Book Review | The warded man & The desert spear by Peter V. Brett

A fast-paced, post-apocalyptic, action-packed  and thoroughly enjoyable work of dark fantasy.

The painted man [also known under the variant The warded man, which is way cooler] and The desert spear are the first two volumes [of which five are planned] in the Demon cycle-series by Peter V. Brett.

Humanity is at the brink of annihilation walled in behind warded fortifications in what is presently known as the free cities. For hundred of years demons have ruled the night, rising through the ground in the millions, any unwarded being caught outside rarely survives for long.

Without any means of fighting the supernatural monsters, despair has rooted itself deeply in to humankind who only perseveres through hope. Hope of the prophesied Deliverer whom shall return [after thousands of years] to humankind with the long lost battle wards.

Personally I find prophesies to be bad mojo for any book as the authors more or less tells the  reader what the outcome will be [Read: spoiler]. Which in turn has some serious impact on any upcoming surprise factor or plot twist. Any one who thought Rand Al'Thor would die before book 14 please raise your hand... Exactly, didn't think so.

And!.. if the author diverges from his chosen prophesy [God forbid] he'll be breaking his own rule thus ending up having to explain the pointless lie to begin with, unless he chooses to loose some credibility of course. And in a world where demons walk, demons that are immortal to normal weapons but defenceless against a painted sign, credibility is already pretty thin for some readers.... [Not me of course, I'll believe in anything as long as it makes a good story.] Rolands prophesy in The dark tower-series by Stephen King would be the one and only that actually carried through marvellously, too bad it took him ages to get there with sub plots spanning whole books.

If you like the peasant-to-hero style this is one for you. It does remind me somewhat of a better version of Brent Weeks night angel trilogy. Once it's pretty clear where the story is heading Mr. Brett does not beat about the bush either unlike some authors. He gets there and he gets there with style. Looking forward to the third instalment, Peter please don't go all Scott Lynch on me now please... ['cause I'm hooked]