One fairly long book again this week! I think that I am spending a lot of time watching TV via Amazon Prime and following feminists on Twitter.

The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett

This was an easy read: The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett, #02 in his Demon Cycle series. Here is the blurb (by the way, the book has the Painted Man, rather than Warded Man)…

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power.

Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not.

Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons–a spear and a crown–that give credence to his claim.

But the Northerners claim their own Deliverer: the Warded Man, a dark, forbidding figure.

Once, the Shar’Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends. Now they are fierce adversaries. Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent—and deadly—than any that have come before.

I was a bit stingy with this book and only gave it three stars. This is my review on Goodreads:

This is the kind of book where you need to suspend several critical faculties in order to just go along with the adventure. I enjoyed the story, despite several reservations: my Feminist hackles rose very high indeed, my grammar and nit picking side had to be tied up and put in a cupboard and my sense of historical accuracy (what! This is a fantasy novel!) had to be put aside. I also had to put blinkers on to get through some of the nasty sexual side.

I love a good story with lots of unexpected twists, and this fits that description. I also like interesting characters, and there are plenty of those. But, some of the characters are a bit stereotypical and the plot has huge holes in places.

I think the plot is supposed to take place in some kind of medieval world after some massive catastrophe, but some of the discoveries and inventions are very anachronistic: molecules?

Despite these misgivings, the ideas behind the series are quite inventive and I did enjoy the adventure. Yes, I will read another book in the series, so perhaps that shows that my final verdict is positive!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I am now reading the first book in a new (to me) series: Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I liked the look of the blurb and requested the next two from the library, so I am going to read these over Christmas. If I run out of print books during the holidays, I will be able to access the library’s ebook service via BorrowBox either on my iPad or phone. I have never read a book on a screen as small as that, so I may stick to the iPad!

I am not sure if I will post a Reading Roundup post next week as I may be too busy, so look out for my next one in two weeks. Until then…

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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