Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man Review
The world is a dark place. Mankind has been fractured into tiny societies, each society a small bastion fighting to survive each night. Because at night, demons come out to play — fierce magical creatures that suddenly appear and slaughter anything and everything. Welcome to a world where night is truly a nightmare.
This is the premise of Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man
Only a few dare to travel — Messengers, brave men who risk their life each night on the road.
The only thing that stands between certain death at night when the demons come out are wards — strange magical symbols and patterns engraved in surfaces that prevent the demons from entering any space enclosed by wards. These ancient symbols have been mankind’s only defense against the demons, faint memories from an ancient time when men once fought against demons and prevailed. But mankind has forgotten most of the wards – gone are the wards of attack — now, men cannot fight against demon, only survive.
Men fear to challenge the night. But there is one who will fight.
I was really blown away by this book. I heard about it in passing last year, but I never actually got around to reading it until a few months ago. I’m glad I did. The Warded Man (also called The Painted Man in the UK) was my favorite book of 2008. This is the first book in a series, but oh what a delicious book it was.
What stands out about this book is the interesting world portrayed, vicious action, and strong characterization. The world portrayed is a world without hope. Men are reduced to a food source for demons and the will to fight has been lost. It’s a world that’s ripe for a hero.
The novel is not a perfect one. I will say the novel does falter with the way it handles some of the characterization — the way some of the characters act can seem a bit unrealistic at times.
But don’t let this dissuade you from reading the book! To be sure, this book is very action orientated. But the book combines a hell of a lot of action, very good characterization, and interesting world building. There is also a keen sense of anticipation and adventure throughout the novel. If you like books like Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind and Feist’s Magician, you should find yourself at home in this book. This book is NOT a complex epic fantasy saga in the vein of Song of Ice and Fire, nor is it a high, nor is it a turn-fantasy-tropes-on-their-heads like The Blade Itself. This is a more classic fantasy tale, but the world building, magic, and characterization are all top notch.
If you are looking for a book that will keep you up all night, I highly suggest Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man
That sounds really intriguing. Thanks for sharing your review
Comment by Rachel Cotterill — March 27, 2010 @ 6:19 am
Sounds good! Ordered!
Comment by S-E — March 30, 2010 @ 11:42 am
Just read your review and picked this book on my Kindle yesterday. Finished it today and it is a fantastic story. My only disappointment was that the story ended where it did; I felt it could have went on! Looking forward to the sequel.
Comment by Ben — April 4, 2010 @ 4:08 am
I just finished it and I have to agree with everything. Classic fantasy done really well. Loved it.
Comment by Seak — April 11, 2010 @ 12:42 am
Isn’t the sequel out?
Comment by Eric — April 28, 2010 @ 11:00 am
Reminds me of Jordan – The Puritan spirit meets high fantasy.
Comment by Gabriel — May 12, 2010 @ 11:25 am
Just finished the book, it was very good. I would recommend it to anyone.
FYI Ben. The sequel is out now. Its called the Desert Spear
Comment by tfc — May 13, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
excellent book indeed, and there is a sequel:
the desert spear !!
Comment by freesoul — May 15, 2010 @ 1:18 am
I read “The Warded Man” and finished “The Desert Spear” (the sequel) today…I’m AMAZED at how great both these books were! Sequel took a bit to adjust to, but man I can see this taking storm once it’s discovered more. I can’t wait for the third book!!
Comment by Tyler Nelson — May 17, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
This book isa comic whiteout the artistic drawings and classic super hero elements .The second book will decide the true position of the series so far it’s excellent
Comment by Xer — May 23, 2010 @ 11:03 am
DELIVERER ME!
Comment by N8 — May 27, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
I just finished reading both the painted man and the desert spear and must say that they both had me on the edge of my seat and I could not put them away. Can’t wait for the next book.
Comment by Suhail — June 8, 2010 @ 2:01 pm
Very interesting. Thanks.
Comment by satuon — June 19, 2010 @ 2:22 am
Got to say that this is by far one of the best reads anybody will have in a long time. I’ve just finished reading both books and they both had me reading well into the early hours. Can’t wait for the third one to come out!
