Along the way she dies, and Arlen runs away from his father in a rage. He must now face the perils of the demon-filled night alone.

There is a cast of minor characters who face similar travails. Leesha is a beautiful young woman whose mother is the village slut and who is engaged to the town bully. She escapes her mother by apprenticing to the local herb woman, eventually becoming highly skilled in healing. Rojer's parents are killed when he is only a toddler and he is raised by an alcoholic performer, becoming skilled himself in performing music. These lesser characters eventually meet with Arlen, who has become a demon-killing machine, to unleash some serious whoop-ass on the corelings.

My main problems with this book were that A) it's a bit formulaic, and B) the demons become tiresome. You can already see how the novel fits well with tired fantasy cliches such as the young protagonist maturing into an old, embittered protagonist, the beautiful love interest, and a medieval society plus magic. The demons are interesting at first. You have to wonder, at some point, how there are just so many demons that they can simultaneously attack every human being on earth all night every night in groups of five or more. Killing any number of demons only attracts more demons. Fire demons, wood demons, sand demons, air demons, water demons.... if you enjoy demon attacks on primitive cultures, this is the series for you! As other reviewers have mentioned the author's attitude towards women, children, and sex was a bit disconcerting. 3.3 / 5 stars.

When darkness falls, Demons rise from the mists and rule the night. In a frenzy they kill, devour and destroy; held at bay only by ancient wards. However, when the Corelings breach the wards; tragedy strikes. Houses and towns burned to rubble; family and friends slaughtered. There is no way to fight back; all you can do is cower in fear, hide and pray that your wards will hold through the night - and be thankful that it isn't you that's being devoured.

The story follows three main characters; Arlen, who after a series of events and observing a great cowardice from his father; runs away in an attempt to be free, and moreover - fight back against the demons. Arlen is ever willing to do what others have thought impossible for generations, ever since the lost wards and the return of the Corelings. He gains his talents and specialties during his quests for knowledge and the desire for change.

After escaping from her manipulative and demanding mother, Leesha goes trains under the town hag and becomes a skilled healer. As she grows older, she must also deal with the leering looks of men, and protect herself in a male-dominant society; all the while searching for the right guy. She shows great strength of character; and alongside her skills with healing, she finds herself with a will to fight.

Rojer was raised by a Jongleur after his parents were killed by the demons when he was three. Scarred from that encounter; Rojer is missing fingers, though they serve as a reminder of his parent's love. Struggling with juggling, Rojer more than makes up for that lack with his extraordinary skills playing the fiddle - skills which may prove magical.

Peter Brett`s debut novel, The Painted Man (A.K.A The Warded Man) at first begins like the traditional well-known fantasy story; with a country-boy in a small village. Yes, there are a few clichés in the plot like that, however Brett does a fantastic job with making it his own. With the characters starting out fairly young; as they mature and age (the story spans about 15 years) the plot goes from the idiosyncrasies of small villages to the complexity of city-life, with the different sights, sounds and people.

In short: It's a great book, The Painted Man is among my favorite fantasy books; this would be my fourth re-read of it. I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy novels, action - and can deal with some mature themes.

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This Review was originally posted at : [...]

A fantasy world of villages and walled cities haunted by demons that rise every night. The people of this world have a system of markings or ruins called wards. The demons can't pass wards, though the wards sometimes fade, get covered or are not plentiful enough. Demons kill daily while the people pray for a deliverer who was foretold by legend.

So, for a simple setup, this was an outstanding read. There are a series of young people we get to know who all have their own personal issues. As each finds their own path through various adventures, they all find their inner heroes. There is some drama, some humor, some irony and lots of adventure.

If you like pseudo-medieval worlds haunted by demons with strong heroes and beautiful heroins, this is a classic. If you don't find fantasy your thing, this isn't a good place to start. While it is a classic hero tale, it reeks of dungeons and dragons - thatched roofs, warded stone cities and ancient ruins. As a graduate of Middle Earth, student of Hogwarts and lover of a good hero tale, I bought the story, went with it and enjoyed it. First class fantasy fiction.

I just re-read this book after 7 or 8 years since I first read it. And I just had to post a review about how great it is. It is extremely well written, the characters and their experiences jump off the page. I plan to re-read the entire series. I do read a lot and there are very few book series that I can read more than once and enjoy as much if not more than the first time I read them. This is one of the few that really grab me and pull me in the second time around as much if not more than the first time.

Meh - I stayed with it to the end, but there was no reward - the things that you think will happen do - the things that would make the book interesting are missing - characters are not stand-out - the only reason I stayed? - the world was great - the demons (corelings) were interesting and the different ways to combat them - but the warded man - well, very anti-climatic in story-telling - I will not continue, because every character that lived I don't care about and I didn't skip a beat when a character died - also, the females are treated, well, cardboard - even though there is a strong female character (kind-of) she still is treated like a useless throw-away - it is not horrible, but when I get to the end of a book, I ask myself, do I want to know what happens to these characters? - the answer simply is - NOPE.

Honestly this is more of a Horror Fantasy novel than anything else. It has a really good feel to it.
It is definitely worth a read. It has its flaws as many people pointed out. Only the first 3/4ths of the book is 5 star, the remaining 1/4th is still readable.
Pros:
Great Magic System
Well developed main character (Arlen).
Fast Paced
Will keep you turning pages

Cons:
The two secondary characters (Leesha and Rojer) are a little flat. Ironically the supporting characters are quite good.
The book really goes downhill at the end, Arlen is a fascinating character when he relies on his wits and learning to escape danger. When he no longer needs to do that, he becomes less interesting.
Violence towards women is a little jarring, and although I passed through those sections, it did detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Still it is a very unique book, and I highly recommend it.

Book Stats

Fantasy

453 pages (paperback)

1st book in its series

Characters

This book focuses on three main characters, Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer. The book takes place over about 10-12 years and follows these characters over that time. By following them all and showing different experiences that they have over a course of years, you get a good sense of why the characters change as they do throughout the book. The book focuses primarily on Arlen for the first two-thirds of the book and as a result he is probably the most well developed character of the three. All three of the characters were interesting and while at times I wondered exactly how all three of the characters would relate to the overall plot, I still enjoyed reading all of their viewpoints throughout the book.

Setting

The story is set on a world where every night demons arise from the core for seemingly no purpose other than to terrorize the few humans still left in the world. The only defense that humans have against the demons are wards that can be used to prevent the demons from entering their homes at night. The wards that people have are remnants from society hundreds of years in the past when humans knew how to fight the demons as opposed to simply hiding from them. Many of the cities in the world are small and separated so that only a few people are willing to travel between them. These few people are known as messengers and are trained in creating wards, this allows them to travel and even occasionally stay out at night.

Plot

The plot follows the three main characters who start in separate parts of the world and we watch them as they grow up from somewhat naive children to much more competent adults in different areas of their life. Arlen and Rojer are forced to grow in their life when their villages are attacked by demons, while Leesha has obstacles relating to her life being promised to a brutal young man who threatens her dignity. Arlen is ultimately led upon a journey to become a messenger after being trained in the making of wards. While journeying through the world he ultimately discovers some wards that have not been known to humans in the world. Leesha becomes apprenticed to an Herb-Gatherer and is trained in healing. She learns to deal with her own problems as opposed to relying on others to solve them for her and becomes a well respected healer in the town where she works. Rojer is the youngest of the three characters at the beginning of the book, where he is just 3 years old. After having his village attacked early in the story he is apprenticed to a Jongleur, learning different performing arts including singing, juggling, tumbling, and playing the fiddle.

The plot causes all three characters to learn their respective skills and how these skills can be used to help deal with the ongoing problem of the demons who corrupt the world. Ultimately the three are united where they learn how they can all help one another to survive out in the wild which most humans avoid while cowering behind their wards in their cities.

Enjoyment

I loved this book and read the first 350 pages in one day, I would have finished the book that day but it was getting late and I had to get some sleep since I had class the next morning.

Overall Grade

While the books does slow down slightly about two-thirds of the way through, the end is still satisfying and gives promise towards the next book in the series.

9/10

On the whole, a worthwhile read. I disliked the way that one character's story stopped abruptly and the next chapter introduced another completely unrelated character. This practice of chopping up the storyline was used in chronology too, so that sometimes I wasn't sure whether events talked about in new chapters were from several chapters before (the last time the character was featured) and I had forgotten them or if the telling of the events was meant to bring me up to date on what had happened to the character while the story focused on someone else.

I almost stopped reading because of this disjointed organization. The multiple chapters written to introduce a new character seemed like massive info dumps, and I felt the author was lazy in not trying to weave the storylines together more. After about the first third of the book, though, the irritation was gradually replaced with growing interest in the story.

I will definitely read the next book in the series. Since this book is the writer's first effort, I hope his second book will read more smoothly.

This book never develops an actual plot. Hard to believe for a fantasy novel but you'll get through the first 2/3s of the book waiting in vain for some form of actual antagonist, challenge or direction to emerge in the story. This isn't to say they develop in the last third, they don't. Instead, what had been been passable character development simply gets thrown out the window as our lead protagonist finally adopts the 'Warded Man' role becoming an overnight ninja superhero and it is clear the rest of the series will be about how he single-handidly sets the world to rights.

