The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

Fantasy

What Goodreads says:

"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 him 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."

This is book three in the Demon Cycle series.  There will be five books so this is the middle book and be warned it ends with a cliffhanger.

 

Worldbuilding:  Brett continues to add to the complex world he started in The Warded Man, the first book in the series.  I would not recommend reading this book as a stand along.  There is so much that you need to know and can only find out by reading the books in order.

Back-story:  There is a lot of back-story in the series.  The first book was primarily the back-story of Arlen, Rojer and Leesha, three of the main characters in the books.  The Desert Spear moved the story forward but also contained the back-story of Ahmann Jardir.  The Daylight War moves forward again but has the back-story of Inevera, Jardir’s first wife.  The only main character whose back-story we have not had is Abban so maybe in book four.

Character:  All of the characters are very well developed.  We know the background of most and their motivations are highlighted in their backgrounds.  

Plot:  This is a character driven story and the plot moves as the characters act or react.  Don’t expect any resolution in The Daylight War.  In spite of the title the daylight war is really just a small part of the plot.  The main action is what leads up to the face to face conflict between Arlen and Jardir.

Writing:  There is a lot of dialog and a lot of action in the writing.  The Daylight War is a long book; over 600 pages and I wondered if it would be a difficult book to read.  (I listened to the first two books on CD’s so this was the first time for a print copy.)  It did take me several days to finish but the writing and action kept me reading whenever I had time.  I like Brett’s style.  He keeps the pace going, includes a lot of information written in separate scenes with jumps between places and times.  It did take me awhile to get used to the fact that everything is not laid out in order.   I would wonder why a scene was included but later it would be apparent that it contained information I needed.

I am waiting for book four and then for book 5.  There are also two novellas with side stories featuring Arlen. 

DelRay published The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett in 2013.  

I received a review copy of The Daylight War from Amazon Vine.