Comment by Simon — July 4, 2010 @ 6:23 am
Just finished this book! Wow! Couldn’t put it down. Gonna pick up the sequel. I am new to fantasy fiction. Can anyone recommend another author/series that is similar in style to this book?
Thanks
Comment by Sixt3denied — July 7, 2010 @ 5:41 pm
Intriguing setting, but characters are way too simple and boring for my taste. Luckily the book is rather fast-paced so I’m interested to see where will it take me next.
Comment by zerth — July 15, 2010 @ 8:20 am
The Warded Man is pretty unique in terms of it’s setting. Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind (less action though) might be one. Stuff by Brandon Sanderson is a “bit” similar in action — look at his Mistborn series especially.
Comment by admin — July 19, 2010 @ 2:17 pm
The sequel is pretty good. The author needs to hone his skills a bit more on the interaction between characters and the plot pacing — he’s weak there. However, for action and setting, Peter V. Brett knows what he’s doing.
Comment by admin — July 19, 2010 @ 2:18 pm
Hell, I reached the last quarter of the book, and I must admit it gets pretty awesome. I like them all grown up much better
Comment by zerth — July 19, 2010 @ 8:40 pm
I only read fantasy book as no other book can hold my attention. This is one of the best fantasy books I have read in ages and definately kept me up most of the night! Great!
Comment by Media Books — July 20, 2010 @ 6:53 am
I bought this book recently but haven’t had a chance to read it yet because of an AP summer reading list I have to complete. I really look forward to reading it and thank you for your interesting review!
Comment by Hunt — July 25, 2010 @ 12:10 pm
Really good book and a promising writer!
For once I have found an author who can continue with the story without breaking its flow despite writing from the viewpoint of multiple characters.
The book, the Painted man, starts out promisingly, but I could not help but be disappointed by the ending. I suppose thats the problem with modern day fantasy authors, all of them are looking to prolong their story into a series of books to make more money. I cant really blame him, but I suppose the book would have been better as a huge single volume than a series of three
Nonetheless, this is pretty good stuff…
Comment by Connovar — August 3, 2010 @ 12:31 am
I can testify, the two books are definitely good. The demon concept is quite interesting and so are the wards as magic.
My only gripe is with the society. Everyone that isn’t a main character or good is a pervert. No seriously. Not just perverts, they’re pictured as lustful creatures or something like that. I don’t know if he was going for “George R. R. Martin realism” but it’s a tad over the top at times. The characterization are flawed but it’s a great read nonetheless. POV without the boring.
Comment by Kinesthetic — August 13, 2010 @ 11:52 pm
Just ordered – haven’t picked up a good epic for a while…Hope this one fills the void.
Comment by Diablo_FS — August 19, 2010 @ 3:49 pm
awesome book..kept me awake the whole night…very difficult to put down. also finished the second part but was quite disappointed after the first half.
Comment by sourabh — August 26, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
The general impression is that the second book is not as good as the first book. It’s still entertaining for sure, but the plotting and some of the relationships really don’t make sense. It’s the middle book though, so I expect the 3rd book to be much better.
Comment by admin — September 9, 2010 @ 3:18 pm
I will admit that this book had its points. But there are a few things that I plainly did not like. There was too much sexual reference. As mentioned it seemed that everyone in this society was some sort of lustful pervert. Don’t know if I would go that far, but much of it is just not needed, it made me read it uncomfortably.
I did not like the three stories merged into one within the last 50 pages or so. I felt that like saying ‘what does this have to do with it?’ In addition there was a lot of set up for the climax, and I do mean a lot. This of course is a personal preference.
There were some writing elements that bugged me. The multiple points of view of the same event is just annoying. Yes, it is beneficial to get the entire story of an event, but creative writing can accomplish the same thing. The character names irked me too.
It was a creative plot line that I will admit, it just didn’t hit it with me.
Comment by Gammadelta1 — February 10, 2011 @ 3:22 am
anyone know when the next book is coming out. im really anticipating the third one, i loved them both but i cant even find the name that the third one will be released as
Comment by anonymus — February 23, 2011 @ 12:18 pm
I don’t think there is a release date on it yet. I suspect late this year or next.
Comment by admin — March 4, 2011 @ 4:04 pm