Well not alone, of course, as was blindingly obvious from the beginning he'll be accompanied by his healer love interest and minstrel friend/romantic competitor. As soon as the three main characters meet the book goes into deep Mary-Sue mode but the flaws are deeper than this.

* We spend two hundred pages in the childhood of the three protagonists, covering ground any decent novel would have done in its first few chapters. The extra length doesn't bring any extra depth to the characters and as they get older we begin jumping years at a time. There is no flow to their development and the time and viewpoint cuts serves only to lessen your interest in them.

* The author decides to use a proxy Muslim culture, Arabic named desert warriors, where women cover themselves and are poorly treated by their men. These people are portrayed as xenophobic, fanatical and treacherous.

* Women in the novel are respected as Mothers once they give birth. This is the most amazing thing any woman can do any women who have not had a child are looked down upon. The author no doubt thinks making his female lead a 'strong willed exception' someone balances the fact that every other female character is a two-dimensional drone.

* The books Messenger class use wards to defend themselves against demons that can be woven, carved, inscribed, written or painted. The messengers all also have tattoos. Nobody except the title character ever thought to tattoo a protective ward on themself.... There is no reason whatsover this (or wearing warded armor) should not have completely altered the basic rules of the world he builds.

At the start, its not terrible and then you wait for an actual story to begin, and for a long time it doesn't. Then our hero becomes the Warded Man and it just gets cheesy real quick.

Terribly disjointed, major plot holes in the world-building, lacking any tension or suspense, highly predictable and centered on inconsistent poorly sketched characters. This won't be obvious from the start but you wil not be rewarded for persevering.

I bought this book because I liked the cover. (Yes. I know.) Also, it seemed to get rave reviews. But from the start, I found it trite, shallow, and poorly written. It wasn't just bad. It was insultingly, embarrassingly bad. Take the following passage:

"In face and form, Elona was much like her daughter. Still beautiful at thirty, she had long hair that hung rich and black about her proud shoulders. She also had a full, womanly figure that was the envy of all, the only thing Leesha hoped to inherit from her. Her own breasts had only just started to bud, and had a long way to go before they matched her mother's."

Ewwwww!

What's more, Brett's characters have names like Steave, Jeph, Rojer, Arrick, Piter, and (God help us!) Rusco. I'm not sure I understand why Brett finds it necessary to change the spelling of these names, but it quickly becomes annoying.

Here's another bit of ugliness: "Keep an eye on Arrick with your wife," Geral muttered. "They call him 'Sweetsong' because his voice will make any woman sweet between the legs, and I've never known him to stop at a wedding vow.

or how about this:

"She was not yet flowered, and thus could not wed, but she was promised to Gared Cutter, the handsomest boy in the village. Gared was two summers older than her, tall and thick-muscled. The other girls squealed as he passed, but he was Leesha's, and they all knew. He would give her strong babies."

Brett's worst writing seems to revolve around his female characters, but others like the "Tender Michel" get equally bad treatment. A shallow attempt at feminism from an old, wrinkled herb-gatherer later in the story just can't compensate for this bit of teeth-curling ickyness.

Here's a piece dialogue I drew at random from the book:

"Promise me," Ragen ordered.
"I promise," Jenya said.
Ragen nodded, hugging her one last time. "I'll look in on you when I can," he said. She was still crying as they left. Arlen stared back at her as they went.

Clumsy, blockish, and dull.

I once read a book review in which the critic claimed he felt sorry for the tree that lost its life so that a certain book could be printed. In this particular case, I felt sorry for the ink and the glue as well. Do yourself a favor, and spend your time reading something--anything--else. Or just knock yourself on the head with a hammer. You'll be better off, I promise.

For starters, I have so far read 132 pages, and I would like nothing more than to beat the village idiots over the head with a bat,accept the old healer. The plot of this story has great potential, with demons rising each night to cause destruction among the Village, as well as other nations, and the only way to protect themselves, is by drawing or painting wards around your house in order to keep the demons away. Three main characters are introduced who have the potential to stop the demons for good... Now here is my main problem with this book... as someone who has been reading fantasy for several years, including the likes of George R. R. Martin, and Joe Ambercrombie, I am not easily offended by sexual content in anything I read, however, I do have a problem with the way its being presented, each time a male and female are interacting with each other, there is always some kind of sexual reference made. I started reading this book with the idea that I was to enjoy an amazing action packed novel with great characters. Instead I find myself wanting to hit the delete button on my iPhone, however I will continue reading this book with the hopes that I will be able to get past the dysfunctional part of the village people, and get right into the action and plot part of this book.

Demons rise during the night, preying on mankind and men who are unable to adequately fight back and have no known weapons that will kill demons. Villages and cities are gradually are being worn down with people huddling behind weak wards (runes of some kind that can form barriers) that sometimes keep the demons away. (I wonder what the demons will eat when mankind IS finally wiped out? Apparently it's not a concern of demons, who seem mostly unthinking, voracious beings.) Ages past, mankind had learned to deal with the demons through magical means--wards and weapons that could actually kill demons instead of just keep them away; but after the demons were defeated, an age of science and technology rose and the magic was lost and demons forgotten. Then the demons returned and no tech could harm them, and mankind was thrust back into dark ages of no tech. They have only regained the ability to make weak wards and everything in the past is just legends.

Three young people are featured, growing up and having to cope with this harsh world. Arlen is from a small village where attacks and deaths are a nightly occurrence. Even at eleven years old, he is frustrated that men just cower in their homes, waiting to be attacked. He thinks there must be something to the past legends of ways to defeat the demons. This comes to a head when his father will not step beyond the wards even to help his mother who has been caught beyond the wards by demons.

Leesha is a girl awaiting adulthood and marriage, also in a small village. She, also, comes to believe there should be more that could and must be done. She's introduced to a wider world by apprenticing to the village Herbalist-Healer.

Rojer's story starts when he's three years old. A traveling Jongleur is visiting when demons break through the wards. The man cowardly pushes all aside to squeeze into the small safe space and Rojer is orphaned as well as maimed, losing two fingers.

Much of the book concerns Arlen's early life (and Leesha's too) and beyond establishing some world-building, it can be somewhat slow-moving and not seemingly pertinent to moving the plot forward. Disconcertingly, when things start developing later on there are more gaps in time. This speeds up the plot, but seems to leave interesting bits out. The three characters do not come together until towards the end of the book. The book ends with: End Book I. There is a decent arc concluded before then, so that's not quite so frustrating as it might be. Overall, the first part was not terribly compelling, the characters were sympathetic, but still somewhat distant and their lives not that interesting. Things did pick up, though, but then, as I said, time was skipped to move things forward. It seemed uneven in that respect. But still, not a bad read.

I finished The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett the other day and figured I ought to review it-- for a few reasons. Mainly because it has great promise, but doesn't deliver as well as hoped, but also because friends might be considering reading it and there are a few scenes worth knowing about-- by way of warning.

The Warded Man takes place in a land where corelings, or demons, rise from the earth at sundown every evening, whereupon they viciously attack any humans who are not sufficiently protected by mystical wards. These wards apparently have to be drawn just so, and arranged in a way that creates a solid 'ward net' in order to ward off the corelings.

The story follows Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, three young people who either survive coreling attacks or otherwise traumatic experiences. Their stories are separate, but as these books go, we know they will somehow intersect.

Arlen is a young lad who is disgusted by his father's cowardice and ends up running away. The circumstances around his leaving his remaining family behind are, in my mind, problematic and not motivated enough by the character, at least early on. Brett does make an effort to motivate Arlen's treatment of those who love him later in the book; I just wish this had been done better and earlier. However, he is the most proactive of the characters and that wins him a place in our hearts.

Leesha is a young woman who is promised to a powerful young man in her village. Due to various awful events, Leesha ends up learning the lore of healing and herbs. Her story is potentially very intriguing, but she is rather passive until the end of the book.

Rojer is also quite a passive character who goes from one tragedy to another. He is crippled in the attack that takes his family, and ends up becoming an apprentice to the traveling entertainer whom he ended up in a basement with.

It's clear from the start that these characters have a destiny to fulfill. Their choices affect their lives and world adequately, and the choices they are presented with are well motivated by the world they live in. What's more, the world is robust and replete with different cultures and a solid history.

The peripheral characters are not bad, with Ragan and Gared and Bruna taking top place, while others tend to be foils or fit molds that are needed for the development of the story.

To this point, I fear I sound pretty hard on this book. Good. It started out so well. Arlen's experiences are tragic and his heart and emotional reactions are wonderfully painted. His reaction to his father's cowardice makes for an excellent conflict and the loss of his mother really gets the ball rolling. We get a feeling that Arlen is going to break out of the fear that rules the populace and do great things.

Which he does. But somewhere along the way we lose the heart. It feels like the book will be about remarkable heroism as these characters struggle and fight to do what they know is right and change the world they live in, but the pay-off is a bit of a letdown. So I was excited to get into the book and it grabbed me right away, but because of the letdown that began at the middle of the book- where the heart seemed to go out of it and accomplishments came so easily to the characters, I just lost a bit of interest.

