The Daylight War: The Demon Cycle, Book 3

"The Daylight War" is my favorite novel yet by Peter V. Brett, and it's one of the best fantasy novels that I've read. It describes how, after the events of "The Desert Spear," Arlen and Jardir prepare for the coming new moon. The rest of this review will not contain spoilers about "The Daylight War" (though it will describe plenty of broad trends and things that you learn very early on), but it will assume that you have read the previous two books and spoil those. POVs and Subjectivity In the first book, there were three point-of-view characters (Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer). In the second book, Brett threw in four more (Mind, Jardir, Abban, and Renna). In the third book, we now have even more (Inevera), bringing the total up to 8! That's definitely enough to make me complain about fragmentation, especially when there are at least 5 minor characters that get a substantial amount of ink, but yet the story felt cohesive. Even more so than the last one, in fact. One of my main criticisms of "The Desert Spear" was that the history of Jardir was a bit long and disconnected from the rest of the story, and I didn't feel that I could very easily empathize with the culture that was being presented. Part of the problem is that "The Warded Man" didn't strongly develop Arlen's time in the desert, so the focus on Jardir seemed out of place. However, when "The Daylight War" tells Inevera's story, it builds off of Jardir's story: in "The Desert Spear," Jardir sees the extent to which Inevera is shaping events and hiding things from him. Hers is a story that I had already wanted to know more about. Also, Brett tells her story a bit faster than he did Jardir's story. I love what Brett does with subjectivity. After reading Inevera's story, we have seen the events when Arlen is in Krasia three times. By the end of the book, we also hear of it a fourth time as the characters retell their experiences. None of the stories are really wrong. They just aren't complete on their own. But each person's story of those events is essential to their overall story and to their narrative as an individual. It isn't a problem that Brett has so many POV characters because each story feels incomplete without the others, so adding in the new POVs both creates new, unique individuals and informs the narratives of the other individuals. All of this in addition to exploring how we tell stories and how important the subjectivity of an experience can be. The Characters Brett's books are good because of the characters, and in the second book, I disliked a lot of the characters. Rojer didn't do that much. Arlen thought that he was evil and suffered existential angst, so he was antisocial (despite being a great leader), which was bad for the world. Jardir exercised the leadership that Arlen didn't, but he didn't value human life and he had low standards for women, northerners, and khaffits, the non-warrior caste. Leesha was okay. All of that changes in "The Daylight War" thanks to the events at the end of "The Desert Spear." Now, I like all of the characters even though they don't like each other. Rojer grows a spine and upgrades his magic, so even though he's still not quite as epic as Arlen, Jardir, or Leesha, he's still a force to be reckoned with as well as someone who sets an example for others to follow. After Renna brings Arlen back at the end of book 2, he upgrades both his power and his personality. Not only can he use mind demon tricks, but he finally feels connected to the world rather than separated from it. I no longer have to agonize over him being so stupid all the time! Now, not only does he have a moral system that won't accept injustice, but he is willing to lead others on that path. And Jardir, with Inevera's help, becomes more liberal. He's still not the guy that I would throw my hat behind, but he becomes less foreign and more approachable. Also, as he gets more accustomed to the spear, crown, and cloak of Kaji, he gets his power upgraded, too. Leesha continues largely the same as she did in the second book, though I'm expecting some more scientific explorations in the fourth book. Oh, and that thing where Arlen is different from everyone else and thinks that he's a demon and it isn't just his tattoos? In book 3, we learn why that is, and my guess from early book 2 was totally correct. Jardir and Inevera present an interesting counterpoint to Renna and Arlen. Arlen and Jardir both play the role of deliverers in their societies, but in many ways, Arlen's more similar to Inevera and Renna to Jardir. The role that Arlen plays is the intellectual. He knows about all of the societies and about all of the demons and their powers, so he knows what to do, he has too much angst to do what needs to be done. It's Renna's force of personality and brute strength that keeps him grounded and points him in the right direction. The role that Inevera plays is also the intellectual. She, with her dice, knows the general shape of things to come, so he knows what to do, but because of her social role, she can't directly do them. It's Jardir's force of personality and brute strength that implements her plans. Despite those differences, though, there is a common theme of the woman making the man and of the benefits of the person making the plans being grounded. One of the mind-ward powers that I want to feature is the ability to see auras. When using the ward-sight, someone can see shifts in other people's emotions (once they know what to look for). It isn't quite mind reading, but it allows Brett to develop his deliverers more. They might be empathetic normally, but now they can actually see what people are feeling, so they become quite imposing religious figures in their ability to deal with people. The Setting