The story begins by following a young boy, Arlen, allowing well integrated world-building as Arlen grows. Then three quarters of the way through, I became extremely disenchanted with characterization and plot jumping.īrett's world is fascinating: a feudal system at the mercy of demons arising from the earth each night, and the only way to defend against them is through the work of drawn/carved wards. The Warded Man had a tremendously strong start and was well on the way to a five star read. Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
In many ways The Warded Man is old school fantasy, but it's written in a modern style that I found refreshing. Brett gives us a complex world full of interesting people, and the demons act as a constant source of pressure to drive the characters to extremes. Ostensibly the book is about defeating (or surviving) the demon threat, and it has more of that in this first book than the later ones, but even here the politics and character interactions are a major focus. The other point-of-view characters are also engaging and offer complete a diverse set of windows onto the world Brett's made for us.Īrlen's chosen vocation involves a lot of traveling which is great for covering the map and colouring in the detail. The main character (first introduce, driving force) is Arlen and although he's a 'farm-boy-rises-to-hero' he manages to overcome the trope and be an interesting character, primarily through his combination inventiveness, down-to-earth morality, and bravery. I've seen a line of wards as jewelry, warding as body art. They provide for the fandom almost limitless fuel for fan art, cos play, and branding (not in the literal sense). The wards themselves are not only interesting in the sense of a magic system but also in a meta-sense as they are a marketeer's dream.
I'd not seen demons done this way and the partitioning of them into the night, combined with the system of wards, really works to create a very interesting dynamic. The 'big idea' is the demons and it's a good one. This one manages to be all about all of that. There are fantasy books that are all about the plot, fantasy books that are all about the characters, and fantasy books that are all about the world-building.
Both sons recommended it, but that's not always a recommendation! I came to this book with no expectations, finding it on the shelves in my house. A rather brief review since I read the book very nearly 5 years ago.
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