I think the problem is that the book tries to do too much in too small a span. These people live about 14 years of their lives and the things they do mostly seem quite effortless. As readers, we want to see struggle and difficulty; we want our characters to go through hell and get the snot beaten out of them- but then we want to watch them overcome and take down the bad guys in an epic finale.

The Warded Man didn't quite deliver on the promise at the beginning of the book.

That being said, the battles are well done, with tension remaining more or less strong throughout. The world is intriguing and a nice twist that happens to Arlen toward the end of the book make me want to keep going to the next book, The Desert Spear.

Now for a bit of scathing commentary:

Is there some kind of statement on saving yourself for true love in this book? The horrible things that happen to Leesha don't necessarily seem like a statement against her approach to sex, but something's going on there.

Also, we don't know anything about the enemy- their nature, origin or what drives them. Why do wards and other things affect them the way they do? Brett plays this area of the book far too close to the chest. The reader will lose interest in an antagonist that seems mindlessly evil. At least we knew were Tolkien's orcs came from and who was running that particular show.

Finally, I just don't get the point of graphic sex scenes. Who actually enjoys reading that? I feel that it did nothing to enhance the book or the story, but there was plenty of it. It wasn't on the level of Goodkind (gracious, man, keep your fantasies and political lectures away from storytelling!), but there was too much of it anyway.

All in all, I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. It was probably better than that, but the promise of the beginning was so strong, and it just didn't get paid off.

Some of the worst fantasy fiction I've ever read. The character development was sporadic and frequently contradictory. The demons were without any development at all, you have no idea why they want to destroy things, nor is any attempt ever made to explain it.

Plenty of good books out there, skip this one.

Firstly, the more observant reader will note that I share the same surname as the author but sadly we are not related. I say sadly because if I was related I would hope to get to see the next book quicker!

I liked this one. Set in a `world' (although there are `hints' that this could be our world under different circumstances which gives this added interest) that we would equate to the early 1800's where small villages plant crops and people are not well travelled. However at dusk it is demons that rule and humans hide in their homes protected by magical wards. Nightly siege and loss of life to the demons has become the way of things, but it would appear that the demons are winning as the wards get weaker and nobody stands up and fights.
Enter three young protagonists, a feisty young lad with a skill at warding, a healer and a jongleur. First we see their separate stories and then it all comes together as we see them as young adults who eventually find their paths coming together as they end up defending, Magnificent Seven like, a village against a horde of demons.

This is more fantasy then horror and while I have seen a few similar books (mainly using Vampires rather then demons) I still found this a real page turner and sufficiently different to be very enjoyable. The author spends time building his characters so we feel a connection with them and we understand, as they grow, how and why they have evolved into the people they become.
Having read other reviews, there seems to be some confusion as to whether this is a `young adult' book, in my humble opinion it is not as adult themes are touched upon.
Recommended and I eagerly await the next one.

I confess: most fantasy bores me. The conventions are usually overworked at the expense of character development, the action bogs down in tiresome descriptions, and most plots consist of marching the combatants from one place to another through magic neverlands. None of these flaws exist in Peter Brett's fine debut novel. What draws five stars from me is the book's clean portrait of believable characters dealing with situations that have less to do with mystic malarkey than with the perils of the human condition. Strip away the fantasy elements, and you'd have an early Cormac McCarthy novel with a laconic, flawed hero, a desperately-seeking heroine, and a coming-of-age orphan trying to overcome his physical and psychological tormentors.

Still, I suspect there is enough fantasy for most fans of the genre. The post-apocalyptic world is detailed enough for belief yet hazy enough in its outlines for the reader's imagination to lay whatever map on it they like. The demons are finely drawn and the magic powers, the "wards," are useful without tipping too far over into deus-ex-machina territory.

The real strength of the book, though, is the characters and the very real-world issues they face. Arlen struggles to define heroism throughout the book after watching his father cower while his mother is killed in the beginning. Leesha must deal with an over-bearing mother and a loudly-ticking biological clock while searching for true love amid the chaos of the world she inhabits. Rojer grows up mildly crippled and psychically scarred, a seeker of self respect and belief in his own fortitude. When the three finally meet, the meld is a good one that produces many answers while raising several new questions for the next book in the series.

Kudos for an author who produced an entertaining, literate debut.

First the good stuff:
The story itself is pretty compelling. A very interesting concept and world. I liked viewing the growth of the characters over time from young to (mostly) adult. It helped you connect with the characters. The magic system is not excessively innovative but it is interesting.

[SPOILERS BELOW!!!!]

Now to the reason I can't give this book a positive review (also why I won't read the rest of the series....):
I feel sorry for Peter Brett. I assume from his writing that he has had some terrible experiences with women or at least some exposure to terribly boring women. Every female character in this book, even the supposedly independent and strong main character, is obsessed with babies and sex and marriage. Every scene involving a female involves some reference to babies or sex. Almost all of the men in the book perpetuate this by clearly viewing women as nothing more than receptacles for their genitals and, consequently, their babies. And the way he casually tosses rape around? So not okay. It is just taken as a matter of course that it is okay for men to attempt to rape women and that if women don't like it, it is up to them to find tricksy ways out of it. And then when it actually happens, when this poor women is essentially gang raped on the road, he completely brushes it off. I wish I could live in Peter Brett's world where apparently gang rape is not a good thing, but it isn't too bad. And it is incredibly easy to get over! In fact, the character essentially throws herself at the next man to come across her path with no regard for what it actually might do to her psyche, let alone her actual physical body, to have sex again that soon after being violently raped by multiple men, including one who was repeatedly described as "giant".

I can't bring myself to continue to read about a world that so undervalues women as a gender. And I can't bring myself to continue to support the author by paying for his books. Maybe you should get out and really meet real women and talk to some actual rape victims before attempting to write about them.

This has been on my wish list for about a year and I am really glad I finally read it!

This book is similar to brandon Sandersons The Way of Kings (5 stars) but not quiet as good. Very well written with great character development. This first book really sets the stage for an epic series.

PS- I have read over 400 books and 4 stars for me puts the book in the top 15%. 5 stars is reserved for top 5%.

I stopped reading fantasy/sci-fi novels many years ago and have only recently begun picking them up again. Much to my delight the genre has seemingly matured into a much more imaginative, artistic and engrossing medium than I had been accustomed to. "The Warded Man" is one such example of an intriguing storyline with complex undertones and equally intriguing and complex characters.

"The Warded Man" chronicles the maturation of three young individuals (Arlen, Leesha and Rojer) in a world where humans are at war with magical corelings (demons) who arise from the core of the earth at night. The corelings have become far more powerful than the humans whose only defenses are wards - ancient magical symbols that hold the demonic creatures at bay. Indeed, the corelings hunt humans as prey. Humans only venture out in daylight and retreat at night into isolated cities and hamlets behind warded structures. Over the centuries, man has been reduced to living in fear and cowardice. Humanity is on the decline. Coming from troubled pasts, Arlen, Leesha and Rojer each grow up in different villages where they develop different skills that will serve them into early adulthood and provide hope for mankind's salvation.

From the first page I was hooked and found the riveting story hard to put down. Great finish and a subtle hint of more to come in future novels. I, for one, can't wait.

This is by far one of my favorite books. It start with the main character as a kid and as he progresses through the world. The world is very original. It take place where every night demons rise from the dark and humanity has no way to fight back.
To me this book is a search for freedom. it looks at humanity as fear itself to scared to move forward and a character that is willing to brave it all for freedom.
I would say this so far is the best book in the series and a must read if you like dark fantasy.

Snagged this on a whim, as I'd heard good things... while the novel certainly shows promise for Mr. Brett, as the beginning of a series I found this book lacking on many levels. Others here are fond of posting long, lush prose-filled reviews made up of meaty, chunky paragraphs. Well I'm feeling lazy, so I'll go the list route, myself. No elaborating, no spoilers, yay.

******
PROS:

(1) PACE.
(2) PREMISE.
(3) CHARACTERS (at least early on).

******
CONS:

(1) CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
(2) VIEWPOINT. (Third Person Omniscient that reads like bad Third Person Limited)
(3) STRUCTURE/PLOT.
(4) THIRD ACT = CRUSHING LETDOWN.
(5) ABOMINABLE SETUP FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES.
(6) LAME FIXATION ON SEX.
(7) PAINFUL RACIAL/RELIGIOUS STEREOTYPES.
(8) WORLD-BUILDING.

I could probably go on for a while, but this book was a letdown. Reading the reviews of the 2nd in the series... it sounds like it gets even worse, which makes sense if it continues in the direction the end of this book presents.

Interesting premise where people hide indoors at night protected by magical runes that keep out demonic creatures known as 'corelings' that appear when the sun goes down. In ages past humans had defeated the corelings, but then the magical knowledge was lost over time, leaving human civilization almost defenceless when the demons suddenly reappeared.
The story follows the lives of three youths: Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. It is Arlen's story which takes up the greater part of the narrative, and which drives the story forward. Frankly the other two story threads aren't nearly as interesting.
On the whole a very enjoyable book. I hope the sequel 'The Desert Spear' will provide more background on the nature of the corelings and the history of mankind's previous victory.

