The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle Author: Peter V. Brett | Language: English | ISBN:
B009JU5G5Q | Format: EPUB
The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWith
The Warded Man and
The Desert Spear, Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field such as George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks.
The Daylight War, the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett’s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity’s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.
On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men, both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.
Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.
The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.
Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.
But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.
Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all—those lurking in the human heart.
Praise for The Daylight War “[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.- File Size: 2540 KB
- Print Length: 656 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0345524152
- Publisher: Del Rey (February 12, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B009JU5G5Q
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,818 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #40
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy - #45
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy - #77
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Fantasy
- #40
in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy - #45
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy - #77
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Fantasy
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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