Everyone's power upgrades and Inevera's story allow Brett to delve into lots of different types of magic. We see after Arlen's fight with the mind demon that he can use demon magic now, so we get to learn how that works. It's fairly cool, but it starts seeming more like a traditional fantasy genre spell caster and less unique (though the experience of it in the book is much more nuanced). We see during Inevera's fight with Leesha and with the mind demon that demon bones can act as magic batteries, so we get to learn more about how that works. We also see more of Rojer's musical magic, but I wasn't terribly happy with that. Brett features a couple of songs in his book, but he doesn't bring them to life. The songs just didn't seem very lyrical. In "Name of the Wind," Rothfuss features music strongly, but he spends more time describing how his characters interact with it than describing the music itself or the lyrics. I got the sense that it was because Rothfuss cared more about the characters and that he wasn't a musician himself, so he didn't think he would be able to do the songs justice. Brett, on the other hand, tries to give a full picture of the songs, but he doesn't quite succeed. There's quite a bit of sex. It's a little awkward. In previous books, there was only a little bit; now, it seems like every character is having sex and gossiping about it with everyone else. Even the recollections of the past are more sexual. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I don't think it's Brett's forte. Brett is a good author when he's talking about the big picture stuff like everyone's overall philosophies and the war with the demons and the like. Brett isn't as good when talking about the details, whether that's one-on-one combat and the tactics within a battle or sex. His books didn't focus too much on the individual battles, which was good because that isn't the kind of author that he is. Now he's spending more time on sex, which isn't his strong suit. The Ending Wow. Just wow. For me, the ending can make or break the book. Some people have criticized it, but it's great.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the Demon Trilogy, I found myself highly anticipating this read. I’m a huge fan of the world that Peter’s created, and I enjoy his ability to tell coming of age stories that feel highly original in a genre that’s filled with archetypes. Inevera, the lovely Damaji’ting donning the cover, is given a lot more background in this novel. This was very enjoyable for me, as I, along with many others, found it quite hard to care for her character in the earlier novels. However, now that she’s been further fleshed out and motivations made known, she is a intriguingly intricate character that, love or hate, is extremely interesting to read. During portions of her back-story the novel retreads some ground that was covered in The Desert Spear. I didn’t mind this, but the similarity of events could be bothersome to someone who only recently finished the second novel. For me, having not read the second book all that recently, I found the quick refresher quite welcoming. Overall, her story arc was very entertaining, and the extra layers given to her story make her previous and forthcoming actions more meaningful because of it. Once Inevera’s beginning portion is completed, the novel then shifts back to the rest of the characters at present time. There’s a lot of interaction between Renna and Arlen, so it’s best you get used to the Tibbet’s Brook slang fast, because it’s on display early and often. Not a bad thing necessarily, just takes some getting used to when you’re shifting from the Krasian “ting’s” and “dama’s” to the rural “ent gunna tell me nuttin” style dialects. Now, Renna was never a favorite of mine in the last novel, and that trend continued on in this book. Her character is all passion and fire, a stark contrast to Inevera’s calculated nature (and of course, Leesha hangs somewhere between the two). However, her passion isn’t what turns me off reading her segments; it’s the repeated phrases that often come up. If I had a dollar for every time she grabbed for her father’s knife or told Arlen she loved him, I’d be at least a few books richer once I spent them. The biggest peeve I had with this novel is the sheer amount of sex within the pages. It’s not necessarily the graphic nature of the sexual encounters that bothered me, they where tame enough, but the amount of people who are participating. I get it, times are tough, and physical comfort is a fact of life. However, I found a lot of it unnecessary. Without spoiling who does what, let’s just say a lot of people have sex with more than one person in this book. The concept of monogamy does not seem to be one that the people of Thesa are likely to adopt any time soon… Now, reading this, you’re probably thinking I hated the book. Hardly! To be perfectly honest, I critique the series I enjoy far more severely than those I don’t. This is an amazing novel, and a great addition to the demon cycle, but I can’t say that I honestly feel it’s a better novel than either The Painted Man or The Desert Spear. I will say though, Peter has definitely evolved as a writer! The best parts of the first two novels, in my opinion, are the beginnings. I felt the previous entries started really strong and tended to leave a less than satisfactory taste in your mouth at the end by comparison. However, The Daylight War is the exact opposite! The beginning is strong; the middle seems to drag at parts, then the end. THE END! You get a cliffhanger that would make George R.R. Martin proud. For me, the mark of a great writer is their ability to make you crave more even after you’ve just finished. After the gut punch of excitement the ending left me with, I can honestly say he’s succeeded in doing that.

