Hey everyone who is fans of Peter V Brett’s writings! If you have discord and wanna join a server where we talk about the books and stuff then click on that link!
It started out fine and then when the (rape happened and the subsequent revelation of infertility ) I just saw it as the western high fantasy 101 thing, but then it happened to a second character and it got weird and finally the barbarian sand people waged jihad ( I may have burnt my books at that point )
Some new kids have come home to live with Dad. Estonian copies of The Core from Varrak and Danish copies of Desert Spear from @dreamlitt. (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnv34eQhB3o/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1w9h683w9jm14
Read on 5/21 to page 45, on 5/31 to page 107, on 6/19 to page 181, on 7/6 to page 297, on 7/15 to page 391, on 7/25 to page 459, on 8/4 to The End. Loved it. Recommend it. My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think Mr. Brett intentionally considered... what will my readers expect, then set about not to do that.
In the series through “Desert Spear” there are a number of prominent “top characters”. The Warded Man, from the first book, naturally, but into this book there have been his internal struggles regarding the passing by of lives filled with the love of beautiful, smart, and charming women that could have been. So there are at least two of these characters who are significant in “Desert Spear”.
By the end of “The Warded Man” there is a very likely candidate for the antagonist in Desert Spear. So that’s where Mr. Brett starts this book, but not with Ahmann Jardir at the conclusion of the Warded Man!!! Rather with Ahmann Jardir the young child who is massively influenced by the culture of the Fort Krasia and the Krasian Desert, the last place on the planet that is not afraid of the night, where honor and a chance at paradise is possible if you can fight demons.
So, all that pent up anxiety teetering on what is about to happen at the conclusion of “The Warded Man”, is left like steam in a pressure cooker, as the expected confrontations are decades away. And Mr. Brett, keeping the tradition of changing points of view, does so here, to the likes of Inevera. Again, not where we left off in ‘The Warded Man”. Rather at the beginning of her life in her village helping with the family business. Again, decades before the end of “The Warded Man”.
This is all quite unexpected as Mr. Brett could have easily jumped into some massive action immediately in “Desert Spear”. Brilliant author he is, he decided to let his readers simmer in the pressure cooker, lid firmly attached, and heat still applied.
There are a couple writer’s tricks going on here but since Mr. Brett is wonderful at character development we are soon students of this history of Krasia and cannot get enough as there is just so much we did not know!
I studied writing for decades, yet forget the terminology, but Mr. Brett has brought us to a point where you are without doubt that some massive actions of good verses bad are inevitable. Then suspends the fulfillment of that dopamine rushing through your body by going in that other directions, but you are hooked in the most desperate of ways.
Mr. Brett doesn’t actually throw his readers into an icy shower and withhold hope of the inevitable, he starts shifting back and forth in time, so you actually get the full flavor of the folks most perceived as mean and evil, minus the demons, of course.
I’ve said so little while implying so much. I will offer a quasi spoiler of sorts… By the conclusion of Desert Spear, you are where you expected to be on page 3, after finishing “The Warded Man”, and things have gone so sideways so many times, the big deal you’ve been expecting, may still not come at the beginning of “The Daylight War.”!!!!
Anyone who has read “The Desert Spear” likely has some certainty what is about to happen, probably at the beginning of “The Daylight War.”
While I’m not finished with “The Daylight War”, I can spoil it…. It is like Desert War. It opens having gone sideways. But don’t believe for an instant Mr. Brett is not in full control, plucking your heartstrings, lighting your desires, tensing your muscles, and giving you pause as his whims are inclined.
You’ll want to pick up Daylight War right away. You’re not going to want to be high on reader’s dopamine euphoria then reach the end of this book and find it may be hours before you can get your next Demon Cycle euphoria injection.
Do I recommend this book? How dare I say no if there’s a chance it may frustrate Mr. Brett and he respond by cutting off the supply of Demon Cycle euphoria.
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