Peter Brett’s TheWarded Man was the kind of book that was filled with wonders. The world was rich with history. The magic was unique. The enemies were fascinating. And the protagonist, Arlen Bales, was a man
to be reckoned with. The sequel, The Desert Spear, took a side-step to
the series, switching primary POVs for several hundred pages, re-hashing events
from The Warded Man only from a
different perspective. Despite some
hesitation, I still rather enjoyed The
Desert Spear.
The Daylight War,
the third book in Brett’s Demon Cycle,
again side-steps, though thankfully less robust this time around. The book focuses a lot on Krasian culture
through Inevera’s POV, and the Reader gets to see the her life from childhood
to becoming the most powerful woman in Krasia.
Sporadically the POV switches to Leesha, Rojer, or Renna. Less frequently we get a scene from Arlen’s
or Ahmann’s POV. Throughout all the
shifts we see how different people react to the rising demon threat.
This threat is imminent. The book begins with a countdown. There are 30 days until New Moon, when the
demon minds rise and cause substantial damage.
The bulk of the book culminates to the night with a small epilogue to
the action that offered more enjoyment than the majority of things
beforehand. (Please excuse any
ambiguity. I’m trying to remain as
spoiler-free as possible.)
It’s difficult to say whether or not I liked The Daylight War. As a Reader I felt both excitement and
boredom. The book was hefty and I felt
like a lot of it could be trimmed down.
I, for one, didn’t think Inevera needed such a detailed background. I wanted more “present-day” action, and
instead I got a lot of transitional scenes and character musings. I also felt like Arlen’s character arc took
a wompy loop, as his choices were either meticulously planned or
off-the-cuff.
One major disappointment with this book (major enough to
deserve its own paragraph) was just how sexual it was. I understand that Krasian society is
structured the way it is, but Brett seemingly turned a spotlight on the
stuff. He was explicit for no reason
other than being explicit, and this just seems adolescent to me.
Despite my difficulties in assessing the book, the strong
points of The Daylight War were
indeed strong. Brett’s world continues
to be unique and rich. His action scenes
continue to be entertaining. I’m
definitely interested in reading more of The
Demon Cycle, but I’m okay with waiting a few years, too. Hopefully with the next book we’ll actually
progress the plot a bit more, but who can say.
If you’ve read the first two books in this series and enjoyed them then
you’ll likely find things you like in The
Daylight War that you like, too. If
you’re looking for the plot to take a giant step forward, steel yourself for
some minor disappointment. The Daylight War is readable and
entertaining in parts, but it’s easily the weakest installment of Brett’s
growing catalog.
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As a side note, I was mildly embarrassed to be seen in public with this book. The cover looks like it belongs on a Harlequin romance novel or something. It does fit the pattern established by cover art, but it's still rather weak, I think. Of course, I'm not a big fan of photo-realistic art for covers anyway.