"The Warded Man" breathes new life into the fantasy genre by creating a dark world in which humans are on the losing end of a battle between humanity and demonkind. Nevertheless, humans have banded together, doing their best to survive in the face of insurmountable odds. From this world come three main characters, Arlen, the book's title character, Leesha, an herbalist, and Rojer, a musician and jongleur. Through troubled childhoods, these three characters eventually come together and attempt to give hope to a nearly defeated world. Brett's main strength is his character development. All of his major characters seem very real and are not just fantasy stereotypes. Furthermore, he does an excellent job describing battle scenes. My thought while reading this book is how it would make an excellent video game. Finishing the book will leave you hungering for the next one in the series, and wishing for more fantasy series that break the traditional mold.

Great book set in a fictional land where demons roam the night. Imaginative and creative, it follows the story of 3 characters and their quests against the demons. Perfect for anyone who likes fantasy and magic. Can’t wait to start book 2 in the series!

I'll keep this short. I'm almost finished with the 3rd book in this series and while it is enjoyable it is not a masterpiece. This review is more of the whole series than just this book. A lot of the dialog is not well written, in my opinion. Many of the characters behave childishly, over-reacting to events that are really minor. In a few cases, the author repeats information over and over as if the author forgot that he just told us a few chapters back.

But, I don't want to knock this series too much. I am enjoying it, even if I have to grit my teeth every now and then.

This novel is the first of a promised trilogy, and I am eagerly awaiting the second in the series.

As the novel opens, fragmented societies of humans struggle for continued existence in a world where the night is controlled by demons. Only a few people, it seems, have the courage to try to reclaim the knowledge required from the past in order to try to create a better future. Only by combining forces and knowledge gained from a variety of sources can humankind hope to survive.

But is there hope beyond survival itself?

In the world created by Mr Brett, we have the struggle between good and evil against a background of lost knowledge and of overwhelming fear. I very much enjoyed this novel. The main characters are clearly defined, I can readily visualise the world and I ended up caring very much about the success of their mission.

As in most fantasy, there are elements that appear similar to those in other novels. But to dismiss this as derivative would be inappropriate, in my view, and unfair. Mr Ward has created a world of his own and I very much want to read the complete story.

I recommend this novel very highly.

Please note: this novel is published as `The Painted Man' in some countries, including Australia.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

"I firmly believe it is characters, more than concepts, that drive a story." author Peter Brett says in the interview included with his debut novel The Warded Man. "Make the characters relatable and compelling," he continues, "and the story will work." And work it does. From the first words to the final sentences Brett spins an enchanting tale centered around 11 year old Arlen. Arlen begins exhibiting heroic qualities, courage, bravery, determination, and valor, from the moment he's introduced. Over the course of the novel he matures not only physically but emotionally taking the reader on a wild ride as he searches for answers to very real questions within the framework of a masterfully crafted fantasy world. An intoxicating mix of tragedy, heroism, and weakness Arlen, and the characters he meets along the way, are the perfect mix of the hero we all long to be and people we really are. That The Warded Man provides such an introspective look into humanity through the genera of fantasy is remarkable enough, but the compelling story Brett manages to weave at the same time makes it a truly incredible read. This isn't a book I would have picked up on my own but once I had it in my hands I found it was impossible to put it down. December seems like far too long to wait for the sequel.

I have liked this series a lot so far. Book one and two have been great. I would be wary with all the reviews online - you shouldn't to judge a book by what other people think. I went in expecting to not like it and I was pleasantly surprised. Character development is great and the story lines are intriguing. Would read again.

Exceptional. Elegant. The Warded Man maintains your interest and steadily develops a creative storyline. The syntax is smooth and the depth of the character interactions is refreshing. To call this book a Fantasy novel is almost a misclassification; Mr. Brett has a very classic writing style and The Warded Man is how I would envision a story reading if Victor Hugo had ever written a piece of Fantasy. If I had to say anything bad about this story it is that the characters, at times, come across as more mature and eloquent than you would imagine they should be in a post-utopian world. However this makes each interaction more enticing and thought-provoking. An exceptional read, The Warded Man far exceeds the standard of the average Fantasy novel; this is something more.

I bought this book a few years ago and, knowing a sequel would soon be published, waited to read it. After coming to the conclusion (mistakenly) that this was a trilogy, I eagerly cracked open this book's spine. And now, I am torn between being disappointed that the series isn't final so I can read it all consecutively and so excited that there will be more books beyond The Desert Spear and The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle. This is such an impressive debut! Brett has a real skill in bringing his epic fantasy to life - and really richly painting the scenery, the society and different cultures without dumping information in awkward speeches or lengthy (usually dull) sections. The author has quickly joined the ranks of my favorite high fantasy writers! It is so exciting to discover a new - and so uniquely creative! - series to read and anticipate.

Brett spends the bulk of the book introducing not only his world, but also three main characters - Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. But this is in no way a slow or boring way to learn about them! Instead, each becomes quite endearing and gives added room for the lush detailing of this demon-ridden world and its creatures. The threads of these characters' lives do eventually converge in a quite thrilling conclusion. Each grows and develops across the novel, and the book ends with a tantalizing omen of what is yet to come in the sequel.

The only downside of the novel is the handling of the female characters. Brett shows a lot more depth and understanding with his male characters. Even the lead female, Leesha, takes some very unrealistic actions... Hopefully she will act more consistently in the successive novels. Aside from one very shocking scene, this is a wonderfully exciting start to a series I can't wait to continue reading!

The world is infested with demons (see also vampires, zombies, etc.) that rise from the ground like mist at sunset. They are incredibly powerful, all but impossible to kill, and are ravenously hungry. Anyone caught outside the protection of magical wards is doomed to a grisly death. People live in remote villages unable to communicate or travel due to the impossibility of being caught outdoors at night. Although a few stalwart messengers travel the land, braving the nightly demon onslaught with portable warded circles.

Arlen is a young boy living in a remote village who is so horrified by his father's cowardly refusal to suffer almost certain death to save his mother that he runs off into the night (presumably to become demon chow) only through unbelievable luck, is saved and brought to a remote city where he can pursue his dream of becoming a messenger.

Although really what he wants to do is get all these people to stop huddling in their semi-safe warded houses at night and take the battle back to the demons. So he travels to the warrior desert people of Krasia (read: middle easterners) who are warlike, make their women wear burkas, are suspicious of foreigners, but routinely battle demons. Of course the mean Krasians steal the legendary spear Arlen has found. But not before he copied all the super special wards that were on the spear. He then travels the desert close to death, starving, and tattooing his body with powerful wards. I don't want to spoil any surprise for those who didn't see this coming from the very beginning but Arlen becomes.....the warded man.

This was a reasonably enjoyable book that felt like an amalgamation of better books (Wheel of Time, The Passage, Name of the Wind, etc.). The concept of demons who have all but overtaken man seemed original at first but then quickly settles into your basic "young boy journeys to become powerful hero" stuff. The main characters are all brave, kind, smart, and wonderful. Also flat and forgettable.

Also there is an undeveloped romance shoehorned into the end of the story that particularly bothered me. This woman is gang-raped by bandits (mercifully we learn about this after the fact and don't have to actually read the nitty gritty) and suffers no emotional trauma due to this. So she happily has a romantic interlude with the hero just a few days after this brutal episode. To which I say no. Just no. If you don't want to deal with a woman loosing her virginity by being raped by a troupe of heathens then don't write it into your story. But if you DO choose to have her suffer this fate then there damn well better be some repercussions. Because this is a pretty heavy thing to have a young girl just toss off like it was nothing.

There will presumably be a Book 2 to follow but I'm neither intrigued enough by the author or the story to care to continue.

This was a wonderful book. I don't say that often -- particularly when it comes to fantasy novels. Personally, I like this one better than Name of the Wind. Not as much as Lies of Locke Lamora. And about on par with (although I favor Warded Man) Way of the Shadow.

I finished this over Halloween. I usually read horror this time of year, but the Warded Man was a nice underworld/nederland touch--magical demons rising from the core to slaughter mankind.

Characters. I like the characters...some who stay with the story...some who exit stage left. I connected with each of them. The warrior, the perfect beauty, the musical clown, the merchant, and all of the surrounding cast. Just a great job with creating believable characters that you'll love and hate.

Anyways, if you like fantasy, this one is a must read.

WOW! Just WOW! What an amazing story! The flow, the plot(s), twists, characters, scenes, the story itself, is all just AMAZING! There is never a lull in the story. It's fast pace from the first page! I HIGHLY recommend all three in this series.

HOWEVER!!! PAY ATTENTION!!! This isn't a trilogy!!! Book four comes out in 2015!! BTW: If the author is reading this: First off, GREAT job! Secondly, I want to wring your neck for making me wait so dang long for the next book. I wont hurt you, though...you have to finish!! HAHA! Honestly, mind blowing series! As Sheldon from BBT says "Once your mind is blown, it can't be re-blown." He, apparently, has never read this series. Mind blowing even the second time I read it! :)

The book had a very predictable story but was well written with interesting settings and concepts.