If you already had readed the first two you already know what to expect, and the only thing i can tell you is that you won't get disappointed!

Here we are, one of the few fantasy books I'll read this year: The Daylight War by Peter V Brett. It seems like an age since I first entered the world of the Demon Cycle with The Painted Man, way back in March of 2009, and the wait since I read The Desert Spear has been a long one. I had high expectations of The Daylight War - simply a given considering how much I enjoyed its predecessors - and it's safe to say that it's a hugely impressive and enjoyable novel. The Daylight War picks up where we left off in The Desert Spear, and as such it gets the pace going pretty much straight away. We have Arlen and Renna together, growing closer, with Arlen speaking more of his abilities and what he learnt from the Mind Demon he destroyed. Jardir is settling into his new city after his invasion, enforcing Krasian Law, and attempting to wed Leesha as his Northern wife. With Inevera and Abban both having Jardir's ear - one through Hora magic, the other shrewd business sense - events and plans are being laid out to facilitate Jardir's further conquest of the northern lands, and the impending Daylight War. Brett keeps the formula from the previous books again here, with Inevera the focus rather than Arlen or Jardir. This starts early on and her history is woven throughout the novel, giving the details of her past, where she came from, and just how she worked and manipulated events to her benefit. As the details are spread throughout there are pieces of information that we don't learn about until later in the story, though Brett feeds us the right information at the right time to ensure the story keeps a good and steady pace. This was all handled well, better than The Desert Spear (where Jardir's story took up the first couple of hundred pages), and allowed further inspection and revelation of the Krasian culture. The details of how the world works are also given some more clarity in The Daylight War, particularly from the side of the demons. We learn new bits of information with the impending arrival of more Mind Demons at Waning, and most of those direct from the Minds. It sheds light on a few aspects of how the demons work, and on the history of Thesa, but opens up more questions than it answers. The relationship between the demons and humans is touched on, and I expect we'll see and hear more of this in the future. Character-wise, things are much the same with our bunch of heroes and villains, though it's never entirely clear which is which. Brett does a fantastic job at keeping the interactions between the characters fresh, with some issues causing more discussion than others. Some characters, like Rojer, grow more and start fulfilling the promise that has been there since the start, while others, like Leesha, seem to take a step back and are not as prominent this time around. It's safe to say that The Daylight War is a book of three characters: Arlen, Jardir, and Inevera. Each have big roles to play - especially considering the impending confrontation of the two Deliverers. With Arlen and Jardir each starting to discover more and more about demon magic the possibilities become very intriguing, and the outcome between them is never entirely knowable. Inevera plays a large role because of her backstory, and, of course, because of her relationship to Jardir. She's the character that has the most growth, and this is simply because Brett allows us to understand her more, learn her motivations and reasoning. I read through The Daylight War pretty quickly, enjoying every page, and always wanting to know where the story was going next. The big events happen later on in the novel, but that doesn't stop the build up from being any less enjoyable. It's a big book, but you wouldn't think that when times flies all too quickly while you're reading it. I'm very interested to see where Brett takes the story from here and hope that, with the end-game in sight, he delivers everything I hope for.

If you enjoyed the first two books, you simply must read it. After reading this book, the next 2 books cannot come soon enough. With that said, there are some pacing issues. Also, I also personally did not like how the book jumped from time period to time period throughout-made it jarring and confusing at times. But with that said, it is still the best fantasy book in 2013 so far and a great read.

When I have begun the demon cycle, I was quite surprised by the rhythm and the writing style... And page after page, a new world has opened to me... I'm so fond of those books. I would be such a great idea to turn it into a movie or serie.

A non-conventional fantasy book with a great story and amusing characters. I reccomend this book to everyone loves well-written fantasy stories