The Warded Man Review
Badassery, coming soon to a theater near you.
I can remember the times as a kid when I first started to get really, really passionate about reading. It was more or less as if nothing else existed, save for whatever new story was in my hands at the moment. Suffice to say, I spent quite a few evenings up late, not willing to wait for the following day to find out what happens next. Now as an adult (with an exhausting job and a lot more friends), I can’t really say I have the leeway to do that anymore, but damn – Peter Brett’s The Warded Man got me really, really close to it again. And all this from a man who wrote most of this (60%) on his Blackberry.
The first book in The Demon Cycle, The Warded Man tells the tale of mankind on the verge of extinction, struggling to survive, constantly terrified of the darkness – because with nightfall comes the arrival of the corelings, demons that relish in devouring and destroying any living thing in sight. The only protection from the demons are wards, painted or etched symbols which create an impenetrable barrier that keeps the demons out until daybreak, when they flee the rising sun.
Specifically, The Warded Man follows three characters – Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, all survivors of demon attacks on their respective homes and how their lives are forever changed by it. The book covers about 13 or 14 years of their lives, highlighting the moments that shape who each will become, which I find interesting for one reason: Theoretically this book could have started during the last 100 or so pages and be fine, but it also spotlights what makes The Warded Man so good – greatly written characters.
Really the payoff for me reading this was how well I identified with the characters, especially Arlen. It is practically impossible to put this book down and not like the character, or understand why he is so obsessed with the demons. While Leesha and Rojer have more family-oriented problems, Arlen’s antagonistic attitude towards corelings is unflinching, even early on when the story starts with him at age 11. It is that kind of character consistency that kept me going sometimes late into the night until before I knew it, the story was almost over. There is a lot of action in this novel, including some pretty graphic deaths, which is done with enough tact that it doesn’t seem excessive. The story is so meticulously structured it could be used for a guideline as to how to write a fantasy novel. All good things, in my opinion.
I have to be careful what I say about some of the story elements lest I ruin it for you, but despite the title, The Warded Man isn’t really heavily based on magic at all. You don’t actually have to know or memorize any rules of magic at all besides the concept that if a ward gets partially obscured or erased, then the entire ward fails until it is fixed. That’s pretty much it. I have a feeling however that this will become more intricate as the series goes on.
I’ve known about The Warded Man since it’s release last year, and I regret not getting around to reading it sooner, as it is definitely one of my favorite books so far this year. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait to read the sequel, The Desert Spear, as it just came out in April. Unfortunately, the next book after that – The Daylight War – won’t see a release until sometime in 2012… yikes! Probably something to do with the Warded Man film, perhaps?
The Warded Man and The Desert Spear are available everywhere… like right now.