I really enjoyed this book a lot for most part and would have given it four stars since a lot of books I picked up lately based on reviews and recommendation fell short. However, I read all three books of this series that are out, and the latest book really soured the series for me. I wouldn't have brought it up except there were few minor signs of that eventually happening even in this one.

I saw the top review(review 164, it was called) mentioned character Leesha and women in general in the book which I also had problem with although I have slightly differing opinion.

I thought setting and such were realistic considering the setting and understood some of changes Leesha had gone though. However, I felt at points that female characters felt like just good copied observations of female individuals that sometimes failed because the author seemed to have certain ideas how women act and think. It wasn't really that noticeable and was more like seeing something at the periphery of my sight.

I would like to write more especially about Leesha. But, she just gets complete character make-over in the book three, and I don't think it's worth to complain about comparatively minor flaws in her character in this one. Especially considering how there are very few consistent and real female characters are in books now. Even in the ones written by women.

Okay, I should probably warn book three was one really really bad in terms of female characters and their inconsistenty and b*tchy-ness and random characters thrown in. Just don't start and save yourself from major disppointment later on.

Huh, I just thought of what to title this review.

Demons rise during the night, preying on mankind and men who are unable to adequately fight back and have no known weapons that will kill demons. Villages and cities are gradually are being worn down with people huddling behind weak wards (runes of some kind that can form barriers) that sometimes keep the demons away. (I wonder what the demons will eat when mankind IS finally wiped out? Apparently it's not a concern of demons, who seem mostly unthinking, voracious beings.) Ages past, mankind had learned to deal with the demons through magical means--wards and weapons that could actually kill demons instead of just keep them away; but after the demons were defeated, an age of science and technology rose and the magic was lost and demons forgotten. Then the demons returned and no tech could harm them, and mankind was thrust back into dark ages of no tech. They have only regained the ability to make weak wards and everything in the past is just legends.

Three young people are featured, growing up and having to cope with this harsh world. Arlen is from a small village where attacks and deaths are a nightly occurrence. Even at eleven years old, he is frustrated that men just cower in their homes, waiting to be attacked. He thinks there must be something to the past legends of ways to defeat the demons. This comes to a head when his father will not step beyond the wards even to help his mother who has been caught beyond the wards by demons.

Leesha is a girl awaiting adulthood and marriage, also in a small village. She, also, comes to believe there should be more that could and must be done. She's introduced to a wider world by apprenticing to the village Herbalist-Healer.

Rojer's story starts when he's three years old. A traveling Jongleur is visiting when demons break through the wards. The man cowardly pushes all aside to squeeze into the small safe space and Rojer is orphaned as well as maimed, losing two fingers.

Much of the book concerns Arlen's early life (and Leesha's too) and beyond establishing some world-building, it can be somewhat slow-moving and not seemingly pertinent to moving the plot forward. Disconcertingly, when things start developing later on there are more gaps in time. This speeds up the plot, but seems to leave interesting bits out. The three characters do not come together until towards the end of the book. The book ends with: End Book I. There is a decent arc concluded before then, so that's not quite so frustrating as it might be. Overall, the first part was not terribly compelling, the characters were sympathetic, but still somewhat distant and their lives not that interesting. Things did pick up, though, but then, as I said, time was skipped to move things forward. It seemed uneven in that respect. But still, not a bad read.

I finished The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett the other day and figured I ought to review it-- for a few reasons. Mainly because it has great promise, but doesn't deliver as well as hoped, but also because friends might be considering reading it and there are a few scenes worth knowing about-- by way of warning.

The Warded Man takes place in a land where corelings, or demons, rise from the earth at sundown every evening, whereupon they viciously attack any humans who are not sufficiently protected by mystical wards. These wards apparently have to be drawn just so, and arranged in a way that creates a solid 'ward net' in order to ward off the corelings.

The story follows Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, three young people who either survive coreling attacks or otherwise traumatic experiences. Their stories are separate, but as these books go, we know they will somehow intersect.

Arlen is a young lad who is disgusted by his father's cowardice and ends up running away. The circumstances around his leaving his remaining family behind are, in my mind, problematic and not motivated enough by the character, at least early on. Brett does make an effort to motivate Arlen's treatment of those who love him later in the book; I just wish this had been done better and earlier. However, he is the most proactive of the characters and that wins him a place in our hearts.

Leesha is a young woman who is promised to a powerful young man in her village. Due to various awful events, Leesha ends up learning the lore of healing and herbs. Her story is potentially very intriguing, but she is rather passive until the end of the book.

Rojer is also quite a passive character who goes from one tragedy to another. He is crippled in the attack that takes his family, and ends up becoming an apprentice to the traveling entertainer whom he ended up in a basement with.

It's clear from the start that these characters have a destiny to fulfill. Their choices affect their lives and world adequately, and the choices they are presented with are well motivated by the world they live in. What's more, the world is robust and replete with different cultures and a solid history.

The peripheral characters are not bad, with Ragan and Gared and Bruna taking top place, while others tend to be foils or fit molds that are needed for the development of the story.

To this point, I fear I sound pretty hard on this book. Good. It started out so well. Arlen's experiences are tragic and his heart and emotional reactions are wonderfully painted. His reaction to his father's cowardice makes for an excellent conflict and the loss of his mother really gets the ball rolling. We get a feeling that Arlen is going to break out of the fear that rules the populace and do great things.

Which he does. But somewhere along the way we lose the heart. It feels like the book will be about remarkable heroism as these characters struggle and fight to do what they know is right and change the world they live in, but the pay-off is a bit of a letdown. So I was excited to get into the book and it grabbed me right away, but because of the letdown that began at the middle of the book- where the heart seemed to go out of it and accomplishments came so easily to the characters, I just lost a bit of interest.

I think the problem is that the book tries to do too much in too small a span. These people live about 14 years of their lives and the things they do mostly seem quite effortless. As readers, we want to see struggle and difficulty; we want our characters to go through hell and get the snot beaten out of them- but then we want to watch them overcome and take down the bad guys in an epic finale.

The Warded Man didn't quite deliver on the promise at the beginning of the book.

That being said, the battles are well done, with tension remaining more or less strong throughout. The world is intriguing and a nice twist that happens to Arlen toward the end of the book make me want to keep going to the next book, The Desert Spear.

Now for a bit of scathing commentary:

Is there some kind of statement on saving yourself for true love in this book? The horrible things that happen to Leesha don't necessarily seem like a statement against her approach to sex, but something's going on there.

Also, we don't know anything about the enemy- their nature, origin or what drives them. Why do wards and other things affect them the way they do? Brett plays this area of the book far too close to the chest. The reader will lose interest in an antagonist that seems mindlessly evil. At least we knew were Tolkien's orcs came from and who was running that particular show.

Finally, I just don't get the point of graphic sex scenes. Who actually enjoys reading that? I feel that it did nothing to enhance the book or the story, but there was plenty of it. It wasn't on the level of Goodkind (gracious, man, keep your fantasies and political lectures away from storytelling!), but there was too much of it anyway.

All in all, I give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. It was probably better than that, but the promise of the beginning was so strong, and it just didn't get paid off.

Some of the worst fantasy fiction I've ever read. The character development was sporadic and frequently contradictory. The demons were without any development at all, you have no idea why they want to destroy things, nor is any attempt ever made to explain it.

Plenty of good books out there, skip this one.

The story follows the perspective of various characters and eventually makes then meet. The plot offers magic by drawn symbols which only hurt or ward of demons. I personaly like how this book creates legends and has great character conflict of love and betrayal. The character Development and growth are present and constant, and the chapters end with enough suspense to get you back up into reading.

Firstly, the more observant reader will note that I share the same surname as the author but sadly we are not related. I say sadly because if I was related I would hope to get to see the next book quicker!

I liked this one. Set in a `world' (although there are `hints' that this could be our world under different circumstances which gives this added interest) that we would equate to the early 1800's where small villages plant crops and people are not well travelled. However at dusk it is demons that rule and humans hide in their homes protected by magical wards. Nightly siege and loss of life to the demons has become the way of things, but it would appear that the demons are winning as the wards get weaker and nobody stands up and fights.
Enter three young protagonists, a feisty young lad with a skill at warding, a healer and a jongleur. First we see their separate stories and then it all comes together as we see them as young adults who eventually find their paths coming together as they end up defending, Magnificent Seven like, a village against a horde of demons.

This is more fantasy then horror and while I have seen a few similar books (mainly using Vampires rather then demons) I still found this a real page turner and sufficiently different to be very enjoyable. The author spends time building his characters so we feel a connection with them and we understand, as they grow, how and why they have evolved into the people they become.
Having read other reviews, there seems to be some confusion as to whether this is a `young adult' book, in my humble opinion it is not as adult themes are touched upon.
Recommended and I eagerly await the next one.

I confess: most fantasy bores me. The conventions are usually overworked at the expense of character development, the action bogs down in tiresome descriptions, and most plots consist of marching the combatants from one place to another through magic neverlands. None of these flaws exist in Peter Brett's fine debut novel. What draws five stars from me is the book's clean portrait of believable characters dealing with situations that have less to do with mystic malarkey than with the perils of the human condition. Strip away the fantasy elements, and you'd have an early Cormac McCarthy novel with a laconic, flawed hero, a desperately-seeking heroine, and a coming-of-age orphan trying to overcome his physical and psychological tormentors.

