The Skull Throne
Ratings75
Average rating4.1
In the grand tradition of George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan, Sunday Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett continues his critically acclaimed Demon Cycle with the next dramatic instalment: THE SKULL THRONE. The Skull Throne of Krasia stands empty. Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honour and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all. But Arlen Bales, the Painted Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honour refuse. Rather than risk defeat, Arlen cast them both from a precipice, leaving the world without a saviour, and opening a struggle for succession that threatens to tear the Free Cities of Thesa apart. In the south, Inevera, Jardir's first wife, must find a way to keep their sons from killing one another and plunging their people into civil war as they strive for enough glory to make a claim on the throne. In the north, Leesha Paper and Rojer Inn struggle to forge an alliance between the duchies of Angiers and Miln against the Krasians before it is too late. Caught in the crossfire is the duchy of Lakton - rich and unprotected, ripe for conquest. All the while, the corelings have been growing stronger, and without Arlen and Jardir there may be none strong enough to stop them. Only Renna Bales may know more about the fate of the missing men, but she, too, has disappeared...
Series
Featured Series
5 primary books10 released books#4 in The Demon Cycle
The Demon Cycle is a 10-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2008 with contributions by Peter V. Brett.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
This really felt like a bridging book for the next and final Book. Brett focuses on the side characters in this book. So if your expecting a lot of plot with Arlen & Jardir you won't get it in this installment.
For this fourth installement of the Demon Cycle serie, I have begun with some stress because I didn't remember a lot of the third book. The first part gives me reason : i had some issues remembering names and titles of Krasian people... too many people and too many relations between them.
Hopefully, the next parts were better and easier to follow. I'm not giving any details because it could be spoilers but I'm just saying I like the multiple POVs, the battle, the court plotting and the characters.
AND THE END !!!??? So much plot twist, cliffhangers and so many deaths. Can't wait for the fifth and last book
Executive Summary: I enjoyed this one, but it spent very little time dealing the the Demon war.
Audiobook: I've been enjoying this series in audio, and this book was no different. So much so that I'm simply copy/pasting my comments from the last book:
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 was a bit different from the last three. Those books mixed past and present and politics and war. This book had a few flashbacks, but easily the fewest of all the books so far.
This book is almost all politics. I enjoyed it nearly as much as the others, but I do feel like too much time was spent on subplots and not the main plot of the demon battles.
I enjoyed some of the new characters, including the new flashback character, but I'm awful with names and these names are especially difficult for me, so I couldn't tell you her name. There was also some really good character development of the returning characters as well.
There wasn't as much world building in this book as in the past. Most of it dealt with expanding on the politics of men set-up in the previous books. There is still a lot of magic, but very little new. I feel like there is still a lot we're not seeing, but with so little focus on the demons I guess it's not too surprising.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but I would have liked to see a little less subplot and a little more main plot. Still, all the events of this book will likely play a big role in final book, but I'd have liked to see it balanced more like the last three books were.
