The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle Mass Market

The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle Mass Market

Author: Visit Amazon's Peter V. Brett Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0345524152 | Format: EPUB

The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle Mass Market Description

From Booklist

Brett further widens the scope of his epic fantasy saga with this third book in the Demon Cycle. Though the series is centered on two potential saviors of humanity—Arlen and Jardir—this volume focuses more on the women at their sides: Renna, Arlen’s promised; Inevera, Jardir’s First Wife; and Leesha, Arlen’s childhood friend and Jardir’s lover. The identity of the prophesied Deliverer is still uncertain, and Jardir and Arlen both have an army of believers on their sides. Inevera knows that the Deliverer is not born, but made, and she has schemed and sacrificed on Jardir’s behalf only to have Leesha thwart her machinations. Leesha’s own loyalties are warring, while Renna, worried about losing pace with Arlen, begins a dangerous process to increase her power. Although Brett advances everyone’s story lines, he delves deeply into Inevera’s fascinating backstory, chronicling her violent, meteoric rise to power, much like he did for other characters in prior books. Climaxing in a breathless confrontation between Arlen and Jardir and ending with a bang, this volume will leave series fans impatient for more. --Krista Hutley
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“[Peter V. Brett is] at the top of his game. I give this my highest recommendation.”—Tor.com

“[Brett] confirms his place among epic fantasy’s pantheon of greats amid the likes of George R. R. Martin, Steven Erikson, and Robert Jordan.”—Fantasy Book Critic

“Brett’s prose and flow remain virtually flawless, providing for a smooth read during which you don’t feel guilty for skipping two meals so you can lie on the couch and keep reading.”—Fixed on Fantasy

“The best book yet in The Demon Cycle. If you are looking for a great series, look no further.”—Roqoo Depot

“After the phenomenal success of both The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, I was tentative about The Daylight War; surely it couldn’t get much better? Well, I was wrong. . . . This will be a strong contender for one of the best books of the year, even this early on.”—Jet Black Ink

“Brett has his hooks in me and I want more of The Demon Cycle.”—BestFantasyBooks.com

From the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details
Table of Contents
Reviews

Series: Demon Cycle (Book 3)
Mass Market Paperback: 704 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (September 24, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345524152
ISBN-13: 978-0345524157
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Like many other reviewers, I am a fan of Brett's Demon Cycle series, but I was terribly disappointed by this third book in the series. The first book was great, the second book tipped into a bit too much backstory compared to plot development, but was otherwise good. However, with the third book, Brett has completely lost his way. I think "The Daylight War" has three main problems.

First, there is far too much backstory about Inevera -- a character who was already covered adequately by the backstory in the previous book in the series. I did not count pages, but it seems to me that Brett wasted about half the book going over Inevera's past, and only a tiny fraction of that was worthwhile. Brett would have done better to split up Jardir's backstory from the second book across books two and three, perhaps expanding it slightly with the tiny amount of Inevera backstory from book three that was new. That would have made book two better by reducing the amount of backstory, and improved book three by removing the vast majority of the repetitive Inevera backstory.

Second, being titled "The Daylight War", readers of the series naturally expect book three to be about a conflict between a conqueror, proclaimed "Deliverer", and the human cities that he means to conquer. In short, a war of man against man, in the daylight, with the conqueror's claimed goal being to unite mankind under one rule in preparation for a war against the corelings, which would naturally occur at night. However, book three is not about such a daylight war at all. At most, it is about a one-on-one duel, but that duel only takes up a tiny fraction of book three.

Which brings us to the third and worst problem with this book. Almost nothing happens. The plot hardly develops at all.

According to prophecy, mankind will be saved by the Deliverer, a figure who will unite all of humanity during the Daylight War before defeating the forces of demonkind in the First War. The demons that rise from the Core at night will be destroyed and peace restored to the world. But there is a problem: two men have arisen, both named as the Deliverer by the people they have saved. From the north comes Arlen, the Painted Man. From the south comes Jardir, the ruler of Krasia, and his armies of well-trained, fanatical warriors. For humanity to survive to fight the First War, only one of them can live.

The Daylight War is the third novel of The Demon Cycle, currently planned to run to five volumes. It follows on from the events of the enjoyable The Painted Man and the less-accomplished Desert Spear and replicates the structure of the latter novel. Whilst the current-day storyline continues to unfold, we are treated to lengthy flashbacks to the past to flesh out the background of a key character, in this case Inevera, Jardir's First Wife.

In this case, these flashbacks are not as extensive as The Desert Spear's, which were important to add to our understanding of the character of Jardir (who, as one of the two major protagonists of the series, needed such fleshing-out to better explain his actions at the end of The Painted Man). Inevera, though an important influence on events, is not a character in the same league and as such her flashbacks are more succinct.

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