Still, I suspect there is enough fantasy for most fans of the genre. The post-apocalyptic world is detailed enough for belief yet hazy enough in its outlines for the reader's imagination to lay whatever map on it they like. The demons are finely drawn and the magic powers, the "wards," are useful without tipping too far over into deus-ex-machina territory.

The real strength of the book, though, is the characters and the very real-world issues they face. Arlen struggles to define heroism throughout the book after watching his father cower while his mother is killed in the beginning. Leesha must deal with an over-bearing mother and a loudly-ticking biological clock while searching for true love amid the chaos of the world she inhabits. Rojer grows up mildly crippled and psychically scarred, a seeker of self respect and belief in his own fortitude. When the three finally meet, the meld is a good one that produces many answers while raising several new questions for the next book in the series.

Kudos for an author who produced an entertaining, literate debut.

First the good stuff:
The story itself is pretty compelling. A very interesting concept and world. I liked viewing the growth of the characters over time from young to (mostly) adult. It helped you connect with the characters. The magic system is not excessively innovative but it is interesting.

[SPOILERS BELOW!!!!]

Now to the reason I can't give this book a positive review (also why I won't read the rest of the series....):
I feel sorry for Peter Brett. I assume from his writing that he has had some terrible experiences with women or at least some exposure to terribly boring women. Every female character in this book, even the supposedly independent and strong main character, is obsessed with babies and sex and marriage. Every scene involving a female involves some reference to babies or sex. Almost all of the men in the book perpetuate this by clearly viewing women as nothing more than receptacles for their genitals and, consequently, their babies. And the way he casually tosses rape around? So not okay. It is just taken as a matter of course that it is okay for men to attempt to rape women and that if women don't like it, it is up to them to find tricksy ways out of it. And then when it actually happens, when this poor women is essentially gang raped on the road, he completely brushes it off. I wish I could live in Peter Brett's world where apparently gang rape is not a good thing, but it isn't too bad. And it is incredibly easy to get over! In fact, the character essentially throws herself at the next man to come across her path with no regard for what it actually might do to her psyche, let alone her actual physical body, to have sex again that soon after being violently raped by multiple men, including one who was repeatedly described as "giant".

I can't bring myself to continue to read about a world that so undervalues women as a gender. And I can't bring myself to continue to support the author by paying for his books. Maybe you should get out and really meet real women and talk to some actual rape victims before attempting to write about them.

This has been on my wish list for about a year and I am really glad I finally read it!

This book is similar to brandon Sandersons The Way of Kings (5 stars) but not quiet as good. Very well written with great character development. This first book really sets the stage for an epic series.

PS- I have read over 400 books and 4 stars for me puts the book in the top 15%. 5 stars is reserved for top 5%.

I stopped reading fantasy/sci-fi novels many years ago and have only recently begun picking them up again. Much to my delight the genre has seemingly matured into a much more imaginative, artistic and engrossing medium than I had been accustomed to. "The Warded Man" is one such example of an intriguing storyline with complex undertones and equally intriguing and complex characters.

"The Warded Man" chronicles the maturation of three young individuals (Arlen, Leesha and Rojer) in a world where humans are at war with magical corelings (demons) who arise from the core of the earth at night. The corelings have become far more powerful than the humans whose only defenses are wards - ancient magical symbols that hold the demonic creatures at bay. Indeed, the corelings hunt humans as prey. Humans only venture out in daylight and retreat at night into isolated cities and hamlets behind warded structures. Over the centuries, man has been reduced to living in fear and cowardice. Humanity is on the decline. Coming from troubled pasts, Arlen, Leesha and Rojer each grow up in different villages where they develop different skills that will serve them into early adulthood and provide hope for mankind's salvation.

From the first page I was hooked and found the riveting story hard to put down. Great finish and a subtle hint of more to come in future novels. I, for one, can't wait.

This is by far one of my favorite books. It start with the main character as a kid and as he progresses through the world. The world is very original. It take place where every night demons rise from the dark and humanity has no way to fight back.
To me this book is a search for freedom. it looks at humanity as fear itself to scared to move forward and a character that is willing to brave it all for freedom.
I would say this so far is the best book in the series and a must read if you like dark fantasy.

Snagged this on a whim, as I'd heard good things... while the novel certainly shows promise for Mr. Brett, as the beginning of a series I found this book lacking on many levels. Others here are fond of posting long, lush prose-filled reviews made up of meaty, chunky paragraphs. Well I'm feeling lazy, so I'll go the list route, myself. No elaborating, no spoilers, yay.

******
PROS:

(1) PACE.
(2) PREMISE.
(3) CHARACTERS (at least early on).

******
CONS:

(1) CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
(2) VIEWPOINT. (Third Person Omniscient that reads like bad Third Person Limited)
(3) STRUCTURE/PLOT.
(4) THIRD ACT = CRUSHING LETDOWN.
(5) ABOMINABLE SETUP FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES.
(6) LAME FIXATION ON SEX.
(7) PAINFUL RACIAL/RELIGIOUS STEREOTYPES.
(8) WORLD-BUILDING.

I could probably go on for a while, but this book was a letdown. Reading the reviews of the 2nd in the series... it sounds like it gets even worse, which makes sense if it continues in the direction the end of this book presents.

Interesting premise where people hide indoors at night protected by magical runes that keep out demonic creatures known as 'corelings' that appear when the sun goes down. In ages past humans had defeated the corelings, but then the magical knowledge was lost over time, leaving human civilization almost defenceless when the demons suddenly reappeared.
The story follows the lives of three youths: Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. It is Arlen's story which takes up the greater part of the narrative, and which drives the story forward. Frankly the other two story threads aren't nearly as interesting.
On the whole a very enjoyable book. I hope the sequel 'The Desert Spear' will provide more background on the nature of the corelings and the history of mankind's previous victory.

"The Warded Man" breathes new life into the fantasy genre by creating a dark world in which humans are on the losing end of a battle between humanity and demonkind. Nevertheless, humans have banded together, doing their best to survive in the face of insurmountable odds. From this world come three main characters, Arlen, the book's title character, Leesha, an herbalist, and Rojer, a musician and jongleur. Through troubled childhoods, these three characters eventually come together and attempt to give hope to a nearly defeated world. Brett's main strength is his character development. All of his major characters seem very real and are not just fantasy stereotypes. Furthermore, he does an excellent job describing battle scenes. My thought while reading this book is how it would make an excellent video game. Finishing the book will leave you hungering for the next one in the series, and wishing for more fantasy series that break the traditional mold.

Great book set in a fictional land where demons roam the night. Imaginative and creative, it follows the story of 3 characters and their quests against the demons. Perfect for anyone who likes fantasy and magic. Can’t wait to start book 2 in the series!

I'll keep this short. I'm almost finished with the 3rd book in this series and while it is enjoyable it is not a masterpiece. This review is more of the whole series than just this book. A lot of the dialog is not well written, in my opinion. Many of the characters behave childishly, over-reacting to events that are really minor. In a few cases, the author repeats information over and over as if the author forgot that he just told us a few chapters back.

But, I don't want to knock this series too much. I am enjoying it, even if I have to grit my teeth every now and then.

This novel is the first of a promised trilogy, and I am eagerly awaiting the second in the series.

As the novel opens, fragmented societies of humans struggle for continued existence in a world where the night is controlled by demons. Only a few people, it seems, have the courage to try to reclaim the knowledge required from the past in order to try to create a better future. Only by combining forces and knowledge gained from a variety of sources can humankind hope to survive.

But is there hope beyond survival itself?

In the world created by Mr Brett, we have the struggle between good and evil against a background of lost knowledge and of overwhelming fear. I very much enjoyed this novel. The main characters are clearly defined, I can readily visualise the world and I ended up caring very much about the success of their mission.

As in most fantasy, there are elements that appear similar to those in other novels. But to dismiss this as derivative would be inappropriate, in my view, and unfair. Mr Ward has created a world of his own and I very much want to read the complete story.

I recommend this novel very highly.

Please note: this novel is published as `The Painted Man' in some countries, including Australia.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

"I firmly believe it is characters, more than concepts, that drive a story." author Peter Brett says in the interview included with his debut novel The Warded Man. "Make the characters relatable and compelling," he continues, "and the story will work." And work it does. From the first words to the final sentences Brett spins an enchanting tale centered around 11 year old Arlen. Arlen begins exhibiting heroic qualities, courage, bravery, determination, and valor, from the moment he's introduced. Over the course of the novel he matures not only physically but emotionally taking the reader on a wild ride as he searches for answers to very real questions within the framework of a masterfully crafted fantasy world. An intoxicating mix of tragedy, heroism, and weakness Arlen, and the characters he meets along the way, are the perfect mix of the hero we all long to be and people we really are. That The Warded Man provides such an introspective look into humanity through the genera of fantasy is remarkable enough, but the compelling story Brett manages to weave at the same time makes it a truly incredible read. This isn't a book I would have picked up on my own but once I had it in my hands I found it was impossible to put it down. December seems like far too long to wait for the sequel.

