Lucidonline

For those of you not in the know The Desert Spear is the sequel to The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett. You can read my review of The Painted Man (Warded Man in the US) here. I received the book over a week ago but due to migraines I was unable to crack its spine until this week.

Following on from the Painted Man we begin our journey with Jardir, learning of him through flashbacks as he starts to unite humanity under his banner, proclaiming himself the deliverer. Similar to Arlen in the previous book we follow Jardir from his training as a child to the height of his power in the Krasian desert. I was a little apprehensive when I realised the novel would be following Jardir so closely rather than Arlen, Leesha or Rojer because Jardir before had appeared slightly two dimensional in the Painted Man as he was only in it for a short time and his character development was short. But now we learn of his motivations, his dreams and the demons that haunt him in the daylight also. The first third of the book follows Jardir and brings us into his world, a world very different from that of Arlens home. While I am still unsure if I like Jardir I can certainly respect and understand him more.

We then return to the more familiar characters of The Painted Man, Leesha and Rojer as they prepare to face this new threat from the south. It was great to get more development of these characters; especially Rojer who I felt didn’t get much page time in the first book. The Painted Man is put through many trials now but they are ones where he has to face his past, giving him depth and re-humanising him.

There is a lot of action in The Desert Spear which is written masterfully and is very exciting.

The Desert Spear was everything I had hoped for and more. It was a fantastic read. While I thought The Painted Man excellent Peat has far out done himself. The writing is strong and powerful and left me hungry for the third book which Peat is working on now.

Read it, enjoy it and read it again :D