The Daylight War

An excellent addition to the Demon War saga, but it might end in a cliffhanger. I think it's up in the air, but Peter V. Brett seems to think there's no cliffhanger. He's the author so he would know.

Thing I loved about this book: Inevera's storyline. She's got a lot of screen time, and she's a fantastic character.

Thing I HATED about this book: Arlen and Renna never use subjects when they're talking about themselves. It's all ‘Don't wanna go' and ‘Love you, Renna Tanner' and ‘Have to make the donuts'. Would it kill them to just add an “I” or a “You” in there? I loathe their dialect so much I want to kill it with fire.

Executive Summary: This is probably my favorite book of the series so far, but it ends on a pretty huge cliffhanger.

Audiobook: Pete Bradbury once again does a great job. He's still a bit on the quiet side, but I think he's a great fit for this series. He does a few voices/accents and reads with good inflection.

Full Review
This book is a bit of a blur now. I've read most of this series in the last few weeks, and I've completed the entire next book before getting a chance to write this review.

I think this book had the best world building of the first three. We learn a lot more about magic, the demons and the world at large than the previous two. I'm a sucker for a good magic system, and I really like how Mr. Brett has been expanding upon this one as the series has gone on.

This book also had some really great character development, especially in the flashback chapters. I do feel like Mr. Brett's trying to make yet another character more sympathetic by showing just how awful everyone else around them by comparison is, and that really doesn't work for me. If nothing else I guess I understand them a bit better even if I don't really like them.

One benefit of reading this book late is that I didn't have to wait for the next book to resolve the huge cliffhanger it creates. If you're reading this series at a more leisurely pace, I highly recommend planning to read the next book right after this one.

Overall this series has been really enjoyable, which is likely evident by how quickly I'm tearing through it. This one is my favorite so far, and having finished the next one already, I can say it still remains so. I'm really eager to see how it all ends.

Na een paar honderd pagina's heb ik het opgegeven. Mijn ergernissen over bepaalde personages werden nog groter en eentje kreeg zelfs een steeds grotere rol, waardoor ik eigenlijk constant zat te zuchten en enorm tegen mijn zin zat te lezen. Lezen doe ik nog steeds voor mijn plezier en daarom deed ik iets wat ik eigenlijk niet graag doe, namelijk een boek half gelezen achterlaten. Jammer, want het verhaal op zich boeide me wel en ik wou wel weten hoe de auteur het verder zou spinnen, maar het werd me teveel een karwij. Wetende dat na dit boek 3 nog 2 boeken volgen om het verhaal af te maken, heb ik er dus een streep onder getrokken.

I have been held in thrall by this series. Fantastic.

Pros: characters continue to grow, several people get much needed dressing downs, lots of romance (and sex), more background on the dama'ting

Cons: several characters in Everam's Bounty have similar names, which got confusing at times, cliffhanger ending

The Daylight War picks up directly where Brett's previous book, The Desert Spear, left off. The third in the Demon Cycle, I can't give much of a synopsis without seriously spoiling the previous books. So all I will say is that you learn more about the dama'ting, from Inevera's POV as she grows to womanhood within the organization and both Arlen and Leesha return to the Hollow, much changed by recent events.

The characters continue to grow, with - and I loved this - several of them growing backbones and telling the interfering people in their lives to butt out while they make life changing decisions. It was great seeing Rojer come into his own and Gared getting some much deserved recognition for his contributions. I'm still not sure how I felt about some of Leesha's decisions but I loved seeing Arlen's relationship.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was Inevera's upbringing and her reasoning behind certain decisions. You also learn a lot about pillow dancing, as most of the characters in the book indulge in it, multiple times.

This only happened a few times, but there are several characters in Jardir's court at Everam's Bounty whose names start with ‘A' and who all appear in the same scenes, specifically Ashia, Asome, Ashan and Asukaji. There's a glossary of certain characters and terms at the back of the book (called the Krasian Dictionary), but I've found using those with ebooks (the form of my review copy) more hindrance than help. Context usually helped with who was whom, and the author tried to remind the reader of everyone's connections, but there were a lot of similar names in this book.

The ending is shocking, with a sudden cliffhanger that will have your cursing the fact that the next book isn't out yet.

If you've liked Brett's previous books, this is a superb follow-up. If you haven't read Peter Brett and like well written fantasy, I urge you to give him a try.

As you begin the third installment of most franchises there is always the trepidation that this is the one where the plot falls away. Luckily Brett manages to hold up and that too pretty well. In fact the hurried ending seems to suggest that he may have the overarching plot now in his head and he is trying to build towards it. Its this hurried ending chapter that prevents any higher score. The magic system is good and reminds me a lot of Mistborn. The introduction of the Queen and the background for Inevera are welcome. The only let down is the Mind Demons who are handled to simply. Brett needs to build his demons better and this can be a classic. In the end though I like his focus on the central characters as some major changes happening in their lives. Lets see where we go from here!

Well that sucked! in a good way. I thought that book #3 would be the last book of the series and man was I wrong! The ended of this book was literally a cliffhanger and I was left going...what?! The third book again takes us through another characters point of view and adds another key character. All great additions to the story and adds to the complexity and intricacies of the cultures involved that need to ban together to fight a much greater evil. Obviously, I can't wait until the next books come out. After doing a little research on the internet this series is a 5 book series and if I know how authors work we can only hope that remains the case as he continues to write the books.