I have liked this series a lot so far. Book one and two have been great. I would be wary with all the reviews online - you shouldn't to judge a book by what other people think. I went in expecting to not like it and I was pleasantly surprised. Character development is great and the story lines are intriguing. Would read again.

Exceptional. Elegant. The Warded Man maintains your interest and steadily develops a creative storyline. The syntax is smooth and the depth of the character interactions is refreshing. To call this book a Fantasy novel is almost a misclassification; Mr. Brett has a very classic writing style and The Warded Man is how I would envision a story reading if Victor Hugo had ever written a piece of Fantasy. If I had to say anything bad about this story it is that the characters, at times, come across as more mature and eloquent than you would imagine they should be in a post-utopian world. However this makes each interaction more enticing and thought-provoking. An exceptional read, The Warded Man far exceeds the standard of the average Fantasy novel; this is something more.

I bought this book a few years ago and, knowing a sequel would soon be published, waited to read it. After coming to the conclusion (mistakenly) that this was a trilogy, I eagerly cracked open this book's spine. And now, I am torn between being disappointed that the series isn't final so I can read it all consecutively and so excited that there will be more books beyond The Desert Spear and The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle. This is such an impressive debut! Brett has a real skill in bringing his epic fantasy to life - and really richly painting the scenery, the society and different cultures without dumping information in awkward speeches or lengthy (usually dull) sections. The author has quickly joined the ranks of my favorite high fantasy writers! It is so exciting to discover a new - and so uniquely creative! - series to read and anticipate.

Brett spends the bulk of the book introducing not only his world, but also three main characters - Arlen, Leesha and Rojer. But this is in no way a slow or boring way to learn about them! Instead, each becomes quite endearing and gives added room for the lush detailing of this demon-ridden world and its creatures. The threads of these characters' lives do eventually converge in a quite thrilling conclusion. Each grows and develops across the novel, and the book ends with a tantalizing omen of what is yet to come in the sequel.

The only downside of the novel is the handling of the female characters. Brett shows a lot more depth and understanding with his male characters. Even the lead female, Leesha, takes some very unrealistic actions... Hopefully she will act more consistently in the successive novels. Aside from one very shocking scene, this is a wonderfully exciting start to a series I can't wait to continue reading!

The world is infested with demons (see also vampires, zombies, etc.) that rise from the ground like mist at sunset. They are incredibly powerful, all but impossible to kill, and are ravenously hungry. Anyone caught outside the protection of magical wards is doomed to a grisly death. People live in remote villages unable to communicate or travel due to the impossibility of being caught outdoors at night. Although a few stalwart messengers travel the land, braving the nightly demon onslaught with portable warded circles.

Arlen is a young boy living in a remote village who is so horrified by his father's cowardly refusal to suffer almost certain death to save his mother that he runs off into the night (presumably to become demon chow) only through unbelievable luck, is saved and brought to a remote city where he can pursue his dream of becoming a messenger.

Although really what he wants to do is get all these people to stop huddling in their semi-safe warded houses at night and take the battle back to the demons. So he travels to the warrior desert people of Krasia (read: middle easterners) who are warlike, make their women wear burkas, are suspicious of foreigners, but routinely battle demons. Of course the mean Krasians steal the legendary spear Arlen has found. But not before he copied all the super special wards that were on the spear. He then travels the desert close to death, starving, and tattooing his body with powerful wards. I don't want to spoil any surprise for those who didn't see this coming from the very beginning but Arlen becomes.....the warded man.

This was a reasonably enjoyable book that felt like an amalgamation of better books (Wheel of Time, The Passage, Name of the Wind, etc.). The concept of demons who have all but overtaken man seemed original at first but then quickly settles into your basic "young boy journeys to become powerful hero" stuff. The main characters are all brave, kind, smart, and wonderful. Also flat and forgettable.

Also there is an undeveloped romance shoehorned into the end of the story that particularly bothered me. This woman is gang-raped by bandits (mercifully we learn about this after the fact and don't have to actually read the nitty gritty) and suffers no emotional trauma due to this. So she happily has a romantic interlude with the hero just a few days after this brutal episode. To which I say no. Just no. If you don't want to deal with a woman loosing her virginity by being raped by a troupe of heathens then don't write it into your story. But if you DO choose to have her suffer this fate then there damn well better be some repercussions. Because this is a pretty heavy thing to have a young girl just toss off like it was nothing.

There will presumably be a Book 2 to follow but I'm neither intrigued enough by the author or the story to care to continue.

I met Peter Brett at a coupld of diferent conventions. He was very articulate when he talked about his book. He added that it had made the best seller list in the UK. He definitely tweeked my interest.
Honestly, I bought the book because I was impressed with Peter, the person. Now that I have read the book, and cursed the fact I had to work, sleep, eat, and do things with family and friends, and not finish the book in one huge bite, I am impressed with Peter, the writer. He has the beginnings of a great book series here. The characters are alive and real. The situations are relatable.
Peter builds a very believable world. I loved that the world was not homogenized and all parts the same. His 3 main characters were strongly written. You could see how each one got to where they are going at this time.
I think the most important thing was, when I came to the last page, I wanted to know WHEN book 2 was coming out. It certainly cannot be soon enough for me! This young man has been added to my short list of authors I buy in hard cover instead of wating for the paper!

This is a nice consuming read and well worth a wasted weekend of reading. I bought this because of one of the the store suggested reading links and it looked like an appropriately intriguing story. I do have a couple of quibbles:

* The point of view shifts to Leesha and Rojer occur too early and are too detailed.

* The scene where Rojer and his new sponsor Jaycob are attacked seems to provide too much back story for too little insight.

* The author struggles when his main characters finally come together. If Rojer is too young for Leesha why suggest a romantic interest?

* The near-love scene between Leesha and Arlen seems contrived and rather callused considering the backdrop.

* The final fight scene could have blended the talents of the protagonists a lot better. It would seem the discovery of being able to battle would be more important then the battle itself.

* How the magic of the wards works is really vague.

Overall this was a nice read. If the sequel was ready today I would immediately buy it but, as another reviewer has already mentioned, I do not know if this is something I'll remember 6-12 months from now.

The premise and set-up of this book is fantastic. The demons and whole humanity on the brink of collapse and extinction thing is something I find interesting. The problem I have with this book is one depth. There is none. The characters are static and boring, the demons are not explored at all. There is nothing said about what the wards actually are or where they came from. They are just there. The prose is sub-par and repetitive.

The men in these books are all rapists and predators and all the women are overbearing shrews and/or victims. I understand the place for this is such a savage setting. The author just relentlessly bashes you over the head with it. There is no subtlety to it to the point that all the characters are completely flat and uninteresting. In almost every chapter there is incest, rape, sexual assault done in such an immature and clumsy way.

Great concepts about a world of demons and people dealing with those demons. I really enjoyed the development of a world where going outside at night is a death sentence. Unfortunately I couldn't get past all the threats of rape, acts of rape, and other unpleasant sexual encounters. Almost every sexual encounter in books 1 and 2 (I gave up at the end of book 2) is at the very least creepy and unpleasant. I was extremely disappointed because other than that major flaw, the book (and its sequel) is excellent.

As is the case with virtually any novel, there exists the chance for a good read as well as a no so good experience. I enjoyed The Warded man because of its simplicity and straightforward approach to a commonly used plot device: Demons. The characters spoke to me in their simple desperation to not only exist, but to survive and grow as human beings. I know there are more sophisticated stories out there; however in this case simple was the best route. How many books have you read that tried to pull off a complicated plot line and failed?

I liked this book and look forward to the next (and the next)in the series; so long as Mr. Brett doesn't pull a GRRM five plus year no-show (DwDs)...

I dont think my review will ever be read with so many reviews already attached, but oh well. I borrowed this book from my local library, and was drawn into the story very fast. This book is very well written. The only thing about this book I did not like was it was to much about sex and making babies. Yeah, we get that with the demons killing humans and little population it is important. But at some parts I got the feeling that the women ONLY think about sex, and making babies.
And the men are not better.

I liked Arlen, he is a strong character with a good personality.

Leesha is also a good character, but I felt that it was to much of her being the prettiest girl in the village with everyone falling in love with her.

But I enjoyed the book even if the demons made me sick...

I had such high hopes for this book and with over 600 reviews and 4 stars it's bound to be good right? Apparently not! The book starts off a bit slow, but shows promise. Just about the time you are starting to connect to Arlen as a character, the author moves on to start the story of Leesha. A character that was even more difficult for me to identify with. Again, once you start to find Leesha a bit interesting the story changes gears and introduces Rojer. Some books pull this transition between story lines off well. The Warded Man is not one of them. That being said, the book was relatively good for the first 2/3rds. It showed promise anyhow.

*Spoilers below*

There were a few things I found a bit corny. Rojer being able to tame, enrage, or repel demons with the power of his fiddle... really?! Okay, let that slide. The city of Krasia was a huge disappointment. Take every stereotypical thing you've heard about middle eastern culture and don't try to add any fresh or different ideas to it or make it different as it's found in a "different world" in a fantasy novel. And make the men incredibly stupid in their fighting of demons. They have a "special ward that no other culture knows" that can allow a demon to pass through but not get out. (I find it hard to believe you could keep wards secret to the degree it's claimed in this book, but whatever) The Krasians have a maze where they lead demons into pit traps that are warded with these "one way wards". Men die "bravely" every night doing herding demons into these pit traps. And yet the Krasians are too stupid to realize they could just simply have large "holding pens" with these one way wards surrounding the city. Any demon who wanders into them (or gets lured in) gets captured until the sun comes up and poof, crispy demons. Too bad Krasians (or Peter Brett) are too simple minded to think of it I guess.

But lastly, the final 1/3 is where the book simply implodes. Leesha, a gorgeous 27 year old virgin is brutally gang raped and with in a day or so is throwing herself at the warded man who she was repulsed by previously. And she so distraught when she find out he murdered her rapists. Because human life is so precious. Really? And you don't get to see Arlen's progression from learning about painting wards on himself to being the worlds greatest demon fighter. And he seems to simply forgotten every motivation that has driven him to get there. He is unrecognizable as a character.

The first 2/3rds were decent enough it retained 2 stars. But the last 40 pages or so were a real torture test to finish it. I simply cannot fathom why so many people like this book.

I'm writing this review after having read the first three books. I really wanted to like this series but I found it incredibly difficult. It's just boring. Plain and simple. Entire chapters are devoted to stories that are not relevant to the story line and will only be referenced once again, ever. I understand that the author is trying to create a background for his characters but there is such a thing as too much detail. If you've read 1/2 the book and there is no story progression, it's a pretty good sign that the author is writing just to keep page counts up.

Also, 5 books? This story is pretty basic, I don't see a reason (other than to milk the money cow) to not end it in three books, especially with how long the third book was.

One of the reviewers here commented about how Peter V. Brett writes women and I thought I should comment as well. Peter V. Brett is perhaps the WORST writer of women I have ever seen in any book, fiction or otherwise. The only topics of conversation about and between women is 1) rape 2) seduction 3) getting pregnant 4) needing protection. That's it. Even the main female roles are reduced to sexual targets in these books.

Do yourself a favor, don't read these books.

It was the book jacket endorsement by Terry Brooks that made me open the book despite the fact that this is the author's first book and the title seemed very "male-centric." I was thoroughly delighted with the read. This book doesn't have the intense detail of, say, The Name of the Wind, or the poetic language of The Lies of Locke Lamora, but I was impressed with the richness of the world Brett creates.

The book is divided into sections relating to three main characters; while two of the characters' stories (Arlen's and Leesha's) are more developed than the third, Rojer's, I felt that Arlen's and Leesha's lives were equally engrossing.

I was also glad to see the depth and strength of Brett's female characters.

I don't have much time to read with school and work, but I still buy sci-fi and fantasy books here and there with the intention of reading them all at some point in this lifetime. The last books I read were The Name of the Wind (Rothfuss), and the first 3 books from A Song of Ice and Fire (Martin). After going for several months without reading anything else on my own bookshelf (a lot of books), I made it a point to take The Warded Man down and set it next to my bed. It was either that or Mistborn (Sanderson), which I'll be starting next (I just finished The Desert Spear). After The Warded Man sat there for about 2 weeks staring at me every night, I finally opened it up. Let me tell you, from that point on it never left my side until I was done, and right before I finished I ordered The Desert Spear which also didn't leave my side until just this morning when I finished that one too!

I'm really excited for book 3 to come out, and if you haven't read the first 2 yet then do yourself a favor and pick them up! I'll be leaving a short 5 star review for Desert Spear, which I thought was just as good. Happy reading!

The way magic works is absurd. People live with nightly demon attacks. How do you protect yourself? Well, just draw a ward, anyone can do it but for some reason the people in this world will only draw the bare minimum to protect themselves. Don't draw extra or have extra areas warded, just do the bare minimum and if something goes wrong you die. In the book a few characters who are "extra cautious" actually do draw more than one circle, crazy concept huh? Oh, and have the main character age years off page three or four times and spend an inordinate amount of time with sexual encounters and rape driven men and women "breeding" and less in world and society development.

This book is outstanding reading with a great story. Hard to find stories these days that are well written while taking you through an adventure. This is a page turner and I could not put it down. I was very glad to see that the story had a second and third book to a series. Could not put this one down fellas, right up your alley if your into scifi good story, different realm.

Thank you Peter for an awesome story.

You meet Arlen, at eleven years old, while he and his parents are coming to town to assist and clean up with the few people remaining after the corelings, or demons, attacked the previous night - as they always do attack but the wards on the houses this night didn't hold. Then we meet the lovely Leesha who, at thirteen, thinks her life is perfect and on the proper path, but suddenly changes. Finally, we meet Rojer who as a three year old losses his parents to the corelings in an attack infront of him, due to neglected wards (not of their whole fault). These three people meet many others along their way and come across many rough patches to be the ones needed in the end.

This book sets the stage of the fear, beliefs, and mentality of the people in this world. Along with creating some wonderful characters by what has happened, or not happened, to them. Arlen is the main character of the book, but you follow three the characters through part of their lives, at least the major parts. These characters grow dramaticly through the book, and I enjoyed watching them do so. Arlen is one of the few characters I have read who grows up to be what he wants, not because of an amazing mentor but because of the weaker influences in his life. He uses the weaknesses of others to be an influence to himself to be stronger and not as fearful as others. He didn't want to be like the others and watch or just be.

The writing style in this book struck a cord in me, as for me it reminded me of a cross between Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy and Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind. I have to say if you enjoy Fantasy, this is a must read for you. I don't know what it is but there is an attraction in their story telling that drew me in and kept me there, and Peter Brett now is in that category with them.

The story is written as every word counts and means something. I found the descriptions of details wonderful, as I could see the corelings, happenings, and the scenery clearly in my minds eye. I knew and understood what the characters felt. I learned a lot of the corelings and characters at a gradual pace as to not overwhelm me but to keep me wanting more as well. The story does have a quest in it, but it is more of an adventure to travel.

The ending seemed a little rushed for me and for that reason a little less exciting for me compared to the rest of the book. But, this was a small thing compared to the books over all greatness.

The cover looked pretty cool, and the reviews were pretty positive so I picked this one up before a long trip. I had a hard time putting the book down. It was pretty darn good.

I like the world - the ancient history (which hopefully we'll learn more about in the coming books), the idea of runes, and the whole prophesy backstory. But a good book needs more than just a good world, it needs a good story and delivery, and Mr. Brett delivers big time. I will definitely be checking out the next installments.

This could have been a stand-alone book and I'd have been completely satisfied. It very much reminds me Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice. Great story-telling in your typical Fantasy setting, but you know there's so much more going on in the world than what's being told - and you want to see more books come out to fill in the gaps and continue the main plot thread. But if no further books come out, I can say I had a fun time reading The Warded Man, and the [...] not only kept me up at night, but it told a great story.

In the end, this is a fun read and great start to a new series.

Peter V. Brett delivers a captivating new fantasy world full of fast paced action, eerie suspense, a deeply rooted history, and an army of demons.

Concept
Humanity takes a stand against the demons that haunt the darkness.

World
Every night, as the sun sets, hordes of demons rise from the ground and feast on humans. The only things that keep them at bay are ancient symbols of power known as wards. When the wards are drawn in a precise geometric pattern, they form a barrier that prevents the demons from entering. However, if one of these wards is faded, damaged, or drawn imperfectly, the demons will find a way in and slaughter everyone inside. As the sun rises, the survivors cautiously creep out of their homes to see who lived through the night. There are prophecies of a hero called the Deliverer, who will come and help turn the tide of battle against the demons. In many fantasy novels with a deep world, the author sacrifices the pace of the book to explain all of the relevant historical details to the reader. At times, it feels like you are reading a fictional encyclopedia. With The Warded Man, this is not the case. Historical details are expertly woven into the settings, the dialogue, and the background. As you're progressing through the story, you end up absorbing the richly detailed world, without feeling like the book stops.

Writing Style
The writing style is very reader friendly and easy to visualize. It flows and the book moves along at a fairly rapid pace. In the beginning of the book, several main characters have their own origins and they later meet up and drive the story. The dialogue is mostly good, although some of the romantic scenes feel a bit awkward. The first half of the book is definitely better than the second half. There are a few brief instances where some of the characters' motivations seem odd and the overall goal of the book becomes unclear. But after a few pages, the book rights itself.

Characters
Although, the character progression is shaky at times, you'll still have plenty of reasons to like them and cheer them on. Most of the time, the characters are great, but there are a few head-scratching scenes where they seem just a bit out of character. They usually correct themselves pretty quickly as the story progresses.

Action
The Action is very good. It's fast paced, has consequences, and works well with the magic system. There are skirmishes, fist fights, and large scale battles.

Maturity
This book contains violence, gore, sex, rape, death, horror... Although, none of this is extremely graphic, it would disturb younger readers.

Overall
This is a very good book, especially for a debut. If you want to read about a population struggling against tides of demons in the darkness, you really should pick this one up. It's got action, suspense, gothic horror, pretty good characters, and a finely crafted world.

If you liked this book, you may also want to read the sequel, "The Desert Spear," or "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss.